This summer, Jeff Lemire‘s Black Hammer is returning with a new series and a new artist. Written by Lemire, illustrated by Caitlin Yarsky and Dave Stewart, and lettered by Nate Piekos, Black Hammer: Reborn will continue the story of Lucy Weber, the superhero known as Black Hammer.
As Forbes reports, Black Hammer: Reborn will take place twenty years after the events of Black Hammer: Age of Doom, and find Lucy having retired to the suburbs, in a failing marriage, and having not picked up the hammer in years. Lemire describes the series as bringing in elements of all of the previously-told stories within the BH universe:
“Black Hammer: Reborn is everything we have been building towards for the last several years, and it really is the culmination of everything we’ve done in Black Hammer to date,” Lemire said in a statement. “This series has it all. Black Hammer, Skulldigger, Doc Andromeda, and Sherlock Frankenstein all play major roles. Oh, and of course lots of Colonel Weird too.”
On Twitter the writer also teased the series jokingly as “Lucy Weber’s Mid-Life Crisis on Multiple Earths.”
Created by Lemire and artist Dean Ormston, the first Black Hammer series debuted in 2016, and quickly spawned a number of spin-off miniseries. The last main Black Hammer series, Age of Doom, wrapped in 2019, and since then Lemire and a murderer’s row of artists including Tonci Zonjic, Tyler Crook, and Gabriel Walta have told side-stories set within the world of the series and starring both familiar and new characters.
Yarsky joins the Black Hammer team having worked on titles for Image Comics, Titan, and more. In the announcement both Lemire and Ormston praised Yarsky’s work, while Yarsky herself described the experience of coming onto the series:
“I am super excited and a little bit terrified to see Caitlin’s work on Black Hammer,” added Ormston. “Excited because her work is so incredible, and terrified because her work is SO incredible.”
Also praising Yarsky, Lemire continued: “Dean Ormston and I are very excited to welcome Caitlin to the Black Hammer universe and to the modern adventures of Lucy Weber. Caitlin’s artwork is amazing — the way she does facial expressions and breathes life into the characters is really going to blow fans away.”
“Illustrating for the great Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston is an absolute dream come true.” Yarsky said. “It has been such a joy to depict Black Hammer’s emotionally complex characters, relationships, and beautifully surreal settings. I’m thrilled and honored to join this legendary team of storytellers. In fact, I’m still pinching myself.”
In the latest edition of his newsletter, Lemire clarified that Black Hammer: Reborn will be an ongoing series, with Yarsky & Stewart alternating four-issue story arcs with artists Malachi Ward and Matt Sheean. Ward shared a look at a panel from he and Sheean’s work on the series on Twitter:
In a tweet Lemire also teased that he and Ormston would reteam later this year for a new series starring Madame Dragonfly.
Check out a Walt Simonson-esque variant cover by Lemire for the first issue of the series below. Black Hammer: Reborn #1 arrives in stores in June.
Updated 2:00 PM Eastern with info from Lemire’s newsletter on the series’ rotating art teams.
