Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Rich Tommaso
Black Hammer: Age of Doom #6 is weird. It’s weird for two reasons. One reason is that the issue focuses on Colonel Weird (Black Hammer’s mixture of Buck Rogers & Adam Strange) and the second reason is that it’s just weird. Black Hammer: Age of Doom #6 begins with the ramifications of last issues revelations laid out. Colonel Weird and Madame Dragonfly have deceived their friends for the last decade as they magically created a small town country farm located in the Para Zone to protect the heroes of Spiral City. The reason for the deception is that if the heroes return to their home the Anti-God (Black Hammer’s version of Galactus) will also return and destroy everything and everyone. So for ten years the duo have deceived their friends and now the ramifications of their lies will be felt.
Colonel Weird is a mysterious man, whose non-linear life leaves him knowing the future even when he’s not 100% sure where he is at or when he is most of the time. Yet there is one thing he does know; for the first time in a long time he doesn’t know what comes next. Yet when he makes the decision to take the heroes home, to return to Spiral City he finds himself first in a void and then on a strange world inhabited by even stranger beings, including the human bug Inspector Insector. Not one to sit around, Colonel Weird does what he does best, explore and as Insector takes him on a tour of this new world it becomes quickly apparent that it is definitely not safe and if the great cliffhanger has any indication it is very much important to the next phase of Black Hammer: Age of Doom.
Jeff Lemire continues to astound with his work on Black Hammer: Age of Doom. Lemire is truly at his best with these quirky tales of Super Heroes, creepy small towns, and impossibly weird situations. Black Hammer Age of Doom #6 is a bit of a departure from the previous issues as it is a Colonel Weird story and the rest of the cast of characters are absent from most of the book. Also notably absent is regular artist and co-creator Dean Orstrom, and he is missed. Rich Tommaso’s work was a bit to cartoony for my taste and didn’t fit the usual Black Hammer style I have come to expect from Orstrom or Max Fiumara, who has been the principal relief artist for the series. Yet I can see why Tommaso was chosen for this issue as his style does lend another level of weirdness to an already weird tale and one thing about Black Hammer is that it truly embraces the weird.
Verdict:While Black Hammer: Age of Doom #6 is a bit of a departure from the main storyline it is non the less an enjoyable tale of Colonel Weird and his less than ordinary life and will delight any fan of this incredible series.
