Black Hammer Reborn was the declaredly "ongoing" series about Black Hammer III [1], daughter of the title character for the whole series, who took up her father's mantle after traveling to the pocket dimension way back at the end of the very first storyline, getting his giant hammer [2] and engaging in superheroic exploits of her own.
This first volume - Black Hammer Reborn, Part I [3] - starts off with that daughter, Lucy, telling us the big story once again, though there's more closure and dates than the actual telling of the story did. The Not-Crisis was in 1986; her trip to the pocket dimension was ten years later in 1996; she "eventually helped liberate the other lost heroes." [4] But it's "now" another twenty years later, and Lucy is retired from the long-johns biz, with a schlubby husband, two recalcitrant kids, and a lousy job editing ad copy. Superheroing is handled in Spiral City by the shiny uniforms of TRIDENT, some kind of paramilitary organization: the type that always turns out to be nefarious in superhero comics.
And, of course, there's a Returned Nemesis, which is, as it must be, The One That Made Her Put Down The Hammer. (Guess who?) And, yes, She Crossed The Line back then, Doing What No Superhero Should Do (wink wink, nudge nudge), but it was Necessary To Save Us All.
I don't need to be that coy about it: it's laid out, in detail, in the very first issue collected here. Black Hammer is a lot of things, but, as I think I've said before, it's not subtle.
As seems to be required in every single Black Hammer story, Colonel Weird shows up to be wild-eyed and say things that don't make sense but will retroactively prove to have been completely true. We also have extensive flashbacks to 90s-era Lucy, featuring Skulldigger, Doctor Andromeda, and more than a few hints about the apocalyptic thing that is coming back in the main timeline. Those also allow the book to show Lucy in costume hitting things with her ginormous hammer, which is kind of the point of a book called Black Hammer Reborn.
I am sorry to say there is also an Incredibles-style "we can't use our powers, because we are Normal People now, and That Is Good" sub-plot, which looks like it will work out exactly the same way that subplot always works out in superhero comics.
Lucy only gets into her costume in the main timeline on the very last pages of this book, during the Tense Confrontation with someone I shouldn't specify. I suspect we'll learn, in the next book, that Things Were Not As They Seemed, maybe with another pocket dimension or some "Man Who Has Everything" kinda deal.
As usual with Black Hammer comics, I admire the skill and energy - writer Jeff Lemire is actually telling a different story this time, allowing it to move forward and everything; new artist Caitlin Yarsky does a lot of great dynamic work, and her covers are particularly strong - while not engaging with it on a visceral level at all. This is all deeply silly, paper-doll theatre, and I can't shake the feeling that only quite dull people could ever take it seriously.
There are two more Reborn collections; the "ongoing" ended last year after twelve issues. I expect I'll be back to see how it turned out, and hope for an ending this time. The side stories mostly had endings; those are pretty good superhero stories. The main 1996-era story, though, seems to be utterly insistent on never moving anything forward at any time. I'll have to see where this piece of the puzzle goes.
[1] I have convinced myself there was a Black Hammer before the main one, and can even call to mind vague panels in which he was discussed. I bet Lucy, our protagonist here, is generally referred to as "Black Hammer II," though.
[2] Remember this is superhero comics: everything is as literal as possible. "Black Hammer" is a Black person who has an absolutely ginormous Hammer, as it must be.
[3] It's the fourteenth collection, officially titled Black Hammer 5: Reborn, Part 1, for maximum confusion.
[4] Is this in some uncollected story, or is it just a gimme? No status quo in comics lasts forever, so of course they got out of the pocket dimension, eventually, somehow.
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