Featured
REVIEW: Hammer
Full disclosure: I’ve had the pleasure of knowing indie creative powerhouse Greg Anderson Elysee for nearly 10 years now. Throughout our friendship, I’ve witnessed his nonstop drive to create something poignant and exciting—not just for people of color, but for everyone. When you think of his name, you probably think of his iconic Is’nana the Werespider character, right? And you’d assume that with the rich worldbuilding in those trades, that would be the pinnacle. Right? Wrong.
In the last year or so, he’s introduced a new character—Hammer. And yes, his blow certainly packs a wallop.
Hammer unfolds in a dystopian future brimming with geopolitical intrigue, murderous AI, and a band of humans desperate to survive despite the eradication of everything they hold dear. It begins with a baby named Exodus… but then, all great mythical stories do, don’t they? Now that I reflect on it, the book carries a distinct Biblical resonance. Our lead, John (not to be mistaken for the fabled John Henry of African-American folklore), is everything you’d expect a messiah to be—larger than life, the embodiment of the change he seeks in a broken, subjugated world, and a beacon of hope for the surviving humans, who’ve become playthings of a cold-hearted robotic dynasty.
I was surprised by the violence—delicious as it was. Not that we haven’t seen it in Elysee’s previous work, but in this volume of Hammer, it felt newly visceral. No holds barred. Truly life and death. The stakes felt higher than in an Is’nana book, which makes sense given the demographic. This story doesn’t shy away from gore or the brutal reality humans are forced to endure. The opening alone had me clutching my proverbial pearls. Tension twines through every word, oozes into each panel, and just when you feel a moment of relief—it’s violently ripped away, leaving you with a heavy case of WTF.
Elysee never slows the pacing of the story he weaves. His scenes drive home the unpredictability of the enemy—creatures with wires instead of nerves, coolant instead of blood, and the inhuman detachment of genocidal machines dealing with checks notes “stupid flesh.”
David Brame’s sketchy illustrations complement a story that’s visually and tonally sharp-edged. I confess, some of the more hectic scenes were a bit hard to follow, but the dynamism reverberated throughout. I was particularly fond of John’s design ahem, but also of secondary characters like Ti-se. I’m a sucker for big hair and attitude. They gave off a Mad Max vibe I appreciated instantly. As for the machines, my favorite design and character was Selah—lively and thicc for a robot, haha.
In closing, I’m eager to see where John goes next. His mission is far from over. And with mechanized despots bent on his destruction, John’s going to have to bring the hammer down—and destroy them all.
Want to read it? Of course you do. Check out the link below to pre-order your copy of Hammer: John Henry vs the Robot Apocalypse – Act 1:
