Otherness in Revival and Black Hammer
First Look for December 28, 2017
With the hope that I’ll be able to finish off a couple of story arcs that I planned on for December, today I took a first look at Revival #2 and Black Hammer #3. Published by Image and Dark Horse, I stepped back from the big two and found these two titles very enjoyable. Revival continues it’s rural noir but gets a bit less creepy in this issue while Black Hammer continues providing back stories for the heroes of the title. Interestingly, both deal with “otherness” with little sister Martha dealing with being murdered and having risen from the dead and Barbalien having to deal with rejection for peaceful beliefs on his home planet and homosexual feelings in Spiral City.
Revival #2
Chapter 2 by Tim Seeley and Mike Norton. Published by Image Comics 2012.
In the previous issue we were introduced to a town in Wisconsin where the dead have come back to life. This installment expands on the townsfolk and how they’re dealing with things, particularly Officer Cypress and her family. Last issue we found that the younger Cypress sister, Martha is a Reviver and in this installment, we see that she’s dealing with things in a fairly destructive manner – she’s getting into bar fights. With a lack of fear, Martha provokes drunken bar goers and of course one of them takes the challenge and beats the crap outta her. Fortunately the bar owner knows the older sister and calls her instead of other police. Interestingly enough, as the call comes in for Dana, she’s “involved” with a stranger in her car who she soon finds out is her new co-worker on the Revitailized Citizen Arbitration Team (RCAT).
This issue is crammed full of really cool scenes from the coroner’s lab where the mother from last issue comes back to life as soon as the doctor replaces the skullcap that was chopped off to the fake exorcism in the trailer park, while at the same time, it’s a bit less creepy than the first issue. Actually, the main scene that freaked me out was left as a cliffhanger that I think’ll be resolved in the next issue which I’m really eager to get to soon.
Black Hammer #3
The Warlord of Mars by by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston. Published by Dark Horse Comics 2016.
While last issue focused on Golden Gail, this issue takes more of a look at Barbalien and his origin and situation within the farming village. As we figured out from the title of the issue, Barbalien comes from Mars and I’m not sure if it’s a spoof or homage, but similar to the Martian Manhunter – J’onn J’onzz, Barbalien’s goes by the name Mark Markz. Homage or spoof, we see that Barbalien is truly isolated in this title – he was discriminated against on his homeworld because of his pacifism, came to Earth and is rejected by his police partner when he tries to get intimate, and now he’s stranded in this farming village. While he seems to have the powers of Martian Manhunter, it’s kinda heartbreaking how lonely he is portrayed but we do learn that he thinks he has found someone like him. We’ll see in future issues how true this is, but I sure hope he finds a place where he can fit in and be himself.
Apart from learning about Barbalien, we see that Abe Slam is getting along well with the ex-wife of the town sheriff and outside the town, there might be some hope that the heroes have made some kind of contact…the probe they sent out previously has been found and identified as part of Colonel Weird’s ship. This may be leading up to a return to Spiral City in future issues, we’ll have to see.