Advance Review: Steve Epting’s Illustrations Give You A Great Reason To Pick Up ‘Hammerfist’ #1
by Tom Smithyman
Overview
A Bank robbery is a mystical twist and outstanding artwork highlight this ongoing series’ first issue. The story is interesting enough, but gazing at illustrator Steve Epting’s artwork is worth the price of this issue — and then some.
Overall
9/10This is no typical heist job.
The new ongoing series Hammerfist centers its premiere issue around a bank robbery. But to be clear, this isn’t a typical break-in.
In the hands of writer Rick Remender, the robbery resembles something out of the occult, including quasi-religious zealots, some incantations, and a mystical gauntlet. This is not your father’s ATM.
The story follows hitman Mike Denton, a scumbag junkie and absentee father who gets involved with husband and wife William and Cindy. They make him an offer that’s too good to be true, but too irresistible to pass up. So Mike signs on as a trigger man in the robbery with the promise that no one will get hurt. His only job is to keep his clients alive.
You know what they say, “If it sounds too good to be true…”
What happens next defies belief and serves to continue the story in unpredictable ways. As to be expected in a the first issue of an ongoing series, Remender gives us a lot more questions than answers. But is also feels as though at least some of the answers are coming relatively soon.
While you’re waiting for those revelations, artist Steve Epting’s illustrations will give you something to marvel over. From the first splash page at a trailer park, to the initial reveal of Mike, to the inexplicable bank robbery, Epting draws us in with his detailed renderings.
Mike’s client Cindy pops off the page to the point where you swear you’ve seen her before. In fact, there’s that element across all Epting’s work here. You feel as if you’ve been in this small-town bank before or have run into Mike at a bar. We may not be sure where the story is going, but we trust Epting to get us there.
It will be interesting to see if this series remains grounded in Mike’s world or if matters gravitate to the more supernatural. In any case, if Epting is drawing, it seems like a journey worth taking.
Hammerfist #1 — written by Rick Remender, illustrated by Steve Epting, colored by Matt Hollingsworth, and lettered by Rus Wooton — will be available in comic book stories and on digital platforms on August 26th from Image Comics.
