Advance Review: ‘Hammerfist’ #2 Is Nonstop Action From Cover To Cover
by Tom Smithyman
First the heist and now the escape.
After a crazy first issue involving a scumbag main character getting involved in what turns about to be a supernatural bank heist, Hammerfist spends nearly its entire second issue focused on Mike Denton’s flight from a small town.
Mike’s clients are dead or captured by the Mothergrub cult. (Don’t ask what it is. We don’t know yet.) So he’s on the run from the zealots, who appear to be every person in the small desert town housing the bank. During Mike’s escape attempt, he runs into killer cops, a killer mailman, even — and hilariously — a killer librarian. (“You have to pay your dues, Michael. A good librarian always collects what she’s owed!”)
Credit writer Rick Remender for the quips. More importantly, thank him for crafting an issue that draws readers into the action and makes them forget they have little idea of what’s really happening here. We have far more questions than answer, but the pacing is so brisk that it really isn’t until we put down the issue that we realize we haven’t learned too much more about the cult and the relic that Mike stole.
That’s not a criticism; rather it’s a testament to Remember’s storytelling talents. Still, it will only work for so long. If we don’t start getting some answers, readers will begin to get frustrated. For now though, we’re good.
Depicting the nonstop action falls to Steve Epting, whose illustrations make the story easy to follow. Epting has plenty of material to work with here, from the knife-wielding letter carrier to a shotgun blasts in the library, as well as the introduction of some new characters we’ll hopefully learn more about in the next issue.
Who knows where Hammerfist is heading? But, so far at least, it’s been an enjoyable ride.
Hammerfist #2 — written by Rick Remender, illustrated by Steve Epting, colored by Matt Hollingsworth, and lettered by Rus Wooton – will be available Wednesday in comic book stores and on digital platforms from Image Comics.
