Advance Review: ‘Hammerfist’ #3 Continues To Deprive Us Of The … Hammerfist

The name of the series is Hammerfist, so please use the Hammerfist!

We’re now three issues into this interesting ongoing title created by the veteran team of writer Rick Remender and artist Steve Epting. We’ve seen the Hammerfist crammed into a bag, but we haven’t seen it in use. We get the setup. Now give us what we want.

Use the Hammerfist!

During this entire issue, the would-be hero Mike Denton (he’s really anything but, except he may be the only thing stopping the fall of the world) hides from the bad guys as they usher in Black Moon and reintroduce the Mothergrub to the world. If you have no idea what any of that means, join the club.

Also, if you want to see the Hammerfist, join the club!

Then the baddies discover him, but he still resists using the weapon that the antagonists all fear.

I mean seriously, is this complicated? Use the &*(#$% Hammerfist!

Look, I get it. Remender has certainly heightened our anticipation for actually seeing the Hammerfist at work. At this point, though, we have no idea what to expect. So if it isn’t something that completely blows us away, it’s going to be a tremendous disappointment.

So for the love of all that is holy, use the Hammerfist!

All of this anticipation takes away from Epting’s amazing illustrations. The evil humans look bad enough before they transform into non-human things. But his Mothergrub (technically Nygrith the Mothergrub) is truly terrifying.

Which, you would think, would be reason to use the Hammerfist!

Alas no. We need to wait for the next issue — at least — before the creative team unleashes whatever wonder they have in story for us. But it needs to be spectacular.

Hammerfist #3 — 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.