#black hammer: spiral city

[omercifulheaves]

Black Hammer: Spiral City #1 Art by Mike Mignola and Duncan Fegredo

[jkparkin]

Black Hammer: Spiral City #4 (Dark Horse, February 2025) variant cover by Cliff Chiang

[smashpages]

Black Hammer: Spiral City #1 (Dark Horse, November 2024) variant cover by Mike Mignola

[graphicpolicy]

Preview: Black Hammer: Spiral City #2

Black Hammer: Spiral City #2 preview. Inspector Insector sets up office in Supertown while an evil political force enforces its totalitarian policies on the city #comics #comicbooks

[found-family-tournament]

Found Family Tournament Round 1 Part 28 Group 140

Propaganda and further images under the cut

Rusties: Rodney Copperbottom, Lugnut/Lug, Fender Pinwheeler, Piper Pinwheeler, Diesel Springer, Crank Casey (& Wonderbot, Aunt Fanny, Cappy)

Protectors of Spiral City: Abraham Slamkowski/Abraham Slam, Mark Markz/Barbalien, Gail Gibbons/Golden Gail, Madame Dragonfly, TLK-E WLK-E/Talky Walky, Colonel Randall Weird (& Joseph Weber/Black Hammer)

Submissions are still open!

Rusties:

Within the societal structure of Robot City, there exists a social class referred to as Outmodes. Outmodes are robots whose parts are no longer being manufactured and, due to their economic status, cannot afford to purchase the newer, upgraded ones on the market. The fate of all outmodes is to be sweeped up, smelted down, and repurposed, when their old, broken bodies eventually fall apart. The Rusties are a ragtag group of outmodes living out of a boarding house. With the assistance of Rodney’s inventive prowess, they begin repairing other outmodes themselves. The film culminates in them fighting/defeating the evil robots responsible for the despicable treatment of outmodes.

Protectors of Spiral City:

A group of superheroes that once defended the sprawling metropolis of Spiral City. By killing the Anti-God, a malevolent cosmic being that threatened to destroy all of existence, they unwittingly upset the cosmic balance between good and evil. In order to prevent the universe from correcting itself and resurrecting the Anti-God, Spiral City’s heroes were forced to permanently exile themselves to another dimension. They now reside on a farm within the town of Rockwood, a timeless pocket dimension of sorts, where they attempt to pass themselves off as a (rather dysfunctional) family.

[geekcavepodcast]

"Black Hammer: Spiral City" Announced at Dark Horse

The next Black Hammer series from Dark Horse is Black Hammer: Spiral City from writer Jeff Lemire and artist Teddy Kristiansen. The comic will follow a new cast of characters struggling to survive in a chaotic world.

"Black Hammer: Spiral City picks up after The End, following the Second Cataclysm and the rearranging of the universe. Many of its lost heroes have returned, but there is no homecoming parade as anti-superhuman sentiment grows, fueled by recent events and stoked by Malcolm Gold, the former head of T.R.I.D.E.N.T, now running to become Spiral’s new mayor. Making matters worse, Spiral Asylum has shut down with many of its low-risk, mentally ill superhuman inmates being set loose into the streets." (Dark Horse)

Black Hammer: Spiral City #1 (of 7) goes on sale on November 13, 2024. The debut issue features a main cover by Teddy Kristiansen and variant covers by Mike Mignola, Matt Wagner, and Duncan Fegredo.

(Image via Dark Horse - Teddy Kristiansen's Cover of Black Hammer: Spiral City #1)

[thefreelanceangel]

"Seeing you like this is a rare treat."

Sweat soaked his hairline, a few streaks cutting through the soot on his face. Tiny black specks marred the leather apron, showing where sparks were flung up from his tapping hammer, and the acrid smells of the Goldsmiths' Guild rose even above the sweat-soaked cotton and leather he wore.

The dull edge of the barrel dug into the back of her thighs, adding another layer of ache on top of everything else she felt. Aetherical healing did quite a bit, but she'd not lingered long enough for them to finish up everything.

He reached up and cupped her face, leather glove hot against her skin, and carefully tipped her jaw up. "Look at me."

C'allie did.

"What happened? And why did you come here? To me?"

"Roronji."

His face hardened immediately. The fingertips against the side of her face tensed, pressing to her flesh, before he caught himself. "Was he going after you specifically?"

"Lyngnagl."

"...did you reach out to Mags?"

She rubbed her bare arms. Ul'dah wasn't known for a particularly cold climate, but the inner city didn't feel the desert sun in the same way. During the day, it became mildly warm. At night, it bordered on frigid if it wasn't on the ground level. Around them, the air felt too cold.

"She's dead," C'allie muttered.

"When?"

"A year back."

His thumb carefully moved over her cheekbone, pushing jagged locks of hair away from her skin. "Roronji?"

"Likely. Kadiar said a mining accident." C'allie's tail carefully moved, curling over her scraped knee. "He doesn't know anything."

"She didn't tell him?"

"No."

"You didn't tell them?"

Faces flicked through her mind. C'allie felt her left ear try to move when she winced, lopping against her hair. "No."

"Anything?"

"No. How could I?" She paused. "They know ... most of everything else. As much as is safe for them to know." She licked her dry lips. "They don't know about you."

He didn't say anything to that. How could he? The last time they'd come face to face, he'd shot her through the abdomen and she'd broken a blade off in his back. Mags and Lyngnagl'd both been alive, and in love. Roronji'd argued half the night about what they should do, only for that argument to spiral into what'd sent them all (bleeding) in separate directions. Who'd want to tell a family about that?

"Lyngnagl dead. Mags dead." He exhaled at last. "That explains why you came to me." C'allie's gaze shifted. His hand on her face exerted gentle pressure. "Look at me."

"If you'd taken this to Kugane," Osric Yar said calmly, "I likely would've helped Roronji hunt you down." His thumb ran lightly across her cheekbone before moving to her hanging ear. "Come. I'll tell the guild master I have a family emergency and we'll start piecing things together. Hm?"

[apocalypse-eyes]

Vermin (work in progress)

I.

My body is a rotten animal. My bicycle is left under the water. I haven't got to understand myself yet and I still came here to kill. I can pass through surfaces easily as my self is a semi-transparent layer. Dead water air and the stagnant sea. There was some paint on these hands when i found them.

The air is all saturated with smoke. I know you can see me when you look out your window. It doesn't really mean anything. Like peat soil, I'm standing in the way of the road. Cars look at me. And I forget what I'm supposed to do. Weren't you like this when you were still in your body? Some alcohol would change you, I can feel in this stomach now the way that you were. Your phone got destroyed in the water so there's no one else for now. The earth will tilt beneath us when I get sober. So you recover me. I found myself in dreams like you. The fallen trees in the forest that were incapable of decay. It's too late. The trees were all turned into ash, a fine white powder, while those grotesque tessellations of smoke replace their plumage.

The city used to be surrounded with trees. It was a part of the world. I don't know what these words still mean when I remember them. You take control at times I get too calm to follow death. Attached together, we're everything attached together. I can't really understand what you want except that missing a thumb like this is spiraling.

Your body is inconvenient. I went to your apartment when I found you and I pulled apart your strange collections. It seems you were in love, from the way that you didn't live in your room for a while. The plant there was dying. Its vines were all turning blond and brackish strands of hair, like pitiful handfuls can be clutched from a scalp. Your life was getting dismal with love.

I think that I came here to kill someone. There's signal interference. The pistol you kept in the closet, I took that out the first night and we walked around the city together. You start to understand yourself when it's losing connection. I was still damp from the fall. Still walking around there wrenched and bloody. You don't look them in the eye when there is smoke coming out of your clothes. Black smoke fills the sky at night and it turns back to white and red in the morning.

I keep walking home to your hole in the floor. The place you were disappearing. You're gone now, except those chemical reactions and you occasionally wake in the night. I need to keep drinking so I can stay in control of this terrible dream. You look at the ceiling or into the mess of green skeletons outside and keep thinking it won't be like this forever.

And everyone knows it's too late for pollution. You may as well eat the pigeons off the street. You may as well eat the rats and arthropods before the water rises. There's someone at the door. The window is broken so it's very cold in here. We talk in the surface of water that your face reflects and you try to explain yourself sometimes. I told you that we're going to kill. It doesn't seem to bother you much. It's just okay that we are going to kill someone. The world got to be like that while you were alive.

A clot of hair in the drain, that's how I describe it. I need to be inebriated to float back on the surface. The scraps of dead souls that can molder together. Spaces between, congealed tension and reconstitution. You understand it if you don't. No one thing or another. Those particles of smoke who pulled you out of the water when you died. It's not as simple as that. There isn't death.

You walk around with the body when I can't get numb anymore. He was at the grocery store again and it felt like falling under the water. The hammer from the wind that dragged you off the bridge. It was the grating in the middle that felt treacherous before. You get used to some things and then they kill you. I can't hate you like you wanted me to, and you can never want to be in love with me.

[cybercitycomix]

Top New Misc Comic Releases for the Week of November 13th, 2024.

Arcbound #1,

Barbarella #2,

Black Hammer: Spiral City #1,

GI Joe #1,

Heat Seeker Combustion Gun Honey #1,

Power Rangers Prime #1,

Resurgence XO Manowar #1,

Terminator #2,

Tmnt Mutant Nation #2 +

Wynd the Power of the Blood #1.

[waltwhitmansbeard]

"here. take this gun. don't pull the trigger unless it's absolutely necessary."

Can we get some sweet perc'ahlia, please? :D

here. take this gun. don't pull the trigger unless it's absolutely necessary. gonna set this one in gwtf since that's also my modern au, apparently.

The sound wakes Percy from a dead sleep, sends him shooting up from the pillow, eyes instantly wide and searching. It's pitch black in this apartment, black-out curtains drawn tight because it would take an act of the gods to get Vex to wake up with the sun. Even now, as his heart hammers a mile a minute, she's just barely stirring, still clearly in the clutches of sleep as she mumbles, "Percy darling?"

He heard it. A creaking, or maybe snapping? Something from the hall outside, he's sure. They're in a nice area of the city, all brick and marble, but that invites a different kind of danger, one where shiny things attract all manner of monsters in the dark.

He's just about to tell her what he'd heard when it happens again: a muffled bumping, just outside their door. That, at least, rouses her properly, gets her to sit up next to him. "What was that?"

He doesn't answer, because he doesn't know. Instead, he reaches into the stately nightstand beside the bed and pulls out his gun, the one she hates but he cannot go to sleep without. Her hand grips his shoulder. "Percival, don't."

Ignoring her still, he reaches back into the drawer and retrieves a second weapon, this one much smaller and less powerful. He twists around to press it into her hand. "Here. Take this gun."

Her eyes nearly pop out of her head. "In what world—"

"Don't pull the trigger unless it's absolutely necessary." This, he doesn't say, is why he wanted her trained, why he's been nagging her to go to the range with him sometimes, just so she's not a complete novice with the thing—but no, it's the archery classes she's been taking that are supposed to keep them safe.

He swings his legs out of bed and begins to pad out of the bedroom and into the living area, eyes scanning in the near total darkness. Nothing stirs, but as he approaches the front door, the sound grows louder, more insistent. He tightens his fingers around the grip of the gun. Behind him, Vex's shuffling gait pulls his attention—he'd really rather she stay back, keep hidden unless and until the worst happens—but he focuses on the task at hand. Silently as he can, he slips up to press his eye to the peephole.

Nothing.

The hallway is empty.

He turns back to Vex, who mouths, What is it? He shrugs. He undoes the chain and the deadbolt, and then slowly, so slowly, creaks open the door, the gun just at his side.

"WOOF!"

All the money in the world, and Percy never in a million years would have bet that the cause of all this worry is this, an enormous, shaggy, dark brown mutt panting happily in the hall, here on the fourth floor of their rather upscale building. Percy stares, gaping, at the dog, who boofs again.

"What the hell?" The door is wrenched open further as Vex strides up to get a look. Her squeal is nearly inaudible as she instantly falls to her knees, gun abandoned on the entry table. "Well look at you!"

There's a dog. A street dog, judging the matted fur and the stench, and Vex is letting it lick her face as if she's known the thing since it were a puppy. "Vex'ahlia..."

"Well move out of the way, Percival, and let him in!"

Things have spiraled out of his control so very, very quickly. Within seconds, Vex is inside on the couch with the dog, scratching behind his ears and ordering Percy to fill up a bowl with water for him. He obeys robotically, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that while he may have been fast asleep not five minutes ago, he is now a dog owner, whether he likes it or not.

"Vex'ahlia, he probably has fleas..." he attempts weakly, but Vex is already listing out all the things they'll need to do and get in the morning, like checking for a microchip and buying dog food and getting him to a groomer. Eventually, he leaves her to her whirlwind excitement, returning to the two firearms to their place in his nightstand drawer and crawling under the covers, resigning himself to whatever chaos awaits this house in the morning.

[smashpages]

SDCC | Jeff Lemire + Teddy Kristiansen present a ‘new beginning’ in ‘Black Hammer: Spiral City’

The seven-issue miniseries set in a chaotic new world begins this fall.

[graphicpolicy]

Preview: Black Hammer: Spiral City #1

Black Hammer: Spiral City #1 preview. From the ashes of Black Hammer: The End comes a new era and a brand-new cast of heroes struggling to survive in a chaotic new world set to destroy them #comics #comicbooks

[thelustybraavosimaid]

INTO THE DEEP DARK

They gave no answer, only prodded him with the points of their spears. He had no choice but to descend. Down a twisting passageway he went, narrow steps carved from the living rock, down and down. I must go up, he told himself. Up, not down. Why am I going down? Below the earth his doom awaited, he knew with the certainty of dream; something dark and terrible lurked there, something that wanted him. Jaime tried to halt, but their spears prodded him on. (Jaime VI, ASoS)

--

"...And then I find myself in front of the door to the crypts. It's black inside, and I can see the steps spiraling down. Somehow I know I have to go down there, but I don't want to. I'm afraid of what might be waiting for me. The old Kings of Winter are down there, sitting on their thrones with stone wolves at their feet and iron swords across their laps, but it's not them I'm afraid of..." (Jon IV, AGoT)

ADMONISHMENT

"He was going to burn the city," Jaime said. "To leave Robert only ashes."

"He was your king," said Darry.

"You swore to keep him safe," said Whent.

"And the children, them as well," said Prince Lewyn.

Prince Rhaegar burned with a cold light, now white, now red, now dark. "I left my wife and children in your hands."

"I never thought he'd hurt them." Jaime's sword was burning less brightly now. "I was with the king..."

"Killing the king," said Ser Arthur.

"Cutting his throat," said Prince Lewyn.

"The king you had sworn to die for," said the White Bull. (Jaime VI, ASoS)

--

He dreamt he was back in Winterfell, limping past the stone kings on their thrones. Their grey granite eyes turned to follow him as he passed, and their grey granite fingers tightened on the hilts of the rusted swords upon their laps. You are no Stark, he could hear them mutter, in heavy granite voices. There is no place for you here. Go away. (Jon VIII, ASoS)

FEAR

No. Terror closed a hand about his throat. Then his sword went dark, and only Brienne's burned, as the ghosts came rushing in.

"No," he said, "no, no, no. Nooooooooo!"

--

I scream that I'm not a Stark, that this isn't my place, but it's no good, I have to go anyway, so I start down, feeling the walls as I descend, with no torch to light the way. It gets darker and darker, until I want to scream." (Jon IV, AGoT)

POUNDING HEARTS

Heart pounding, he jerked awake, and found himself in starry darkness amidst a grove of trees. He could taste bile in his mouth, and he was shivering with sweat, hot and cold at once. (Jaime VI, ASoS)

--

Last night he had dreamt the Winterfell dream again. He was wandering the empty castle, searching for his father, descending into the crypts. Only this time the dream had gone further than before. In the dark he'd heard the scrape of stone on stone. When he turned he saw that the vaults were opening, one after the other. As the dead kings came stumbling from their cold black graves, Jon had woken in pitch-dark, his heart hammering. Even when Ghost leapt up on the bed to nuzzle at his face, he could not shake his deep sense of terror. (Jon VII, AGoT)

[rockislandadultreads]

Notable First Novels of 2023

Bellies by Nicola Dinan

I wore a dress on the night I first met Ming.

It begins as your typical boy meets boy. While out with friends at their local university drag night, Tom buys Ming a drink. Confident and witty, a magnetic young playwright, Ming is the perfect antidote to Tom’s awkward energy, and their connection is instant. Tom finds himself deeply and desperately drawn into Ming’s orbit, and on the cusp of graduation, he’s already mapped out their future together. But shortly after they move to London to start their next chapter, Ming announces her intention to transition.

From London to Kuala Lumpur, New York to Cologne, we follow Tom and Ming as they face tectonic shifts in their relationship and friend circle in the wake of Ming’s transition. Through a spiral of unforeseen crises—some personal, some professional, some life-altering—Tom and Ming are forced to confront the vastly different shapes their lives have taken since graduating, and each must answer the essential question: Is it worth losing a part of yourself to become who you are?

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Loretta Thurwar and Hamara "Hurricane Staxxx" Stacker are the stars of Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly-popular, highly-controversial, profit-raising program in America's increasingly dominant private prison industry. It's the return of the gladiators and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom.

In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death-matches for packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thurwar and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, she considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games, but CAPE's corporate owners will stop at nothing to protect their status quo and the obstacles they lay in Thurwar's path have devastating consequences.

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

Our narrator produces a sound from the piano no one else at the Conservatory can. She employs a technique she learned from her parents—also talented musicians—who fled China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. But when an accident leaves her parents debilitated, she abandons her future for a job at a high-end beauty and wellness store in New York City.

Holistik is known for its remarkable products and procedures—from remoras that suck out cheap Botox to eyelash extensions made of spider silk—and her new job affords her entry into a world of privilege and a long-awaited sense of belonging. She becomes transfixed by Helen, the niece of Holistik’s charismatic owner, and the two strike up a friendship that hazily veers into more. All the while, our narrator is plied with products that slim her thighs, smooth her skin, and lighten her hair. But beneath these creams and tinctures lies something sinister.

The Unfortunates by J.K. Chukwu

Sahara is Not Okay. Entering her sophomore year at Elite University, she feels like a failure: her body is too curvy, her love life is nonexistent, her family is disappointed in her, her grades are terrible, and, well, the few Black classmates she has just keep dying. Sahara is close to giving up, herself: her depression is, as she says, her only “Life Partner.”

And this narrative—taking the form of an irreverent, piercing “thesis” to the university committee that will judge her—is meant to be a final unfurling of her singular, unforgettable voice before her own inevitable disappearance and death. But over the course of this wild sophomore year, and supported by her eccentric community of BIPOC women, Sahara will eventually find hope, answers, and an unexpected redemption.

[allflooby]

Comics from Arcane for the week of December 18, 2024: Savage Sword of Conan 6, Milestone Universe: The Shadow Cabinet 2, Jonny Quest 5, Jenny Sparks 5, Green Lantern/Green Arrow World's Finest Special 1, Resurgence of the Valiant Universe 4, Epitaphs from the Abyss 6, The New Gods 1, The Rocketfellers 2, Star Trek Lower Decks 2, The Wrong Earth Dead Ringers 5, From the World of Minor Threats: Barfly 4, Dark Knights of Steel Allwinter 6, Daredevil 16, Black Hammer: Spiral City 2, Shadowman Soul Eaters 3, Action Comics 1080, Titans 18, Wonder Woman 16, Absolute Batman 3, The Question: All Along the Watchtower 2, Nightwing 121, and Nexus Scourge 1. Huge week. Seems like just about every DC title I get came in all at once.

[fandompost]

Black Hammer: Spiral City #2 Review http://dlvr.it/TGsWxC