This volume of Black Hammer answer’s a lot of the questions I had in the first volume, mainly since the comic is called Black Hammer, what happened to Black Hammer? this is answered and we get a really good flashback of how he became the hero Black Hammer. I picked this graphic novel up because I was looking for something new too read and this volume was nominated in Goodreads Reader’s Choice awards where it made it to the semi finals.

The Plot: Five heroes are stuck in a small town, after a hellacious battle to save Spiral city. The heroes don’t know why they are placed out in a rural town and spend most of there days on the farm, the ones who can be seen act like a family to not have suspicion arise. When we meet the heroes they have been trapped for 10 years. Abraham Slam is the leader and a hero of the bygone era He is over fifty and still strong as an ox he is the father figure, Golden Gail has the power of regeneration and flight, the purgatory of the town has stopped her regeneration, leaving her a fifty year old trapped in the body of a 12 year old, Colonel Weird comes straight from pulp as he is a former astronaut stuck between two vortexes, leaving his body and mind like a ghost not familiar with dates or time since they are relative to him. Madam Dragonfly is a witch that took a bad deal to save her daughter, and watches over a mysterious cabin, that was also transported to the town. Barbalien is a shapeshifting alien from Mars, and Walkie Talkie a female robot that Colonel Weird met on a mission. At the end of the first volume the Black Hammer’s daughter joins the heroes in purgatory, Madam Dragonfly erases her memory quickly before the other’s arrive, and just like the left she is stuck and can not remember how she got there. She ask important questions that gets some of the members of the team motivated to find a way out of there, but another member sabotages when to many questions are asked, but did the member do it out of malice, or did they preserve the event they’re going to witness soon?

What I liked: the Black Hammer backstory about how he became the hero and what happened on the farm that they can not escape. We got Walkie Talkie’s origin which was surprisingly very captivating. There’s two really good twist in the story lines, both that will involve the next volume. I liked the reveal that the majority of the heroes gave up on humanity and were ready to give it all up be for they were sent to purgatory.

What I disliked: It was too short! I wanted so much more, I still have so many questions about the town they live in, because I’m watching The Good Place it makes me think of that. I felt this volume took too much teasing the cliffhanger than exploring the characters. A little of the originality was gone as it borrowed plot lines from Marvel’s Inhumans.

Recommendations: I liked this volume a lot more than the first one, so if you read the first one you should definitely pick up this one, it’s a very easy read I read this volume in an hour. If you like the art form of graphic novels then this should be on your TBR. I rated this 4 out of 5 stars.