Black Hammer: Jeff Lemire Says “Hammers Are Spinning” on Live-Action Adaptation (Exclusive)

At any given point, Jeff Lemire and his ensemble of artist collaborators have a handful of comics ready for release. This year alone, the writer has released issues of Little Monsters, The Bone Orchard Mythos, and Black Hammer. In a couple of days, a television adaptation of his Essex County comic will be released, and Netflix just announced the premiere date for Sweet Tooth Season Two, another Lemirian staple.

Last year, the writer teased some announcements regarding a potential Black Hammer adaptation, which he says is still very much in the works. “They can, but I literally cannot say a word about it, I got in trouble [for sharing teaser on Tales From the Farm],” Lemire tells us. “Wheels are turning. Hammers are spinning.”

Is Black Hammer really ending?

Reborn will soon be followed up with Black Hammer: The End, which is set to see release towards the end of this year. At one point The End was set to end the series, though Lemire has since reversed course and confirmed Black Hammer stories will continue beyond the upcoming volume. “I can’t leave these characters and this world behind. Not completely,” Lemire wrote last November on his newsletter.

In our recent chat, Lemire says the Black Hammer story will culminate in the highly anticipated Black Hammer: The End, even though the comics will continue to be created after that.

“The end is of everything I’ve done so far. It’s sort of culminates. It brings everything together, all the spinoffs, all the miniseries and everything into one big, huge story and sets the table or cleans the slate for the next era of stories in that world, which I’ve just started working on with Teddy Christensen doing some art for me,” he adds. “It’s exciting to come to an end point of all the stuff I’ve been doing for the last five years and try to reinvent it for myself in a way, refresh it for myself and get excited about it again which has been really cool.”

The latest Black Hammer comic, The Last Days of Black Hammer, is now available wherever comics are sold. The show based on Lemire’s Essex County will debut on CBC beginning March 19th.