The whole series is partly an homage to other comic books, but this seems to be a specific homage to specific books (like EC horror and there's even an explicit appearance by Milk and Cheese who I hadn't ever heard of before). It's a mixed bag and some of them were okay but were all absolutely ridiculous with their sudden whoah-gotcha (or whoah that's it) endings, and it seemed like trying too hard and not really accomplishing anything. Somewhat enjoyable (hey we like these characters) but also

The Patton Oswalt story was decent, I suppose.

Black Hammer creator Jeff Lemire gives some other creators a chance to play in his universe, with overall good results, although none of these stories really fall into the main continuity of the series."Transfer Student", written by Patton Oswalt, art by Dean KotzGolden Gail has trouble fitting into school, because, well, she's actually a middle-aged woman trapped in the body of a teenager. It's a fun story that tries to flesh out Gail's character and for the most part succeeds."The Cabin of Hor...

A good variety of tales in the Black Hammer-verse. I'm a tiny bit disappointed in the continuing focus on Abe or Barbalien as my personal favourites are Madame Dragonfly and the Colonel, although we do get some of their stories here.

A bunch of guest creators come in and write Black Hammer stories to mixed results.Transfer Student - by Patton Oswalt & Dean Kotz - ★★★★Patton writes a Gail story because who wouldn't want to write a Gail story. She's the most fun of all the Black Hammer characters. This is about a weird, smart girl who has just graduated high school and remembers back to the times she met Gail while growing up. The Cabin of Horrors - by Geoff Johns & Scott Kolins - ★★★Your standard homage to EC Comics / Tales f...

I was initially more worried than excited when I saw guest authors would be writing in Lemire’s sacred Black Hammer universe, because the series has been so strong thus far. Thankfully, Visions mostly hits the mark and are just fun one off tales that fit within the story without disrupting it. This collection has an issue for Golden Gail by Patton Oswalt, Madame Dragonfly by Geoff Johns, Abraham Slam by Chip Zdarsky, and then a sort of disjointed Colonel Weird tale by Mariko Tamaki which is alri...

in place of Black Hammer Visions #8

I'm not particularly thrilled with Jeff Lemire's take on his Black Hammer mythos, so I suppose it was too much to hope that seeing some other creators tackle it would suddenly make it more interesting.Patton Oswalt kicks it off with an okay story, and then each one gets a little less okay until we get to the nonsensical waste of space that Jill Tamaki contributes (though it does have the best art).

I found these snippets highly entertaining. These one shot anthology specials rarely do it for me, but there is something about these characters that I love coming back to every time.

A so-so anthology of four short stories based in the Black Hammer universe, with different writers and artists on each story.Let's have a look at each story.Transfer Student, written by Patton Oswalt and drawn by Dean KotzGail seems to be the most attractive character to this first set of authors (there are another four stories upcoming), and I get why - anger is an energy. She focuses on a character called Eunice at her school, who seems based on Enid from Ghost World. She's the weird kid. I ju...

This is a nice mixture of stories with nods and winks referencing everything from EC Comics to Ghost World, and some cool new takes on familiar characters.

Don't really know what to make of these stories. The one set in Rockwood doesn't make much sense because Rockwood is an imaginary place and the people are imagined up by Madame Dragonfly… So what, she's got them living out these entire lives while none of the Black Hammer crew are watching?Not sure what to make of the Soap Opera / Space Station business either.The Abraham Slam story is decent enough, though nothing really stands out about it. Same for the Madame Dragonfly business.Artwork throug...

More 3.5 stars.The world of Black Hammer continues to expand with this set of one shots by various creators. Going story by story…1. I have to say I was pretty disappointed in Patton Oswalt’s Golden Gail story. The man is known for being a big comic book fan and this story definitely comes off as if it was just written by a fan and not someone who knows what they’re doing. Oswalt declares his love for Black Hammer and Ghost World in this mediocre story.2. Geoff Johns delivers probably the best i...

Never as good as Lemire's own stories but it has some nice memorabele moments.

With 4 issues and 4 different authors you're going to get a mixed bag, and that's what this is. I really enjoyed the ones by Patton Oswalt and Chip Zdarsky (always a favorite author of mine). The one by Geoff Jones was pretty meh, and unfortunately the last one was way too weird. I'm interested to see which authors they'll being in for the next volume.

Fan fiction by established artists within the context of the Black Hammer world developed by Jeff Lemire, so your expectations can’t be too high. Relax and have a little fun, is the point. So in this first volume there are four issues:1) Transfer Student by Patton Oswalt and Dean Kotz has fun with Gail. This was okay, decently written.2) Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins do The Cabin of Horrors as a fifties horror site for the Black Hammer crew. Eh.3) Uncle Slam - by Chip Zdarsky and Johnnie Christma...

I love the characters that Jeff Lemire has created in the Black Hammer universe, however I don't think that the four writers in this anthology did those characters the justice that they deserve. They might not have done what I wanted with the characters but I still really did enjoy the first two stories. The first written by Patton Oswalt, who is the only celebrity included in the list of writers, was perhaps my favorite. It was essentially an ode to Ghost World by Daniel Clowes, which happens t...

Four stories set in the Black Hammer world, all by outside writers. Patton Oswalt's story is the only one that really appealed to me. It was the most interesting and in character story of the set. Geoff Johns turned in an EC horror inspired story that was ok, I guess. Maybe a little derivative, but not nearly as much as Zdarsky's story about a gracelessly aging Abraham. And then Mariko Tamaki shows up at the end with a bizarre piece of meta with the characters as actors in some kind of AU? I get...

If you dare wear short shorts…

A decent collection of guest written one-offs with the Black Hammer cast. Oswalt’s Ghost World homage with Gail and Zdarsky’s story of Abe learning to accept his retirement the hard way were the most enjoyable for me. Tamaki’s is the most ambitious and best illustrated, but its narrative is slippery and never cohered for me. Johns’s horror spin with the Cabin is boringly predictable.