Looking to tap into its proven track record and DNA in franchise development and fandom, Legendary Entertainment is officially setting things in motion to adapt decorated graphic novelist Jeff Lemire hit genre-bending, multi-layered Dark Horse comic series, Black Hammer, for film and television. As of Tuesday according to an announcement by Legendary, Lemire and co-creator/illustrator Dean Ormston will serve as executive producers.
The epic multi-book saga centers on a band of former heroes–Abraham Slam, Golden Gail, Colonel Weird, Madame Dragonfly, and Barbalien–exiled from Spiral City following a multiversal crisis. Time has long passed since their heyday as champions, now resigned to living simple lives in an idyllic, timeless farming village from which there is no escape – that is, until they employ all of their super abilities to free themselves from this strange purgatory. Little do they know a mysterious stranger will emerge in order to bring them back into action for one last adventure.
Black Hammer is packed with interweaving past and present stories, detailing the trials and tribulations of the heroes as well as the villains of Spiral City. It is described as a series that pushes the limits of what a superhero story can be, while always creating deep metaphors for human experiences. In Black Hammer, the characters come first, and the super hero aspects become the canvas to tell their stories.
Black Hammer was conceived in 2008 and launched in 2015 from Dark Horse. On top of six other nominations, Black Hammer became Will Eisner Comic Industry Award winner twice over by 2017.
Lemiere is already in the mix with several of his properties getting treated for film and television, including “Descender” and “A.D. After Death” at Sony Pictures, as well as “Underwater Welder” with Ryan Gosling attached to direct, “Essex County” at the CBC and “Gideon Falls” at Hivemind. Lemire is penning the screenplay for “Plutona” at Waypoint Entertainment.
Dean Ormston, a British award-winning 25-year pro well crafted and versed in comic books, animation and concept art, shares multiple credits with the majors, including D.C. and Marvel. Such titles are “Lucifer”, “Sand Man”, “Swamp Thing”, “Spider-Man”, “Superman”, “The Crow”, “Judge Dredd” and “The Predator”, in addition to concept for animation banner Mainframe, as well as designs used for Netflix series ReBoot: The Guardian Code, and concept art for a new series with Steven Seagle (Steven Seagle, Big Hero 6).
Angela Cheng Caplan of Cheng Caplan Company, Inc., Allison Binder of Stone Genow Smelkinson Binder & Christopher LLP and Charlie Olsen of InkWell Management brokered the deal on behalf of Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston in the highly competitive negotiation.