Yes, BALL PEEN HAMMER is yet another post-apocalyptic graphic novel, which means it deals with a mysterious virus, the breakdown of society and the struggle to hold on to one’s humanity. But it’s not all the same ol’ same ol’. For one thing, there’s the introduction of a strange, hulking character who tattoos survivors with a number, only to come back later to hit them in the head with the tool of the title.
It’s also less about what happened and more about how those left are affected (and infected, as the case may be). Two storylines are followed, one of a guitarist whose body is so racked with infection that he soaks his feet in bleach. The other is of a pretty young girl who once spent the night with him, and now is knocked up, so she’s desperately seeking him.
Each interacts not with one another, but a stranger. For our musician, it’s a gay man who comes bearing a typewriter and canned peaches. For our girl, it’s a 13-year-old boy with quite the dirty mouth. In both hideouts, the smell is unbearable, which could either be attributed to the sack of dead children in the corner, the malfunctioning toilet or the bucket of piss the woman throws at the boy.
Adam Rapp’s story aims higher than the usual. It doesn’t end the way you’d expect it to; in fact, it hardly seems to end at all, which is appropriate for this tale. You’d better believe it’s bleak, and reaches levels of disturbing devastation. George O’Connor’s art is right there with him, helping portray the suffering and misery as Rapp intended.
Some of the seriousness is subdued by a ridiculous choice for a font, however, looking like one of the two dozen that come installed with a Gateway PC. It also doesn’t help that it’s rendered in happy-go-lucky lowercase. When will indie comics publishers understand that lettering is an art, not an afterthought?
That’s the only thing going squarely against BALL PEEN HAMMER. I can’t say it was a pleasure to read, but it provokes a genuine response in the reader. —Rod Lott
Related posts:
- The Witches’ Hammer
- BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Hammer and Tongs
- The Blue Hammer
- Act of Treason
- The Museum of Horrors
