Indie Spotlight - Stealth Hammer #1

Stealth Hammer is a self-published all-ages superhero adventure set in a world of high-tech gadgetry and supernatural mythology. Created by writer Ryan Drost with art by Joel Jackson, and Alexandra Scott, with colours by Evan Evens, Laci Julio Santos, and letterer Dave Sharp, Stealth Hammer aims to be a cross between Stargirl, Mega-Man and Jim Henderson’s Creature Shop. With Stealth Hammer #3 currently funding over on Kickstarter, there’s no finer time to jump on board. 

Stealth Hammer tells the story of Jami Taylor an ordinary girl living an ordinary life in a somewhat quiet suburban town. Our adventure begins with Jami taking her boyfriend Karl home to meet her inventor father and her uncle Alexander - also an inventor/scientist. We start to get a slice into the sci-fi element during this home visit as Jam takes us - and Karl - into her basement which also happens to house her father’s experiments. Various equipment and experiments litter this area with everything from dark matter and alt relatives begging to be explored. One thing that takes Jam’s notice is her necklace which seems to be forming the basis of some work into stealth technology. Before she has time to react, and explosion rocks the lab and she’s hit by falling debris. Cut to a few hours later and we catch up to Jami as she’s recovering from her injuries. We then find out that the explosion has caused Jam to fuse with the dark matter within the room which has also granted her superhuman abilities based on her father’s other experiments. 

With her uncle Alexander being at the forefront of causing the explosion, Jami, now known as “ Stealth Hammer” heads out to track her uncle down and bring the nefarious scientist to justice. But, is there someone else pulling the strings? 

Stealth Hammer #1 plays it pretty safe with its origin story. Across this opening issue, Drost gives us a simple origin story to Jami, as well as introducing us to her world and its inhabitants. There’s a lot going on in this issue to lay the foundations to what comes in issue 2. While the wider magical element is simmering just below the surface, Drost keeps this origin story grounded by focusing on the more technological side of his world. There plenty of sci-fi mumbo jumbo as we see Jam take on the role of Stealth Hammer as well as that traditional “superhero dress up montage”. 

The biggest leap in world-building is the issue's second story which taps into the more magical side of things as we’re unexpectedly introduced to gnomes and sinister fairies. For me this jump did come as a complete surprise with the narrative not really explaining how we jumped from Jam escaping on a high-tech hover bike, to being out of her depth in the dark murky wasteland of Iceland. It’s also a story that’s surprisingly not picked up in the series second issue (review coming soon!). Aside from a very brief appearance of Marzanna to close out the main narrative, this one could simply act as a standalone adventure and we’d all be none the wiser. 

With Stealth Hammer being billed more towards the all-ages readership, it’s packed to the rafters with plenty of vibrant and lighthearted content. Characters all take on an anime feel with the whole comic bathed in that Saturday morning cartoon feel. Action sequences are very over the top and there’s plenty of times where Jackson and Scott’s art breaks panels and gives us various perspectives. Everything flows incredibly well and there’s a lot of detail given in each scene to set the atmosphere whilst keeping you focused on the story that Drost is telling.

Overall, Stealth Hammer is a nice introduction to a new all-ages comic book. It’s got plenty that’ll appeal to both young readers and fans of superhero comics. With issue #1 Ryan Drost and his team deliver an origin story that slightly taps into those cliched moments but remains entirely unique at the same time. With plenty of superhero stories readily available, Stealth Hammer offers a different spin on the tried and tested genre.

Rating: 7.5/10

Issue #3 is currently seeking crowdfunding on Kickstarter. You can check out the campaign page by clicking here. 

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow us on X/Facebook @GeekCultureRev, TikTok/YouTube @Geekculturereviews, and BlueSky @geekculturereviews.bsky.social