Sledgehammer 44 #1 Review: The Nazis New Problem

Nazis beware. The Sledgehammer has arrived.

If Hellboy didn’t give the Nazi’s enough problems, Mike Mignola and John Arcudi’s “Sledgehammer 44” is tough enough to eliminate the oppressive party’s appearances in comics permanently. Another World War II epic, this comic has enough grit and wit to keep Mignola’s biggest fans satisfied. It’s even cool enough to intrigue new ones into the fold.

Although our main good guy doesn’t say much of anything in his debut, he makes his presence felt. With a host of chatty young military men behind him, the comic has plenty of dialogue to support the action.

That has everything to do with Jason Latour’s solid art and Dave Stewart’s stellar as always coloring. Although the comic is far from colorful, it captures the essence of the battlefield well. The scale of the monsters is intense and instills fear. The highlight of the comic, robot battles in World War II, are fierce ones.

The visuals also possess an air of noire and have a retro appeal. The fight scenes in particular are fun and easy on the eyes. At the same time, it’s a little difficult to pick up on Sledgehammer’s abilities from the art alone. A closer look at the panels reveals the hero’s secrets, but with the action’s breakneck pace, a second glance hampers the flow.

Regardless, Latour’s is able to accurately portray the comic hero’s strength. Behind that, a solid origin story and a nice twist at the end of the issue, there’s plenty of staying power.

Nevertheless, with a lack of charisma away from his brute strength, Sledgehammer needs to come out of his shell a bit more in the next issue.

Otherwise, he’ll be a brainless wrecking machine.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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