Judah "The Hammer" Maccabee #1 - G-Man Comics

JUDAH "THE HAMMER" MACCABEE No. 1, September 2021

It’s quite clear from Rik Offenberger’s foreword that this sixteen-page periodical is unquestionably a labour of both love and spiritual faith for “G-Man Comics” Editor-in-Chief. Indeed, such is the co-author’s earnestness to ensure that Issue One of “Judah The Hammer Maccabee” is “the most historically accurate version of the Chanukah story that we could tell using superheroes”, that he sought out a former professor of monotheistic religions to help keep this book’s three thousand year-old narrative as “honest” as possible.

Agreeably though, such devote solemnity doesn’t 'fall into the trap' of suffocating this one-shot’s storytelling, and instead is arguably one of its strengths as the script goes into some considerable detail setting the scene of Antiochus IV’s appointment of Menelaus to brutally “Hellenize the Jews”, as well as the subsequent rise of the titular character as the revolt’s leader following his father’s death. This context really helps ‘sell’ the sheer savagery of the Seleucid King’s ancient world, as well as emphasises the sense of displacement and identity loss felt by Mattathias’ more pious people following Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Jerusalem in 597 BC; “Many Jews learned Greek, took on Greek customs, and even took on Greek names.”

Of course, the meat of this publication understandably focuses upon The Hammer’s successful military campaigns against Antiochus’ generals using guerrilla warfare, and Maccabee’s subsequent rededication of Jerusalem’s great temple. However, those readers anticipating that such coverage would invariably lead to an action-packed battle sequence depicting Judah’s “force of ten thousand freedom fighters” battering the Greek Army across numerous pulse-pounding panels whilst the colourfully costumed protagonist mercilessly clobbers his opponents with his mighty mallet, will probably be disappointed due to the American writer merely touching upon the notable victory in favour of the infinitely less violent eight-day Menorah’s miracle.

This comic’s somewhat ‘textbook’ feel also debatably causes “Houdini: The Man from Beyond” artist Gilbert Monsanto to shoulder the lion’s share of its theatrics with his proficient pencilling. The “talented Filipino illustrator” provides some eye-catching layouts depicting the fall of “one of the oldest cities in the world” and superbly captures the stark terror in the eyes of the Greek soldiers as they witness the fervent ferocity of a population they foolishly thought they had already subjugated.

Writers: Rik Offenberger & Ismail C. Fenter, and Artist: Gilbert Monsanto