Career
Since Hamner's 1992 debut on Green Lantern: Mosaic for DC Comics, he has worked for nearly every major American comic book publisher, and is chiefly known for such titles as the aforementioned Green Lantern: Mosaic, Blue Beetle, and Red. He is also one of the original members of Atlanta's Gaijin Studios. Hamner also helped start and acted as Creative Consultant to 12 Gauge Comics, publisher of such titles as The Ride, Gun Candy, Body Bags, and O.C.T.: The Occult Crimes Taskforce.
His work can be seen in Top Cow's 2005 Warren Ellis series Down. That same year in DC Comics' "Infinite Crisis" storyline, the publisher debuted Jaime Reyes, the third incarnation of the superhero Blue Beetle co-created by Keith Giffen, John Rogers, and Hamner, and whose visual look was designed by Hamner. He was the regular artist for that character's monthly series in 2006 and 2007, leaving that title with its tenth issue, though he continued throughout the following year as the regular cover artist for that book.[6] Black Lightning: Year One, written by Jen Van Meter and illustrated by Hamner, was released in 2009 as a miniseries and as a trade paperback collection in 2010, and was subsequently nominated for two Glyph Awards.[7]
In March 2009, it was announced that Hamner had signed an exclusive contract with DC Comics, and in June 2009, he began his run on the monthly Detective Comics, featuring The Question.[8] After concluding his year-long tenure on that character and in light of the pending release of the film version of Red, it was announced that Hamner would return to both write and illustrate the Paul Moses character for a 40-page prequel called Red: Eyes Only.[9]
In 2010, Summit Entertainment released Red, a feature film adaptation of the 2003 comic book of the same name that Hamner illustrated with writer Warren Ellis, starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich and Richard Dreyfuss.[10][11]
On June 9, 2011, it was revealed by DC Comics co-publisher Jim Lee that Hamner had been enlisted in a substantial role to help guide the initiative to redesign DC's stable of characters as part of the "New 52" line-wide relaunch.[12] On July 12, Comic Book Resources reported DC's announcement that Hamner would be teaming with writer James Dale Robinson for the first three-issue story arc of a new 12-issue series starring The Shade.[13] Among these tasks, Hamner was given the opportunity to design the new standard Batsuit for this continuity. The black trunks were removed from Batman's gray bodysuit for the longest period in the character's history, where it had only occasionally appeared that way in the late 90's.
On July 19, 2013, Red 2, the sequel to Red, was released in North America. The film stars Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lee Byung-hun, Anthony Hopkins, and Helen Mirren, with Dean Parisot directing a screenplay by Jon and Erich Hoeber. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $18.5 million and finished in fifth place, which was lower than the $21.8 million its predecessor earned in October 2010. According to exit polling, 67% of the audience was over 35 and 52% was male. Red 2 grossed $53.3 million in North America and $94.8 million overseas for a total of $148.1 million worldwide.[14]
In the spring of 2015, Hamner reteamed with writer Greg Rucka to produce a two-issue coda to their run on the Renee Montoya character in Detective Comics. Convergence: The Question was released by DC Entertainment in April and May 2015.[15]
On August 14, 2015, it was announced that NBC was developing an hour-long based Red television series produced by screenwriters Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber, along with Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian. Lionsgate Television and Di Bonaventura Pictures Television would be producing the series.[16]
On June 17, 2016, Lionsgate announced that it would be teaming with Indian actor/producer Anil Kapoor's AKFC production banner on a Hindi version of Red for the Indian market.[17]
On June 21, 2017, Red producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura stated that a script for Red 3 had been commissioned, and that he was "waiting for [it] right now."[18]
In August 2017, it was announced in The Hollywood Reporter that Hamner would be returning to DC Comics to illustrate Batman And The Signal, a three-issue mini-series teaming Batman and the Duke Thomas character (now known as The Signal). The series is written by Scott Snyder and newcomer Tony Patrick (a graduate of the DC Comics Writers Workshop).[19][20]
In August 2023, Warner Bros. released the feature film version of Blue Beetle, directed by Ángel Manuel Soto and starring Xolo Maridueña, Susan Sarandon, and George Lopez. The film centers around Hamner's co-creation, Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes).
