I was today years old when I realized Barbalien was a portmanteau of "barbarian" and "alien," because he's a Martian warlord. Embarrassing.

This Black Hammer prequel is a depressing flashback to the 1980s AIDS crisis with the closeted title hero starting to explore the gay scene in Spiral City and becoming involved with an HIV+ activist leading protests against government neglect of the issue. Barbalien doubles down on the lying about his secret identity as a police officer to seduce the activist with a third, new identity, becoming a de facto undercover operative. Between the unrelenting homophobia of the cops and civilian bystanders and the protagonist's big lie, I found little to draw me into the story. There are some promising side characters -- Dr. Day and the Sunshine Sisters, Knight Clüb -- but they get little time to develop as Barbalien chews up pages with morose introspection and pointless battles with a homophobic alien bounty hunter.

Jeff Lemire gets top billing on the cover, but the original pitch and script are actually by Tate Brombal, who did the recaps and character profiles in The World of Black Hammer Encyclopedia. ( )