Hammer, Volume 5: The Bird Kingdom

Stud lands in an apartheid-like Bird Kingdom, where he and his new friend are sentenced to death as a result of prejudice. Are Stud’s hammer hands enough to stop a flying army?

Our hero Stud is a 14-year-old boy whose father regularly abandons him on expeditions that he catalogs in his own journals. Having to fend for himself, Stud isn’t like most kids--he can turn his hands into hammers! Unfortunately, the kids in the village don’t think it’s cool and don’t allow him to join their own fun adventures. Considering that his father has always advised him that friends are the most important accomplishment a person can make, what’s a boy who can turn part of his body into metal to do? Go on his own adventures, of course!

When Stud stumbles upon one of his father’s journals detailing his past adventures with Tara, Stud’s mother, our young hero unknowingly makes a wish. Using ＂wishing coins＂ after reading a passage about them, Stud gets sucked into the book, and it is at the location of one of his parents’ adventures!

In Hammer, Volume 5, while uncovering clues to his father’s current location, Stud struggles against the Bird Kingdom, a prejudiced society where open-beaked birds with human faces are mocked and called ＂defeathered＂ by closed-beaked birds (who refer to themselves as ＂true birds＂). Kamaal, an open-beaked bird, decides to help Stud get another kingdom map so he can potentially get home. Unfortunately, in the heart of the Bird Kingdom, where the new map is, the law strictly prohibits human-faced birds and humans from roaming around freely. When King Crow catches Kamaal and Stud, they are sentenced to death. Stud’s going to need all his power to stand up for what’s right and take down a segregated society--and survive his death sentence.

Hammer, Volume 5 is rated Y for Youth, recommended for ages 10 and up.

Saturday AM, the world’s most diverse manga-inspired comics, are now presented in a new format! Introducing Saturday AM TANKS, the new graphic novel format similar to Japanese Tankobons where we collect the global heroes and artists of Saturday AM. These handsome volumes have select color pages, revised artwork, and innovative post-credit scenes that help bring new life to our popular BIPOC, LGBTQ, and/or culturally diverse characters.

Join in even more adventures with the other action-packed Saturday AM TANKS series: Apple Black, Clock Striker, Gunhild, Henshin!, Massively Multiplayer World of Ghosts, Oblivion Rouge, Orisha, Saigami, Soul Beat, Titan King, Underground, and Yellow Stringer.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the manga artist Jey Odin attended Savannah College of Art and Design, where he majored in Sequential Art. In addition to Saturday AM, many top publishers have published this prolific artist, including Antarctic Press, USA Today, and Oni Press. Known for his infectious laugh, Jey’s hobbies are drawing and reading comics, watching movies, listening to music, and having fun in general. When not creating comics, Jey is a fan of spending time in his home in Georgia with his wife and two hilariously cute dogs.