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.
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. 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. 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. , at the premiere of the
film version of Red at
Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood California, October 12, 2010. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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." 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). 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). ==Bibliography==