In 2017, Black Hammer received the Eisner — the industry equivalent of an Academy Award — for best new series. It was also nominated for best writer and won a second prize for best lettering. The Los Angeles Review of Books praised the series for its “compelling and emotionally terse world,” singling out the drawings of Ormston and the colors of Dave Stewart that “convey the heavy dread of a banal life simultaneously with the weird and fantastical elements threaded throughout the domestic drama.”

The farm setting is a special place for Lemire, 42, who was born and raised in a rural area in Essex County, Ontario. He began his career with “Essex County Trilogy,” a fictional version of his childhood upbringing. “I never thought in a million years I’d actually be able to write for Marvel or DC Comics,” he said, though he eventually found himself working, usually as a writer, for those companies, which are primarily known for their superhero fare.

“Black Hammer is my love letter to superhero comics as an indie comic,” he said. The series, he said, gives him a chance to explore stories that he might not have been able to do with flagship characters, who are often weighed down by years of storytelling or merchandising concerns.

There is a seemingly endless array of comic book-based fare on screens big and small, with more on the way. One reason comics appeal to producers is the potential to exploit an existing audience, noted Monica Landers, chief executive of StoryFit, which uses data and machine learning to predict content marketability. Another reason “is that there’s just a lot more story in the written development,” she said by email. “This means that producers have choices and can focus on the specific stories that will most resonate in this medium. For television series, this means that producers have a strong platform from which to grow and extend — like we’ve seen in ‘Handmaid’s Tale.’”