Pretty sure Winter Men was supposed to be more than 5 issues originally, but for one reason or another, it started hitting delays after issue 3. About six months between that and issue 4, then another five months to get to issue five. Then almost two-and-a-half years for this, conclusion, of sorts.
Issue 5 ended with what could have seemed like a big victory. Kalenov, Nikki, Nina, Drost, all working together to expose corruption and bringing down a bunch of ex-KGB guys. Everyone celebrates, Kalenov has himself a good time with the Mayor's secretary, Drost celebrates having a wife and couple of dogs for pets.
Winter Men Winter Special starts from the premise all victories are temporary. Someone is attacking them, trying to wipe out witnesses and anyone working against them. Someone strong enough to throw a car through a fifth story window. And it's somehow connected to the little girl that went missing back at the start. Kalenov finds that he will never get what he claims to want, and may not even be able to keep what he has. He has a brief time with his wife, but she leaves him again. He ruins things with the Mayor's secretary by being an abusive asshole, which also burns the bridges between he and some of his friends.
The final confrontation against the one behind everything is not his to have, contrary to what you might expect from the page above. Even then, Kalenov can't get himself off the board. He's the one left over. The Hammer makes a comment that chess is beloved in Russia because no move is ideologically impure. So Kalenov can take whatever approach he likes, but he's still in the game, whether he wants to be or not. No final victories that bring everything to a halt, no true endings. The survivors go on, and there are always more battles to face.
Visually, the Hammer does feel a lot like Dr. Manhattan, although Edwards reverses the color scheme somewhat. Though he seemingly glows as a result of his power, the Hammer himself is often as much or more shadow than light. It's everything around him that is overwhelmed by the energy he gives off, reduced to a blue background or black outline. What everyone else desired or strives towards get overwritten by what he's trying to accomplish. But only temporarily, as it turns out. Powerful as he is, he can't win forever, either.
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