Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writers: Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden
Artist: Patric Reynolds
Editor: Scott Allie
Release Date: 4 November 2015
Price: $3.50

The hard-boiled detective genre gets a supernatural makeover at the hands of comic book veteran Mike Mignola. This is a tie-in to the illustrated novel Joe Golem and the Drowning City so some of you may already be familiar with the character and the premise.

For those of you that aren’t, Joe Golem Occult Detective #1 opens in 1955. Thirty years ago Manhattan was submerged by a tidal wave, which earned it a new name – the Drowning City.

In Joe Golem Occult Detective #1 Detective and occult investigator Simon Church is mourning the loss of many friends and associates when something decidedly nasty crawls out of the woodwork. Cut to 1965 and Church’s partner Joe Golem is having bad dreams about screaming demons and a vengeful monster made of stone and clay (could that be a clue?) whilst monsters lurk beneath the surface of the canals of the Drowning City pulling children into the murky depths.

How are these events connected? That’s what Church and Joe Golem have to find out in this first instalment of Joe Golem Occult Detective #1 in a three-part tale called The Rat Catcher. If Golem can keep the nightmares at bay and doesn’t get distracted by the cute schoolteacher he may just stand a chance.

Joe Golem Occult Detective #1 is cool and assured storytelling although the artwork is a little washed out for my taste. That aside, this is definitely one to look out for.

Reviewer: Gary Orchard
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker