Mignolaversity: Golden and Bergting discuss “Joe Golem: Occult Detective—The Drowning City”

Last month Dark Horse Comics announced “Joe Golem: Occult Detective—The Drowning City,” a five-issue miniseries adapting the 2012 illustrated prose novel by Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola. Except that’s not entirely true. Golden has bigger plans for the novel adaptation…

As well as that we have an exclusive first look at artist Peter Bergting’s interiors for ‘The Drowning City.’ And in case you missed it, here’s another look at Dave Palumbo’s cover for the hardcover collection coming out next year.

I think it’s fair to say that this next arc of “Joe Golem: Occult Detective” is going to be a big one, and not just because it’ll be a five-issue miniseries, as opposed to the usual two or three-issue miniseries we’ve had to date. ‘The Drowning City’ is an adaptation of Joe Golem and the Drowning City, the original illustrated novel published in 2012, and it is truly an epic tale.

Christopher Golden: It’s even more epic than you think. Volume Four of this series will be the other half. As “Baltimore” fans know, we approached the adaptation of much of that novel into comics quite differently, but in both cases, we are proceeding on the assumption that the material is new to readers. The “Baltimore” series including fragments scattered throughout the first four volumes that adapted most of the original novel, but “Joe Golem” is a very different animal.

The first two volumes of “Joe Golem: Occult Detective” were us starting over. We went further back into the history of Joe, Mr. Church, the Drowning City, and other characters and ideas we first explored in the novel, but we let it grow and change on its own without worrying about any continuity we set up in the novel. Relationships and characterizations deepened and shifted, particularly the relationship between Joe and Church. The introduction of Lori is a big part of that. We got to see a lot more of Joe’s history as the golem. Along the way, this niggling idea that we’d had—that the world of “Baltimore” and the world of “Joe Golem” were one and the same—turned into a reality. They’re one universe. That changed the way I think about the whole story, and so did all of the time I spent inside those characters’ heads and relationships. So by the time I started to work on ‘The Drowning City,’ I was no longer thinking of it as a straight adaptation, but as if we were telling the story of the novel in this new continuity.

That said, readers shouldn’t expect massive plot differences. The story follows the same path. But for me, the texture and atmosphere of the whole thing has changed, and we follow up on some elements laid out in earlier “Joe Golem” stories. It feels more real to me, and more a part of the same fabric, and the book feels like it’s something else—a blueprint.

The previous two volumes only covered a few years in the mid 1960s, but ‘The Drowning City’ leaps forward eight years to 1975. What does this time jump mean for Joe and Mr. Church?

Christopher: Well, we did time jumps in the first two volumes as well, but this is the biggest one. The major change for Joe and Mr. Church is in the context of having read the previous two volumes and knowing that Church has continued to mess with Joe’s head. We’re going to see big repercussions from that, but it’s changed Joe quite a bit from the Joe who was in love with Lori.

Peter, for ‘The Drowning City’ you’re working again Christopher. You previously worked together on the latter half of the “Baltimore” comics series. I can’t help but notice similar challenges lies ahead for you. Both “Baltimore” and “Joe Golem” existed as illustrated prose first, and another artist established these series for comics. How do you both balance honoring what came before in Golden’s prose, Mike Mignola’s illustrations, and Patric Reynolds’s comics pages, while leaving room to bring you own uniqueness to the work?

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Peter Bergting: Yeah, those are big shoes to fill. I’m in awe of what Patric did and my style is so different from his that I can only hope to bring some of his sensibilities to the art. I think I lean more towards the novel when depicting Joe, both in human and golem form. Probably more like a mix between Patric’s and Mike’s takes on the character.

Christopher: Peter is one of my favorite artists. When this volume concludes, I’ll have done more comics with Peter than with anyone, and it’s been a pleasure the whole way. I loved working with him on “Baltimore,” and I especially loved the nuance he brings to characters’ reactions to one another. Starting to tell the story of Molly McHugh, who becomes vital in Joe’s life, I knew Peter would give her true life—and he does. I think he’s doing some of the greatest work of his career on this book.

The preliminary work I’ve seen looks fantastic. There’s so much energy in those pages! I’ll be very interested to see how you bring the flooded 1970s Manhattan location to life. It is such a big part of this story, practically a character in itself. How do you research something like that? After all New York is a real setting, but this depiction of it is like no New York we’ve seen before.

Peter: I think it’s more a feeling than actual places since this is mostly a made up world. There are very specific landmarks that anchor it to New York, but when we hit street (water) level I dive deep into ’70s movies from NY and old photos to get the textures and decay right. I do love drawing people from that era as well. Christopher is fantastic with sending me reference links whenever there is something particular he had in mind.

Knowing a little of what lies ahead, all I can say is I can’t wait to see what you do with issue #3, with the graveyard sequence from Chapters Nine through Eleven of the original book. That sequence created such vivid images in my head when I read it, and without spoiling anything, I think it’s a moment that’s very much in Peter’s wheelhouse.

Christopher: I don’t think you should assume you know where certain scenes will fall in this series. 🙂

I thought Dave Palumbo’s cover for #3 was dead giveaway! Apparently not…

Peter: I’m drawing the last issue now and I was most excited to work on the street scenes to be honest. I’ve always looked for a challenge when working with others that take me out of my comfort zone as far as I know what I can draw. And drawing cities like that, being truthful to the script and the setting and then imbuing it with atmosphere is a challenge. I alway look at what Mike has done, but also Will Eisner and others who have really captured the spirit of New York. Looking at the graveyard sequence, it’s far from what I saw in my head when I started penciling it. When I saw the glorious colors for the first isssue I knew in my heart that I wanted Michelle [Madsen] to go wild on that sequence and subsequently took a step back. I concentrated on getting the action right since there’s so much stuff going on.

“Joe Golem: Occult Detective—The Drowning City” kicks off in September. Don’t miss it.

JOE GOLEM: OCCULT DETECTIVE
THE DROWNING CITY #1 (of 5)

Written by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden
Illustrated by Peter Bergting
Colored by Michelle Madsen

On sale September 12, 2018
Full color, 32 pages
$3.99
Miniseries

A psychic medium is captured by a crazed scientist desperate to find an occult object that will connect him to worlds beyond the veil, and paranormal investigator Simon Church and his hardy detective race to find the artifact with the help of the medium’s assistant before its supernatural side effects can destroy the city. But another mystery looms more than ever, as the occult detective searches for answers about his real identity and his past that’s been kept secret for so long.