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Joe Golem: Occult Detective
Joe Golem: Occult Detective, Vol. 4: The Conjurors
Joe Golem is dead. Or is he? The supernatural mysteries continue in the latest volume of the post-apocalyptic series.
Simon Church is fading fast in the city above and Molly is held captive by Dr. Cocteau's gas-men below, but something stirs in the tunnels. How much of the golem is still in the man, or the man in the golem? And can either be enough to stop Dr. Cocteau once he has the artifact he seeks?
The end of the adaptation of Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden's hit novel is collected for the first time in this hardcover edition. It features art by series veteran Peter Bergting (The Untamed) and colors by Michelle Madsen (Witchfinder, Crimson Lotus).
Collects Joe Golem: Occult Detective - The Conjurors #1-#5.
Simon Church is fading fast in the city above and Molly is held captive by Dr. Cocteau's gas-men below, but something stirs in the tunnels. How much of the golem is still in the man, or the man in the golem? And can either be enough to stop Dr. Cocteau once he has the artifact he seeks?
The end of the adaptation of Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden's hit novel is collected for the first time in this hardcover edition. It features art by series veteran Peter Bergting (The Untamed) and colors by Michelle Madsen (Witchfinder, Crimson Lotus).
Collects Joe Golem: Occult Detective - The Conjurors #1-#5.
136 pages, Hardcover
Published March 10, 2020
3 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
About the author
Mike Mignola
1,867 books2,535 followersMike Mignola was born September 16, 1960 in Berkeley, California and grew up in nearby Oakland. His fascination with ghosts and monsters began at an early age (he doesn't remember why) and reading Dracula at age 13 introduced him to Victorian literature and folklore from which he has never recovered.
In 1982, hoping to find a way to draw monsters for a living, he moved to New York City and began working for Marvel Comics, first as a (very terrible) inker and then as an artist on comics like Rocket Raccoon, Alpha Flight and The Hulk. By the late 80s he had begun to develop his signature style (thin lines, clunky shapes and lots of black) and moved onto higher profile commercial projects like Cosmic Odyssey (1988) and Gotham by Gaslight (1989) for DC Comics, and the not-so-commercial Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (1990) for Marvel. In 1992, he drew the comic book adaptation of the film Bram Stoker's Dracula for Topps Comics.
In 1993, Mike moved to Dark Horse comics and created Hellboy, a half-demon occult detective who may or may not be the Beast of the Apocalypse. While the first story line (Seed of Destruction, 1994) was co-written by John Byrne, Mike has continued writing the series himself. There are, at this moment, 13 Hellboy graphic novel collections (with more on the way), several spin-off titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien and Witchfinder), three anthologies of prose stories, several novels, two animated films and two live-action films staring Ron Perlman. Hellboy has earned numerous comic industry awards and is published in a great many countries.
Mike also created the award-winning comic book The Amazing Screw-on Head and has co-written two novels (Baltimore, or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire and Joe Golem and the Drowning City) with best-selling author Christopher Golden.
Mike worked (very briefly) with Francis Ford Coppola on his film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), was a production designer on the Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and was visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). He lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter, a lot of books and a cat.
In 1982, hoping to find a way to draw monsters for a living, he moved to New York City and began working for Marvel Comics, first as a (very terrible) inker and then as an artist on comics like Rocket Raccoon, Alpha Flight and The Hulk. By the late 80s he had begun to develop his signature style (thin lines, clunky shapes and lots of black) and moved onto higher profile commercial projects like Cosmic Odyssey (1988) and Gotham by Gaslight (1989) for DC Comics, and the not-so-commercial Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (1990) for Marvel. In 1992, he drew the comic book adaptation of the film Bram Stoker's Dracula for Topps Comics.
In 1993, Mike moved to Dark Horse comics and created Hellboy, a half-demon occult detective who may or may not be the Beast of the Apocalypse. While the first story line (Seed of Destruction, 1994) was co-written by John Byrne, Mike has continued writing the series himself. There are, at this moment, 13 Hellboy graphic novel collections (with more on the way), several spin-off titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien and Witchfinder), three anthologies of prose stories, several novels, two animated films and two live-action films staring Ron Perlman. Hellboy has earned numerous comic industry awards and is published in a great many countries.
Mike also created the award-winning comic book The Amazing Screw-on Head and has co-written two novels (Baltimore, or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire and Joe Golem and the Drowning City) with best-selling author Christopher Golden.
Mike worked (very briefly) with Francis Ford Coppola on his film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), was a production designer on the Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and was visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). He lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter, a lot of books and a cat.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 4, 2020
This picked up quite a bit after vol. 3 plodded along. We get to see where Joe came from along with of course some elder gods. We also get some allusions to the Red King from Lord Baltimore. I didn't realize the two comics were set in the same universe until reading the forward to Baltimore Omnibus Volume 2. Golden and Mignola have termed this the Outerverse. Peter Bergting is a good choice for the art.
April 24, 2021
(Zero spoiler review)
God damn am I pissed at this shit fest. This time yesterday I was halfway through the series and singing, no, shouting the praises of this book. Volume's one and two were a solid lesson in slowly ratcheting tension, world building, character development, and some sublime artwork to go along with it. I couldn't have been happier with how the series was progressing and was gagging for more of it. Fast forward 24 hours, and I am in shock at how something so good shat the bed so completely and thoroughly. EVERYTHING in this is worse than what came before it, and I include the underwhelming and rather average volume three in that equation. The main character all but disappears to champion a female child, whose shoddy character development and banal dialogue had me wanting to tear out the pages she was featured on. The carefully created world up until now simply has a whole bunch of uninteresting crap thrown at the wall that was neither adequately foreshadowed, now well executed. The earlier foreshadowed villain is a woeful caricature of what had been a brooding, dark and compelling individual a handful of issues before. Any interest I had in the novels earlier characters died on the pages of volume three, when the writer apparently had an aneurysm and forgot the style and substance he'd already created. Instead, offering something akin to some god awful YA writer doing their generic best impersonation at something Lovecraftian, with a dabbling of bad superhero fodder thrown in for seasoning. Seriously, seldom have I seen such a complete and utter fall from grace. Where something so good became something so bad so quickly. If this comes across as an aimless, angry ramble, its only because I'm so disenfranchised with something I had come to care about, then almost immediately have that passion be pissed all over with his drivel. Why was Reynolds and Stewart taken off this book? A travesty is what it was. Should I ever stoop to re-reading this series again, I will end at volume 2, and try and convince myself that the forlorn and impactful end to that volume was the end to the series proper. No one involved in this should be proud of it. FAIL! 2/5
OmniBen.
God damn am I pissed at this shit fest. This time yesterday I was halfway through the series and singing, no, shouting the praises of this book. Volume's one and two were a solid lesson in slowly ratcheting tension, world building, character development, and some sublime artwork to go along with it. I couldn't have been happier with how the series was progressing and was gagging for more of it. Fast forward 24 hours, and I am in shock at how something so good shat the bed so completely and thoroughly. EVERYTHING in this is worse than what came before it, and I include the underwhelming and rather average volume three in that equation. The main character all but disappears to champion a female child, whose shoddy character development and banal dialogue had me wanting to tear out the pages she was featured on. The carefully created world up until now simply has a whole bunch of uninteresting crap thrown at the wall that was neither adequately foreshadowed, now well executed. The earlier foreshadowed villain is a woeful caricature of what had been a brooding, dark and compelling individual a handful of issues before. Any interest I had in the novels earlier characters died on the pages of volume three, when the writer apparently had an aneurysm and forgot the style and substance he'd already created. Instead, offering something akin to some god awful YA writer doing their generic best impersonation at something Lovecraftian, with a dabbling of bad superhero fodder thrown in for seasoning. Seriously, seldom have I seen such a complete and utter fall from grace. Where something so good became something so bad so quickly. If this comes across as an aimless, angry ramble, its only because I'm so disenfranchised with something I had come to care about, then almost immediately have that passion be pissed all over with his drivel. Why was Reynolds and Stewart taken off this book? A travesty is what it was. Should I ever stoop to re-reading this series again, I will end at volume 2, and try and convince myself that the forlorn and impactful end to that volume was the end to the series proper. No one involved in this should be proud of it. FAIL! 2/5
OmniBen.
June 7, 2021
ah well.
The cover art is lovely, but creators shit the bed on the story and artwork in this volume.
The series could have been something special if they had continued stories of Joe Golem investigating small phenomena, but it instead they went over the top end of the world plotline. Lovecraftian doesn't have to be end of days.. it can be spooky and disturbing short stories that conclude with the investigator or artist simply continuing their normal existence with a rotten sense of existential dread inside them... I just really was not a fan of the writing in this one.
The cover art is lovely, but creators shit the bed on the story and artwork in this volume.
The series could have been something special if they had continued stories of Joe Golem investigating small phenomena, but it instead they went over the top end of the world plotline. Lovecraftian doesn't have to be end of days.. it can be spooky and disturbing short stories that conclude with the investigator or artist simply continuing their normal existence with a rotten sense of existential dread inside them... I just really was not a fan of the writing in this one.
May 6, 2021
Review is for all 4 collected volumes of the graphic adaptation of the novel.
I went in blind based on the name 'Mignola', who has never disappointed. You won't be either. Climb on and go for the ride through a fantastical yet comfortable location, with new yet familiar characters, and original yet recognizable villains.
I went in blind based on the name 'Mignola', who has never disappointed. You won't be either. Climb on and go for the ride through a fantastical yet comfortable location, with new yet familiar characters, and original yet recognizable villains.
November 26, 2021
A resolution, and a transformation - all pretty enough. But really just another back door transformation of interesting story line, transformed to female lead, because not willing to create something new - even in the same universe, but no let's just substitute and pretend.
October 31, 2020
Nice ending ... beginning?
I enjoyed the whole run, which follows a golem turned man who works as a detective.
I was glad to see a distinction made between white witches and the inhuman witches from prehistoric times in this volume. I understand that Mignola, Golden and other contributors are working with old stories of witches and monsters, but witches in Mignola's work have been much maligned. That cannot make religious witches happy.
I particularly liked Joe's relationship with the girl, and the girl herself.
Naturally, the book won't make much sense unless you read the rest of the series.
If you cannot buy the books, check them out from a library. You won't regret it.
I enjoyed the whole run, which follows a golem turned man who works as a detective.
I was glad to see a distinction made between white witches and the inhuman witches from prehistoric times in this volume. I understand that Mignola, Golden and other contributors are working with old stories of witches and monsters, but witches in Mignola's work have been much maligned. That cannot make religious witches happy.
I particularly liked Joe's relationship with the girl, and the girl herself.
Naturally, the book won't make much sense unless you read the rest of the series.
If you cannot buy the books, check them out from a library. You won't regret it.
August 30, 2020
Joe the golem detective finally ends his journey, as does his caretaker, the secretive occult investigator Simon Church. The details on Church are intriguing but feel too little, too late to add the kind of dimension this story needs. When it all takes place in a ruined city, how much more is the story going to ruin it?
July 11, 2022
3.5 stars
In a fairly satisfying conclusion to the series, various characters get their just desserts, Joe wanders off into undersea realms and a large number of lovecraftian tentacles appear in the sky over a half-drowned New York.
In a fairly satisfying conclusion to the series, various characters get their just desserts, Joe wanders off into undersea realms and a large number of lovecraftian tentacles appear in the sky over a half-drowned New York.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2023
really disappointing final vol. , I haven't read the novel so I'm not sure if Molly was so ridiculous OP originally, but her portrayal in this last story arc really is poor.
She has the wrong tone for the series, spunky ok, this almost superheroish portrayal I'm not a fan of.
She has the wrong tone for the series, spunky ok, this almost superheroish portrayal I'm not a fan of.
May 31, 2020
They saved the best for last.
October 11, 2024
3/5 - Graphic Novels
4/5 - Horror
4/5 - Characters
3/5 - Story
3.5/5 - Rating
4/5 - Horror
4/5 - Characters
3/5 - Story
3.5/5 - Rating
January 19, 2026
The ending had a lot of action from the start. It brought all the stories together and provided more history for Joe. It felt like a good way to wrap everything up for this series!
September 14, 2020
I think I missed a volume. Joe’s story went from occult detective with a murky past and a steady girlfriend to big clay witch killer with sever memory loss quite suddenly. I like the series, but this was a significant step down from the other volumes I’ve read.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews