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Joe Golem: Occult Detective #1-4
Joe Golem: Occult Detective Omnibus
Joe Golem is an occult detective…and so much more.
In an alternate, half-submerged version of Manhattan, Joe Golem uncovers the truth behind strange and occult happenings that threaten the city’s inhabitants. But perhaps the biggest mystery of all is his own past. Fight demonic rats, pursue forbidden knowledge, and much more as Joe and his compatriots tackle the supernatural together.
Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden bring us a heartfelt and harrowing saga that combines hardboiled detective with emotional drama and lots of magic and mystery! Featuring art by Patric Reynolds and Peter Bergting with colors by Dave Stewart and Michelle Madsen.
Collects Joe Occult Detective Volumes 1–4.
In an alternate, half-submerged version of Manhattan, Joe Golem uncovers the truth behind strange and occult happenings that threaten the city’s inhabitants. But perhaps the biggest mystery of all is his own past. Fight demonic rats, pursue forbidden knowledge, and much more as Joe and his compatriots tackle the supernatural together.
Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden bring us a heartfelt and harrowing saga that combines hardboiled detective with emotional drama and lots of magic and mystery! Featuring art by Patric Reynolds and Peter Bergting with colors by Dave Stewart and Michelle Madsen.
Collects Joe Occult Detective Volumes 1–4.
536 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 11, 2022
11 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
Mike Mignola
1,873 books2,545 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 - 22 of 22 reviews
January 31, 2026
(Zero spoiler review) 3.25/5
The following will be a combination of my review for volume two, followed by my review of volume 4. Both perfectly encapsulates the Jekyll and Hyde nature of this four volume collection, and how I quickly fell in love, then even quicker, fell out of love with this series.
Volume two: Even better than the pretty damn solid opening volume, and with my main criticism more than mitigated in this volume. What more could a guy ask for. I really can't say how much I have fallen in love with this series. Yes, it has been a very brief affair, and its new, and a little bit scary, but it just feels right, ya know? Like its meant to be. Now I'm not saying were talking about moving in together, or marriage, or anything like that, but yeah, ya know. It's happened really suddenly, but were both really happy, and that's all that matters.
All carry on aside, everything I loved about the opening volume has been ratcheted up just that little bit more. The slightly scarce writing I mildly lamented in volume one has been significantly increased, with lots of words, and good words at that, which have gone together to continue to build an interesting world, containing complex and engaging characters, which continue to gain personality and polarise my opinion on just what their motives are, and just what I truly think about them. I'm actually pretty god damn impressed with the writing in this one. It rather perfectly encapsulates the old timey setting, and smoshes it together with some lovely Lovecraftianisms. Throw in my previous gushing praise for artist Patric Reynolds and you have yourself one helluva tight package. I'm off to read some more of it. No, I don't think were spending too much time together. Mind your own business.
Volume four: 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 boot. I couldn't have been happier with how the series was progressing and was literally gagging for more. 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, nor 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 Lovecraft, 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!
Sad but true. So yeah, as far as the omnibus goes, 4.5 for the opening half, 2.5 for the remainder. You do the math.
OmniBen.
The following will be a combination of my review for volume two, followed by my review of volume 4. Both perfectly encapsulates the Jekyll and Hyde nature of this four volume collection, and how I quickly fell in love, then even quicker, fell out of love with this series.
Volume two: Even better than the pretty damn solid opening volume, and with my main criticism more than mitigated in this volume. What more could a guy ask for. I really can't say how much I have fallen in love with this series. Yes, it has been a very brief affair, and its new, and a little bit scary, but it just feels right, ya know? Like its meant to be. Now I'm not saying were talking about moving in together, or marriage, or anything like that, but yeah, ya know. It's happened really suddenly, but were both really happy, and that's all that matters.
All carry on aside, everything I loved about the opening volume has been ratcheted up just that little bit more. The slightly scarce writing I mildly lamented in volume one has been significantly increased, with lots of words, and good words at that, which have gone together to continue to build an interesting world, containing complex and engaging characters, which continue to gain personality and polarise my opinion on just what their motives are, and just what I truly think about them. I'm actually pretty god damn impressed with the writing in this one. It rather perfectly encapsulates the old timey setting, and smoshes it together with some lovely Lovecraftianisms. Throw in my previous gushing praise for artist Patric Reynolds and you have yourself one helluva tight package. I'm off to read some more of it. No, I don't think were spending too much time together. Mind your own business.
Volume four: 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 boot. I couldn't have been happier with how the series was progressing and was literally gagging for more. 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, nor 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 Lovecraft, 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!
Sad but true. So yeah, as far as the omnibus goes, 4.5 for the opening half, 2.5 for the remainder. You do the math.
OmniBen.
February 6, 2023
I didn't realize Joe Golem was part of Mike Mignola's low-rent Outerverse - if I'd known, I might have skipped this omnibus. The Outerverse's two foes appear to be "WITCHES!" and "My God It's Full of Stars!" Joe Golem tries to straddle these battles, with the titular Golem battling witches in ancient times and then reborn as a hard-nosed detective with memory problems in modern-ish times (Drowned NYC is desperately underexplained). Detective Joe works with a long-thought-dead scientist to uncover areas of occult energy - mostly just people hunting for cosmic beings.
The first handful of stories are fairly straightforward. Something fishy is going on, Joe takes a look, takes a punch, solves the problem. All of this poorly woven with some witch-related backstory. The final two stories are longer, but more of the same, and therefore terrifically decompressed. 250 pages to tell what would be a Hellboy short.
Another lesser Mignola effort. He should really take his name off these materials that aren't nearly as good as classic Hellboy.
The first handful of stories are fairly straightforward. Something fishy is going on, Joe takes a look, takes a punch, solves the problem. All of this poorly woven with some witch-related backstory. The final two stories are longer, but more of the same, and therefore terrifically decompressed. 250 pages to tell what would be a Hellboy short.
Another lesser Mignola effort. He should really take his name off these materials that aren't nearly as good as classic Hellboy.
October 20, 2022
Dark and tragic and beautiful in a way that only Mignola seems to be able to foster, with Golden and multiple other talents on-board, this is a good, hefty volume to have, as it explains not only the genesis of the character, but his influences and goals, the delay in this version of him coming to press, and so on. I've been reading the Joe Golem novels on and off for a while, but didn't know these existed until recently. The literary rush to mine Lovecraft for what he's worth and leave the rest behind continues, and this is a lode you won't want to miss.
March 25, 2025
In a way this was a nice twist on classic Mignola's style. Flooded New York gives this series nice postapocalyptic feeling and noir detective stories fall right into place.
There are interesting flashes between past and present, where parts of Joe's history is revealed. Giving whole thing a mystery vibe.
Unfortunately, after first half, whole series falls into tracks well know from other series like Hellboy or BPRD. Fighting ancient evil awoken by some madman...
Some story lines and characters are left in the void without any conclusion. Character development is missing or is abandoned after few small ties. Whole series stops in the middle with kind of open ending, that wraps up actual story arc, but leaves doors for continuation of series as whole.
Art was pretty dark and gloomy and suited whole, almost lovercraftian atmosphere. But after first half consisting of shorter stories new artist came and whole thing became more rough and sketchy.
Not bad in particular, bud didn't delivered that 60'-70' feeling as in first few stories.
4* for first half 3* for second.
There are interesting flashes between past and present, where parts of Joe's history is revealed. Giving whole thing a mystery vibe.
Unfortunately, after first half, whole series falls into tracks well know from other series like Hellboy or BPRD. Fighting ancient evil awoken by some madman...
Some story lines and characters are left in the void without any conclusion. Character development is missing or is abandoned after few small ties. Whole series stops in the middle with kind of open ending, that wraps up actual story arc, but leaves doors for continuation of series as whole.
Art was pretty dark and gloomy and suited whole, almost lovercraftian atmosphere. But after first half consisting of shorter stories new artist came and whole thing became more rough and sketchy.
Not bad in particular, bud didn't delivered that 60'-70' feeling as in first few stories.
4* for first half 3* for second.
February 8, 2026
Occult Detective Joe Golem. A Part of the Mignola verse i am not familair with. But all Mignola books published by Dark Horse are well done, and i like ocult stuff and Detectives, so this was a no brainer. Strange creatures, creepy things and a great setting. Bring in on.
September 15, 2024
Very retro comics in the Mignola style.
February 1, 2025
Clean, fast moving stories. Beautiful artwork. This is how you create a fun, interesting book without making it overly complicated.
December 14, 2022
Одразу визначусь з оцінкою - трійка. Події наче мають глобальні наслідки, але все відбувається локально. В персонажів наче було якесь цікаве минуле, але нам про нього мало розповідають, зосередившись лише на головному персонажі. Сам Джо Голем - ходячий спойлер, що і підтверджують його флешбеки. До того ж, він і поводить себе як голем, прямолінійно; інколи наївний, під повним контролем містера Чьорча. Ще про двох важливих персонажів згадують під фінал, і антагоніст теж більшу частину історії сидить десь збоку.
Сеттінг - затоплений Нью Йорк середини минулого століття. Як венеція, тільки з хмарочосами на водах. Інколи зустрічається річкове таксі. Всесвіт той самий, що і в серії “Балтимор”, є навіть згадка про Червону Чуму.
Містер Чьорч. Окультний детектив старої школи, який завдяки механічним артефактам збільшив собі вік. Нажаль, м’ясна частина тіла продовжує старіти, а механіка поступово виходить з ладу, тому у нього є помічник…
Джо Голем. Джо і сам би брався за розслідування різної потойбічної діяльності, але у Чьорча і зв’язки, і маятник, який зручно вказує на карті міста, де саме відбувається чортівня. Як тільки чортівня стартує, в її локацію біжить Джо. Є у Джо одна проблема - він бачить сни про голема…
Голем у сиву європейську давнину вбиває відьом. Бо для цього його і створили. Сни у Джо про голема і вбивства відьом. Здогадатися, хто Джо насправді, не дуже важко. Щоб позбавити помічника снів, Чьорч поїть Голема особливим чаєм. Чаєм заспокоює та викликає амнезію. Як зручно, бо то не зовсім сни.
Отже, маємо пригоди Джо Голема, який бореться з потойбічним, п’є чай і майже забуває про своє минуле, аж поки в його життя не приходить кохання (ненадовго), антропоморфні монстри-газовики (вони носять костюми хімзахисту з протигазами і дихають незрозуміло чим) та чужі масштабні амбіції.
На мою думку, не краща робота Міньоли як сценариста. Допоможе вбити кілька вечорів, але, як на мене, рівня інших серій не досягає. Сюжетні арки експлуатують кілька міських легенд (монстр, що викрада дітей; велетенські пацюки; одержимість привидами (до речі, з дуже крутим поворотом); зомбі та культисти; потойбічна хрінь, яка готова розірвати тонкий шар реальності і знищити наш всесвіт… при нагоді… колись… як буде настрій та наснага) та інколи успішно створюють атмосферу міста, що поступово йде під воду, особливо коли художники зображають підводну і надводну частину тієї самої локації. Та от тільки не встигаєш відчути персонажів.
Сеттінг - затоплений Нью Йорк середини минулого століття. Як венеція, тільки з хмарочосами на водах. Інколи зустрічається річкове таксі. Всесвіт той самий, що і в серії “Балтимор”, є навіть згадка про Червону Чуму.
Містер Чьорч. Окультний детектив старої школи, який завдяки механічним артефактам збільшив собі вік. Нажаль, м’ясна частина тіла продовжує старіти, а механіка поступово виходить з ладу, тому у нього є помічник…
Джо Голем. Джо і сам би брався за розслідування різної потойбічної діяльності, але у Чьорча і зв’язки, і маятник, який зручно вказує на карті міста, де саме відбувається чортівня. Як тільки чортівня стартує, в її локацію біжить Джо. Є у Джо одна проблема - він бачить сни про голема…
Голем у сиву європейську давнину вбиває відьом. Бо для цього його і створили. Сни у Джо про голема і вбивства відьом. Здогадатися, хто Джо насправді, не дуже важко. Щоб позбавити помічника снів, Чьорч поїть Голема особливим чаєм. Чаєм заспокоює та викликає амнезію. Як зручно, бо то не зовсім сни.
Отже, маємо пригоди Джо Голема, який бореться з потойбічним, п’є чай і майже забуває про своє минуле, аж поки в його життя не приходить кохання (ненадовго), антропоморфні монстри-газовики (вони носять костюми хімзахисту з протигазами і дихають незрозуміло чим) та чужі масштабні амбіції.
На мою думку, не краща робота Міньоли як сценариста. Допоможе вбити кілька вечорів, але, як на мене, рівня інших серій не досягає. Сюжетні арки експлуатують кілька міських легенд (монстр, що викрада дітей; велетенські пацюки; одержимість привидами (до речі, з дуже крутим поворотом); зомбі та культисти; потойбічна хрінь, яка готова розірвати тонкий шар реальності і знищити наш всесвіт… при нагоді… колись… як буде настрій та наснага) та інколи успішно створюють атмосферу міста, що поступово йде під воду, особливо коли художники зображають підводну і надводну частину тієї самої локації. Та от тільки не встигаєш відчути персонажів.
August 15, 2025
This was... fine.
The initial stories largely seem to be one-offs, which is fine, as that is common in the Mignolaverse. Hellboy has lots of stories that are just meant to exist on their own. However, these stories are presented as though being part of a larger narrative for Joe Golem, and just don't serve that purpose.
Things happen, and they don't matter.
A major romantic interest is introduced, gains agency... and then is gone. Doesn't matter.
The background storyline is present, but really didn't need to be.
Then the final two storylines (split, like all of the series, really arbitrarily... why have one series end and the other pick up from the very same panel?) endeavor to be more cohesive, but kind of throw away what was built before.
Addition, there is really almost zero detective work done by this occult detective. I assumed this would be the Mignolaverse entering more urban fantasy detective noir territory, but it's barely even surface level.
Speaking of which, why is New York sunken here? I haven't read the prose novel yet, but it serves almost no purpose here. I was hoping that the city and the sunken nature would be more important to the storyline, but it really isn't, except for some artwork and one scene in the first book, one in the final one.
Overall, it's fine. I got it for a good price, and it was a quick read, so not much time or money wasted, but, as nice of a guy as Chris Golden seems, I think I prefer Mignola without him (similarly, I think I prefer Sniegoski without him); he seems to meander the storylines without much gain.
The initial stories largely seem to be one-offs, which is fine, as that is common in the Mignolaverse. Hellboy has lots of stories that are just meant to exist on their own. However, these stories are presented as though being part of a larger narrative for Joe Golem, and just don't serve that purpose.
Things happen, and they don't matter.
A major romantic interest is introduced, gains agency... and then is gone. Doesn't matter.
The background storyline is present, but really didn't need to be.
Then the final two storylines (split, like all of the series, really arbitrarily... why have one series end and the other pick up from the very same panel?) endeavor to be more cohesive, but kind of throw away what was built before.
Addition, there is really almost zero detective work done by this occult detective. I assumed this would be the Mignolaverse entering more urban fantasy detective noir territory, but it's barely even surface level.
Speaking of which, why is New York sunken here? I haven't read the prose novel yet, but it serves almost no purpose here. I was hoping that the city and the sunken nature would be more important to the storyline, but it really isn't, except for some artwork and one scene in the first book, one in the final one.
Overall, it's fine. I got it for a good price, and it was a quick read, so not much time or money wasted, but, as nice of a guy as Chris Golden seems, I think I prefer Mignola without him (similarly, I think I prefer Sniegoski without him); he seems to meander the storylines without much gain.
January 23, 2026
The art in this series is entirely gorgeous, unsurprisingly. Okay now that that is out of the way:
The full and complete excision of any mention of judaism or jewish culture or ANYYTHIIING in a book where the main character is a golem with amnesia is driving me to insanity. the ONLY mention of jewishness in general is when his girlfriend is looking up information/myth about golems based on his visions and shes like yeah theres a mention of a jewish golem. A MENTION. YOU MEAN THE INCITING MYTH??????? the golem created by a rabbi who was given a secret of life by god to protect his village from antisemites????? the only fucking golem myth???
meanwhile HERE he is created by christian-coded priests who belong to some weird cult group to hunt.... witches?????????? there is a SCENE of him PRAYING IN A CHRISTIAN CHURCH about his lack of a soul and i was losing my mind. this takes place in an alt universe new york with supernatural situations and the bad guys are frequently nazis and there is not a jewish person to be fucking seen.
it would have been so easy to mention SOMETHING. the priests stole it from a rabbi! or they're a multi-religious magic group! or SOMETHING. i dont think you have to be jewish to write a story with golems but im beginning to think you do need to to write a fucking GOOD one.
so though i enjoyed it in parts i must lowball this because what the FUCK christopher golden and mike mignola
The full and complete excision of any mention of judaism or jewish culture or ANYYTHIIING in a book where the main character is a golem with amnesia is driving me to insanity. the ONLY mention of jewishness in general is when his girlfriend is looking up information/myth about golems based on his visions and shes like yeah theres a mention of a jewish golem. A MENTION. YOU MEAN THE INCITING MYTH??????? the golem created by a rabbi who was given a secret of life by god to protect his village from antisemites????? the only fucking golem myth???
meanwhile HERE he is created by christian-coded priests who belong to some weird cult group to hunt.... witches?????????? there is a SCENE of him PRAYING IN A CHRISTIAN CHURCH about his lack of a soul and i was losing my mind. this takes place in an alt universe new york with supernatural situations and the bad guys are frequently nazis and there is not a jewish person to be fucking seen.
it would have been so easy to mention SOMETHING. the priests stole it from a rabbi! or they're a multi-religious magic group! or SOMETHING. i dont think you have to be jewish to write a story with golems but im beginning to think you do need to to write a fucking GOOD one.
so though i enjoyed it in parts i must lowball this because what the FUCK christopher golden and mike mignola
December 24, 2024
Zac gave this to me more than a year ago and said it was "the perfect book for me" because it's a paranormal noir by Mike Mignola (two of my favorite genres by my favorite comic writer/artist). He was absolutely right. I loved Joe Golem from beginning to end, especially with all the spooky shenanigans, his peculiar backstory, and the countless flatfoot fisticuffs. The art is incredible as well (although I wish Mike Mignola had drawn an issue or two!). No complaints. Great read! Please make more Joe Golem.
December 23, 2025
Reads like those mickey-spillane, max Allan Collins hard-boiled-ish detective novels.
Although I found the colour palette and art style through the graphic novel too sombre and depressing for my liking, I have to admit it definitely adds to the cheerless atmosphere of New York.
Loved the world building here; the combination of the drowning city, ala Venice, the Lovecraftian and eldtrich like horrors, steampunk-ish machinery elements mixed with occult epherema.
Although I found the colour palette and art style through the graphic novel too sombre and depressing for my liking, I have to admit it definitely adds to the cheerless atmosphere of New York.
Loved the world building here; the combination of the drowning city, ala Venice, the Lovecraftian and eldtrich like horrors, steampunk-ish machinery elements mixed with occult epherema.
August 22, 2023
My first thought on finishing this book was "Why does this exist?" Seriously, why?
"Joe golem and the drowning city" already exists. This comic version adds literally nothing. Well not literally nothing of adds pointless meandering backstory and a shallow adaptation of the novel (which I haven't read because it's not available in English for some reason)
This is pointless.
"Joe golem and the drowning city" already exists. This comic version adds literally nothing. Well not literally nothing of adds pointless meandering backstory and a shallow adaptation of the novel (which I haven't read because it's not available in English for some reason)
This is pointless.
October 7, 2023
Mignola, sets up a great cast of characters, but fails to follow through with the quality I’m used to seeing in his work. The characters are wooden and the plot is extremely repetitive. The same actions occur again and again without any advancement in the plot.
October 8, 2022
Haunting and atmospheric, these five tales really form one giant story about a man who may not actually be a man at all. Well done Mignolateam!
December 5, 2022
3.5 - not my favorite Mignola, but fun genre stuff with some good atmosphere.
January 18, 2024
First half 5/5 second half 3/5
March 9, 2024
Read the 20 individual issues. Interesting story, good art (even though a little inconsistent between the volumes).
September 28, 2024
Joe Golem is just about tailor made for someone who grew up in love with BtVS' Angel. That someone is me.
August 24, 2025
More like a 3.5. It took a while for this to connect to the rest of the Outerverse, but Mignola pulled it off. Not as much fun as Hellboy, but pretty good all the same.
October 28, 2025
continuing my October horror reads.
This is "horror adjacent" or "horror lite" like a lot of Mignola's stories.
Enjoyable story, fun world, great art.
This is "horror adjacent" or "horror lite" like a lot of Mignola's stories.
Enjoyable story, fun world, great art.
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