Joe Golem, Occult Detective: The Outer Dark

[middenway]

Coming in May...

[Kirby101]

Thanks for the heads up, love me some Joe Golem.

[Joker]

Glad this finally got announced. Patrick has been working on it for a while. Looks like it'll be killer!

[thwhtGuardian]

I'm hoping the art is better in this one as in the last ones the world just didn't feel engrossing enough to me.

[Joker]

I loved the last one top to bottom. In a pretty packed week of Mignola books, this is the one I'm most excited for tomorrow.

[Joker]

I guess nobody read this?

[grogtheslayer]

I did. I like the Joe Golem stuff, and this one is getting more involved, but I find the pacing to be a bit slow.

[Kirby101]

I liked it a lot. I thought the pacing was fine for a first issue-set up. The art was first rate, very immersive in the drowned city setting.
After another disappointing Visitor issue, The Lobster and this were top notch. And this week, the last Baltimore!
Am I right that this takes place after the last mini series, but obviously before the novel?

[Joker]

Have you read the novel? Spoilers... kinda?




this pretty much has to be set before the novel. But yes, they said these comics are set before the novel.

[Kirby101]

Have you read the novel? Spoilers... kinda?




this pretty much has to be set before the novel. But yes, they said these comics are set before the novel.

Yes, that is why I said it was obvious. But I can't remember the last mini clearly enough to know this takes place after. I assumed it does.

[Joker]

Oh I misread you. Yeah, this takes place after the last series.

[thwhtGuardian]

I really loved the whole pulp detective feel of the narrative, and that strength will certainly keep me reading, but the look of the world still bothers me. It's all too neat of a feel for a world that is supposed to still be recovering from an apocalyptic flood that killed thousands of people and left most of the city underwater. To borrow a description from Steven King, the Drowned City should look like a world that's "moved on". The buildings and walkways shouldn't look like they were always meant to sit on the water like a modern Venice, but rather look like a ruined landscape. The buildings should sag, and almost lean together like they're moments away from collapsing or being washed away by the constant ebb and flow of the tides and the walkways and bridges shouldn't look like well designed and up kept paths in some beautifully designed park but be ramshackle, cobbled together teetering monstrosities reflecting the desperate need to adapt to the sudden cataclysm.

That's what was in the novel and that's what made the place so unique and it's absence makes the story a little bland. The setting was a true character in the novel and without that the comics have felt less developed than the original.

[Shargor]

Oh that sweet feeling... http://community.comicbookresources....=1#post1338929

[Skinkie]

Oh that sweet feeling... http://community.comicbookresources....=1#post1338929

Good call.

[TDG]

I just read about the connection myself, that is actually a pretty awesome idea and likewise is discovering that some fans already were able to speculate about it from the clues they gathered years ago.

I have a question for those who read the Joe Golem novel. What is the state of the rest of the United States since the cataclysm?
Is the rest of the country also seriously affected? People in other cities also having to adapt to the new situation?
From what I read on wikipedia I strongly had the feeling that the rest of the US has remained relatively intact, perhaps being somewhat less advanced than the real US is around the same time technology wise.