4 out of 5

While the incidia bills this simply as ‘Joe Golem,’ I’m giving you the subtitle here since it really gives you all you need to know.  I mean, no, not really – there are questions and curiosities in these three issues via Joe’s dreams of a 15th century village under siege by witches – is our detective somehow the same golem that’s raised during these dreams to bloodily smash those witches? – but that set aside, Mignola / Occult Detective / Golem is enough to set your pulpy imaginations properly a’flutter.

Another book-to-comic joint, a la Baltimore, it’s possible that history won’t get a full explanation here; that it was already detailed in text form.  Which is fine: Mignola (and Golden, though this book feels more written in Mike’s paced tones) is on point as ever in giving us enough information through context and visuals and snippets of conversation without having to overly exposit anything: an initial prologue shows a stone figure crumbling away to reveal human eyes beneath; Joe Golem lives with an older caretaker, also a detective, who applies a clay-like salve to Joe’s wounds (as Joe ponders whether or not he can actually drown…) and feeds him teas and medicines to keep those pesky dreams at bay…  So, yeah, explain it to us in your eloquent prose or don’t: we get it.  And it’s plenty of fun, like a more talkative Lobster Johnson – Joe investigating a series of kiddie disappearances, the most recent when something popped up from the lake and dragged a youngster under.  It takes Mignola and Golden all of one issue to send Joe beneath the waves in pursuit, all while establishing the ‘underwater city’ of New York in the 60s and Joe’s unique relationship with that caretaker, Mr. Church.

The resolution to this mini-arc is also a wonder, artist Patric Reynolds creating quite a world and mythology for this lake monster (the titular Rat Catcher), all within a few pages.  Reynolds reminds me of early Stefano Gaudiano – very naturalistic but stilted at the same time, which means the dialogue moments tend to shine, but action suffers.  Joe’s fights in the second and third books (spoilers?) lack a bit of – pun sorta intended – punch, and Reynolds seems to lose sense of space when he’s focusing on trying to generate energy in his foreground.  The flashbacks also felt rather disruptive.  Mike and Chris use the easy method of dreams to toss the bits in there, but they felt forced, and too long – this is our exposition without directly being so.  Shortening these sequences to flashes might’ve smoothed things out, but I guess Reynolds wouldn’t have gotten to draw as many gory witch-smashings then.

Either way, another great title to get in on the ground floor, and one I should maybe read the book now before I get too far along in the comics…