Q&A: Author Christopher Golden on Collaborating with Mike Mignola for JOE GOLEM: OCCULT DETECTIVE – THE OUTER DARK & New HELLBOY Movie

The worlds of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellboy, and Alien have been intriguingly explored by Christopher Golden on the printed page, and the prolific author has delivered just as many thrills for readers in his original works over the years, including the adventures of occult detective Joe Golem. With Joe Golem: Occult Detective — The Outer Dark #1 out now from Dark Horse Comics, we had the immense pleasure of catching up with Golden for our latest Q&A feature to discuss Joe Golem, his work on the upcoming Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen film, and much more, and we've also been provided with the exclusive cover and preview pages for The Outer Dark hardcover that's due out in 2018.

Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us, Christopher. For those who are unfamiliar, when did you and Mike Mignola first come up with the idea to collaborate on the Joe Golem comic book series for Dark Horse?

Christopher Golden: The character and his world first appeared in the novel Joe Golem and the Drowning City, which Mike and I did in 2012. During the writing of the book, we talked a lot about the world and how expansive it is. There were so many stories to be told, such history for Joe and for Simon Church, and there was a much longer arc that we hoped to explore for Joe after the events of the novel. We’d already been doing the Baltimore comics series, and it just seemed natural for us to start exploring Joe Golem’s world in comics.

Having written an amazing amount of novels, short stories, and comic books (and that’s not to mention the anthologies you’ve edited), you’ve shown incredible range with your prose over the years. What do you enjoy the most about the writing style you and Mike get to play with in the noir world of Joe Golem?

Christopher Golden: I’ve talked many times about the freedom that comes from working with Mike. Part of that is creative freedom in the sense that Mike’s achieved a level of success that gives him control of the finished product. But the more important element is the mad inspiration that comes from working with Mike. It feels like there are no rules when we work together. I’ve spent my entire career playing in the gutters between genres, writing things that are part-horror, part-fantasy, part-mystery, part-romance, part-thriller, and Joe Golem is the absolute pinnacle of that desire to work with the constraints that the urge to categorize genres places on many storytellers.

We’ve seen Joe go through the wringer in past issues. How do you think Joe has changed since you first introduced him to readers?

Christopher Golden: Well, we first introduced him in the novel, which takes place seven years after the events in The Outer Dark, so let’s focus on how he’s changed from the first comics miniseries to now. He’s slowly becoming less innocent. Even though Church is constantly wiping the parts of his memory that endanger their present status quo, Joe is growing smarter and wiser and more suspicious. There’s a sadness that comes along with that, a level of denial. Their relationship is very complicated—father/son, mentor/student, boss/employee. Call it what you want. Mr. Church tells himself that he wants what’s best for Joe, and that’s true. But what will happen when a time comes when what’s best for Joe and what’s good for Simon Church do not coincide? We shall see.

The other way in which Joe’s changed is that he’s matured as a man. He’s got this relationship with Lori, and that’s complicated, too. Fighting monsters and catching criminals is simple, and Joe finds a certain comfort in those things. But dating? That’s confusing as hell, even when you don’t have Joe’s memory problems.

Do you have any favorite occult detective or noir characters or stories (on the page or the screen) that have influenced and inspired you while working on the Joe Golem comics?

Christopher Golden: I’ve loved plenty of occult detective stories, of course, but I wouldn’t say any of them have particularly influenced Joe Golem. It’s pretty frickin’ weird. That said, I’m a huge classic film fan, and there’s definitely some Humphrey Bogart and some Robert Mitchum in Joe and in the world of this comic.

In addition to facing a new villain in the Drowning City in Joe Golem: Occult Detective – The Outer Dark #1, it sounds like Joe will be dealing with some personal demons as well. What can you tell us about The Outer Dark storyline that you’re excited for readers to experience?

Christopher Golden: The balance in this series is always about exploring the character stuff and Joe’s history (and I’m excited to give readers a few more carefully chosen moments from that history), and just having a damn good time. These ingredients we hit on—noir mystery, historical mysticism, a dash of steampunk here, a few ounces of Lovecraftian horror there, add Nazis to taste and stir—they’re always fun to play with. The Outer Dark taps into some important elements of this series and lays the groundwork for the future in a big way, including a lengthy cameo from Dr. Cocteau, who is in many ways Simon Church’s nemesis in this era of Church’s story. Plus…rats.

In addition to your work on the Joe Golem series, it was recently announced that you, Mignola, and Andrew Cosby have written (and are continuing to work on) a screenplay for the new movie Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, which is set to be directed by Neil Marshall. As someone who has written Hellboy novels and edited anthologies featuring the beloved demon, what was your reaction when you were brought on to help bring Hellboy back to the big screen, and what can you tell us about the story, tone, and characters that fans can look forward to seeing and experiencing in Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen?

Christopher Golden: Obviously there’s VERY little I can say here, but the way it came about was pretty funny. I’d spoken to Mike several times during the initial stages of developing the script. He was trying to work some ideas out and finally I mentioned sort of offhand that I’d be happy to jump in. He said something like, “I was hoping you’d say that.” As if it would have been an imposition for him to ask. I was half-kidding when I suggested it, but obviously I’m thrilled to be a part of the development process. I’m sure it’ll change a lot before it hits the screen, but as I’ve said before, the closer they get to translating Mike’s vision to the screen, the better the movie will be.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and you’ve done wonderful work for that franchise through your official novels that are set in that world. With the show celebrating the two-decade milestone, what are some of your fondest memories of working in that universe?

Christopher Golden: I did an essay recently called “What Buffy Did For Me.” I could write an entire memoir of the experience I had working with the books, comics, video games, etc. tied into that series, and it would be almost entirely pleasant memories. I love the characters still, and I place a high value on the ground the series broke. It’s valuable to our culture and valuable to me as a person. I made a lot of friends, chief among them James C. Leary (Clem), the late Robin Sachs (Ethan Rayne), and of course, Amber Benson, who is one of my closest and most trusted friends, truly a member of my family. If the whole experience had been terrible, it would’ve been worth it just for that.

I have a thousand stories, from running lines with James Marsters on set (with me reading the part of Buffy) to John Ritter telling me filthy jokes in an interview because he knew I couldn’t use them in an official publication. And the fans. Wow, the fans. Buffy has some of the greatest fans of anything, ever.

Two of my favorite books written by you are Straight on ’Til Morning and The Boys Are Back in Town. I absolutely cherish those stories and the characters that inhabit them. Looking back at those two works in particular, what stands out to you about your experiences writing them?

Christopher Golden: Funny that you chose those two (and thanks for the kind words). The first half of Straight on ’Til Morning is almost entirely autobiographical, and The Boys Are Back in Town draws heavily on my own high school experience and my hometown. They were wonderful experiences for me—and writing is hardly ever that cheerful an experience—because I was painting something dark and full of magic over something real. I love those books.

With Joe Golem: Occult Detective – The Outer Dark #1 now on shelves from Dark Horse Comics and The Outer Dark hardcover due out in 2018, what other projects do you have on deck that you can tease? Are there any special episodes of your podcast, Three Guys with Beards (also featuring the great Jonathan Maberry and marvelous James A. Moore), that listeners can look forward to? Also, where can readers find you online?

Christopher Golden: Hmm. Well, online I’m on Facebook and on Twitter @ChristophGolden, as well as at my website, www.christophergolden.com. Three Guys with Beards tends to go on hiatus for much of the summer, and I think that’s going to happen. You’ll definitely see another episode or two before the end of June, and then we’ll vanish until sometime in August, I suspect. We had James Marsters on recently, which was a blast, and Dan Brereton, a favorite of all of ours. We’re going to do more episodes without guests, where it’s just us talking about the things we love. Listeners seem to like those episodes as much as we do, and we’ve only done two of them, ever.

As for what’s coming from me… my novel Ararat recently came out, as did my anthology Dark Cities. The new Hellboy anthology, Hellboy: An Assortment of Horrors, is coming in August. In June, you can pick up Indigo, which is a mosaic novel I’ve written with nine other authors—not an anthology, an actual novel. It’s superhero-noir-fantasy-horror… so nicely twisted. And I’ve recently finished Blood of the Four, an epic fantasy novel I’ve co-written with my buddy Tim Lebbon. That’ll be out in February from Harper. So I think next up for me is a nap.

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Check out our exclusive cover reveal and preview pages for Joe Golem: Occult Detective – The Outer Dark hardcover below, and visit Dark Horse Comics for more information on the first issue of The Outer Dark.