Advance Review – Golgotha Motor Mountain #1 (IDW Publishing)

January 29, 2024

2–3 minutes

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer(s): Lonnie Nadler, Matthew Erman
Artist: Robbi Rodriguez
Colorist: Marissa Louise
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Release Date: 6th March 2024

On sale this March from IDW Publishing’s creator-owned “IDW Original” imprint, Golgotha Motor Mountain sees writers Lonnie Nadler and Matthew Erman teaming up with artist Robbi Rodriguez for a wild tale of drugs, mutants and alien space rocks.

Elwood and Vernon Damnage are a couple 0f meth cookers from Golgotha Knob, Kentucky. An undeniably likeable pair of rednecks with a Lennie and George dynamic, their plans to save enough cash to relocate to the Cincinnati, the “epicentre of culture and fancy living”, are scuppered quite spectacularly when a chunk of interstellar space rock comes crashing through the roof of their meth lab, destroying their latest batch.

However, being a resourceful pair of reprobates, they come up with a fairly risky Plan B, deciding to use the rock itself as the new product, grinding it down and selling it to their local friendly neighbourhood white supremacist gang. However, as is often the case when snorting mysterious glowing extraterrestrial rocks, there are some fairly horrifying side effects.

As anyone who is familiar with Lonnie Nadler’s previous comic book offerings will know, the man loves him some body horror. With a back catalogue including the likes of Come Into Me and The Sickness, his chops in the genre are well and truly established, and working here alongside co-writer Matthew Erman (Long Lost, Witchblood), it feels like the pair are having an absolute blast crafting and delivering this weird, dark and faintly comical situation.

Robbi Rodriguez does a fantastic job alongside colourist Marissa Louise on the visual side of the book, delivering a vibrant, cartoony and suitably bonkers aesthetic. Vernon and Elwood are suitably expressive, and the unusual masks they wear while they’re ‘cooking’ give them a wonderfully otherworldly vibe. Oh, and as far as the aforementioned body horror goes? Both artists absolutely knock it out of the park, packing the pages with a stomach-churning collection of melting flesh, tentacles and god knows what else.

The final pages hint at things going from bad to worse for our two leads as they head off to their next sale, leaving a trail of mutated customers (and one poor unfortunate squirrel monster) in their wake. I’m not sure if “Redneck Body Horror” was a genre before, but it damn sure is now. Nadler, Erman, Rodriguez et al have crafted something completely and utterly unique, and I can’t wait to see where this story goes next.

Rating: 4/5.

[PREVIEW ARTWORK – CLICK TO ENLARGE]