The Faulkneresque setting of the IDW comics series ‘Golgotha Motor Mountain’
In the comics series Golgotha Motor Mountain from IDW Publishing, two brothers seek to escape their distressed rural community by passing off the dust of a strange meteorite as meth to local customers. A splendid horror story ensues, with the creative team making great use of the compelling fictional setting of Golgotha, Kentucky.
In the first issue, brothers Vernon and Elwood cook meth in Golgotha. Vernon seems anxious to sell their latest batch of meth, promising the easy-going Elwood that this will be their last cook; they will use the proceeds to move to Cincinnati. But this dream is crushed when a falling meteorite destroys their lab.
Vernon comes up with a scheme to salvage the situation: the brothers grind the meteorite rock into powder and sell the fake meth to a white supremacist group. What the brothers do not realize is that the meteorite has mutagenic properties that trigger horrifying body transformations in those that ingest it.
In the first issue, writers Matthew Erman and Lonnie Nadler set up a neat premise and establish interesting characters. Artist Robbi Rodriguez deftly renders the action and character beats, and colorist Marissa Louise utilizes various palettes to distinguish the bleak rural elements from the alien horrors. The creative team offers readers humorous characters and fearsome monsters, but the setting they provide is arguably the comic’s most intriguing feature.
In Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction, author Benjamin Percy advises writers on the importance of creating rich, detailed settings in their stories:
It takes a long time to know a place. I’m not talking just about its geography. I mean its history, its culture, its politics, its myths. Does Bigfoot or the hodag lurk in its woods? Is Elvis Presley or Paul Bunyan its most famous citizen? Can you see the northern lights coloring the horizon? Did the river, once so full of chemical runoff, catch fire and burn for three days? Is there a hot air balloon festival every August? How do they pronounce the word roof or bagel? Know a place the way Cheryl Strayed knows the Pacific Crest Trail, the way García Márquez knew Macondo and Hawthorne knew New England and Faulkner knew Yoknapatawpha County.
In providing examples of great literary settings, Percy’s mention of William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha is apt; largely inspired by the real-world Lafayette County, Mississippi, Faulkner utilized Yoknapatawpha as the locale for his novels and short stories, with recurring characters helping define Yoknapatawpha as a fictional representation of Southern culture.
The Golgotha Motor Mountain creative team likewise uses Golgotha’s unique history and quirky characters to create a fascinating setting. Via captions, readers learn much about Golgotha and its inhabitants.
Golgotha’s background information is presented across kinetic visuals that reinforce the conveyed data. As Elwood and Vernon travel by truck across Golgotha, readers see images of dilapidated homes and a landscape covered in litter, while captions provide tidbits about Golgotha’s history [“It wasn’t until the Hogstown split that two separate townships — Grey Bird and Golgotha — emerged. The latter needed to be connected to a state route to maintain bureaucratic independence, lest the voters be swallowed by the ‘socialist left’ of Grey Bird.”] and geography [“20 odd miles of ungoverned, spite-filled, forgotten dirt and highway. The nothingness at the centre of it all.”]
The setting is so well-crafted, readers may ponder whether Golgotha was inspired by an actual location, given the geographical clues provided in the narrative. [“State Route 633 ends at the top of Golgotha Knob...”]: there is an actual Kentucky Route 633 in Adair County, but it is unclear whether Adair was the inspiration for Golgotha, or if another, more mountainous Kentucky county was the model for the comic’s setting.
In a promotional “Letter from the Author” feature, Erman acknowledges that Golgotha is indeed inspired by a real-world locale:
On a personal level, it is about a place where I spent my summers visiting when I was a kid. My grandpa and his brother were named Vernon and Elwood. My grandmother lived on a knob and I still know the feeling of going up and down the terrifying roads that bend through the mountains and the hollers. My mom still lives there.
Despite the fun in attempting to identify a specific geographic inspiration for Golgotha, to do so arguably diminishes the narrative importance of the setting as a fictional representation of a larger region and culture. Golgotha, its name associated with death (specifically, in Christian belief, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ), showcases the challenges found in rural America: poverty, drug use, and racism.
Vernon and Elwood’s methamphetamine enterprise is an all-too-real problem for rural communities, particularly the resulting deaths from overdosing. Meth usage often correlates with the economic distress found in those communities.
Golgotha is home to the Mid-South Europa Resistance — a white supremacist group that utilizes pseudo-scientific theories to justify its racial beliefs. The creative team provides a detailed backstory for this group and its theories, once again adding depth to the setting.
Despite its grim elements, Golgotha also has positive features. The comic’s two-page backup feature Zorro Raito, illustrated by Nikola Čižmešija, is presented as an in-world, self-published manga series by Golgotha resident T. A. Toshiro. The manga’s narrative reflects the larger story’s plot (a local comes into contact with an alien entity that changes everything), but also shows readers that the Golgotha community includes diversity and artistic talent.
Featuring engaging characters and captivating artwork, Golgotha Motor Mountain is a great comic that is enhanced by its well-developed setting. Golgotha is an engrossing place that readers will enjoy visiting.
NOTES AND FURTHER READING:
Gogotha Motor Mountain #1 (written by Matthew Erman and Lonnie Nadler; art by Robbi Rodriguez; colors by Marissa Louise; letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou; alternative cover and backup feature artwork by Nikola Čižmešija; IDW Publishing, March 2024)
IDW Monthly Title Catalog: February 2024 (IDW Publishing) [This catalog contains Erman’s “Letter from the Author” referenced above.]
Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction (Benjamin Percy; Graywolf Press, 2016)
“Meth use drives overdose epidemic in rural U.S. communities” (Erik Robinson; Oregon Health and Science University website, August 15, 2022)
Faulkner’s Geographies: Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha, 2011 (Edited by Jay Watson and Ann J. Abadie; University Press of Mississippi, 2011)
Attention, all Secret Dictionary Club members — use Code Twenty to decipher the following message: IOL MWCYHNCMNM BUPY WIHMNLOWNYX U ACUHN VUNNFY LIVIN CH WUCLI.
BONUS COMIC STRIP:
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