- The Goat Pope Lick Creek Monster #1
- Creative Mussel Productions
- Created & Written by Jay B. Kalagayan
- Illustrated by Ethan Pope
A bloodcurdling cry pierces the stillness of the Kentucky Night, echoing off the steel trusses of the Pope Lick Creek Trestle – a notorious railroad bridge steeped in local legend. But who hears this desperate plea for help?
Stories based on stories… that’s my jam!
There’s a raised railroad trestle still in use outside the city of Louisville, Kentucky, home to a half-man/half-goat creature of the night. The mysterious cryptid known as the Goat uses a combination of hypnosis and mimicry to lure hapless travelers to their doom. Pretending to be someone calling for help, he gets them out on the bridge and into the path of oncoming trains. The myth surrounding the unassuming bridge of Pope Lick Creek is where The Goat Pope Lick Creek Monster starts.
All of that may not be essential info to have going into the story by Jay B. Kalagayan, but it helps a bit and adds a layer or two. I can admit it, I didn’t catch some of the hooks until my second read-through, but that didn’t take away a bit of my appreciation for the book. Kalagayan digs deep into The Goat’s legend and weaves it into his own tale of cryptids, mysterious mutates, and corporate greed. By the end of the first issue, I just wanted to know what was going on… which bodes well for my prospects in reading on to issue 2.
A comic without art is only half done, but I’m happy to report that The Goat has got art coming out its floppy bovid ears. Ethan Pope is a talent, and everyone should be paying attention. His character designs are polished and sharp, giving everyone on the page presence and personality, with no one there just to fill in space. The action is dynamic, displaying a great sense of motion and carrying some impressive “show, don’t tell” panels with no dialogue. And Pope’s layouts… some of my favorite panels in the issue were just in between moments where the story seemed to pause and everyone took a breath.
There are information gaps, puzzle pieces that didn’t click with me until I did a little research, but it all added to my enjoyment of the book. I get a lot of indie comics sent to me for consideration, all of them gems deserving attention and waiting to be discovered, but The Goat Pope Lick Creek Monster is one that got me excited. I’ve already struck up conversations with folks online, people from the Louisville area, to talk about the legend. When a story can spark that kind of curiosity, it’s something special.
Final Score: 12/13
