Director Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City) has recently signed on to direct an adaptation of a graphic novel by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden. The story is titled Joe Golem and the Drowning City and revolves around a steampunky-styled version of 1970s New York City that has taken an unexpected plunge beneath the surface of the water.
Numerous characters come together and must fight against an evil of some sort and… well, just read the official summary below and you’ll pretty much get it.
In 1925, earthquakes and a rising sea level left Lower Manhattan submerged under more than thirty feet of water, so that its residents began to call it the Drowning City. Those unwilling to abandon their homes created a new life on streets turned to canals and in buildings whose first three stories were underwater. Fifty years have passed since then, and the Drowning City is full of scavengers and water rats, poor people trying to eke out an existence, and those too proud or stubborn to be defeated by circumstance.
Among them are fourteen-year-old Molly McHugh and her friend and employer, Felix Orlov. Once upon a time Orlov the Conjuror was a celebrated stage magician, but now he is an old man, a psychic medium, contacting the spirits of the departed for the grieving loved ones left behind. When a seance goes horribly wrong, Felix Orlov is abducted by strange men wearing gas masks and rubber suits, and Molly soon finds herself on the run.
Her flight will lead her into the company of a mysterious man, and his stalwart sidekick, Joe Golem, whose own past is a mystery to him, but who walks his own dreams as a man of stone and clay, brought to life for the sole purpose of hunting witches.
I’ve never had the pleasure of reading it, but from that little description it sounds pretty cool. With Mignola and Golden in the writing credits and Proyas at the helm, this could turn out to be a dream-team of awesome. Unfortunately, the project may be a while before it sees production, as Proyas is currently attached to a long list of other projects.
Thanks to ComicBookMovie for the info.