Up from the Gowanus Canal, a slimy, sludgy golem emerges for revenge and there’s only one who can stop him — Charlie, a millennial barista who does superhero stuff on the side.
“Tales of the Night Watchman,” a comic book series by two Brooklynites who pull from the everyday struggles of living in the city, is back with its seventh issue. Creators Dave Kelly and Lara Antal are celebrating its release on Friday with a free meet and greet party at the Gowanus Souvenir Shop.
Fans and readers can meet the entire creative team — including Kelly, Antal, artist Brett Hobson and colorist Clare DeZutti — and grab a copy of the new issue, “It Came from the Gowanus Canal…Again!”
The latest story picks up during the holiday season as the Gowanus Golem climbs out of the canal in search of thugs responsible for the death of a young boy, according to Kelly, who writes the comics.
“The monster is possessed by the bodies of people dumped into the canal by monsters or by tragic accidents,” he said in an interview. “Now, it’s about the soul of a young boy who fell in when bullies threw his backpack over the edge. He went to retrieve it on the frozen canal and it cracked.”
Kelly said the monster is the epitome of what you think of when you think of the canal — made of toxic sludge with a bike tire and other items dredged up from the bottom sticking out of its back.
The protagonists are Nora, a wannabe journalist and manager of a coffee shop; Serena, a barista who lives in a tent on a Williamsburg rooftop; and Charlie, a fellow barista who is possessed by the spirit of a detective from the past — The Night Watchman.
“They’re always struggling to make rent,” Kelly said, explaining that they try to survive any way they can. “These are strong, yet struggling characters who want to be something else. We’ve been through that ourselves.”
The illustrators are also primarily female or identify as such, which adds meaning to the whole production, Kelly said.
“Their voices are a little unsung and their work certainly has value, so we try to promote them,” he said. “Working as a man and woman team, we want to represent all aspects of the creative spectrum.”
The series originally kicked off roughly six years ago after Kelly and Antal met at Think Coffee as fellow baristas. Both had creative backgrounds — Kelly in film and Antal in fine art — and wanted to tell stories through another visual medium. Kelly had undergone treatment for cancer and felt that telling a story about a superhero whose weakness was his own body and not related to his powers would be extremely relevant to his experience.
Living in Crown Heights, the two felt it was important to keep the story local and feature places people know. In one issue, a band of vampires takes over the bat exhibit at the Bronx Zoo and the Night Watchman has to chase them out of town.
Right now, the comic is published through their own small company, So What Press, but they hope one day to get the comics in more hands through a bigger publisher — and dream of creating a television series — but for now, local victories for the Watchman. The newest is the first full-color issue, which brings a whole new dimension the story, Kelly said.
The release party runs from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Gowanus Souvenir Shop at 567 Union St.
To reserve a copy of the comic, visit sowhatpress.com.
