The second installment of Chanan Beizer's The Golem of Venice Beach is available to pre-order via Kickstarter.
The Golem of Venice Beach is the debut graphic novel from writer Chanan Beizer, which tells the story of a 400-year-old golem who gets wrapped up in some gang dealings in modern-day Venice Beach. It's a page-turning mashup of crime thriller, history, and Jewish mysticism—with the page-turning helped by a seriously impressive team of artists.
While Italian illustrator Vanessa Cardinali draws most of the modern-day pages, the flashback scenes to the Golem's younger days are tackled by different marquee-name comic artists, including Michael Allred, Paul Pope, Jae Lee, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Stephen R. Bissette. It's an impressive lineup for any comic book, particularly for such a fascinating debut.
The first volume of Golem was released in 2022 and ended on a cliffhanger. (I devoured the book in a single sitting and was genuinely shocked when I reached the last page.) Now, Beizer is back with a Kickstarter campaign for Volume Two that boasts an even more impressive array of artists. This time around, the Golem's earlier adventures will be illustrated by Frank Quitely, David Mack, Jae Lee, Howard Chaykin, Dean Haspiel, Juan Jose Ryp, Nick Dragotta, and even Stan Sakai!
Here's the official blurb:
In The Golem of Venice Beach: Book 1, Adam is a Golem, a creature of vengeance and destruction, of violence and death created 400 years ago in Eastern Europe. Today he spends his days adrift on the sunny boardwalks of Venice Beach, the only hope of release from his lonely existence being the clueless Jake Loeb, the sole remaining heir of the Golem's creator. But when Jake becomes involved with a mysterious tattooed woman and a drug-dealing death worship cult, things get complicated and dangerous for Adam. Golems are not meant to walk the Earth forever. Can Adam make a difference? Can he find peace in the California sun? And can a monster have a soul?
"Picking up immediately after Book 1's cliffhanger, in The Golem of Venice Beach: Book 2 we find Adam the Golem in the midst of gang warfare while trying to protect two runaway teens," said writer and creator Chanan Beizer. "To make matters worse, Jake comes under the scrutiny of the very same gang while Uncle Steph tries to mend a rift that has formed between Adam and Jake, and things come to a head when Stephan is kidnapped. It's up to Adam and Jake to save him—but first, Jake must first find a way to make Adam whole again and restore the Golem that has been part of his family legacy for over 400 years."
