Golgotha Motor Mountain is, among many other things, all about change. Like the change that happens when two hillbilly brothers (Vernon and Elwood) discover an alien meteorite to make meth. Or, the kind that takes place when one brother starts to see his other brother in a new light. Even the sort of change that occurs as you peel back the shell on American history to expose that soft, usually awful underbelly.
It’s even about changes in the readership. Having had both issues of Golgotha Motor Mountain quite early, my experiences with the book have been altered from that of the book’s own base. My readings have been changed by time and context, and while the book excels on its own, there’s no denying that this specific “relationship” has made the book wholly unique for me.
But now I’m getting it with everyone else, and after having waited a mostly “standard” time to boot. Will this significant enough change influence my relationship with Golgotha Motor Mountain, or if it really and truly is just that weird and wondrous of a book?
And the answer is that Golgotha Motor Mountain has changed the g-d game forever.
When we last met up with Elwood and Vernon, they were being chased by Sheriff Carter, Jr. as they made their “rounds.” Having basically mutated a group of neo-Nazis in issue #2 with their alien meth, they move onto the Skull Hill Veterans Association to peddle their intergalactic medication. On the one hand, you likely have an idea about what’ll happen, but rather than being a touch formulaic, this model of “arrive, chemically eviscerate, and move on” adds a ton of structure to a book that’s often very much one bizarre, brain-melting thought experiment about history and politics. It’s what actually happens once the brothers and the SHVA interact that matters most, and whereas the “interactions” with the neo-Nazis were mostly about power and masculinity, this time around things are a bit more complicated thematically.
There’s lots of talk about patriotism and stolen valor, and the SHVA are an interesting plot device for sure. If I had to try and get at what this chapter is really about, I could say 1) American exceptionalism; 2) the way we frame and relate to war in this country; 3) the war on drugs (and why it was pointless and feckless from day one); 4) similarly, the opioid crisis; 5) the true status of our superpower status; and 6) the nature of belief. Co-writers Matthew Erman and Lonnie Nadler have packed a veritable smorgasbord of ideas into this issue, and I think that not only proves how intellectually stimulating this book is, but its long-term goals.
Main cover from Robbi Rodriguez. Courtesy of IDW.
There is no singular message just as there is no singular cause of the America as we know and tolerate her today. It’s a multi-headed beast of suffering and bravado that exists by balancing and blending any number of truths and outright fabrications. Reality is not as we see it, and the brothers’ path of inadvertently re-shaping these “fundamental” places and figures is perhaps the closest we get to a real message. The country’s waking up to the real hell-beast we occupy, and seeing how history, context, and reality itself have been twisted to create this singularly destructive giant monster. The brothers may even be heralded as these psychedelic astronauts or pioneers — if they weren’t bumbling idiots who are as much to blame for these issues. And that’s it right there: we’re all fully part of this gnarly body-horror dragon, and there is a world emerging that is more brilliant, ugly, terrifying, wondrous, insane, and surprisingly logical than we could’ve ever imagined. The veneer is starting to crack, folks, and this is our trip into the great black ether at the heart of this country and the roles we all play.
If you find yourself overly stimulated thus far, that’s OK. I’d say that you could look at the art from artist Robbi Rodriguez and colorist Marissa Louise to feel better, but that gave me more night terrors than all the talk of severed limbs and burnt villages in this issue. But I think there’s something really interesting happening with the visuals, and not just in the way it recreates that one time I did far too many mushrooms on Halloween.
This issue is an especially potent culmination of the sheer power of Rodriguez and Louise. There’s been deeply solid work so far in the first two issues, but it’s #3 where we see the heights of the duo’s skills. It’s a body horror nightmare by way of The Guyver, and without spoiling too much, there’s some absolute brainpan-scraping terrors that occur when members of the SHVA get hold of the brothers’ stash. All of those mutating horrors have a grander purpose — it’s a visual clue of what’s really going on in our country. These awful things are coming up from just below the surface, and what’s really happening is more akin to an awakening than anything else. Grown men with veiny mushroom brains and guns for hands are horrific, but we get the sense that there’s an integrity and authenticity to these designs that is scary but mostly you just can’t deny a kind of unassuming truth of these creatures.
It’s all in further line with the narrative’s efforts — they’ve always been here, and we’re just seeing the larger evolution of ourselves and our neighbors into something resembling some truer forms. (The fact that Elwood is struggling with these mutations speaks volumes about the brothers’ emergence and understanding of the world, and why they think running to Cincinnati might be the solution for the horrors that they’ve encountered.) It’s a terrifying sight to see, for instance, Sheriff Carter’s continued development as an extra nasty hell-beast, but then that’s the point: the truth will set you free, some have said, but first it’ll break your heart (and unwind your internal organs, too).
Variant cover from Nikola Čižmešija. Courtesy of IDW.
At the same time, though, there’s little denying how unbelievably cool the book continues to look. As far as proper body horror goes, Rodriguez and Louise are true pros, and they give us this unwavering intensity and also robust playfulness that gives the art that unflinching level of disgust and the inventiveness and magic needed to pull us in squarely by the eyeballs. Again, without spoiling too much from this issue, the ending especially encapsulates this dynamic, and we get something that’s rather quite unsettling — if only from a logistics standpoint — and the coolest, most delightfully cheesy thing in the world. (Hint: it involves the brothers’ car.) It’s a moment where all of the story and context and outright stomach-churning vibes are’t so much diminished or mitigated, but contextualized and extended with a really silly, comics-centric decision to make you feel like a dumb kid again (in the very best way).
It’s that process that makes the intellectually challenging stuff more fun (even without being less challenging) while adding a heft to the “dumb” stuff — in short, comics the way they’re meant to be told. And it’s the visuals that expertly facilitate this process, and give us refuge and also more toxic rain to further engage us in some really powerful ways. Methods, I’d offer, that the story alone can’t offer, and that take Nadler and Erman’s writings and place them in a framework that feels increasingly connected to traditions and ideas that make them all the more approachable (but, again, never any less confrontational from an intellectual standpoint).
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that issues of Golgotha Motor Mountain end with a neat backup story (from writer-artist Nikola Čižmešija) surrounding an in-universe manga. The fact that I haven’t talked about it so far isn’t because it’s bad, but rather that Golgotha Motor Mountain proper leaves me drained every single time. But drained in the very best way — because I’ve been poked, prodded, and confronted as all great stories do. My brain is mush and my heart is full, and I spend the time after each issue recuperating in a kind of stupefied bliss.
It’s a book that demands your full attention, and rewards it with a bizarre but beautiful, thoughtful but totes silly dissection of life, politics, family, and what’s really going on (for good and bad). It never assumes you can’t handle its vast, multi-textured approach, and you feel challenged in the best ways. If you let it in, Golgotha Motor Mountain will change you right down to your rDNA.
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