Detroit and Carlow collide in Colm’s new high-octane graphic novel
Colm Griffin at work on one of his latest creations in his studio in Carlow Photos: Michael O’Rourke Photography
IT sounds like the setup for a Hollywood blockbuster: a streetwise Detroit cop and a Carlow garda thrown together to solve a murder. But instead of rolling cameras, the action unfolds on the pages of a graphic novel, , created and set right here in Carlow.
Comic book artist Colm Griffin has been sketching Superman, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, Spiderman and more since his teens and is now working on a top-secret Marvel project – but he has remained inspired by his hometown.
The plot was inspired by chats he and his friend Bernard Dowling used to have after weekly football practice. The idea grew during the Covid lockdown when they co-wrote the plot. “I get murdered in the Éire Óg carpark! And because Carlow has never had a murder before, we have to fly in a Detroit detective to help solve my murder,” he explains.
The garda he is teamed up with is none other than Bernard, who, as well as being the co-writer, is a garda in real life. “It’s inspired by seventies blaxploitation movies, and . It’s a comedy duo,” says Colm.
The cop duo track down the killer while visiting recognisable Carlow landmarks, including Carlow Golf Club, The Tavern, Graigue Bridge and Carpenter’s Funeral Home.
Colm, whose day job is director and filmmaker at Telegael Studios based in Galway, has a home studio where he spends nights perfecting his comic book craft. He’s even published a superhero graphic novel series set in fictional Ocean City, where the characters and storylines are inspired by his and his friends’ childhood exploits and adventures in Carlow.
Both graphic novels are published by Rogue Comics Ireland.
“Obviously, there’s fantastical elements in there that didn’t happen in real life, but it just took the camaraderie and the relationships that I would have with my mates here in Carlow and dressed it up in superhero attire,” Colm says.
was his first graphic novel, launched in 2018 at Forbidden Planet in Dublin with the help of a fellow comic book artist Wayne Talbot. “Because it was my first step into comic books, I didn’t know what to expect, but it sold out that night … ever since then I never looked back.”
Will we see more stories like this? Possibly not for a while, now that Marvel is calling.
“It’s almost like the gift and the curse: the more comic books I did, the better I got at it, and the reason I got into comic books was to work on characters like Spider-Man and Batman. And the better I got, the more notice I got.
“At this present moment, I have Spider-Man in front of me here on the board. So the more I get into comic books, the less likely I am to go back and do another until I make my name on the bigger properties.”
It hasn’t, however, been an overnight success but rather reaping the rewards of hard graft.
“At night, when everybody’s gone to bed, that’s when I work on the comics for Marvel,” says Colm, who adds that pursuing his dream of working in the comic book industry “isn’t for the fainthearted”.
“I miss a lot of parties. I miss hanging out with friends and I kind of sacrifice a lot for it.”
He recently gave a talk at his old school, Carlow CBS, explaining his passion for comic books, how to go about being an illustrator and how to bring stories to life.
“I just wish that there was someone doing comic books in Carlow when I was growing up, so I would have known someone to ask, ‘Hey, how do I get into this? How do I do that,” he says, explaining his motivation for giving the talk to students.
Colm enjoyed giving a talk to boys in his alma mater but loves that comic books have become more mainstream in recent years, having gone from geek culture to mass audiences, especially with the likes of the Marvel and DC cinematic universes.
“I was always drawing comic books, but when I was in the dressing room after football practice nobody would ever talk about superhero movies or comic books or anything remotely like that. It was just never brought up because it was very nerdy and very niche.
“It’s not just for teenage boys anymore, it’s for everybody now,” he adds.
While Colm worked in New York for years, he was happy to settle back in Carlow with his wife Elaine and their two boys, with the opportunity to work from home.
“It’s lovely to be back raising the lads, and the fact that I can still work on movies and still work on the comic books from here, it just makes it all the sweeter.”
However, New York beckons again: Colm will be heading to ComicCon later this month to network and raise his profile. And perhaps bring a flavour of Carlow to the Big Apple.
