SDCC 2012: Mike Mignola’s JOE GOLEM AND THE DROWNING CITY and Derf Backderf’s MY FRIEND DAHMER Headed to the Big Screen

Two very interesting bits of adaptation news out of San Diego Comic Con this evening.

First up, Deadline reports that Alex Proyas has set his sights on Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden’s recent collaboration Joe Golem and the Drowning City. The director best known for Dark City and The Crow will write and direct the film in Australia. Deadline refers to the source material as a graphic novel, but it’s not in fact a comic. The steampunk detective story is actually a prose novel with black and white illustrations from Mignola. Despite that distinction, it’s rife with all the tentacled horrors, moldering skeletons and Victorian gas masks you’d expect from the master.

I’ve only read a small portion of the novel to date, but the elements seem a perfect match for Proyas’ sensibilities. A detective haunted by abominable dreams in a submerged Manhattan? A girl in search of her lost mentor, himself a fading stage magician who must resort to seances to keep in touch with old friends? I can’t yet order my tickets on Fandango now because…?

Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter offers news of another intriguing adaptation, this one with its roots in comics and real life tragedy. Derf Backderf’s recollections of a childhood friend turned vile serial killer made My Friend Dahmer a chilling and irresistible comic book memoir. Now Ibid Filmworks’ Marc Meyers and Jody Girgenti plan to produce the story as a feature film. To be a fly on the wall at those casting sessions…