"It Came from the Gowanus Canal" is a comic book that takes inspiration from one of Brooklyn's most polluted waterways.

The "Tales of the Night Watchman" series started off as a quirky idea from writer David Kelly.

"The series itself is about baristas who fight monsters," he says. "In this particular issue, they go up against a sludge monster from the canal that sort of collects bodies that have been dumped into it and takes on their auras."

Kelly lives in Crown Heights but says he was always drawn to Gowanus.

"This neighborhood is kind of special," he says. "It's got its own kind of identity and I wanted to tap into what might make a fun sort of mystery story out of that."

"It Came from the Gowanus Canal," the first book in the series, was a success and motivated Kelly and his partners to work on the second installment.

Kelly says he's had so much fun making the series, which has not yet seen its end.

"I have one more idea for a story that involves the monster going up against the people who are trying to clean it up," he says. "So I think there will be at least one more story to tell; we'll see what happens after that."