Scalped Blues

Hello Pulp friends,

As you guessed, I am working on SCALPED and decided to do another promo image which contains a few elements of this issue, but without spoiling anything, I hope ;)
And that's exactly the reason why I am not adding anything more to this post and I leave you with the image :)

Click on the above sepia image for the color version.

Cheers,
Francesco

"Lullaby" - A Short Tale from the Frontier

Hi guys,

I am pretty booked drawing sequentials these days so I didn't get the chance to illustrate a new radio show of the Shadow, but I wanted to chime in anyway since it's Sunday and give you a sneak peek at "Lullaby", a short story I am doing (story and art al together) for "Outlaw Territory" Vol.2, a collection of Western tales edited by the good Michael Woods and (soon to be) published by Image Comics. I will make sure to post order code and release date when I will know them: meanwhile I hope you enjoy this first page (and the finished inks + intial rough version below).

Have a great Pulp Sunday everyone :)

Cheers,
Francesco

"Murder On Approval" (Aug 21, 1937)

"No One Can Quarantine The Shadow!!!"
While visiting a US Army base, Lamont and Margo have to deal with an apparently new virus that is spreading in the area. The infection has been brought there by a scientist, Dr Viktor Colandra, who has been hired by a foreigner country for his deadly skills in infectious deseases and who has been helped by the doctor of the base. Will the Shadow stop this before it gets out of control? Listen to the episode to find out :)

I loved the intro commercial about a good hero has to have good tires ;)

Enjoy the show and have a great (pulp) Sunday!
Francesco

Listen to this Episode

Zorro: The Pits and the Alcalde

Hi guys,

with issue 10 of Zorro coming out anytime now, I thought to share my back covers for issue 9 and issue 10. The back covers are some sort of "preview" of the next issue, so expect to see some tar pits and Jurassic bones in issue 10 ;) While in issue 11 Zorro will get close to the big bad guy of this second arc.
As you all know by now, I am not the interior artist on this arc (the talented Cezar Rezik is - I will be back for the third, I have been told ;)), but I was lucky enough to get my monthly fix of Zorro by drawing both front and back covers: I can't ust get enough of this guy :)

I will make sure to post the original inks of the front cover when the book hits the shelves but for now I hope you guys dig these "coming next... on Zorro!"

Cheers,
Francesco

"The Lady in Black" (Nov 22, 1942)

"The SHadow is BACK!!!"
That's right, finally, after a few months, we get back to those old pulp radio episodes of the Shadow: I hope you are as excited as I was today :) Let's get soon to it, without any more delays.

A series of apparent suicides brings Lamont and Margo to investigate an old story about a chemist/painter, Albert Gerner, and his famous painting "The Lady in Black". The subject of the painting killed herself after being portrayed, or this is what the artist said before disappearing himself.
The shadow will find the truth behind the mystery of "The Lady in Black", and this time Margo's notes will result to be very helpful in solving the case.

Enjoy the show and have a great (pulp) Sunday!
Francesco

Listen to this Episode

Masters of Horror: Poe and Lovecraft

Hello Pulp Friends,

No, I am not talking about the SHowtime tv series but of the Masters of the modern Horror Literature. Here are two very recent commission/sketches which I was very happy to draw because are about two of my favorite writers ever (and yes, they definitely qualify as Pulp writers). Not the classic portrait we are used to see, but I like to "play" every now and then :)
I don't think I need to introduce them, do I? I do think, though, that I need to finish that Lovecraft short tale adaptation (The Outsider) I started a long time ago. It was coming along so nicely :)

Cheers!
Francesco

The Laughing Shadow - A Parker Novel

Hello Pulp Friends,

No, this is not a missing novel that just came out (even if it would be GREAT if it was true). This is just me tributing two great men who helped to make the Pulp world richer and greater who recently passed away: Donald Westlake (Richard Stark), crime-fiction writer and Parker series creator, and Edward D. Cartier, artist and illustrator of many pulp novels, especially The Shadow which is so dear to us.
The fake cover below is what came to my mind when trying to do something with Parker and The Shadow together. The design is inspired by actual Parker novel covers.
Thank you Chad and Cohen for the heads up and thank you Donald and Edward for entertain us and all the fans before and after us.

Cheers to you both!
Francesco

100 Pulps!

Hello Pulp friends,

I hope everyone had a great holiday season and wish you all a wonderful and successful 2009 :)
I wanted to celebrate my 100th post with a strip but work got in the way (even if I haven't abandoned the strip) so I thought what better than the Shadow to celebrate a blog that was inspired by those radio shows?
The above is a commission I recently did for our own friend Ilia: he asked for some action and I gave him a big chase in Little China :) Hope it was worth the wait, Ilia.
I wanted also to beef up this post with a great news: I was lucky enough to be invited to illustrate an issue of Scalped (#27), the critically acclaimed series created by Jason Aaron and R.M.Guera and published by DC Vertigo. I have been fan of this series since day one so you can imagine how excited I am to draw one of the stories written by Jason. For those of you who are not familiar with this title, it's one of the top noir, gritty book out there (the other being Criminal by Brubaker and Phillips). I greatly suggest to hunt down the trades if you guys haven't got on this book already.
I'll make sure to post some preview pages when I can, but right now I hope you enjoy the promo art below.

Cheers to you all and cheers to more Pulp in 2009!
Francesco

Click on the sepia image for the color version with pre-order info.