The Spider Dossier

Hello Pulp Friends,

still catching up on several projects I have going, so this week I wanted just to quickly introducea couple of elements you will find in the first Black Beetle Episode: Colt City PD Capt Will De Soto and the SPIDER Dossier. Click on the image for the bigger version.

Have a great Pulp SUnday everyone :)

Cheers,
Francesco

All images © 2009 Francesco Francavilla.
BLACK BEETLE & COLT CITY created by, ™ and © 2009 Francesco Francavilla

BB & The Shadow

Hello Pulp Friends,

sorry for the missing Sunday post but I was in Orlando, FL, for the FX show and didn't have access to my blog. I did have a Live Pulp Sunday edition, kinda, but I will tell you about that in a bit.
Meanwhile I wanted to share some of the convention sketches I have done at the show and I apologize for the poor quality of the images since they are photos and not actual scans.

The Black Beetle one is my very first Black Beetle convention sketch: thank you, James, for allowing me to draw my fav character :) I also colored it (image above) and dressed up it a bit exclusively for this blog :)


The second is a Shadow sketch I did for the good Chuck Dixon - I will talk more about him later too :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Select Excursions to COLT CITY

Hello Pulp Friends,

first of all let me wish you all a very Happy Easter :D (check out my sketchblog for the Easter Egg I cooked for this special day ;))

I have been busy this week wrapping up that Lullaby story for Outlaw Territory. The pages are all done and they look great, I have been told :) I will check with my editor and see if I can show some more.
In between pages I had chance to do some more concept art for Black Beetle.



Today we will talk a bit more of Colt City. You were asking where it's located: I would say Colt City is in the nothern East Coast. I like the idea to be close to the sea and I like the idea that it can have very snowy winters (I like to draw snow enviroment: remember my little Shadow tale from a couple of years ago and the current Lullaby? ;)).
I will probably come back with a more detailed map, but for now I wanted to highlight one of the peculiarities of Colt City (and the Black Beetle universe): heavy news coverage. The news crews are everywhere, using choppers, cars, bikes, and they are one of the main information source for BB and the reason why BB will become widely known to Colt City population.

More on that later. Right now have a great Pulp Sunday everyone :)
Francesco



All images © 2009 Francesco Francavilla.
BLACK BEETLE & COLT CITY created by, ™ and © 2009 Francesco Francavilla

Greetings from COLT CITY

Hello Pulp Friends,

first of all let me thank you all for the huge response to past week poll: hearing from you Pulp fans and friends meant a lot to me and helped me in picking the first character to get the webcomic treatment, a new territory for me for more than one reason, including also the fact this will be my first attempt at writing a serialized comic. (Please wish me good luck on that too ;))

So, without reporting the numbers again, Black Beetle seemed to have gathered the double of the votes that Max Malone got, making BB the winner of the poll and the subject of my webcomic. MM seemed to have quite a few fans as well, so he is not going to diseppear, don't worry - let's just say he will be on vacation for some time but he will be back :)

I am still trying to figure out a few things, but I had a pretty good idea for the first story of Black Beetle and the title will either be "The Web" (as in the previous teasers) or "Along Came A SPider".



Since yesterday it was clear BB was going to be the winner, I started to think about the settings for the comic: I needed a city in the tradition of those pulp/noir asphalt jungles and Gotham City and NYC, so I came out with Colt City. More about the back story of Colt City later, right now I hope you guys enjoy the above postcard :)
I also started to work on the look & feel of the story. Attached to this post there is a couple of concepts like the above car and the CCPD chopper below, which I hope you dig.
As you can see, I am developing this as I go, right on front of your eyes: I just hope I am heading in the right direction.
Still working on the format (comicpress and stuff) but eventually I am going to give Black Beetle its own spot (meaning Pulp Sunday will not be the official BB home ;))
Meanwhile I hope you enjoy the images (click ont hem to see a larger size) and the progress.

Have a great Pulp Sunday everyone :)
Francesco



All images © 2009 Francesco Francavilla.
BLACK BEETLE & COLT CITY created by, ™ and © 2009 Francesco Francavilla

BLACK BEETLE Vs MAX MALONE ( poll - updated!)

Hello Pulp Friends,

last Sunday I shared a pulpish creation of mine that dates back to 15 years ago, MAX MALONE: I was wondering if I should take it to the next step and have it developed in the form of webcomics and you guys seemed excited about that idea.
Well, diggin through my things, I found this other guy I came up with about 3 years ago, BLACK BEETLE. Where MAX MALONE is more a sci-fi pulp noir, this is more in the vein of masked vigilante pulp in some sort of '40s/'50s settings, with some slight (40s/50s) sci-fi tone to it.

Now here's the idea: I know a few pulp fans visits this blog regularly, so I would like to do a poll. Since I am kinda busy with several projects, if I have time to develop a webcomic, which one you would like to see "sequentialized" first: Max Malone or Black Beetle? Let me hear it from you and thanks for the input :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Click on the teaser image above for the bigger version. The art is from 2006, the "dress-up titles" from today ;)

Edit: I added an updated teaser for MAX MALONE (below) to have a fair fight ;)



Edit: The generous response from you wonderful pulp aficionados pushed me to put up some more art to help to decide. :)
Here's another teaser for Black Beetle and look for more Max Malone later today or tomorrow.

Thank you all,
Francesco



Edit> And here is the new art for Max Malone, as promised. Sorry for the little delay but I had to wrap up issue 4 of GARRISON and that's exactly what I did this morning ;)
Please keep the voting comig - would love to hear from all of you :)

Cheers,
Francesco

"Amorous Avenger"

Hello Pulp friends,

This week I will be posting something everyday, either a concept, a sketch, a sneak peek, a tribute, something from past projects, some from future stories, you name it, and all will be unmistakanbly pulp.
I am doing a smiliar "one-a-day" thing for this week also on my other sketch blog: check it out if you have an extra spare minute :)

To start, here's a concept cover I did a few months ago for an ad agency as part of a campaign inspired by pulp and noir. Needless to say it was a fun gig to work on. First time I let this out so you are seeing it here first :)

See you tomorrow with more pulp goodies :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Pulp Pinup: Blacksad

Hello Pulp Friends :)

Soo, this is weird: I tried the whole day to get on the old radio shows of the Archive.org, but I got the message the "items" are not available all day.

So let's rely on our dear feature "Pulp Pinup" to save the day ;)

Today's pinup is dedicated to some of the most noirish character of the recent times: Blacksad by Spanish writer Juan Díaz Canales and Spanish artist Juanjo Guarnido. Blacksad is a private eye black panther in a world of anthropomorphic noir set in 1950. No, this is not a "furry" comicbook: once you start to read it, you forget these are animals and you get fully captured by this story that will kick you in the guts. If you like Sin City, you should give this GNs a try (even if they might be a little hard to find in English version).

Cheers,
Francesco

Pulp Pinup is dedicated to showcase commissions, pinups, or simple sketches I do every now and then, dedicated to our beloved pulp heroes.

9 Lombrose St. - Day 2 ~~ "Pruneface" ~~

Hello Pulp Friends!

No one has figured out yet who these guys are? Maybe you are still recovering from the 4th July booze or maybe you are still on the road for this long holiday weekend: wherever you are, I hope you are having great time :)
Meanwhile I am having great time on Lombrose St. As matter of fact, here's day 2 :)

Cheers,
Francesco



"Lombrose St." and "9 Lombrose St." © 2008 Francesco Francavilla

"Message from the Hills" (Jul 31, 1938)

I could say I choose this week episode of the Shadow because in it we discover the Shadow can hear (hypnotically) from long distances. Or because this is a story about diamonds and we all love diamonds, don't we? (our wives do anyway ;)) Or because this episode is about the tough life of mining people, who have to deal with mining (of course) and with a band of bloody crooks who are willing to kill everyone just to get those filthy diamonds (yeah, filthy... sure! ;))

The truth is that I picked this episode because the idea to draw a 1938 airplane piloted by the Shadow was too good to pass on ;)

Enjoy the episode and have a Pulp Sunday!
Francesco

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