Black Beetles - Part 8

Dear Pulp Friends,

after the Australian love from Jason Paulos, the Black Beetle gets more international love today, this time from Panagiotis Mitsobonos, Athens, Greece :D

Panagiotis is a Pulp Sunday friend and he was kind enough to take some time off his schedule to do a tribute to the Black Beetle. That, of course, makes me feel again like a proud dad :)
Love the Ted McKeever vibe of it, almost a chalked graffiti on the walls of a Colt City alley, reminding the crooks that THE BLACK BEETLE IS ALWAYS WATCHING! :D

You can check more of Panagiotis' work here.

σας ευχαριστούμε, Panagiotis :)

Cheers,
Francesco

KARA BOCEK, BLACK BEETLE & COLT CITY created by, ™ and © 2009 Francesco Francavilla

Black Beetles - Part 7

Hello Pulp Friends,

hope you all had a wonderful Xmas time this past weekend :)

Coming back from my little visit @ the in-laws, I found these two cool Black Beetle tributes under the tree (metaphorically speaking ;))
They are both by a good friend and talented pulp artist Jason Paulos. I really dig the "SPIRIT/Eisner" vibe of these and they definitely bring back our pulp hero in the noirish settings of Colt City in "NO WAY OUT".
Thank you so much, Jase, you nailed it! :D
To check out more on Jason's own creation like the pulp Detective "HAIRBUTT the Hippo" or the EC inspired horrors of "EEK", I invite you to visit his site :)

Stay tuned for KARA BOCEK page 5 this week :)

Cheers,
Francesco



KARA BOCEK, BLACK BEETLE & COLT CITY created by, ™ and © 2009 Francesco Francavilla

Merry Pulpy Xmas!!!

Hello Pulp friends :)

I couldn't make time to do the next page of KARA BOCEK but I did find time to do this quick Xmas-sy card so we all can get a bit of Black Beetle spirit for the holiday :)
Have a Wonderful Christmas, everyone, and I will see you next week with a new Kara Bocek page!

Cheers,
Francesco

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

Riding Tornado!

I bet you have never seen Zorro riding THIS Tornado ;)
(again, click on the image for IMAX version ;))

Just one more reason to not miss issue 18 coming out today in the stores.
Matt came up with a structure similiar to issue 15, with tales of the Fox told (and quite filtered) by a bunch of peones around a campfire. Campfire tales, that is, allowing me to have MUCH fun drawing it. Thank you, Matt :)

Below the back cover for issue 17 that teased on the tales you will find in #18.
Hope you guys enjoy the read :)

Happy Holidays!

Cheers,
Francesco

WEREFOX!!!

WEREFOX!
Where? In issue 18 of Zorro coming out tomorrow, that's where! :D
Definitely click on the image to see it in a IMAX version :D

Seriously, I got my comps today and this issue is FUN!
That Matt Wagner dude can write, and that artist is half decent too ;)

I will share more tomorrow if you are not convinced yet.

Cheers,
Francesco

Kara Bocek pag.4

Hello Pulp friends :)

And here's page 4, with quite some action! :D
As usual, hit me back with feedback: a;ways love to hear your thoughts on this.

Next page is gonna be a little quieter: I need some rest ;)
I'll try to post it by Xmas but if I can't make it, I will see you all after Xmas: have a wonderful Holiday with your families and friends :)

Have a Pulp Sunday (evening), everyone!

Cheers,
Francesco

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

More of Ole Capitan Cold!

Hello Pulp Friends,

As suspected (and kinda planned) here's some more Capitan Cold concepts. :)
It also helped that Frosty the Snowman was on last night and pushed me to do the above pencil sketch while watching a bit of tv ;)
I threw some colors on it before going to bed last night - you can see the original pencils too when you click on the image.

To stick with the Xmas spirit, I am thinking to turn the Bear from "baddie" to "buddie" :)
What you guys think? Do you like the idea of this duo swashbackling their way in the North Pole, circa 1625 A.D.? :D
Now I am thinking about some new fiends to introduce in the story...

Happy Holidays,
Francesco

p.s. Kara Bocek New Page Tomorrow: Be There or Be Square! :)

Capitan Cold created by, ™ and © 2009 Francesco Francavilla
All titles, characters, character names, logos and related indicia
are ™ and © 2009 Francesco Francavilla.

Black Beetles - Part 6

Some days you just can't get rid of the Black Beetle... ;)

This is definitely a good week for the Black Beetle: so much love coming his way that he almost blushed. But then he remembered that's not something his enemies wanna see from him ;)

Today's homage is from a pulp afecionado and long time friend of Pulp Sunday: Kyle Latino. His "get rid of a bomb" gag is just hilarious: always loved those big bowl-shaped bomb in cartoons and old silent movies (and in the 60s Batman series ;))
Great fun stuff, and beutifully rendered with some old school inking: thank you so much, Kyle :D
If you haven't yet, please check out Kyle's pulp goodness at his site.

And stay tuned for page 4 of Kara Bocek coming this Sunday: things will get kinda "busy" ;)

Cheers,
Francesco

KARA BOCEK, BLACK BEETLE & COLT CITY created by, ™ and © 2009 Francesco Francavilla

"Capitan Cold" (aka Xmas 2009)

Hello Pulp Friends,

we are only a week away from Xmas so I thought it was a good time to post the card I did this year for the holidays: "CAPITAN COLD"!
My wife and I liked this guy (and the evil polar bear foes ;)) so much that we are planning to develop it a little more, so stay tuned on that.

Meanwhile I wish you all - and your families and friends - a wonderful Holiday Season and a deliciously Pulpish 2010, full of good things for you (and hopefully Pulp Sunday and Black Beetle are part of those things).

Speaking of the Black Beetle, I am working on page 4 of "KARA BOCEK" which will be up this Sunday, soon followed by page 5 before taking a so much needed holiday break.

Cheers to you all, my friends, and thanks for making this such a cool place :)

Francesco

p.s. click on the image for slightly bigger size.

Capitan Cold created by, ™ and © 2009 Francesco Francavilla
All titles, characters, character names, logos and related indicia
are ™ and © 2009 Francesco Francavilla.

SHHHHhhhhhh!

While waiting for Zorro #18 to hit the shelves, here's a sneak peek at #19 ;)

Cheers,
Francesco

Artwork © 2009 Francesco Francavilla

Black Beetles - Part 5

Feeling like a proud dad right now, for all the love my baby (if we can call a grow up asskicking pulpish hero a baby ;)) is receiving :)

After the sweet tributes from Simon and Evan in the last few days, I got up today to find another awesome fanart of our favorite masked hero, this time from the skillfull hands of Thomas Boatwright, talented co-creator and artist of horror little gems like the Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo and Cemetery Blues.
You can check more of Thomas' work and coming projects here.

Thank you, Thomas, I really appreciate you taking time to draw Black Beetle :)

Cheers,
Francesco

KARA BOCEK, BLACK BEETLE & COLT CITY created by, ™ and © 2009 Francesco Francavilla

Black Beetles - Part 4

(part 3 being Simon's realistic take at our pulp masked hero I posted a couple of days ago).
This morning I woke up to find this beutiful rendition of the Black Beetle by the supertalented - and all around swell guy - Evan "Doc" Shaner.

Evan was already kind enough to send me, some time ago, a beutiful drawing depicting The Shadow, Green Hornet, and the Spider, a pulp trinity if you wish ;), (and he drew a Zorro on the envelope to make it even sweeter), so I was super happy to see him taking a stab at BB and the Kara Bocek's trio of baddies.
You can see more of Evan's beutiful work here.

Thank you, Evan, I owe you a few more drinks :)

Cheers,
Francesco

KARA BOCEK, BLACK BEETLE & COLT CITY created by, ™ and © 2009 Francesco Francavilla

Kara Bocek pag.3

Hello Pulp friends :)

A little late, but here's page 3 :)
Click on the image or click here for a bigger view.

These are taking longer than expected but, man, are they fun! :D
Hope you guys dig it, and if you do, please lemme know :)

Have a Pulp Sunday (evening), everyone!

Cheers,
Francesco

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

BB The Movie (!?!)

No, as much as I wish it was an actual news, there is still no movie development attached to BB, not yet anyway ;)

Some time ago my good friend and pulp afecionado Simon Pimpernel (everyone should visit his wonderful pulp blog, if you are not doing it already) asked me who would I cast if a real movie about the Black Beetle was to be made. I replied a young Kirk Douglas would have been perfect for the role.
Well this morning Simon surprised me with this fanart photo manipulation, which looks like a real still from some '40s movie :)
I thanked him and asked permission to dress it up as movie poster and post it in here. Permission granted so here it is :)

Thanks again, Simon, it looks AWESOME.
Now if I can only time-travel and get young Kirk to sign for the movie...

Cheers,
Francesco

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

Kara Bocek pag.2

Hello Pulp friends :)

Here is page 2, sooner than expected since you all demanded it :)
Click on the image or click here for a bigger view.

Hope you guys dig it. If you do, feel free to spread the word and let everyone know about this little Black Beetle tale :)
And expect some more FUN on page 3 this coming Sunday :)

Cheers,
Francesco

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

POPEYE!

Inspired by today's Google homepage, a quick tribute to one of the heroes of my childhood and the reason why I love spinach so much ;)

Created by Elzie Crisler Segar in 1929 as a side character for the daily strip The Thimble Theatre, Popeye conquered the American readers first, and the world wide readers right after, becoming an icon of popular culture and one of the most recognizable characters in the world.
With him, Segar has written some of the most unforgettable pages of the comics history, rich of surrelaism, humanity, adventure, humor, poetry.

Little trivia: the spinach appear rarely in the daily strips, while they become an important element of the cartoon animated version.

Cheers,
Francesco

P.S. Eat veggies, kids!

Artwork © 2009 Francesco Francavilla.

Kara Bocek pag.1

Hello Pulp friends :)

How about getting this started? :D
Click on the image or click here for a bigger view.

If you dig it a lot and want more than just a page a week, I will steal a few more hours to my sleep and will try to make 2 pages a week, let's say Sundays and Wednesays? Lemme know :)
Meanwhile I hope you enjoy the intro :)

Have a Pulp Sunday, everyone.

Cheers,
Francesco

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

The Breslau Enters the Bosphorus

Hello Pulp friends :)

Couldn't help to post some more of the strip/page that will be up tomorrow. Working on dialogues/captions today. Hope you guys are as excited as I am :)
Click on the image for larger view.

Spread the word: BB is back! :)

Cheers,
Francesco

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

Destinazione: Costantinopoli!

Hello Pulp friends :)

Just a sneak peek at a panel from this Sunday first strip (working on it in between Zorro pages). Oh, did I mention there will be Nazis? ;)

Make sure to be there and bring friends!
Spread the word: BB is back! :)

Cheers,
Francesco

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

"Kara Bocek": more studies

Hello Pulp friends :)

I am sharing these with you all as they come along.
Please meet Aziz Haktan (on the left) and Ihsan Bey (on the right).
Aziz is the owner of an Antiques shop in Constantinople, and he has a special item Black Beetle is interested in.
Ihsan... well, he is one of the bad guys of this story, but you have to wait to see how bad he is ;)
This is gonna be FUN :D

Spread the word: BB is back! :)

Cheers,
Francesco

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

"Kara Bocek" and the Pulp December

Hello Pulp friends :)

So let's get this December started, shall we? :D
Planning to bring the PULP/NOIR back to Pulp Sunday after the Horror October
and SciFi November. That means also more Black Beetle tales! :)

We left Black Beetle in his free-fall from an 18 story building in the prologue of "NO WAY OUT", remember? Well, as mentioned that story has developed to be a 6 issue mini and you will be able to see what happen next hopefully in 2010 (really pushing things around to make the mini hit the stores next year).


Meanwhile, since I can't keep BB away from Pulp SUnday, I decided to do a short web-tale of our beloved hero. "KARA BOCEK" will be set a few years before "NO WAY OUT" and will introduce some of the elements that will be part of the BB bigger arcs later. The change of settings is not just temporal but also geographical as we are now in Constantinople (today's Istanbul), Turkey and not in Colt City.
Expect Casablanca vibes in this ;)


Just worked on this "lobby card" (inspired by a pulp movie ;)) and the couple of concepts you see in this post (introducing Elsa Vogel) and now I need to layout the whole story in
the next few days so I can have Sunday strips going on Pulp Sunday for the
whole month.
Hope you guys dig the poster & the concept and will be on board for this ride. And please, let me hear from you because if it's just me and BB it's half fun :)

Cheers,
Francesco

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