Detective Comics #879 Cover

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Hello Pulp Friends,

Cover Week continues with DETECTIVE COMICS #879 cover.
This issue will be on sale in July (see solicitation details below)and again fully illustrated by yours truly :)
If you have been reading the latest issues (#875 in particular), you will recognize that item our beloved Commissioner is holding in his hand.

I am not saying anything else except don't forget to pick up Detective Comics #876 in stores today. It's the first part of a new 3-issue arc, HUNGRY CITY, that will reveal new villains in the Gotham landscape and will add more details to the James JR storyline.
Written by mastermind Scott Snyder and illustrated by Jock and David Baron :)

And here's the solicits for #879, on sale in July.
DETECTIVE COMICS #879
Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Art and cover by FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA

For years, Jim Gordon has been tormented by the possibility that his son, James Jr., might be a killer. Tonight, he'll get the answers he's been after. But is the truth about James even darker than the Commissioner, or even Batman, could have guessed?

On sale July 13 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Cheers,
Francesco

Artwork © 2011 Francesco Francavilla

Detective Comics #875 Preview

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Hello Pulp Friends,

Here's the first page of Detective Comics #875, out in every comic shop tomorrow.
Hope you guys enjoy it and don't forget to pick up your copy :)

Cheers,
Francesco

DETECTIVE COMICS #875
Written by Scott Snyder
Illustrated by Francesco Francavilla
Lettered by Jared K. Fletcher
Edited by Mike Marts, Janelle Asselin, Katie Kubert
Cover by Francesco Francavilla
“There are some cases that come screaming back at you…like phone calls in the night…”
For years, Jim Gordon has been haunted by the unsolved case of Gotham’s notorious
“Peter Pan Killer.” Now, armed with new evidence, Gordon is determined to put the case to rest.
But as he digs deeper, he’ll unearth a shocking discovery about his own past – a revelation that will shake him to the core. Skeletons will be exposed and secrets revealed in this special issue featuring art by Francesco Francavilla!

On sale March 30 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Artwork © 2011 Francesco Francavilla

A look inside Detective #875

Hello Pulp Friends,

Only 2 days to the release of Detective Comics #875, def the Scott Snyder/ Francesco Francavilla's MUST HAVE Detective book. I got my comps today and I can't wait for you all to dig into it :)

Today's offering: A look at a detail from a double spread in #875 and, below, the (half inked) layout of the spread.

Hope you guys enjoy it and don't forget to pick up your copy this Wed :)

Cheers,
Francesco


~ Click on the images for a closer look ~

DETECTIVE COMICS #875
Written by Scott Snyder
Illustrated by Francesco Francavilla
Lettered by Jared K. Fletcher
Edited by Mike Marts, Janelle Asselin, Katie Kubert
Cover by Francesco Francavilla
“There are some cases that come screaming back at you…like phone calls in the night…”
For years, Jim Gordon has been haunted by the unsolved case of Gotham’s notorious
“Peter Pan Killer.” Now, armed with new evidence, Gordon is determined to put the case to rest.
But as he digs deeper, he’ll unearth a shocking discovery about his own past – a revelation that will shake him to the core. Skeletons will be exposed and secrets revealed in this special issue featuring art by Francesco Francavilla!

On sale March 30 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Artwork © 2011 Francesco Francavilla

James JR. Revealed

~ Click on the images for a closer look ~

Hello Pulp Friends,

A week from today, on Wed March 30th, Detective Comics #875 will be in stores. It's, without doubts, the best issue I have done with Scott on Detective so far, and def one of the best book I have done in quite some time.

The story is self contained, so it can be read/enjoyed without needing to know that much (well, I am assuming everyone knows who Gordon is, and by now you may also know he has an estranged son, James JR. ;)). The book is only 22 pages but, trust me, it feels a 30 or more page long book. It's an excellent read and has a couple of pretty pictures in it as well ;)

Ok, enough gushuing about it, I wanted just to let you know I will be posting a few things until the book release next week. Hope you enjoy it and hope you will tell to your local comic shop to save a copy for you while you are shopping today or this week :)

Today's offering: the last splash page from Detective 874 teasing at the upcoming story in #875.

Cheers,
Francesco

DETECTIVE COMICS #875
Written by Scott Snyder
Illustrated by Francesco Francavilla
Lettered by Jared K. Fletcher
Edited by Mike Marts, Janelle Asselin, Katie Kubert
Cover by Francesco Francavilla
“There are some cases that come screaming back at you…like phone calls in the night…”
For years, Jim Gordon has been haunted by the unsolved case of Gotham’s notorious
“Peter Pan Killer.” Now, armed with new evidence, Gordon is determined to put the case to rest.
But as he digs deeper, he’ll unearth a shocking discovery about his own past – a revelation that will shake him to the core. Skeletons will be exposed and secrets revealed in this special issue featuring art by Francesco Francavilla!

On sale March 30 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Artwork © 2011 Francesco Francavilla

The Stakeout

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Hello Pulp Friends,

How about a little piece of Noir courtesy of Commissioner Gordon and Detective Comics #875? :)
Hope you guys dig the sneak peek at the layout for this page.

Cheers,
Francesco

Artwork © 2011 Francesco Francavilla

Everyone Loves Detective

(click on the above image for a bigger reading experience ;))

Hi guys,

Detective Comics #871 (with the brand new team of Scott Snyder on the story, and Jock, David Baron, and me on art chores, all under the great supervision of editors Mike Marts and Janelle Siegel) come out last week and since then reviews are poring in and the verdict seems to be the same: Detective is the Bat book you must buy :D
Check these reviews out :) (click on links to read the reviews)

iFanboy: 5 out of 5!

TECHLAND: I like the new look of Detective a lot--two schools of European cartooning in just one book!

CBR

Crave OnLine: t’s hard to read Detective Comics #871 and not feel like a new era is upon us. With only one issue, Snyder and the team of artists have established a very new take on Dick Grayson, Jim Gordon, and their relationship with Gotham City. If you don’t love absolutely everything the new Detective Comics, there’s something fundamentally wrong with the way you view art.

Newsarama Best Shots Extra

Multiversity Comics: I can't say enough about this book. From top to bottom, from the writing to the art to the editing to everything else, this book is simply one of the best big two superhero books of the year. 9.8

The Outhousers

Read/Rant: A-

Comics And... : Overall Grade A + - If you aren’t reading this book you are missing what could become a classic.

Paradox Comics Group: the Vertigo sophistication and sensibility being applied to the DC Universe [..] 8/10

Comic Attack!: I highly recommend it!

The Weekly Crisis: Must Read. You are going to want to be in on the ground floor for what’s going to be a great year for Batman. this reads like Dashiell Hammett’s take on the character and the city.

Weekly Comic Book Review: Snyder “get’s it” and is writing a uniquely Dick Grayson detective story. Jock and Francavilla are delivering awesome art. Must read! A-

Gotham Knights Online: Jock and Francesco’s artwork matches Snyders writing perfectly and [..] puts Detective Comics at the top of the pile for Batman titles currently out there. 5/5

Heroes Online: Atmospheric and intelligent, an excellent start for this title’s new direction.

There is plenty more reviews posted in the last days and more coming out this week, but you get the idea... :)
Thanks everyone for the support: I, Scott, Jock, David, Mike, Janelle, and all the DC COmics gang really appreciate all the bat-love you guys are throwing our way :)

Cheers,
Francesco

All images © 2010 Francesco Francavilla.
Detective Comics ™ and © 2010 DC Comics

The Making of Detective Comics #874 Cover

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Hello Pulp Friends,

As promised, here is the "making of DC #874 Cover" with a little commentary to go with I prepared for the official DC Universe blog (thanks to Alex Segura for always doing such a great job in updating all the DC fans about current and upcoming books :))

"This is the cover of the first full feature dedicated to Commissioner Gordon you will see during 2011 on Detective Comics. That’s right, the back-up features will disappear after #873 to become full feature every 3-4 issue of Jock’s Batman feature. In Scott’s master plan, the Commissioner Gordon story is strictly correlated to what happens in the Batman story, so we thought this was the best way to get the two storylines run to parallel while still adapting to the new 20 pages format.

As always I try to do, I wanted this cover to reflect a bit the story inside issue 874, so I asked Scott for a brief synopsis and for what he would like to see on the cover. Once acquired that info, I produced the 2 layouts you see here. Everyone at DC loved the first concept (which was my favorite too) but we wanted to make sure there was some of the elements of the second concept too (the search in the woods). So I added some foliage to the insert image with the doll and voila’, you got the cover you saw yesterday.

Little trivia: the eye missing from the doll and ending up as something the kid is toying with was something I came up while working on the final inks (concept and pencils had the doll with both eyes - as you can see from the image below - and the kid just playing with a stick)

Hope you guys enjoy it and don’t forget to pick up Detective #871 at the end of November"


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Hope you all had a wonderful Pulp Sunday and pls don't forget to pickup Detective #871 on the 24th of this month :)

CHeers,
Francesco

Artwork © 2010 Francesco Francavilla

Detective Comics #874 Cover

~~ Click on the image for biggie ~~

Hello Pulp Friends,

Cover Week continues with DETECTIVE COMICS #874 cover.
Tune in tomorrow for a "making of DC #874 Cover" look and some extra content about my work on Detective :)
Meanwhile here's the solicits for 874 (as they will appear in December Previews for Feb release) and don't miss the first issue of the new Detective arc (#871) by Scott Snyder, Jock & David Baron on the feature, and me on the Commissioner Gordon co-feature, on sale on Nov 24th, only 2 weeks from now :)

DETECTIVE COMICS #874
Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Art and cover by FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA

“There are some cases that come screaming back at you…like phone calls in the night…”
For years, Jim Gordon has been haunted by the unsolved case of Gotham’s notorious
“Peter Pan Killer.” Now, armed with new evidence, Gordon is determined to put the case to rest.
But as he digs deeper, he’ll unearth a shocking discovery about his own past – a revelation that will shake him to the core. Skeletons will be exposed and secrets revealed in this special issue featuring art by Francesco Francavilla!

On sale FEBRUARY 23 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Cheers,
Francesco

Artwork © 2010 Francesco Francavilla