Monday, November 29, 2010

Everyone Loves Detective

Detective 871
(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

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Nightmare Town - Pt. 6

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

Hello Pulp friends :)

As promised, here's a new installment of Dashiell Hammett's NIGHTMARE TOWN :)

Hope you enjoy it and please consider take advantage of my November free-shipping sales on the Halloween archival prints (13"x19", signed, boarded and bagged) and Schermoscuro Vol.1 books (below a photo of my latest shipment, so to give the idea of how big and nice the prints are).
If you wanna something for your studio/office wall or shelf and support Pulp Sunday at the same time, then please use the side Paypal button to order :)

Schermoscuro Vol.1 & Prints

Thank you and wish you all a fantastic Pulp Sunday :)

Cheers,
Francesco

All images © 2010 Francesco Francavilla.
PULP ILLUSTRATED ™ and © 2006-2010 Francesco Francavilla

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Nightmare Town - Pt. 5

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

Hello Pulp friends :)

You all will be happy to know that - starting today and for the next few months' Sundays - I am back to 2 "CLASSICS" installments here at Pulp Sunday: the hard boiled illustrated "NIGHTMARE TOWN" (written by Dashiell Hammett) and the exotic adventure of The Black Beetle in "KARA BOCEK" (written and illustrated by me).

Let's start today with part 5 of Dashiell Hammett's NIGTHMARE TOWN (if you need to refresh the emeory or start from part 1, click here) and please remember I am still running the HALLOWEEN SPECIAL on SCHERMOSCURO Vol.1 and/or print, so feel free to use the sidebar PAYPAL button to order the book and get an original sketch inside (see below). It's a great way to have something nice on your shelf and support Pulp Sunday at the same time :)

Schermoscuro Vol.1 sketchSchermoscuro Vol.1 sketch

Hope you guys dig it and hope you all had a fantastic Pulp Sunday :)

Cheers,
Francesco

All images © 2010 Francesco Francavilla.
PULP ILLUSTRATED ™ and © 2006-2010 Francesco Francavilla

Sunday, November 14, 2010

The Making of Detective Comics #874 Cover

DETECTIVE COMICS #874 Cover
~~ Click on the image for biggie ~~

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"


DETECTIVE COMICS #874 Cover
~~ Click on the image for biggie ~~

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

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Detective Comics #874 Cover

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

Thursday, November 11, 2010

LOVECRAFT: Black & White

Kato Origins #9 Cover
~~ Click on the image for biggie ~~

Hello Pulp Friends,

Cover Week continues with LOVECRAFT Black & White cover.
As you all know, I am a huge fan of HPL so I was very happy to be asked to provide a wraparound cover for this book that showcases tons of B/W illustrations by famous comic artists and illustrators.

The book is edited by Umberto Sisia, an Italian expert of all Lovecraft things, and published by Dagon Press. I have been told that the book printing is limited to a very few hundreds copies.

For more info, check here.
Cheers,
Francesco

Artwork © 2010 Francesco Francavilla

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

KATO: Origins #9 Cover

Kato Origins #9 Cover
~~ Click on the image for biggie ~~

Hello Pulp Friends,

Cover Week continues with KATO ORIGINS #9 cover.
And while we are at it, please go tot he store and pick-up KATO Origins #5, which came out today :) As I said, it's a really good read :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Artwork © 2010 Francesco Francavilla

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Green Hornet Year One #10 Cover

Green Hornet Year One #10 Cover
~~ Click on the image for biggie ~~

Hello Pulp Friends,

Cover week continues with my cover for issue 10 of Green Hornet Year One
Hope you guys dig it :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Artwork © 2010 Francesco Francavilla

Monday, November 8, 2010

KATO: Origins #8 Cover

Kato Origins #8 Cover
~~ Click on the image for biggie ~~

Hello Pulp Friends,

Cover Week continues with the cover I did for KATO ORIGINS #8 - Hellfire Club!
Hope you guys dig it and hope you are reading the book becuase it's a really good read :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Artwork © 2010 Francesco Francavilla

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Sherlock Holmes Year One #1 Cover

Sherlock Holmes Year One #1 Cover
~~ Click on the image for biggie ~~

Hello Pulp Friends,

2011 will have some new sweet covers from yours truly :)

One of the title I was lucky to be asked to provide main covers for is Dynamite's SHERLOCK HOLMES YEAR ONE. I have read the first 2 scripts and - trust me - it's a book you wanna put on your pull list.
For this title I decided to try a different approach, more like a tribute to the classic Holmes dime novel covers.
Here's the first one: please let me know if you dig the direction here :)

About the other covers I am doing... well, we will talk about them when I am allowed ;)
Meanwhile come back all week since this is gonna be COVER WEEK! :)

Have a wonderful Pulp Sunday everyone :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Artwork © 2010 Francesco Francavilla