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(The) Black Beetle Volume 1: No Way Out

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    Todd Jordan
    Smut is good.

  • Black Beetle, The - Volume 1: No Way Out

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    Released by: Dark Horse Comics
    Released on: October 16th, 2013
    Writer: Francesco Francavilla
    Artist: Francesco Francavilla
    Purchase at Amazon

    It's too bad we can't just give you a one sentence review, because if we could, it would be: “Francesco Francavilla's The Black Beetle is fucking awesome.” But since that short of a write-up is frowned upon…

    The Black Beetle is a highly trained, highly skilled crime fighter in the metropolis of Colt City, operating during the early days of World War II. His nosing around looking for shit going down brings him to witness an explosion that blew apart some big time mob bosses. Even though they were pieces of crap, The Black Beetle feels the self-righteous need to get to the bottom of who iced the crooks. His investigations put him on the tail of Labryrinto, a mysterious figure who wears tights with maze designs on them that masks his identity of course. He's nearly equal to skills of The Black Beetle with his highly trained fighting skills and warrior-of-the-streets mentality, except he commits the crimes, not fights them. Needless to say the two are instant enemies. Along his search he also encounters Nazis, dames, a swanky party, and sewers with lots of rats. And something much darker than mob bosses is brewing. Dr. Corallo, just what do you have cooking?

    Francavilla's tale is feels as though it was designed to feel like to old-time radio serials, the nickelodeon “tune-in next time” weekly tales, and old pulp magazines all rolled into one and it is an absolute blast. It is plainly obvious he loves the material he is so blatantly inspired by, and it comes across that way on every single, beautifully illustrated page. The pace is fast and the energy of the book is refreshing. Gun fights, car chases, gadgets, mystery, cliff hangers… and not a dull moment. The fact that The Black Beetle's alter ego is never touched upon and he remains as much a mystery to the readers as he does the characters in the story is another piece of the puzzle that keeps things interesting. He's an urban crime fighter, we don't need to know about his millionaire playboy lifestyle and endless money source, or his ward who wears tights and a speedo. We just need to know he's there to kick a bad guy in the face and shoot him is he needs to, and that's exactly what we get.

    And his artwork is fantastic. Every page commands attention with its intricate detail, fantastic shadows, and a noir-ish atmosphere. The panel design is creative and cinema-like, with some really great two-page spreads, and one page melts into the next. It's one of those books you can read over and over again and never tire of. Franceso Francavilla has become a new favorite of this reader (although the Doctor Who stuff will never been consumed by this set of eyes), and Dark Horse had better put out the promised next chapter in the exploits of The Black Beetle, titled “Necrologue”.

    As an added bonus, the back portion of the book has around 20 pages of concept sketches, layouts, pinups, covers, and lobby cards. Lobby cards? Yes. And they are wicked cool. Enough cannot be said to praise this book, but too much will dull its impact. From start to finish The Black Beetle is a total and absolute delight, and a book that is one-hundred percent worth every penny of your hard-earned dough. GET IT.

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    • Todd Jordan
      #4
      Todd Jordan
      Smut is good.
      Todd Jordan commented
      Editing a comment
      haha!! Afterlife Archie...this guys is awesome. Never heard of him until now, and he's quickly becoming a favorite.

    • Scott
      #5
      Scott
      Intellectual Carrot
      Scott commented
      Editing a comment
      He's really prolific lately what with all the covers, and I think this month or next month he has three or four books shipping, Afterlife Archie, Guardians of the Galaxy and (I think) the new Black Beetle and an issue of Hawkeye. The stuff I liked the most from him so far is BATMAN: BLACK MIRROR (although the Jock work is even more impressive, IMO), and the issues of BLACK PANTHER he did when BP took over for Daredevil in Hell's Kitchen. And of course his Black Beetle work.He also did two Captain America arcs from the recent team-up series. One with Bucky that was co-written by Brubaker at the end of his run on the title, and one with Black Widow. The Black Widow one was mostly sci-fi fluff, but still pretty fun. I really liked the Bucky arc, it dealt with the replacement Cap and Bucky that took over for a brief time after Cap and Bucky (apparently) died in WWII. They were just regular guys and now they're old men. Good stuff.His occasional fill-in in the recent HAWKEYE series is a highlight. I wish it was just him and David Aja on the series. Javier Pulido's issues are kinda weak, IMO, coming off more as an Aja knock-off rather than being truly inspired. Sometimes his work is really strong but he's no Francavilla.

    • Andrew Monroe
      #6
      Andrew Monroe
      Pallid Hands
      Andrew Monroe commented
      Editing a comment
      I'm tempted to buy the Black Beetle collection even though I have all the individual issues, it's easier to read at a sitting and that extra material sounds cool. I love Francavilla too (and Todd you should be checking out Afterlife With Archie ASAP if you're not already - it's awesome and fits very well in the Archie-verse, no gratuitous gore and the characters stay in character so to speak). I don't have much interest in most of the superhero stuff he does/has done for Marvel aside from Cap but it's tempting to get some of it just for his art. I'd love to see him team up with Mark Waid on Daredevil though, I dig Chris Samnee's work on it but Francavilla would be a perfect fit there.
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