2007′s Left On Mission (a great mini) was the first time I’ve really seen Francavilla’s artwork. He’s got a nice, loose but evocative line reminds me of Alfredo Alacala, Steve Bissette or some of the other great ink artists that showed up in the 70s and 80s. These artists loved ink and used it on each and every page. They weren’t as preoccupied by precision as to many of today’s artists are. I’ll take lush inking of Alacala over the lifeless stare of Steve McNiven anyday.
Francavilla is interviewed over at Newsarama about his upcoming work on Zorro with Matt Wagner but at the end of the interview, he drops a quick plug for his website Pulp Sunday, an artblog where he illustrates old pulp radio stories. It sounds like his intent is to have a short strip up every Sunday.
For Christmas, it looks like he banged out a complete Shadow story, Blood on Christmas, over five days. It’s a short but moody and scary Christmas story and Francavilla’s artwork is amazing. He does it with a gray wash that feels torn right out of the 30′s. It’s a great little story and Francavilla’s blog may be one of the best-kept secrets right now.
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Part 4
Part 5