The Black Beetle #1

"No Way Out" (1 of 4)
 by Francesco Francavilla

It's not that Francesco Francavilla's new noir hero Black Beetle offers anything particularly innovative to the genre, it's that he evokes it so seamlessly and convincingly.  It lovingly recreates a 1930's aesthetic in both the story it tells and the way it tells it.  As the Zenith radio on the title page suggests, the Beetle's narration could be equally at home in mystery radio as comic book noir, a kind of implied nod to The Shadow radio shows and its ilk.  He employs a number of familiar genre tropes:  warring Italian gangsters, an island prison à la Alcatraz, and a pervasive fascination with all things vaguely eastern, in both Black Beetle's own Egyptian-inspired choice of heroic identity and decorating scheme in his lair as well as his apparent counterpart Labyrinto.

The Black Beetle himself, what would seem an unusual choice for superhero costume and nomenclature if others before him hadn't already seized on the bug, is a delightfully off-beat hero, one whose place as amateur detective and vigilante crime-fighter in Colt City—another New York stand-in, if the map pin is to be an indication—is still unclear.  Not only do the police give chase, but the helpful (if perhaps somewhat suspicious) boy-bystander does not recognize him, mistaking him instead for a spaceman, one of the comics several not-quite-anachronisms more from '50s pop culture than prohibition era that establish the continuity of pulp noir over historical accuracy.  Black Beetle's costume is deceptively simple—black mask with large, red eye shields; a black jumpsuit with minimal padding; and a black cape split with a similarly split storm flap—but it suggests his namesake [nowhere better than the bottom frame of p. 7] while remaining easily functional.

Francavilla's art, like its promotional material, mimics genre movie posters from nearby eras, privileging crisp lines and moody color schemes over realism. The effect is beautiful, and Francavilla uses changes in the color palate to excellent dramatic effect.  The Beetle's shadowy stakeout of blue, purple and muted red explodes into bright yellows and whites along with Spencer's Irish bar, one of a few full page openings that he uses just as well.