The Black Beetle #2 cover image

“No Way Out” (Part 2 of 4)

The Black Beetle is a comic book character created by Eisner Award-winning artist Francesco Francavilla.  Blending the aesthetics of pulp fiction, mystery, noir, and the superhero, the Black Beetle is a super-heroic sleuth, and his base of operations is Colt City, a classic pulp and noir-type urban landscape.

The Black Beetle’s new comic book series finds the hero attempting to infiltrate a meeting of Colt City’s two crime families, the Galazzos and the Fierros.  Shortly after he arrives at the site of the meeting, the place goes up in a tremendous explosion – killing everyone inside.  One of Don Pasquale Galazzo’s nephews, Constantino, is still living and is holed up in The Fort, an Alcatraz-like prison.  The Black Beetle arrives at The Fort in time to witness Constantino’s murder.

As The Black Beetle: No Way Out #2 opens, our hero is fighting not to become the newest resident at The Fort.  Then, it becomes a fight for his life.  Freedom and a return to Colt City mean a return to the bomb site.  That is where the Black Beetle is brought face to face with a wily adversary, the enigmatic Labyrinto.

THE LOWDOWN:  It is good when a comic book series proves itself not to be a fluke after a dynamite debut issue.  How does a creator prove that?  Francesco Francavilla does so by creating a dynamite second issue.

Comic books are a visual, or more specifically graphics-based, medium, and Francavilla composes The Black Beetle with striking graphics and arresting static images.  Page layout, panel design, color, lettering, and captions combine to create a visual flow that moves, hops, skips, and boogies to a pulpy Film-Noir beat.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Readers looking for pure pop comics will find it in The Black Beetle: No Way Out.

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