Sunday, July 20, 2008

Pulp Spotlight: The Man With No Name

Pulp Spotlight
The Man with No Name
Hello pulp-friends,

Since I have to skip next week for con reasons, I thought to have a beefy episode today with lot of art and dedicated to a pulp genre I haven't covered yet (as far I remember ;)): the Western!
What better than the Man with no Name, the hero of Sergio Leone's beautiful trilogy, to get the Western rolling? :)

Sergio Leone
"A fistful of dollars" is the first movie of the so called "trilogy of the dollar" (the other two movies are "For a Few Dollars More", 1965, and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", 1966), directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood.

Masterpiece of the "spaghetti western" genre, A fistful of Dollars is mistakenly considered the first of that genre. Actually there were already western movies made in Europe before 1964, but they weren't as popular or successful. Leone's take reinvented the genre, bringing it back to popularity and re-defining the rules of a good western.

The movie was inspired by the japanese "Yojimbo" (1961) by Akira Kurosawa. SInce it was the first spaghetti western to reach the American market, many members of the cast and crew got a stage name, including the director Leone and the composer Ennio Morricone. In the United States, the United Artists publicity campaign referred to Eastwood's character in all three films as the "Man With No Name".

Cheers,
Francesco

Clint Eastwood
Pulp Spotlight is the monthly feature where I cover other famous characters that have helped to build the Pulp genre not just on the radio but also in the other media.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Zorro - Chapter 5

Zorro #5

Hi guys,

after the Dick Tracy's rogue gallery of the past days, please allow me to jump on a more swashbuckling fun which is dearly close to me right now: Zorro!!! :)
Issue 5 came out today so I am warmly inviting you all to go to grab a copy: issue 4 has been one of the best of the series so far (not just IMO, but also from a general feedback ;)) and I can assure things get just better issue after issue :)
And as extra, here page 6 in its original grayscale washes (plus the sepia effect for the blog ;))

Hope you all enjoy the read!

Cheers,
Francesco

Zorro #5 - page 6

Monday, July 14, 2008

9 Lombrose St. - Day 10 ~~ "The Grand Finale" ~~

9 Lombrose St.
Hello Pulp Friends!

And here it is, the "Sum of all the fears... err... the villains" ;):D
Maybe someone saw this coming due the weird shape of the different "pieces" but I hope everyone enjoy the "puzzle" put together in the last 10 days :)
Have a great week, everyone, and, as always, viva la Pulp :)

Cheers,
Francesco

9 Lombrose St. - The Grand Finale

"Lombrose St." and "9 Lombrose St." © 2008 Francesco Francavilla

Sunday, July 13, 2008

9 Lombrose St. - Day 9 ~~ "LittleFace" ~~

9 Lombrose St.
Hello Pulp Friends!

Can't believe 9 days are already passed: time really flies in the pulp world :)
Here's another famous "face" from the Dick Tracy criminal underworld, an easy face to recognize actually.

Hope you all enjoy today entry and have a great Pulp Sunday :)
And don't miss tomorrow for the grand conclusion of this series :)

Cheers,
Francesco

9 Lombrose St. - LittleFace

"Lombrose St." and "9 Lombrose St." © 2008 Francesco Francavilla

Saturday, July 12, 2008

9 Lombrose St. - Day 8 ~~ "Mrs Pruneface" ~~

9 Lombrose St.
Hello Pulp Friends!

We are getting closer to wrap up this (partial) gallery of Dick Tracy's rogues. One more tomorrow and then the grand finale on Monday. Stay tuned for that ;)

Meanwhile here's a lady criminal: I know, it's a pretty ugly mug but what you expect from the criminal underworld of Chester Gould? ;) She is also married to one of the previous spotlighted criminals. I think that's a tough one to guess (maybe) ;)

Cheers,
Francesco

9 Lombrose St. - Mrs Pruneface

"Lombrose St." and "9 Lombrose St." © 2008 Francesco Francavilla

Friday, July 11, 2008

9 Lombrose St. - Day 7 ~~ "Mumbles" ~~

9 Lombrose St.
Hello Pulp Friends!

Today's bad guy is once again based on the comic strip, since in the Beatty's movie he wasn't that bad or scary ;) Great interpretation by Hoffman, of course :)

Almost there... ;)

Cheers,
Francesco

9 Lombrose St. - Mumbles

"Lombrose St." and "9 Lombrose St." © 2008 Francesco Francavilla

Thursday, July 10, 2008

9 Lombrose St. - Day 6 ~~ "The Brow" ~~

9 Lombrose St.
Hello Pulp Friends!

A few more and then the big revelation on the 14th ;)
Today we deal with one of the most infamous villain Dick Tracy had to face: infamous because he was a spy, a dirty job especially in war time. His end was quite exemplary: falling from a building and finishing "impaled" by the stars and stripes flag, symbol of that America he was working against.
I guess I will leave to you the task to make his name ;)

Cheers,
Francesco

9 Lombrose St. - The Brow

"Lombrose St." and "9 Lombrose St." © 2008 Francesco Francavilla

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

9 Lombrose St. - Day 5 ~~ "Influence" ~~

9 Lombrose St.
Hello Pulp Friends!

We are halfway there :) A few more villains and this little gallery will end with some fireworks (hopefully ;)). I know, the 4th July is gone, is past, but there is always room for some fireworks, yes? :)

So, let's see if I captured the today guy well: guess who's mug we have here :)

Cheers,
Francesco

9 Lombrose St. - Influence

"Lombrose St." and "9 Lombrose St." © 2008 Francesco Francavilla

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

9 Lombrose St. - Day 4 ~~ "Big Boy" ~~

9 Lombrose St.
Hello Pulp Friends!

I'm really happy to see how everyone is loving this gallery of Dick Tracy villains. It makes me want to do a Shadow villains gallery next :) Thank you so much, my friends.

Today's villain is the boss himself, Big Boy. I tried to stick closer to the strip design more than the Pacino makeup (generally speaking, I am trying to stick to the strip with all of 'em), even if I thought that makeup and that performance in Beatty's movie were one of the greatest from Pacino.

Cheers,
Francesco

9 Lombrose St. - Big Boy

"Lombrose St." and "9 Lombrose St." © 2008 Francesco Francavilla

Monday, July 7, 2008

9 Lombrose St. - Day 3 ~~ "Flattop Sr." ~~

9 Lombrose St.
Hello Pulp Friends!

so the cat is out of the bag: you all guessed these are Dick Tracy's villains. Kudos to you all :) (even if, since I have great respect of your pulp knowledge, I was expecting nothing less from you ;))
I have been itching to draw this guy since I had the idea to do this. Ladies & Gentlemen, here's Flat Top for day 3! :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Flat Top

"Lombrose St." and "9 Lombrose St." © 2008 Francesco Francavilla

Sunday, July 6, 2008

9 Lombrose St. - Day 2 ~~ "Pruneface" ~~

9 Lombrose St.
Hello Pulp Friends!

No one has figured out yet who these guys are? Maybe you are still recovering from the 4th July booze or maybe you are still on the road for this long holiday weekend: wherever you are, I hope you are having great time :)
Meanwhile I am having great time on Lombrose St. As matter of fact, here's day 2 :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Prune Face

"Lombrose St." and "9 Lombrose St." © 2008 Francesco Francavilla

Saturday, July 5, 2008

9 Lombrose St. - Day 1 ~~ "Mole" ~~

9 Lombrose St.
Hello Pulp Friends!

I decided to do this little project titled "9 Lombrose St." and have it going for 10 days on a daily basis. I am not giving any more info right now so you guys can play the guess game ;)
What I can say is that it's undeniably Pulp and you are going to love it :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Mole

"Lombrose St." and "9 Lombrose St." © 2008 Francesco Francavilla