Courtesy of Oni Press, AIPT can exclusively share character designs for Calavera, P.I., a new series launching on November 6th.
The four-part series four-part series is by cartoonist Marco Finnegan (Morning Star, Night People), taking readers down the shadow-shrouded alleys of Hollywoodland to solve the mystery of Calavera—a newly resurrected private investigator whose first case is about to straddle the blood-soaked boundaries between the living and the dead . . .
Along with the designs we’ve got exclusive commentary from Finnegan and and Oni Press Editor Gabriel Granillo!
What’s Calavera, P.I. about?
In 1925, Juan Calavera died a hero. After a career spent outside the law defending the Chicano barrios where the police refused to operate, he earned a reputation for fearlessness . . . and a gunshot in the stomach. Now, five years later, on Dia de los Muertos, his restless spirit has been summoned from the grave to help a desperate former colleague unravel a kidnapping all too close to home. With only days to solve the case before he is called back to the underworld, can Calavera reveal the identity of the masked human trafficker known as La Fantasma before tragedy strikes again . . . and solve the mystery of his own murder in the process?
Finnegan told us, “For the look of Calavera, P.I. I did a deep dive into film noir but also comics and comic strips of the time. The biggest influences for me aesthetically were Milton Caniff (especially in terms of color), Jack Cole’s Midnight, and the great EC series, Crime SuspenStories…I really dug into Johnny Craig’s work in particular on that series.”
He added, “Then I filtered it through the lens of a kid growing up in and around LA at the time. Placita Park near Olvera Street is featured and so are the areas around what used to be Bunker Hill.”
“Calavera, P.I. is the kind of book I’ve been dreaming of. Part Chicano noir, part supernatural thriller, part historical fiction, Marco Finnegan’s vision of 1920s Los Angeles is steeped in Mexican folklore and uniquely stylized with rich and moody colors, and its undercurrent of mass deportation and cultural erasure is eerily relevant 100 years later,” Oni Press Editor Gabriel Granillo told us.
If you like design, check out our other Anatomy of Design features.
For more information on this news, read the press release below.
PORTLAND OR (August 12th, 2024)– Oni Press – the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-winning publisher of groundbreaking comics and graphic novels since 1997 – is proud to unveil CALAVERA, P.I. – a daring new four-part series coming this November from cartoonist Marco Finnegan (Morning Star, Night People)! On November 6th, walk the shadow-shrouded alleys of Hollywoodland to solve the mystery of Calavera—a newly resurrected private investigator whose first case is about to straddle the blood-soaked boundaries between the living and the dead . . .
In 1925, Juan Calavera died a hero. After a career spent outside the law defending the Chicano barrios where the police refused to operate, he earned a reputation for fearlessness . . . and a gunshot in the stomach. Now, five years later, on Dia de los Muertos, his restless spirit has been summoned from the grave to help a desperate former colleague unravel a kidnapping all too close to home. With only days to solve the case before he is called back to the underworld, can Calavera reveal the identity of the masked human trafficker known as La Fantasma before tragedy strikes again . . . and solve the mystery of his own murder in the process?
“Calavera, P.I. came about for two reasons,” said author Marco Finnegan. ”One, I love film noir/pulp novels and comic strips from the 1930’s & ’50s. Those set in LA I love even more. There’s something about seeing the underside of a town you’re familiar with reflected back at you in black and white or written about in newsprint.
“The second reason is that as I learned more about the history of Chicanos in Los Angeles, the more it nagged at me how none of this history was reflected in those noirs I loved. Occasionally [Raymond] Chandler would have a Mexican driver give Marlowe some hot tip, or the Continental Op would chase a Latino hood in a [Dashiell] Hammett novel, but for the most part, we were erased. So I thought, if I lived during the thirties, what kind of hero would I want to represent me? Thus: Calavera, P.I.
“Originally I wanted to do a straight P.I. story until I saw the drawings of José Guadalupe Posada. One in particular showed a Calavera in a hat having a drink. It was such a noir cliché that I started riffing on that, imagining a Calavera that could be the hero of the ignored and the erased during a time where Chicanos were being deported en masse, blamed for the country’s problems, and being treated as less than their white neighbors. Not much has changed. Calavera was made to be a pulp hero that reinstates the Chicano presence in LA and hopefully honors the pulp/noir heroes of the time in a fresh way.”
Featuring a haunting gallery of covers from the noir-saturated talents of Marco Finnegan (Morning Star, Night People), Ramón K. Pérez (A Tale of Sand), Esteban Sánchez (Cruelty Squad), and J. Gonzo (La Mano del Destino); CALAVERA, P.I. walks where angels fear to tread – in comic shops everywhere on November 6th!
CALAVERA, P.I. #1 (of 4)
WRITTEN BY MARCO FINNEGAN
ART BY MARCO FINNEGAN
COVER A BY MARCO FINNEGAN
COVER B BY RAMÓN K. PÉREZ
VARIANT COVER (1:10) BY ESTEBAN SÁNCHEZ
VARIANT COVER (1:20) BY J. GONZO
ON SALE NOVEMBER 6TH | $4.99 | 32 PGS. | FC
IOC: 9/26/2024
FOC: 10/14/2024
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