REVIEW: The Black Beetle

[CBR News]

"The Black Beetle" #0 by Francesco Francavilla is a moody pulp action comic that scores beautifully on many fronts.


Full review here.

[MajorHoy]

I definitely will look into this one . . . since I don't read Dark Horse Presents, it will be all new to me.
(I'm assuming the material is from this past year, and not the run from back in the late 1980's? )

[lobosolo]

the story seems a bit cliche. perhaps it was written at a time where Egyptian artifacts and nazi treasure hunters were interesting. reading it today feels like a story that's been written to death. the art work is nice but nothing spectacular.

[MajorHoy]

the story seems a bit cliche. perhaps it was written at a time where Egyptian artifacts and nazi treasure hunters were interesting. reading it today feels like a story that's been written to death. the art work is nice but nothing spectacular.

I take it someone doesn't like period / retro stories?

Here's how Dark Horse described the issue:

When a powerful totem of dark magic shows up at the Colt City Natural History Museum, Hitler sends his fearsome Werwolf Korps to collect the piece. Unfortunately for the führer, Colt City’s protector, the Black Beetle, is on the case!

"Hitler" indicates the story is set in the 1930's/early 1940's, so Egyptian artifacts and Nazis would be period-appropriate.

[Sonofspam]

I was really disappointed i mean i love Franca's art work and i have never seen him write anything before, but i didn't think it would be this bad..
But jeez the story was painfully dull and not original at all (not to say it has to be but it should feel new at least) and there was enough plot holes to sink the Titanic in this ! not to mention we got no information at all about who this guy is or what he is about at all not to mention a generic Hitler wants supernatural artifact which honestly is not only played out to death, but holds absolutely no basis in reality at all from (everything i have read at least)

I was really looking forward to this story, but i am gonna be hesitant to pick up another issue even tho i think this still has potential if someone was helping him co-write.

[MajorHoy]

I was really looking forward to this story, but i am gonna be hesitant to pick up another issue even tho i think this still has potential if someone was helping him co-write.

Wasn't this just basically collecting / reprinting a story that appeared in several issues of Dark Horse Presents? I don't know how many pages it got in each issue, but maybe more will be revealed / clarified in a regular full-length book.

[emb021]

Wasn't this just basically collecting / reprinting a story that appeared in several issues of Dark Horse Presents? I don't know how many pages it got in each issue, but maybe more will be revealed / clarified in a regular full-length book.

This story was serialized over 3-4 issues of DHP.

I basically say it as a setup for the full-length mini series, so expected a lot of stuff would NOT be explained. It was not uncommon for some pulp series to not really give a background of the hero. (the idea of starting off with an 'origin story' comes from the comics. Most pulp series rarely, if ever, had that. And several that do have an 'origin story', its given out in bits as background info on the character, not as the first story of the character. Heck, even the icon pulp character The Shadow was extremely mysterious as the beginning, and it was over time before we got some info on him, but somethings that even changed.