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Wearing The Black Coat: Francesco Francavilla (Interview Three of Four)

The career of The Black Coat is a journey for the creators. The Black Coat first appeared as a self-published mini promotional comic at ComixPress.com and moved to Speakeasy Comics. After Speakeasy's untimely and mysterious demise, Ape Entertainment recovered some of Speakeasy's series. Along with this recovery came The Black Coat. Terry Hooper sat down with The Black Coat artist and co-creator Francesco Francavilla to continue discussing the series and its voyage to a new home.
(This is the third feature in a four-feature series.)

TERRY HOOPER: Did you start drawing at an early age or did you have no real interest in art?

FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA: I’ve been drawing as long as I can remember.

TH: And at what age did comics enter your life? Can you remember what the first comics were you read and what impact they had on you?

FF: I guess they’ve always been in my life. I’ve always read comics, starting with Disney Italia when I was a kid.

TH: Were you encouraged by your parents in your drawing?

FF: Yes. They’ve always supported my gift.

TH: Was there a point, and at what age, when you decided you wanted to draw comics?

FF: After winning the first prize in a couple of contests during some comic conventions in Italy, I thought that drawing comics could actually turn into a career for me. 

TH: What was your first pro comic job and for whom?

FF: My first professional job was drawing two stories for Italian writers that were published in the Italian anthology Amazing Comics.

TH: Having worked in Italian comics and US comics have you noticed any differences between the two industries, attitudes, working practices, etc.?

FF:No, not really. I get scripts and deliver pages, so it’s really not that much different.

TH: Do you still contribute to Italian publications or have you severed those links?

FF: I am still involved with the Italian market. I recently contributed a pin-up to Giovanni Gualdoni’s fabulous Wondercity, which, by the way, readers should definitely pick up. It’s an amazing comic.

TH: Was there an Italian, American or other comic book artist who influenced you or who was an inspiration in your work?

FF: I keep getting comments that my work reminds people of classic American comic book artists like Raymond, Wrightson, or Kubert. I’m a huge admirer of all of them, but actually I think my influences are the dozens of Italian artists who are the masters of black and white, because that’s usually the format of comics in Italy. The list of names is so long that I won’t take up time here going through them all.

TH: You met Ben Lichius around 2004? How did the two of you meet -through work? And at what point did the concept of The Black Coat crop up -at the first meeting or later?

FF: Ben and I met online. When Ben Lichius was first looking around for an artist for The Black Coat, I saw some of his concept art and was immediately intrigued by the storyline. I mean, how much cooler can you get than a pre-revolutionary war spy with a sword and a tri-corn hat?

TH: Whose idea was The Black Coat - yours? Ben's? And how did you both decide on it being a project you BOTH wanted to work on? You created concepts, storyboards, etc. so I'm assuming you both worked on the "look" of The Black Coat?

FF: The original character concept was Ben’s. Once I joined the project, I helped to bring the project to life. So we worked on a lot of the characters and concepts together from the beginning.

Since this series is set in historical period, I felt it was important to really get the details right. I’ve done a lot of research into the period, including dress, transportation, buildings, etc. As many readers already know, the book is set in colonial New York City and it’s pretty hard to find references for buildings that are no longer standing. So I have spent a lot of time researching other cities with architecture from that time period, including European cities. I also spent a lot of time developing concept art for the series. It’s important to me that the books have a lot of believability and continuity, so I worked up model sheets for each character and setting that we use in the series.

TH: Now, there is Ben, you and Adam - Ben and Adam getting credit as the writers - but you must come up with ideas yourself? Do all three of you just throw in ideas once you have a possible story - how does it work?

FF: Ben and Adam do the primary plotting and dialogue and provide me with a fairly completed script. Ben has done so much research into this area and he has a good idea where he wants the series to go. However, I’m very much involved in the story and do make suggestions based on what I feel will make the storytelling stronger. If I feel that a panel or page should be changed for some reason, I work with Ben and Adam to agree on the changes. Overall, it’s definitely a team effort from everyone, because we all believe in this story and want the readers to really get their money’s worth from each issue.

TH: I assume you do thumbnail sketches for pages -do you show these to Ben and Adam or is it a case of the penciling is your job?

FF: The Black Coat is an extremely intensive project that requires a ton of research and time to complete each page. For each book, I first do a rough layout to get an idea for the flow of the story, panel placement, and camera angles. Then I work up rough pencils on bristol, ink each page, and add the inkwash and grey-tone watercolors.

TH: Having seen the wonderful pencil pages for The Black Coat I have to wonder why you don't ink them yourself -or do you simply prefer pencilling?

FF: With the exception of the first nine pages of book one, I’ve inked all the pages and covers myself. I’m also very blessed to have my friend and colleague, Euan Mactavish, providing colors for my covers. Euan is an extremely gifted artist and his colors add so much to my pencils and inks. Sometimes you just “click” with another artist and the collaborative work adds up to something truly amazing.

TH: Do you prefer drawing historical stories or are you happy working on any genre?

FF: As long as I’m drawing, I’m happy. Actually, I’m happy anyway, but I prefer to be happy and drawing.

TH:I have to ask this; I have seen Jeremy Colwell's EXQUISITE inks over your pencils, when and how did he join the team? So, do you think Jeremy has done a good job over your pencils?

FF: Jeremy inked the first nine pages for the preview book. And yes, he does do incredibly good work. He has the patience of a saint to ink my very detailed pencils. He’s uncommonly skilled and is definitely a name to watch.

TH: When the Speakeasy Comics deal came along, personally and as a team, you must all have hit a high. However, when Speakeasy ceased publishing just prior to The Black Coat #1 appearing it must have been a hefty blow. How did it affect you, personally, and the team as a whole -did anyone lose faith in the project?

FF: No, nothing like that would make me lose faith over something I believe in. It was disappointing, of course, but it was by no means the end of the world. This is a great book with a great creative team. I believed it was only a matter of time before we got back on track (which indeed turned out to be the case). The team met, decided what we’d do next, and I kept drawing.

TH: The move to Ape Entertainment was smooth? Happy with the new home for The Black Coat?

FF: Yup. They’re great to work with. They got the book out to the readers who’d ordered them, and they’ll continue to promote the series and get the books out on time.

TH: I've said The Black Coat is a 4 issue series but if it was successful would you like to continue it as an ongoing series?

FF: It depends a lot on reader interest. We’ve certainly got more stories to tell if people want to read them.

TH: Any other projects you are working on as penciller or writer you'd care to tell us about?

FF:I can only talk about things that have been officially announced. I did 2 stories in Michael San Giacomo’s Tales from the Starlight Drive-In (to be published in 2006). I’ve been doing layouts for Sea of Red and will do a back-up story in an upcoming issue of Fear Agent (both written by Rick Remender and published by Image). I’ve got a few more things coming out this year that I can’t officially talk about just yet, but they’ll be announced soon.

TH: What would you say was different about The Black Coat compared to other comics on the racks?

I think The Black Coat has a very unique, well-done concept. First of all, the historical setting and time period is something different. We’ve set the story in the months just prior to the start of the American Revolutionary War. Because it’s such a volatile time, the opportunity for storylines and classic conflicts is incredible. The entire book is one big pulp-adventure comic and that’s something we just don’t have enough of these days.

Another big difference is that this book was designed from the beginning to be drawn in black-and-white. We always felt that the inkwashes and greytones were best to get across the moody, pulpy atmosphere of the book and judging by initial reviews that I’ve read, most readers seem to agree.

TH: Any final words for potential Black Coat buyers out there?

FF: So far the amount of reader interest and support and has been absolutely phenomenal, so I’d really like to thank everyone for the support they’ve given this book and our team. Of course, I’m hoping that more people buy the book. If readers would like more info about The Black Coat, they can check out the preview pages, background story, and concept art that we have on our website at The-Black-Coat.com. We’ve already had incredible support for the first issue and we’re very excited to get the remaining issues on the shelves for everyone to enjoy. Be sure also to check my personal website at FrancescoFrancavilla.com for updates on my current and future projects and for personal sketches, commissions and books.

TH: Francesco, thank you very much for giving up your valuable time. The best of luck with The Black Coat and future projects!

Black Coat Interview #1: Ben Lichius
Black Coat Interview #2: Adam Cogan

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