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The Black Beetle
Cover to The Black Beetle #1 (art by Francesco Francavilla)
Publication information
Publisher	Dark Horse Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	December 2012
No. of issues	5
Creative team
Created by	Francesco Francavilla
Written by	Francesco Francavilla
Artist(s)	Francesco Francavilla
Letterer(s)	Nate Piekos
Editor(s)	Jim Gibbons (2012–2015) Scott Allie (2017)
Collected editions
No Way Out	ISBN 9781616552022
Kara Böcek	ISBN 9781506705378

The Black Beetle is a comic book series about a masked vigilante. It was created by Francesco Francavilla and published by Dark Horse Comics.

Publishing History

Pulp Sunday

The Black Beetle made its first appearance on the forum drawingboard.org on the twelfth of January, 2006, as ten-minute doodle. In 2009, Francesco Francavilla held a poll on his blog, Pulp Sunday. He had decided to do a webcomic and asked readers whether they would rather Max Malone or The Black Beetle, described as "in the vein of masked vigilante pulp in some sort of '40s/'50s settings, with some slight (40s/50s) sci-fi tone to it". More than two-thirds of the readers voted for The Black Beetle. Shortly after, he came up with the setting of Colt City, his own mix between New York City and Gotham City.

No Way Out

On Sunday, May 17, 2009, The Black Beetle made its debut as the opening page of No Way Out (although at the time this title had not yet been announced). This first appearance ran for a total of ten pages, appearing on most Sundays until August 2, when it ended with The Black Beetle falling from a rooftop. These ten pages were billed as the first part of six. The pages were printed in The Black Beetle ashcan, which was first sold at HeroesCon 2009.

Kara Böcek

In December 2009 Francesco Francavilla attempted to tell a shorter Black Beetle story, a one-shot, roughly 20 pages, between his paid publishing work. This story was released in a landscape format. The plan was to update as frequently as possible, sometimes twice a week on Sundays and Wednesdays. Upon reaching the tenth page, Francavilla stated the comic was one-third finished. Page 11, which was supposed to be the first page of the middle third of the story, was the last completed page.

The Kara Böcek was mentioned in the Dark Horse printing of The Black Beetle #1: No Way Out (Part 1), and Francavilla said he intends to return to the story some day in the letters column of The Black Beetle #0: Night Shift.

Dark Horse Comics

Night Shift

In December 2011 Dark Horse announced The Black Beetle's debut in the pages of Dark Horse Presents. The story, Night Shift, was told in three eight-page parts in issues #11–13 (April–June, 2012). The story was later republished as The Black Beetle #0 in December 2012.

No Way Out

At a Dark Horse convention panel in July 2012, Francavilla announced that The Black Beetle had been picked up for its first miniseries, No Way Out, the story originally started on his Pulp Sunday blog. The series began its run in January, 2013. The first ten pages were from the original version of the story on Pulp Sunday, but recolored and with altered text and art.

In 2013, at the Emerald City Comicon, it was announced that The Black Beetle would continue at Dark Horse as an ongoing monthly series. This was later corrected by editor Jim Gibbons, who said the series was going to be "semi-monthly". Francavilla has further clarified, it will be an ongoing series of miniseries.

Kara Böcek

In 2016, The Black Beetle returned to Dark Horse Presents. The new story, Kara Böcek, was adapted from the version originally published on the Pulp Sunday blog. The story commenced in Dark Horse Presents #28 in November 2016. The story ran in five issues, ending with Dark Horse Presents #32 in March 2016.

Necrologue

Necrologue was initially announced as a five-issue miniseries to be released in 2013. However, no further issues were solicited after the fourth, and the title was removed from Dark Horse's publishing schedule.

Publications

Issues

Collections

Night Shift and No Way Out are collected in the first Black Beetle hardcover volume, published October 2013.

References

1. Francavilla, Francesco. "Drawingboard.org". Archived from the original on 2 November 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
2. Francavilla, Francesco (2009-03-29). "Black Beetle vs Max Malone". Pulp Sunday. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
3. Francavilla, Francesco (2009-04-05). "Greetings from Colt City". Pulp Sunday. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
4. Francavilla, Francesco (2009-05-17). "Black Beetle: Lost Wars". Pulp Sunday. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
5. Francavilla, Francesco (2009-08-02). "Black Beetle: Tump!". Pulp Sunday. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
6. Francavilla, Francesco (2009-06-17). "Black Beetle: "No Way Out" Ashcan". Pulp Sunday. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
7. Francavilla, Francesco (2009-12-06). "Kara Böcek page 1". Pulp Sunday. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
8. Francavilla, Francesco (2010-01-10). "Kara Böcek page 5". Pulp Sunday. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
9. Francavilla, Francesco (2010-04-07). "Kara Böcek page 10". Pulp Sunday. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
10. Francavilla, Francesco (2010-04-22). "Kara Böcek page 11". Pulp Sunday. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
11. Francavilla, Francesco (January 2013). The Black Beetle #1: No Way Out (Part 1). Dark Horse Comics.
12. Francavilla, Francesco (December 2012). The Black Beetle #0: Night Shift. Dark Horse Comics.
13. "Francesco Francavilla Unleashes The Black Beetle!". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
14. "The Black Beetle: Night Shift #0". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
15. Francavilla, Francesco. "EISNERs, The Black Beetle, and Creature From The Black Lagoon!". Pulp Sunday. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
16. Khouri, Andy. "Dark Horse Superheroes: New Ongoings, Pulp Revivals and DC Refugees". Comics Alliance. Archived from the original on 4 March 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
17. Gibbons, Jim. "semi-monthly". Twitter. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
18. Francavilla, Francesco. "9 April - Twitter post". Retrieved 12 April 2013.
19. Brusio, Vince. "Black Beetle Anniversary at Dark Horse Comics". Preview World. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
20. Richardson, Mike (February 15, 2017). Dark Horse Presents #31. Dark Horse Comics. p. Interior cover, letter from the editor.
21. Glendening, Daniel (2013-07-17). "SDCC Exclusive: Bodies Fall in Francavilla's "Black Beetle: Necrologue"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
22. "Dark Horse February 2014 Solicitations". Retrieved 1 October 2016.
23. "The Black Beetle #0: Night Shift". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
24. "The Black Beetle #1: No Way Out". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
25. "The Black Beetle #1: No Way Out (2nd printing)". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
26. Francavilla, Francesco (2013-02-24). "The Black Beetle Goes ComicsPRO!". Pulp Sunday. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
27. "The Black Beetle #2: No Way Out". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
28. "Dark Horse Solicitations March 2013". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
29. "The Black Beetle #3: No Way Out". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
30. "Dark Horse Solicitations April 2013". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
31. "The Black Beetle #4: No Way Out". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
32. Khouri, Andy. "Dark Horse Superheroes: New Ongoings, Pulp Revivals and DC Refugees". Comics Alliance. Archived from the original on 4 March 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
33. "The Black Beetle - Volume 1: No Way Out HC". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
34. "The Black Beetle: Kara Böcek HC". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved 2 September 2017.

External links

• The Black Beetle blog
• The Black Beetle - Twitter account
• Dark Horse Comics

• 2012 comics debuts
• Dark Horse Comics characters