If you haven't yet encountered the indie comics of Stephan Franck, now might be a good time to correct that.
Stephan Franck, an animator, writer, director, and cartoonist whose day-job credits include The Iron Giant, Despicable Me, and Marvel's What If…?, has quietly been building one of the most interesting catalogs in indie comics. Under his Dark Planet Comics imprint, Franck's created a kind of auteur's corner of stylish, story-rich books that feel like they've escaped from a parallel comics universe where the French bande dessinée scene cross-pollinated with gritty LA noir and post-sci-fi existentialism.
Franck's latest Kickstarter campaign brings together three of his projects: two new volumes of his neo-noir detective series Palomino, and—for the first time—a wider release of a strange and disarmingly timely dystopian comic called Romance in the Age of the Space God.
Originally self-published last year in a limited run of 150 copies, Romance in the Age of the Space God is a lo-fi science fiction tale featuring a trio of adorable mice navigating a collapsing world haunted by an omnipresent, unknowable… something. Is it a god? A meme? A quantum weirding? Unclear. But its impact is felt everywhere.
At the center of the story are Nate, Lydia, and Anya—foster siblings trying to hold each other together in a society where the scaffolding that holds up civil life is mostly gone. It's cute, yes, and funny, but also sneakily philosophical. Think Watership Down by way of Black Mirror, with a bit of Wes Anderson's obsessive scene composition. As Franck puts it: "It's a strange comic for and about strange times."
Then there's Palomino, which has been building into something of slow-burn masterwork. The series follows Eddie Lang—private eye by day, country pedal steel guitarist by night—navigating 1981 Los Angeles with his tough-as-nails daughter, Lisette. The setting? The vanished world of LA's country music scene, with its smoke-filled clubs, haunted characters, and one murder that can't find justice.
Palomino's two new volumes jump ahead to 1995, with Lisette (now just Liz) taking the lead, dragging the cold-case back into the light of day. The Palomino club is fading, the culture disappearing, but the ghost of this case won't rest.
Franck writes these books with a lived-in feel—probably because he did play music in LA clubs, and did raise two daughters in the Valley. The noir is real, so is the heart.
If you're looking for comics that feel personal without being self-indulgent, and that manage to explore timely themes without a neon sign flashing "THIS IS A METAPHOR," Franck's work is worth your time.
In Franck's words: "Whether it's a father/daughter detective duo in a generational crime-mystery in PALOMINO, or two foster siblings like in ROMANCE…, or even a 'family by choice' like in SILVER… it's always an affirmation that—even in worlds that are amoral, cynical and transactional—there are people who will always have your back."
Amen to that, brother.
Boing Boing was lucky enough to get an exclusive preview of the new Palomino Vol. 4.
