A folk hero returns from the dead to solve a kidnapping in Calavera, P.I, a four-issue miniseries coming from Oni Press later this year. Marco Finnegan writes and draws the story of Juan Calavera, a private investigator who defended the Chicano barrios in Los Angeles until he was murdered — but on Dia de los Muertos, he returns to continue his mission.
“Calavera, P.I. came about for two reasons,” Finnegan said. ”One, I love film noir/pulp novels and comic strips from the 1930s and ’50s. Those set in L.A. 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.“
Here’s how Oni describes the series:
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?
“Originally I wanted to do a straight P.I. story until I saw the drawings of José Guadalupe Posada,” Finnegan added. “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.”
Finnegan has worked on a variety of interesting and critically acclaimed projects over the years, including the graphic novels Lizard in a Zoot Suit and The Keeper, and comics like 007 and Morningstar.
Here’s a preview of Finnegan’s work on the first issue:
The first issue’s variant cover line-up includes covers by Ramón K. Pérez, Esteban Sánchez and J. Gonzo:
The first issue of four will arrive in stores Nov. 6.