Get ready for Calavera P.I. Imagined and drawn by Marco Finnegan (Night People), the comic is published by Oni Press. It’s being billed as a stylish and surprising Chicano thriller starring an undead private eye.
Here’s the official synopsis: “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, the Day of the Dead, 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?”
Marco Finnegan is a cartoonist and educator who lives with his family in California. He is known for The Keeper with Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes and Lizard in a Zoot Suit.
He recently fielded a few questions from Wicked Horror about his new creation.
WH: You’re both an artist and a writer on Calavera P.I. Given that mix, how did the character develop? Was it a visual first or what was the nucleus of the idea?
Marco Finnegan: Thanks for having me! This definitely started with a drawing. I was just kind of riffing on the Calavera drawings of José Guadalupe Posada. I liked the visual of this skeleton in a fedora and trenchcoat and had been itching to do a noir, so it all kind of came together after that. It really felt like the idea was just hanging out there waiting to be plucked. Sometimes things just come fully formed and this was definitely the case for me on this,
WH: How do you develop a project of your own? Is it script first? Art first? Do you deploy aspects of the old “Marvel style” where the panels are drawn before the dialogue’s rendered?
Marco Finnegan: The first thing I did was a little three-page sequence, no script, just trying to get the feel of what the story would look like. Then the work of writing an outline and script started. Once I had a good sense of the story and had hammered it out with my editor, Gabriel Granillo, I did real roughs, Marvel method style, as my last script. So it’s kind of an evolving process, but it always comes back to the visual layout.
WH: The story opens in 1925, and it makes an interesting use of setting in the first few pages. How did you go about researching the locations you would use?
Marco Finnegan: I went to L.A. and cruised around the areas where this would take place, areas around Olvera Street, near where Bunker Hill used to be, rode Angel’s Flight, etc. And then did deep dives into what the world was like back then. One book that was invaluable was Decade of Betrayal by Francisco E. Balderrama and Raymond Rodriguez. It really gave me an insight to what the area surrounding La Placita Park was like in 1930. Research is the fun part for me. Aesthetically I immersed myself in comic strips by (Milton) Caniff and comics by Johnny Craig and Jack Cole. Really just trying to tap into what was being made during the time.
WH: Calavera returns on the Day of the Dead and his appearance is obviously influenced by Día de los Muertos images. Can you tell us a little about the folk art and iconography you drew on?
Marco Finnegan: This was again heavily influenced by Posada’s calavera drawings. He was a political cartoonist and his calaveras were realistically drawn as a way to comment on society, so trying to keep the mystical part of Dia De Los Muertos (the skeletons, the ofrendas, etc) but make them literal representations. I wanted to create a world where the dead returning means that they walk around and sometimes we can see them. So when Calavera comes back he is a skeleton, he is a bit disoriented, but falls into what his purpose is: being a detective.
WH: What familiar noir influences were part of the inspiration for Calavera P.I.? Do you have favorite films, graphic novels or novels from the genre that you really enjoy?
Marco Finnegan: I really love a ton of stuff in the world of noir. For this I kept coming back to some of my favorite L.A. film noirs like M (1951 version), Kiss Me Deadly, and In A Lonely Place. Besides Hammett, I always come back to Chandler and comics favorites are EC’s Crime SuspenStories, just so much good stuff out there.
WH: Where can people find you online and learn more about your work.
Marco Finnegan: My website marcofinnegan.com, and I am probably online too much on TwiXter @marco949 marco.finnegan on instagram and Bluesky.
Thanks so much for the time!
