With the Kickstarter campaign live from Dark Planet Comics for the Grand Finale of Neo-Noir Epic Palomino, we are delighted to be joined by Stephan Franck. Stephen is an award-nominated animator, writer, cartoonist and director.
Hi Stephan, it’s so great to chat with you again.
Thank you! Same!
What was the feedback like for Palomino Volume 5?
Palomino Volumes 4 and 5 were released at the same time, so I was anxious to see how readers would respond to the time jump from 1981 to 1995. Part of it was that Liz was a super fun character as a rebellious teenager, and there was a risk people would miss her. Turns out, people love her even more as a 29-year-old. She has now gained the agency of adulthood, but she’s still the same hard case, with the same wits, extra emotional baggage picked up along the way.
So it sounds like everyone got on board with that move—and some people even let me know they cursed my name because of the cliffhanger at the end of Volume 5!
Did Palomino evolve as you created it?
My stories always tend to start with some sort of fascination I have for certain genres, or situations, like, in the case of Palomino, my love of neo noir, music clubs, and the real-life legendary Palomino club in particular, which no longer exists, but was the hottest spot for country music in Los Angeles, from the 1950s to 1995. So it always begins with getting the toys out of the toy box. But then, as you start to play with them, deeper connections and meaning start to happen. So Palomino started out as a really fun crime mystery, then progressed to become a gripping father/daughter story, an evocation of life in a bygone era in which the long lost figure of the working musicians became a canary in the coal mine for what happened to the American middle class, and an overall snapshot of the end of an American century and the birth of whatever comes next. Yet, all these dimensions exist in the service of a super fun web of mysteries that the heroes try to unravel.Â
Do you feel that Palomino has all of the elements to be regarded as a great Noir?
Palomino definitely delivers on the aspects we’ve come to expect from the genre. It’s got brooding protagonists bordering on outright anti-heroes, smoky bars, and opaque criminal conspiracies that extend from sordid back alleys to the top of the power structure. It’s got humor, it’s got that tone, it’s got music… And yet it’s very unique in its presentation, as its Deep (San Fernando) Valley setting moves it away from the downtown or Sunset Strip tropes you’re used to seeing in L.A. noir stories.
But ultimately, noir is about a certain type of people—unmovable objects. Hopeless romantics who hide their profound and painful sense of justice under a cynical armor. They can’t help but confront a nihilistic world, no matter the cost. Noir is always a story of resistance. In that sense, Palomino is the ultimate noir.
What can you tell us about Palomino Volume 6?
By the end of Volume 5, many of the story’s secrets have been solved, but the deepest one remains: who killed Lena—Liz’s mother and Eddie’s wife—and what exactly happened to her. In Volume 6, Liz goes on a final journey over a single night of absolute danger, during which she will either solve the case or die trying.
But with every piece of the truth revealed, it becomes clear that Liz needs to do more than just find the truth or even survive—she must reemerge, finally free of the ghosts in her life, and ready to live her life.
Do you think readers of Palomino will be satisfied with the ending?
Palomino is an epic saga (661 pages), and I definitely intended to end it with the biggest bang possible, not a whimper—and I think it delivers! Not only do the action, suspense, and revelations get truly epic, but I really had to up my storytelling game to fully deliver on it. Most importantly, I think the characters reach the far end of their emotional and existential journeys in a way that feels complete and cathartic.
With Palomino Volume 6 being the final Volume, how do you feel?
Finishing something that’s been part of my daily experience for six years is very satisfying, but it also gives me a bit of a floaty feeling. It’s nice waking up knowing there’s always a next page set up to do.
That said, the story is about final and irrevocable change, and it feels like Eddie, Liz, Mac, and all the Palomino characters have left it all on the field. There’s a finality to this ending that feels very satisfying—and like all good endings, it’s also a new beginning.
Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?
CommicBuzz readers—Thank you for reading comics, and reading ABOUT comics! I don’t need to tell anyone that we’re living in troubled and noisy times, and storytelling is one of the few things that keeps us going and keeps us connected! No comic book title can exist without its readers, so thank you for helping keep this great art form going!Â
Feel free to check out the Palomino Volume 6 Kickstarter campaign.
We would like to say a big thank you to Stephan for chatting with us and wish him the best of luck for the release of Palomino Volume 6.
