Tag Archives: palomino

Exclusive: Dive into Stephan Franck’s process behind Palomino Volume 6

Posted on by

Endings are hard, but noir endings are murder. Cartoonist and award-nominated animator, writer, and director Stephan Franck and his company Dark Planet Comics are finally cracking the case in Palomino Volume 6. The ambitious, Ringo Award-Nominated series chronicles the lost culture of Los Angeles’ country music clubs and throws readers into a pulse-pounding, decades-spanning mystery. The series deftly blends hard boiled noir and Western aesthetics to explore Los Angeles’ weird and forgotten history with an unforgettable cast of working musicians, TV actors, stuntmen, cops, hustlers, and broken souls. The saga’s stunning swan song is now live on Kickstarter. 

A captivating neo-noir crime mystery, Palomino begins in 1981 Los Angeles, where readers meet Eddie Lang, an old-school, hardboiled former Burbank PD detective juggling his 6-nights-a-week gig in the Palomino house band, his P.I. business, and his teenage daughter, Liz–who might even be more hardboiled than he is! Father and daughter share a killer sense of humor and an unbreakable bond, but tragedy looms large over their past. A brand new case that’s hitting a little too close to home upends their lives, sending them each down very dangerous paths. Ultimately, the unsolved mystery haunts LIz into adulthood. In 1995, she’s working as a reporter when a routine assignment opens old wounds and Liz embarks on one final odyssey,  where every secret will be revealed and all scores settled. To survive the night, Liz must confront the ghosts of her past and, maybe – just maybe – emerge on the other side reborn and free.

We have an exclusive look at Stephan Franck’s process in creating Palomino Volume 6. Check it out and back the Kickstarter before it ends!

Crowdfunding Corner: Palomino Vol. 6 and Threat Quotient

Posted on by

Welcome to our revamped “Crowdfunding Corner” rounding up some of the latest crowdfunding news. We’re going beyond just announcement projects, we’ll be tracking to make sure these projects get delivered as well as what we think the “risk” of backing them are.

We’ll be updating the format as we get a better handle of the needs of this sort of coverage, so stay tuned and check out the first round of projects!

Threat Quotient

Threat Quotient

Publisher: Virtual Pulp Press
Creative Team: Henry Brown
Launch Date: Funding Now – ends May 28 2026 4:00 PM EDT
Risk: Medium – While a lot of it is done, a first crowdfunding campaign is always risky and often misses its projected delivery date.

In Threat Quotient, a gripping narrative unfolds as a global uprising challenges the autocratic puppet states of the existing world order. Amidst this turmoil, a cosmic quake rips open dimensional portals, introducing disoriented visitors who exacerbate the ultrahuman and dissident crisis. Heroes like Ramjet, a turbo-powered flying knight, the unstoppable Juggernaut, and the truth-revealing Phantom Raider rise to confront the chaos. As the Pentagon assembles their own ultrahuman team to quell the rebellion, both the Establishment and Rebel factions are convinced they are on the right side of history. With no room for compromise, they converge on a small country teetering on the brink of civil war, setting the stage for an epic superpowered showdown.

Palomino Volume 6

Palomino Volume 6

Publisher: Dark Planet Comics
Creative Team: Stephan Franck
Launch Date: Funding Now – ends May 15 2026 2:59 AM EDT
Risk: Low – The publisher has run previous campaigns and delivered

Endings are hard, but noir endings are murder. Cartoonist and award-nominated animator, writer, and director Stephan Franck and his company Dark Planet Comics are finally cracking the case in PALOMINO Volume 6. The ambitious, Ringo Award-Nominated series chronicles the lost culture of Los Angeles’ country music clubs and throws readers into a pulse-pounding, decades-spanning mystery. The series deftly blends hard boiled noir and Western aesthetics to explore Los Angeles’ weird and forgotten history with an unforgettable cast of working musicians, TV actors, stuntmen, cops, hustlers, and broken souls.

A captivating neo-noir crime mystery, PALOMINO begins in 1981 Los Angeles, where readers meet EDDIE LANG, an old-school, hardboiled former Burbank PD detective juggling his 6-nights-a-week gig in the Palomino house band, his P.I. business, and his teenage daughter, Liz–who might even be more hardboiled than he is! Father and daughter share a killer sense of humor and an unbreakable bond, but tragedy looms large over their past. A brand new case that’s hitting a little too close to home upends their lives, sending them each down very dangerous paths. Ultimately, the unsolved mystery haunts LIz into adulthood. In 1995, she’s working as a reporter when a routine assignment opens old wounds and Liz embarks on one final odyssey,  where every secret will be revealed and all scores settled. To survive the night, Liz must confront the ghosts of her past and, maybe – just maybe – emerge on the other side reborn and free.

Dark Planet Reveals More from Stephan Franck’s Palomino

Posted on by
Palomino

We got the exclusive debut of the cover to Dark Planet Comics’ Palomino. Today we get to see even more images from the anticipated graphic novel. Stephan Frank’s Palomino is the first part of a planned four-part graphic novel series that captures Los Angeles’ spirit, with hardboiled dialogue, honkytonk music, and details from the city’s weird and forgotten history. Dark Planet Comics is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to fund Palomino, which ends this Wednesday at 9:10 AM PT.

The year is 1981. The American Century is running on fumes, but the end isn’t anywhere in sight. The cowboy is still America’s most central symbol—and from movies, to music, to the President himself, it all hails from Southern California.

The age of urban cowboys is in full swing. Cowboy hats and rhinestone suits are all the rage. Kenny Rogers “Lady” is Billboard’s number three song of the year. Dolly Parton is a national icon. And across LA, six nights a week, working musicians, TV actors, stuntmen, cops, hustlers, and broken souls all play their part in the cultural myth making. Most of them are just trying to survive—on the B-side of the City of Angels. 

This is Palomino — where Farrah Fawcett hair reigns supreme, where Ronald Reagan is beginning his first term as President, and where LA’s hottest music spot is North Hollywood’s historic Palomino Club. 

Exclusive: Stephan Franck Reveals the Cover Process to his Kickstarter Palomino

Posted on by

The year is 1981. The American Century is running on fumes, but the end isn’t anywhere in sight. The cowboy is still America’s most central symbol—and from movies, to music, to the President himself, it all hails from Southern California. Welcome to Palomino, cartoonist Stephan Franck’s all-new neo-noir graphic novel series, set in the lost culture of Los Angeles’ country music clubs. 

The age of urban cowboys is in full swing. Cowboy hats and rhinestone suits are all the rage. Kenny Rogers “Lady” is Billboard’s number three song of the year. Dolly Parton is a national icon. And across LA, six nights a week, working musicians, TV actors, stuntmen, cops, hustlers, and broken souls all play their part in the cultural myth making. Most of them are just trying to survive—on the B-side of the City of Angels. 

The project by Franck and his company, Dark Planet Comics, has four days to go a Kickstarter campaign and is well over its goal. It’s the first part of a planned four-part graphic novel series. Palomino captures Los Angeles’ spirit, with hardboiled dialogue, honkytonk music, and details from the city’s weird and forgotten history. 

We have an exclusive first look at the cover to the graphic novel by Stephan Franck and the process of its creation.

Cartoonist Stephan Franck Launches Palomino on Kickstarter

Posted on by
Palomino

The year is 1981. The American Century is running on fumes, but the end isn’t anywhere in sight. The cowboy is still America’s most central symbol—and from movies, to music, to the President himself, it all hails from Southern California. Welcome to Palomino, cartoonist Stephan Franck’s all new neo noir graphic novel series, set in the lost culture of Los Angeles’ country music clubs. 

The age of urban cowboys is in full swing. Cowboy hats and rhinestone suits are all the rage. Kenny Rogers “Lady” is Billboard’s number three song of the year. Dolly Parton is a national icon. And across LA, six nights a week, working musicians, TV actors, stuntmen, cops, hustlers, and broken souls all play their part in the cultural myth making. Most of them are just trying to survive—on the B-side of the City of Angels. 

Franck and his company, Dark Planet Comics, are launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund Palomino, the first part of a planned four-part graphic novel series. Palomino captures Los Angeles’ spirit, with hardboiled dialogue, honkytonk music, and details from the city’s weird and forgotten history. 

At the center of Palomino is a unique father-daughter relationship. Eddie Lang’s an ex-cop turned working musician with big dreams, but dreams don’t pay the rent. So Eddie reluctantly works as a private investigator to provide for his teenage daughter, Lisette. Eddie and Lisette share an unbreakable bond and a dry sense of humor. But they’re stuck. They’re haunted by a terrible loss and an unsolved crime that looms large over their lives. They’re running out of time to fix their family.  And just as things seem at a stalemate, a new murder case upends their lives.  

This is Palomino — where Farrah Fawcett hair reigns supreme, where Ronald Reagan is beginning his first term as President, and where LA’s hottest music spot is North Hollywood’s historic Palomino Club.