Greyshirt
Encyclopedia
Greyshirt is a comic book
character in Alan Moore
's Tomorrow Stories
, published by Wildstorm
(a subsidiary of DC Comics
), under the America's Best Comics imprint. The character was co-created by Moore and Rick Veitch
. The character is a pastiche
of Will Eisner
's The Spirit
. The name draws obvious inspiration from the British
pulp hero, Blackshirt.
(1999), each issue consisting of a collection of short stories featuring a recurring cast of characters. These characters, like Greyshirt, were often inspired by pulp magazine
and comic book archetypes, such as the boy genius and the masked detective
. As such, Greyshirt's stories often showcased Alan Moore's take on the detective stories of such characters as The Spirit
. Unlike most of the other ABC characters, Greyshirt is not so much a parody
of comic book characters as a pastiche
of classic masked detectives.
Greyshirt later appeared in Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset, a comic-book limited series
and spin-off
from Tomorrow Stories that was written and drawn by Veitch. The series explored the origins of the character, as well as showcasing contributions from Russ Heath
, Al Williamson
, David Lloyd, John Severin
, Dave Gibbons
, Frank Cho
and Hilary Barta
. The limited series ran for six issues and has since been collected into a trade paperback.
Each issue was broken into four parts. On the inverse side of the cover, there would be a black-and-white "One-Pager." The comic then continued with "Young Greyshirt," which explored the character's life before Tomorrow Stories, and "Greyshirt," which featured short stories similar to those seen in Tomorrow Stories. The issue would conclude with "Indigo City Sunset," consisting of Indigo City's newspaper, featuring articles, comic strips, and letters to the editor.
, which Franky used to save Johnny Apollo from the "The Lure".
In 1978, Franky and Johnny were young high school
delinquents
, selling tijuana bibles and stolen fireworks
. They worked for a gangster named Carmine Carbone (who, unbeknownst to Franky, is his father). At one time Franky and Plato Plutarch, a high school honor student, worked to save Candice "Candi" (Jail Bait) Lovelace and went head to head with "Spats Katz" (a rival of Carmine). At this time, Plato called in a couple of favors and gave Franky a chain mail
Greyshirt. As full-fledged gangsters, the team-up inspired a long running comic book series named "Hoodlum Hit".
But in 1989, things started going downhill. Franky Lafayette's mother was pregnant again with Catherine and later gave her up for adoption. Carmine Carbone was sent to prison for 20 years. Singer and whore with a heart of gold
Ella Bly who knew Franky before he became Greyshirt, wrote a song called "The Ballad of Franky & Johnny".
Their partnership ended when Johnny turned on Franky and later engineered an explosion that apparently killed them both.
However, Johnny was 'saved' by 'The Lure' and Franky was saved by Rockefeller Patel, "The Buddha of Indigo City" a deeply spiritual Nepalese monk with a keen sense of service and sacrifice, who lived under the old Indigo City Central Gas Station and the tunnels under the city.
with a red handkerchief
, to hide his broken nose, and a chain mail
shirt that protects him from blows, knife attacks, and even partially from bullets and bombs.
Greyshirt solves kidnappings, saves the city from "Baby Einstein", and fights old enemies gangsters like "Chucky Frisco" and "Vinnie Assapunto". He also encounters "Spats Katz", now a wheelchair
-bound old man who was killed by an old caretaker, the mysterious monster named "The Lure" who lives in the jewel mines under Indigo City and stole Johnny Apollo's soul, and Adolf Hitler
and the Nazi Party all reincarnated as cockroaches.
Greyshirt also has an extensive love life, having been involved with at least four women, including:
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
character in Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
's Tomorrow Stories
Tomorrow Stories
Tomorrow Stories was an American comic book series created by Alan Moore for his America's Best Comics line, published by Wildstorm .-Overview:...
, published by Wildstorm
Wildstorm
WildStorm Productions, or simply WildStorm, published American comic books. Originally an independent company established by Jim Lee and further expanded upon in subsequent years by other creators, WildStorm became a publishing imprint of DC Comics in 1999...
(a subsidiary of DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
), under the America's Best Comics imprint. The character was co-created by Moore and Rick Veitch
Rick Veitch
Richard "Rick" Veitch is an American comic book artist and writer who has worked in mainstream, underground, and alternative comics.-Early career:...
. The character is a pastiche
Pastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
of Will Eisner
Will Eisner
William Erwin "Will" Eisner was an American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the development of the medium and is known for the cartooning studio he founded; for his highly influential series The Spirit; for his use of comics as an...
's The Spirit
The Spirit
The Spirit is a crime-fighting fictional character created by writer-artist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940 in "The Spirit Section", the colloquial name given to a 16-page Sunday supplement, distributed to 20 newspapers by the Register and Tribune Syndicate and reaching five million...
. The name draws obvious inspiration from the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
pulp hero, Blackshirt.
Publication history
Greyshirt originally appeared in Tomorrow StoriesTomorrow Stories
Tomorrow Stories was an American comic book series created by Alan Moore for his America's Best Comics line, published by Wildstorm .-Overview:...
(1999), each issue consisting of a collection of short stories featuring a recurring cast of characters. These characters, like Greyshirt, were often inspired by pulp magazine
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
and comic book archetypes, such as the boy genius and the masked detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
. As such, Greyshirt's stories often showcased Alan Moore's take on the detective stories of such characters as The Spirit
The Spirit
The Spirit is a crime-fighting fictional character created by writer-artist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940 in "The Spirit Section", the colloquial name given to a 16-page Sunday supplement, distributed to 20 newspapers by the Register and Tribune Syndicate and reaching five million...
. Unlike most of the other ABC characters, Greyshirt is not so much a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of comic book characters as a pastiche
Pastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
of classic masked detectives.
Greyshirt later appeared in Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset, a comic-book limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
and spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
from Tomorrow Stories that was written and drawn by Veitch. The series explored the origins of the character, as well as showcasing contributions from Russ Heath
Russ Heath
Russell Heath, Jr. is an American artist best known for his comic book work — particularly his DC Comics war stories for several decades and his 1960s art for Playboy magazine's Little Annie Fanny featurettes — and for his commercial art, two pieces of which, depicting Roman and...
, Al Williamson
Al Williamson
Alfonso "Al" Williamson was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western and science-fiction/fantasy...
, David Lloyd, John Severin
John Severin
John Powers Severin is an American comic book artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat; for Marvel Comics, primarily on its war and Western comics; and for the satiric magazine Cracked...
, Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons is an English comic book artist, writer and sometime letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries Watchmen and the Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything"...
, Frank Cho
Frank Cho
Frank Cho, born Duk Hyun Cho, is a Korean-American comic strip and comic book writer and illustrator, known for his series Liberty Meadows, as well as for books such as Shanna the She-Devil, Mighty Avengers and Hulk for Marvel Comics, and Jungle Girl for Dynamite Entertainment...
and Hilary Barta
Hilary Barta
Hilary Barta is an American comic book writer and artist.-Biography:Barta was born on June 17, 1957. His first comics work came in June 1982, when he helped legendary Marvel inkers Al Milgrom, Joe Sinnott and Sal Trapani provide inks for the pencils of Don Perlin on The Defenders #108...
. The limited series ran for six issues and has since been collected into a trade paperback.
Each issue was broken into four parts. On the inverse side of the cover, there would be a black-and-white "One-Pager." The comic then continued with "Young Greyshirt," which explored the character's life before Tomorrow Stories, and "Greyshirt," which featured short stories similar to those seen in Tomorrow Stories. The issue would conclude with "Indigo City Sunset," consisting of Indigo City's newspaper, featuring articles, comic strips, and letters to the editor.
Background
Born in 1963, Franky Lafayette, the son of "Lips" Lafayette, was a young criminal in the "bottoms up" section of Indigo City. In 1969 Franky and Johnny Apollo, both six years old, stole a gunGun
A gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,...
, which Franky used to save Johnny Apollo from the "The Lure".
In 1978, Franky and Johnny were young high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
delinquents
Juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency is participation in illegal behavior by minors who fall under a statutory age limit. Most legal systems prescribe specific procedures for dealing with juveniles, such as juvenile detention centers. There are a multitude of different theories on the causes of crime, most if not...
, selling tijuana bibles and stolen fireworks
Fireworks
Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...
. They worked for a gangster named Carmine Carbone (who, unbeknownst to Franky, is his father). At one time Franky and Plato Plutarch, a high school honor student, worked to save Candice "Candi" (Jail Bait) Lovelace and went head to head with "Spats Katz" (a rival of Carmine). At this time, Plato called in a couple of favors and gave Franky a chain mail
Mail (armour)
Mail is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh.-History:Mail was a highly successful type of armour and was used by nearly every metalworking culture....
Greyshirt. As full-fledged gangsters, the team-up inspired a long running comic book series named "Hoodlum Hit".
But in 1989, things started going downhill. Franky Lafayette's mother was pregnant again with Catherine and later gave her up for adoption. Carmine Carbone was sent to prison for 20 years. Singer and whore with a heart of gold
Hooker with a heart of gold
The hooker with a heart of gold is a stock character in which a "fallen woman", usually a prostitute, is a kindly and internally wholesome person.-Characteristics:...
Ella Bly who knew Franky before he became Greyshirt, wrote a song called "The Ballad of Franky & Johnny".
Their partnership ended when Johnny turned on Franky and later engineered an explosion that apparently killed them both.
However, Johnny was 'saved' by 'The Lure' and Franky was saved by Rockefeller Patel, "The Buddha of Indigo City" a deeply spiritual Nepalese monk with a keen sense of service and sacrifice, who lived under the old Indigo City Central Gas Station and the tunnels under the city.
Greyshirt
After recovering for two weeks, Franky decides to adopt the identity of Greyshirt, a masked private investigator. He dons a formal suitSuit (clothing)
In clothing, a suit is a set of garments made from the same cloth, consisting of at least a jacket and trousers. Lounge suits are the most common style of Western suit, originating in the United Kingdom as country wear...
with a red handkerchief
Handkerchief
A handkerchief , also called a handkercher or hanky, is a form of a kerchief, typically a hemmed square of thin fabric that can be carried in the pocket or purse, and which is intended for personal hygiene purposes such as wiping one's hands or face, or blowing one's nose...
, to hide his broken nose, and a chain mail
Mail (armour)
Mail is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh.-History:Mail was a highly successful type of armour and was used by nearly every metalworking culture....
shirt that protects him from blows, knife attacks, and even partially from bullets and bombs.
Greyshirt solves kidnappings, saves the city from "Baby Einstein", and fights old enemies gangsters like "Chucky Frisco" and "Vinnie Assapunto". He also encounters "Spats Katz", now a wheelchair
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...
-bound old man who was killed by an old caretaker, the mysterious monster named "The Lure" who lives in the jewel mines under Indigo City and stole Johnny Apollo's soul, and Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and the Nazi Party all reincarnated as cockroaches.
Greyshirt also has an extensive love life, having been involved with at least four women, including:
- Roseanna Crescendo, a shopgirl whose father, Dr. Victor Crescendo, was a physicistPhysicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
and musicianMusicianA musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
who attempted to unfurl existence. - Explorer Pandora Siam.
- Lapis Lazuli: a psychotic murderer and science villain. After Greyshirt arranged her arrest, she was sentenced to deathDeath SentenceDeath Sentence is a short story by the American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov.-Plot summary:...
by gas chamberGas chamberA gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...
. However, she has the ability to hold her breath for as long as days at a time. Greyshirt waited for her with red roses on the night she crawled out of her grave. - However, it was CobwebCobweb (comics)The Cobweb is a comic book heroine co-created by famed writer Alan Moore and veteran underground artist Melinda Gebbie. Cobweb's only apparent powers were allure and the ability to make an entrance...
, a woman he fell in love as a teenager while reading an old Tijuana bibleTijuana bibleTijuana bibles were pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s. Their popularity peaked during the Great Depression era...
, who became his most significant romantic partner.