Greyshirt

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caption=The cover to the collected edition of "Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset" by Rick Veitch.
comic_color=background:#8080ff
character_name=Greyshirt
real_name=Franky Lafayette
publisher=America's Best Comics/Wildstorm
debut="Tomorrow Stories" #1, 1999
creators=Alan Moore and Rick Veitch
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
status=active
alliances=Rockefeller Patel
Indigo Police
The Cobweb
previous_alliances=Johnny Apollo
Carmine Carbone
America's Best
aliases=
relatives="Lips" Lafayette (mother)
Carmine Carbone (biological father)
Catherine (sister)
powers=None, but he is a smart, skilled and tenacious fighter.
Who sports a complete bodysuit made of chain mail.
Walking cane fitted with power grappling line.|

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.

Publication history

Greyshirt originally appeared in "Tomorrow Stories" (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.

Character history

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 gun, which Franky used to save Johnny Apollo from the "The Lure". [Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset #1 (December 2001)]

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 give Franky a chain mail "Greyshirt". [Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset #2 (December 2001)] As full-fledged gangsters, the team-up inspired a long running comic book series named "Hoodlum Hit". [Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset #3 (February 2002)]

But in 1989 thing started going down. 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. [Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset #3 (February 2002)] 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" ["Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset "#4 (April 2002)] .

Their partnership ended when Johnny turned on Franky and later engineered an explosion that apparently killed them both ["Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset "#5 (June 2002)] .

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: Indigo Sunset "#5 (June 2002)] .

Greyshirt

After recovering for two weeks, Franky decides to adopt the identity of Greyshirt, a masked private investigator. He dons a formal suit 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. ["Tomorrow Stories" Issue #3 (20 October 1999)]

Greyshirt solves kidnappings, saves the city from "Baby Einstein" ["Tomorrow Stories" Issue #3 (20 October 1999)] , and fights old enemies gangsters like "Chucky Frisco" ["Tomorrow Stories" Issue #7 (12 April 2000)] and "Vinnie Assapunto". He also encounters "Spats Katz", now a wheelchair-bound old man who was killed by an old caretaker ["Tomorrow Stories" Issue #2 (9 September 1999)] , and the mysterious monster named "The Lure" who lives in the jewel mines under Indigo City and stole Johnny Apollo's soul. [Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset #6 (August 2002)] To stop Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party reborn as an ant. ["Tomorrow Stories" Issue #11 (29 August 2001)]

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, a physicist and musician the violin was his second case. ["Tomorrow Stories" Issue #5 (29 December 1999)]
* Explorer "Pandora Siam". ["Tomorrow Stories" Issue #3 (See in one page) (20 October 1999)]
* "Lapis Lazuli" a psychotic murderer and science villain. After Greyshirt arranged her arrest, she was sentenced to death by gas chamber. Greyshirt waited for her with red roses on the night she came back to life. ["Tomorrow Stories" Issue #10 (18 April 2001)]
* However, it was "Cobweb", a woman he fell in love as a teenager while reading old Tijuana bible, who became his most significant romantic partner. ["Tomorrow Stories" Issue #12 (27 February 2002)]

Footnotes

Bibliography

*"Tomorrow Stories" #1 (August 1999)- 12 (February 2002)
*"Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset" #1 (December 2001) - 6 (August 2002)
*"Tomorrow Stories Special" #1 (October 2005) - 2 (March 2006)
*"Tom Strong" #36 (March 2006)
*"America's Best Comics: A to Z" #2

External links

* [http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/g/geyshir.htm Profile of Greyshirt at International Hero]
* [http://www.popmatters.com/comics/greyshirt.shtml Article at Pop Matters on Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset]
* [http://www.leguy.de/comics/abc/charaktere/greyshirt.html ABC-Fan-Page:Characters-Greyshirt]