This week on the Major Spoilers Podcast, the crew sits down to talk up and talk about the latest U.S. release of Blacksad.
Blacksad
The story is set in a film noir environment, in the USA of the late 1950s. All the characters are anthropomorphic animals (female characters are often much more anthropomorphized, though it varies depending on the animal.), their specific species reflecting their personality and their part in the story. For example, nearly all the policemen are canid, usually German Shepherds, Bloodhounds, Foxes or Scottish Terriers.
The strip is made with a rather dirty-realist outlook, a dark cinematic style and fairly clean, realistic lines. Coupled with the truly lavish and time-consuming drawing, done in watercolor, the strip appears very realistic indeed despite using animals. The quality of the drawing has improved noticeably throughout the series, with sharper, higher-quality colour and fewer grainy lines in later issues.
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4 Comments
ha, suckers, i have the original europeean prints which are a lot bigger than the US reprints and i,ll have the 4th issue very soon after its release.
seriously, great book, great art, everybody should read this.
Define a lot bigger…
about 20% bigger than a regular american comic and maybe 10% bigger than this last Dark Horse reprint.
I picked up the Dark Horse hardcover collection at the recommendation of the staff at my local comic book store (shout out to Comics Dungeon in Seattle!). I had just finished the awesome Killer by Matz and Luc Jacamon and was interested in discovering some new books by European creators. The staff pointed me to Blacksad, which I had heard reference to on various forums and websites. It took all of 30 seconds for me to place it in my buy pile. I love crime noir stories and this is certainly one of my favorites. In additional, the art just blew me away, especially the facial expressions drawn by Guarnido. They are leaps and bounds ahead of everyone other artist I know of. The book now has a special place on my bookshelf and I’ve introduced several people to the book who hold it in high esteem as well.
I’m sure you’ll talk about your thoughts on the book but I’d like to ask if there are other books by foreign creators, excepting writers like Moore, Ennis, Ellis, and Morrison that have established audiences in the US, that you particularly enjoy? Do you think there is an audience for more foreign books and imprints to enter the market? I ask this because I enjoy many foreign films (I know, different medium but I think it is a good analogy) and have a hard time getting friends interested in them because they are “too different.” Finally, I’d just like to say that I only came across Major Spoilers earlier this year and I absolutely love the content, especially the podcasts. Keep up the good work.