Outside the Big Two: Blacksad

[thatnickguy]

I've become a big fan of film noir in the last couple of years. And Blacksad fills that perfectly.

Huh. I just realized this is my second post and it's ALSO about anthropomorphic characters. Just to be clear, I'm not a furry (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Without further adieu, I give you Blacksad. This is a comic by two Spanish creators (writer Juan Díaz Canales and artist Juanjo Guarnido), but its market is largely in French. Dark Horse released the first three stories in a collection and recently published a second collection, A Silent Hell. Every character is brilliantly anthropomorphized to suit their character. My favourite story, Arctic Nation, deals with a KKK type of racist group comprised of all white animals like a polar bear and an Arctic fox.

Here are some pages from that story.







It's honestly a brilliant read and I'd recommend it for anyone. And trust me, it's by far not a "cutsie animal book." though I imagine most or all of you have figured that out.

Comments

[mrosa]

Great art, but you need to edit this a bit :)

[thatnickguy]

Fixed. For whatever reason, I always seem to struggle with the cuts and I don't know why. Dreamwidth isn't as idiot-friendly as LJ was.

[mrosa]

I like the fact that the fascists include several species, though: owls, weasels, pigs, bears...

... Also love the look he gives the guy handing him a pamphlet, and the look the other gives him when he turns his back. That's excellent body language!

[thatnickguy]

My favourite part of the story is when he meets with some BLACK fascists (like a black bull and a black horse). I couldn't find an English scan of it (original French, yes, but no English).

One of them asks what happened to his snout (it's white). He pulls out some black paint and moves his fingers towards Blacksad's face. His response? "You give me so much as a freckle and I'll end you" while pointing the business end of his gun at the guy's stomach. =D

[thanekos]

What a symbol the snowflake makes.

[icon_uk]

Though snowflakes always have six points not four, but I'll let that slide given it's going for a swastika/KKK feel and it works.

[silverzeo]

Kinda defeats the whole purpose of unison of a totalism regimen when you consider that there are no 2 snowflakes that are exactly the same and thus is a symbol of independence...

[thatnickguy]

Maybe it's just me, but I think that's perfectly ironic about the organization.

[shadur]

Racists tend to be very bad at basic logic, especially when it contradicts their beliefs.

[captainbellman]

Butbutbut they're WHITE.

It's not unlike the Nazis using a classic Hindu symbol representing the concept of "being good", or the KKK celebrating ritual killings with a flaming cross. As long as the symbol is memorable, you can twist the meaning any way you want.

(There's a very good play about the Swastika currently on in London, for those of you reading from the UK. It's called "Ganesha vs. the Third Reich".)

[silverzeo]

Does it help or hurt Sad's ego when everyone of his expressions seems like something from lolCats or Mean Cats?

[thatnickguy]

I think it just shows how unlimited cats' expressions can be. =D

[mercia]

Ah, Blacksad. Another of the comics I found thanks to Scans_daily.

I have to echo the awesomeness of this series.

[darkknightjrk]

Not a big fan of anthromorphized comics, but I love me some film noir. I'll have to check this out. :D

[thatnickguy]

I like it only when it's done well, such as this, Elephantmen, or Mouse Guard. Fortunately, in those cases, they're done INCREDIBLY well. =)

[leoboiko]

Lackadaisy… Historical research, art style, facial expressions, body language, everything’s top-notch. So good it’s scary.

[blackruzsa]

Oh, I loooove Blacksad. The art is beautiful and the stories are interesting. I felt sad for the two sisters, but that might've been my favorite story.

[flo_nelja]

Yay! I love Blacksad!

[eyz]

Love the series, I'm so glad to see it expanding beyond the European market^___^

[sonicsora]

Oh man, Blacksad- I love what I have read of this series. It is just perfect.

Arctic Nation has to be my favorite storyline from the first collection. Everything about it is just, really breath taking in a way that is hard for me to describe. It rings true since so much wrong went down and even in the end- good doesn't fully win. I am trying to avoid spoilers, oy.

[greenmask]

I had no idea Blacksad has an English release.

Wannnt.

[captainbellman]

Has for quite a bit of time, I got mine as an Xmas present one two years ago. It really is tremendously well-done.

[espanolbot]

The first three are already collected together, and the new one (involving voodoo) should be being collected seperately soon. :)

[northstarfan]

Out last week at the LCS; Amazon orders shipping this week. :)

[green_hellfish_of_doom]

I reallylike blacksad but only one thing annoys me about it... this tendency to make males more like cats but females look mostly human -.-