Blacksad: Somewhere between the ShadowsWritten by Juan Díaz Canales
Art by Juanjo Guarnido
2005
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
The artwork in this book is jaw-to-the-floor stunning. Delicate watercolours that look like they must have taken years to finish - with every small aspect carefully rendered to look as vivid and life-like as possible: including the anthropomorphic creatures that populate the world (cats, dogs, pigs, lizards, rats and so on) - all hunched up in trenchcoats, putting on their best stoic faces and spitting out plenty of heart-broken noirish dialogue. It's a shame then that the writing is so very dreadful - tacky, cheesy, predictable and lacking any small spark of anything approaching - excuse me - real human emotion. Maybe the fact that it was written by a Spanish guy for the French market and then translated into English is the reason it sounds so tin-eared - but apart from the fact that the characters have fluffy ears it's a yawn-inducing by-the-numbers detective tale with a very hackneyed ending. Oh well. Just do your best to ignore the words and focus on the pretty pictures...
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Further reading: Grandville, The Manara Library, Beasts of Burden: Animal Rites, Elephantmen.
All comments welcome.
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