Blacksad

John Blacksad, a detective in the private sector, is the protaganist of a recent hardcover collecting the first 3 albums (yes this is originally a European comic) available from Dark Horse comics. On the surface there is a been there done that before, but two things really set this comic apart. First, it is set in the 1950's which is a nice change of pace and turns into a great setting. Second, it is an anthropomorphic story, as John Blacksad is a big giant cat.

This is one of the better comics I have read in some time. It is broken down into three albums. Each album could basically be read in any order as nothing really carries over, but certain characters are introduced in the early albums that will appear again. The 3 albums are titled Somewhere within the Shadows, Artic Nation, and Red Soul and all three are set in the late 1950's in the USA.

The first album, Somewhere within the Shadows, is your typical detective/PI story. John is initially involved because the deceased is an old girlfriend. In fact this first story of corruption, betrayal, twists and turns, has been done many, many times before. It is hard to be too original with so many crime noir offerings available. So what you have to have is amazing execution. And you get that here. There is amazing page layouts, with many, many panels per page. The dialogue is very strong and for the most part flows very well, especially as this was not originally in English. There is just enough character development of Blacksad to keep him interesting, but the book really does flow from page to page. It is easy to rush from page to page as the story draws you in, but I was immediately ready for another reading.

The second volume, Arctic Nation really uses its time frame to set this story up. This isn't your typical detective story. The main theme here is racism, the white animals versus the black animals. This story involves a kidnapping and how unfriendly the white animals can be towards Blacksad as he tries to unravel this mystery. Once this one gets rolling, hang on, there is twist after twist after twist. I think this is the weakest of the three, but still great. I am not sure if I just didn't buy the racism when they are seen as animals, or if the twists became a little bit too twisty, or if a couple of character decisions just didn't seem logical, this one while still very entertaining did not leave me immediately dying for a reread.

The final volume uses the setting once again to tell a story set in the crazy cold war nuclear scare. This volume seems to take the longest to get started, but may be one of the strongest finishers. What is so amazing about these storytellers is there is very little action compared to the first two stories, but what action there is, is explosive and exciting and the plot is gripping to the very end.

The creative team of Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido have done an amazing job. Each panel is wonderfully drawn in a beautiful painted style. Everything about this story is just wonderful.

That carries over to Dark Horse as well. This is a beautiful hardcover that would look great on any shelf. It is over sized for comic book standards and the work just explodes from the page. Don't let the price scare you as you are basically getting 3 graphic novels in a hard back form. The page count might be down, but with 8 to 9 panels average on these huge pages there really is a ton of content here.

I think the only issue I had, and I don't know if this is the number of panels per page or if this is a European practice I am not familiar with, but ocassionally there would be 8 panels on a page devoted to one seen, then the 9th would be the first panel of a new scene. That was jarring in a couple of places as I tried to figure how that final panel fit in before turning the page and realizing I was in a new scene.

I can't recommend this enough. Even though it is cats and dogs and bears, this is not for kids as this is a tough and rough world. Anyone else though who is a detective or a comic book fan in general should be checking this out.