Canales appropriates the noir crime novel and film tropes and works them all in to create a page-turning detective mystery.Īn early creative decision was to present the story in colour for commercial reasons, rather than the black and white that might seem a more suitable fit for the material.
He’s almost immediately assaulted himself, and the case continues from there. An actress and former girlfriend of Blacksad’s is found murdered, and despite their relationship ending in acrimony he owes it to her to track down her killer. The testament to his skill is that were all the trappings removed Somewhere within the Shadows would remain a compelling detective mystery.
This would all be beautiful window dressing without Canales being equally accomplished. Years of experience at Disney taught Guarnido how to humanise animals, and the emotional investment he generates is complete. It makes for a succession of memorable images such as an apoplectic walrus talent agent, or an oran-utan singing the blues. All species on Blacksad’s world have evolved in this manner, although it’s rather fudged for additional sex appeal in the case of one cat woman. The portrayal of different cast members conforms to human behavioural characteristics we apply to their animal counterparts. As Jim Steranko notes in his introduction, the cast are not animals who talk like people, but people who resemble animals. He’s a panther, and a detective in a reality that’s beautifully realised by Guarnido, populated by animals that are familiar, yet walk upright and talk, inhabiting the USA of the early 1950s, so known in every other aspect. He proposed “setting the animals free” within a realistic environment, and Blacksad was born.
That the Spanish creators were so accomplished first time out was due to their background in animation and a lifelong love of comics.īlacksad‘s origins lie in another project the pair were compiling when Guarnido saw a short strip by Canales featuring a feline detective, and was very taken with it. Neither writer Juan Díaz Canales, nor artist Juanjo Guarnido were previously known to the comics world, yet their graphic novel début was a stunning piece of work. When first published in Europe, Blacksad was an instant sensation.
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