Will you read a comic, where a black cat with haunting eyes is a hero? Well, I’d rather jump and read the book than killing myself in curiosity. Actually, I don’t mind as long as it’s a comic book.
I was
introduced to these books by Knavukalin Kathalan, a blogger, regular visitor and constructive commenter on Mr. J’s blog.
At my first glace I was stunned by the colourful art & narration style. Set in a teeming, 1940s-style metropolis. I couldn’t wait too long to read all three books. I managed to convince and get this book from one of my friends who returned home on a vacation from UK.
As I said earlier, a black cat is the hero. He is aided by a side kick named “Weekly”. Problem with this Weekly is the odour that he’s got. This guy hates soap and water. :)
Though the characters got animal face, they’ve got human body. When you read the books these books will remind you some personalities such as Adolf Hitler. Humanoid characters are far better than ordinary comics characters.
As I said earlier there are three books. First book is published in 2000 and the last book Red Soul was published in 2005.
- Somewhere Within the Shadows (2000)
- Arctic Nation (2003)
- Red Soul (2005)
If you ever wanted to read above mentioned comics, I suggest you to start with “Somewhere Within the Shadows”. It’ll give you a head on start in the series and you’ll have good understanding about the characters, though “Weekly” is introduced in second book “Arctic Nation”.
Somewehre Within the Shadows (2000)
Story goes most of the time in narrative style which I prefer most. Black cat, John Blacksad, who is a private detective, goes hunting for a culprit who killed a renowned actress.
Interesting part is, the actress who got murdered is detective Blacksad’s ex. It doubles his anger.
You can meet interesting characters from Rat to Goanna.
PS: I own this book :D
Arctic Nation (2003)
This book gives you an understanding about inter-racial violence and racial segregation of the 1950s in a pseudo-American suburbia called the Line.
Blacksad meets his sidekick in the scene where a black vulture is hanged. Their first meeting was not a good meeting at all. Blacksad’s sidekick ‘Weekly is a reporter for news agency called “What's News”.
You can read full Tamil review on this book, written by Kanavukalin Kathalan.
Red Soul (2005)
(I yet to read…) Excerpt from Wikipedia to give you an overall idea about the story line.
Blacksad is employed as a bodyguard for a rich old tortoise called Hewitt Mandeline, who goes on a gambling trip to Las Vegas. After returning home, Blacksad's last assignment is to accompany him to an art gallery
However, all is not going well for Liebber and the Gotfield Foundation; the lecture hall is mobbed by anti-communist rioters and Blacksad takes an instant dislike for Gotfield, who makes a mockery of the lecture.
Read the rest in the book or read the full plot in Wikipedia. I hate revealing the plot. :)
Movie in Future??
These days you can see comics are debut into movies and making box office hit. No wonder people are rumouring that this comic going to make into a movie. Wow!
Fathers of Blacksad
After telling all these, if I fail to talk about author and artist then I should be sentenced to death. Artist Juan Díaz Canales is a Spanish artist and an animation film director. He’s popularly known for his work with Blacksad books. Again Juanjo Guarnido is a Spanish illustrator and the co-author of this comic book series.
Although it was the creators' first comics endeavour, the first volume was an immense success, selling more than 200,000 copies in France alone. The series has been translated from the original French and Spanish into Bulgarian, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Serbian, Swedish and Taiwanese.
Guarnido and Diaz Canales have received several prizes for the impressive, lavish visualisation and the books as a whole, among these three nominations for the Eisner Awards, and an Angoulême Prize for Artwork.
And with a special thanks to
Kanavukalin Kathalan, I’m closing this post.
My Rating (9/10)
See you soon in another review :)
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