Flores and Rivera do a wonderful job of shaping that hard-boiled patter, playing up a delivery that is both floral and blunt. Noir can often live or die by the narration and Díaz Canales' words could have fallen flat with a literal translation. The noir feel is also well captured by translators Anthya Flores & Patricia Rivera. The series is an absolute feast for your eyes. When combined with his use of browns, greys, and beiges across an almost charcoal texture for his shadows, it gives a stunningly rich noir feel to everything. There doesn't seem to be a single animal that he's not adept at, moreover Guarnido manages to give them all a depth of emotion in body language and facial expression that many artists are unable to do even with humans. He captures the architecture, clothing, and vehicles of '50s America in incredible detail which makes the beauty and realism of the animal characters all the more impressive. One of the immediate draws to the series is the art, Juanjo Guarnido's artwork is, in a word, breathtaking. Even as they may turn a blind eye to vigilante actions that they're bound by the law not to pursue. For instance, in regards to the dogs as police officers, in the first volume, especially with Chief Smirnov, the qualities of loyalty and duty are played up. Set in a stylized 1950s America, the world of Blacksad is populated with anthropomorphized animals, dogs as cops, lizards and rats as a criminal underbelly, gorillas as boxers, and more, with the animals chosen often representative of something about the class or profession that they're portraying.

In the first volume, Díaz Canales and Guarnido introduce us to John Blacksad, a black cat and private detective, who we find embroiled in a murder case of a famous actress that used to be a client and lover. Originally published in French by Dargaud as Blacksad: Tome 1 – Quelque part entre les ombres, Blacksad: Somewhere Within The Shadows is a noir masterpiece. Of the latter, one of the most successful in any language is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido's Blacksad. Across European comics, you're as likely to see talking animals in any genre, from adventure through to crime noir. Works that are primarily aimed at children. It's not to say that they don't exist, we've got wonderful works like Maus, The Autumnlands, Grandville, Mouse Guard, and the big juggernauts like Mickey Mouse and Looney Tunes, but it's usually only the latter that seems to have prominence here.

emerson eddy - Funny animal books don't necessarily have the same market penetration in North America as they do elsewhere, especially across Europe.

Blacksad canales