Blacksad

Blacksad by Juan Díaz Canales
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

People have been recommending Blacksad to me for years. I should have listened years ago because this was great.

John Blacksad is a detective and an anthropomorphic cat in a world of talking humanoid animals. In this volume, he tackles three mysteries and gets more than he bargained for each time.

The art by Juanjo Guarnido is exquisite. He somehow manages to make talking animal people not look out of place in three noir detective tales. Everything is lavishly detailed and looks and feels real. I have to think he's using lots of photo references. The writing by Juan Diaz Canales is straight out of detective noir. Blacksad stumbles on to stuff he shouldn't, usually takes one or more beatings, and eventually sets things right to some degree.

I feel like I'm underselling this. The three noir tales hit all the right buttons for me and the fact that they feature anthropomorphic animals and still hit the mark is a testament to the skill of the creative team. Is Blacksad the bleak fate that the world of Usagi Yojimbo, my other favorite talking animal book, is destined for?

Blacksad is easily my favorite comic about a chain smoking detective who is also a cat. Five out of five stars.

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