My favourite cultural product this month is a comic books series called “Blacksad”. There are three comics in French and two are already translated in English. The stories follow the character of a detective named John Blacksad.
The story, set in the USA in the 1950s, has a film noir ambiance and is very well deserved by drawings. The style is realistic albeit the fact the characters are anthropomorphic animals.
But what makes Blacksad truly exceptional ? The drawings by Guarnido are simply marvels of their time. Some remain in my visual memory. The atmosphere is really well shown, the speed, the movements are simple amazingly expressed. As the drawing indeed need some times, it generally takes three years to have a new album. All these qualities made that this series won several awards.
The only negative thing that I would say on Blacksad is that the scenarios are quite simple. It is a weak point but everything else makes these comics a must-read. I hence would give this series a 9 out of 10 grade.
The official website : French Edition
To buy the first volume at Amazon : in French | in English
Finally, I hopefully will next month give you my appreciation of a sci-fi book I am currently reading. So far it is excellent and a true masterpiece of the genre. As it is a 1000-page story, it indeed takes some time to be read.