"...The old tricks still work just fine." Blacksad: Amarillo review

Juan Diaz Canales & Juanjo Guarnido's Blacksad has been published in Spain since 2000; by the time Dark Horse Books brought an English-language version to these shores in 2010, only three stories had been produced. Perhaps encouraged by the growing interest in the character, 2010 saw the fourth story, A Silent Hell published and the English version arrived in 2012. Now we have Blacksad: Amarillo, the fifth entry, having been published last year in Spain and now in English - the speed at which the stories are being both created and translated is clearly increasing!

Strangely, this volume features two translators - Katie LaBarbera (translator of A Silent Hell) and Neal Adams! I say "strange" because Blacksad seems to have enough interest behind it that it shouldn't require a familiar North American such as Adams to promote it (and Adams is renowned for his art, not his scripts). Fortuitously, Adams explains in the book's introduction how Guarnido made a personal request for Adams to collaborate with him by translating this newest volume. I skipped the introduction and credits on my first read and didn't realize Adams had been part of the finished story; that Amarillo reads like the other Blacksad tales is a testament to Adams' fidelity to the source material, I think (perhaps if I learn Spanish one day I'll have a better idea of what precisely he contributed).

For those who are joining us late, John Blacksad lives in a world of anthropormorphic animal-people; Blacksad is a black cat. Blacksad usually makes his living as a detective and the timeframe is that of the 1950s; despite the cast being a bunch of animals, Blacksad's 1950s face very much the same social/political issues as our own 1950s.

In this tome, Blacksad accepts a very simple job - drive a sweet Cadillac Eldorado to Tulsa, Oklahoma on behalf of a wealthy bull. Unfortunately, the car is stolen and winds up in the hands of Chad Lowell, a young (lion) author who's living out his "difficult second novel" anxiety. Also in pursuit of Chad is his literary agent, Neal Beato, who becomes Blacksad's ally. Further complicating matters are a few murders, circus performers, a drunken bird and two dogged FBI agents.

Surprisingly, we gain some character insight into Blacksad here; we meet his sister Donna and they speak cryptically about their father, whom evidently neither gets along well with. We also hear Blacksad lecture his young nephew about guns, stating "Good guys don't carry guns," despite we readers being well-aware of Blacksad's use of firearms in earlier stories - so he's not proud of those escapades.

Part of what I enjoy about this book are the swerves away from predictable characters. Blacksad stories delve deep into noirish tropes, but while this may be a world of femme fatales, corrupt officials and dark secrets, it's also a world where a tough gang of bikers turn out to be reasonable and helpful; a world where a greasy lawyer can be a good friend and decent guitarist; a world where a tough FBI agent enjoys reading Mad magazine.

Diaz Canales and Guarnido not only love noir, but love the world they've built and the characters they created to inhabit it; that love is infectious! The next Blacksad won't be along for at least a couple of years - but I remain quite pleased to have it at all!

"He's going to burn, alright." Grandville review

Imagine a world which - although it appears to be set in the Victorian Era - possesses encroaching advances in technology such as robot menials and commonplace automatic weaponry. Now, imagine in this world Britain was conquered ages ago by the French. Finally, imagine human beings are not the dominant lifeforms, but rather humanoid versions of every other imaginable member of the animal kingdom, with humans square on the bottom. Put this together and you have Bryan Talbot's Grandville.

I'm certainly behind the times with Grandville, being as it was first released by Dark Horse in 2009. I've repeatedly considered giving at least this first volume an opportunity, but it's taken these many years for me to make the plunge. What exactly did I find?

The protagonist of Grandville is Archie LeBrock, allegedly a detective inspector in Scotland Yard who investigates murders with his rattish companion Ratzi. In the midst of social upheaval owing to Britain & France's tumultuous past (Britain only recently regaining its independence) and mechanical workers forcing flesh-and-blood menials out of work, LeBrock investigates the murder of Raymond Leigh-Otter, a mysterious figure whose death is linked to similarly-mysterious figures at work in France.

Above: a loving reference to the Treasure of the Sierra Madre, or an unwitting reuse of a joke from Weird Al's UHF?

Laying aside the alternate history, the science fiction trappings and the anthropomorphic cast of characters, what we have here is a very standard pulp adventure story. Although it's presented as a detective story, it's really more about thrills than intellect; somehow, what begins as a story about LeBrock investigating the murder of a man in England climaxes with LeBrock killing a head of state with a zepplin. Although LeBrock spouts exposition at various intervals, there's no sense that we readers might be solving the case alongside him - we're never granted all the information we need about this world to understand what's going on.

Strangely, some significance is granted to a character called Snowy Milou, an obvious reference to Tintin. Although some time is spent around LeBrock searching for him, it only seems to be for Talbot to make several references to Tintin - it's not actually important to the plot.

I keep feeling as though I'm missing something important within the text of Grandville - some sly way in which it subverts the detective-mystery-thriller-adventure genre. On the surface, it appears to be nothing more than a very authentic pulp story, the sort of which could have been published 100 years ago. In which case, would the anthropomorphic cast be nothing more than a distraction from a fairly average tale? Perhaps.

I think I can best explore my feelings about Grandville by bringing up a similar series: Blacksad. Certainly Blacksad is likewise a very standard period detective series elevated by its gorgeous artwork and anthropomorphic characterizations. Where Grandville and Blacksad split, to my mind, is where their protagonists are concerned. LeBrock is not only ahead of his audience, he's fairly well ahead of his foes as well. There is no moment in the novel where LeBrock appears to have lost control of the situation - even when he was shot point blank in the chest, I never doubted he was prepared for it. As the story progresses, he continues to overcome every physical and mental obstacle thrown before him with seemingly little effort. Along the way his friend Ratzi is roughed up a little and a woman who sleeps with him is murdered (re: sex=death), but LeBrock being a very British badger his upper lip is supremely stiff. Compare him to the frequently-flawed John Blacksad, whose triumphs are at best bittersweet and is nearly always struggling to survive and outwit his foes. I am not forced to choose between Grandville and Blacksad because all things are permitted to those who want them; nevertheless, I know which one I find meaningful. I don't empathize with the stolid, unflappable LeBrock, but I've certainly felt beaten up and dragged down like John Blacksad.

Review: Blacksad - a Silent Hell

According to statistics on Blogger, the top search term for Section 244 is "Blacksad." Hm. I would have thought "Amazing Race." In the interest of giving the public what it wants, I present to you my review of the new Blacksad graphic novel: A Silent Hell.

For those who have forgotten, John Blacksad is a private detective cat-man in a world inhabited by animal-people. Often assisted by his muck-raking journalist friend Weekly (a weasel-man). This new volume from Dark Horse contains the English translation of A Silent Hell, plus two 2-page stories and a feature entitled "the Watercolor Story" which explains how the art is created.

According to the back cover, this story is set in the 1950s; although the Blacksad series thrives on its period setting, it's hard to pinpoint when the stories are meant to occur (the animal-people interfere with some of the realistic touches). This is another grim, desperate thriller, with the only relief from its depictions of misery coming from the occasional humourous turn by Weekly and the attractive work of Juan Diaz Canales & Juanjo Guarnido.

In this tale, Blacksad and Weekly are in New Orleans, searching for the missing jazz musician Sebastian Fletcher on behalf of Faust Lachapelle, a famous record magnate. Faust is lying on death's door and has considered the lost Sebastian his surrogate son; this doesn't go well with the producer's flesh and blood son, Thomas. There's also another private detective on the case, hippo-man Ted Leeman, who's just a little sore at losing his case. Behind it all is a mystery dating back to Sebastian's childhood and how Faust made him who he is.

In the middle of this story, Blacksad is saved from drowning by another cat-man, who appears and disappears mysteriously. This figure hints at having some sort of connection to Blacksad's past; is he a hallucination, or a supernatural ghost? And how does a cat-man wind up with a tattoo? Did he shave his chest? Or is the image just inked into his fur? Some of these questions may be answered in future Blacksad tales, which would be the first real series continuity (outside of Weekly).

While the visuals in this story are outstanding and I can understand why the creators were eager to depict Mardi Gras, it is a little hackneyed to set stories in New Orleans "just in time" for a celebration which comprises about 4% of the calendar year.

As with the earlier Blacksad tale "Arctic Nation," race relations come to the fore as Sebastian is meant to remind readers of African-Americans (even though he isn't a black dog-man; in "Arctic Nation," the African-American characters had black fur or feathers). A Living Hell is another stylish, energetic Blacksad outing and hopefully there are many more to come.

Considering 2010: Comics

During 2010 the flow of comic books into my home took on a crazed life of its own. Marvel themselves provided me with a hefty supply of titles, but I also bought into plenty of graphic novels and continued to branch out into other publishers' work.

So, I think it makes the most sense to divvy up 2010 into what I most enjoyed from Marvel...and everything else.

MARVEL

Many years ago (before I was a freelancer) I toyed with the idea of telling the story behind Jeff Mace, the man who (via retcons) served as Captain America circa 1946-1950. I was fascinated at the idea that he was a normal man filling in for a believed-dead hero at a time when no one (including readers) cared about super heroes. Fortunately, Karl Kesel has finally told this story in Captain America: Patriot and he hit on every point I wanted to see covered. This book hits the notes of continuity perfectly (which as a handbook writer I'm still impressed by), but I felt it also did a fine job of characterizing Mace and his personal struggles filling a role he didn't really want for people who don't really want him. Also, Kesel's Sub-Mariner is an absolute delight.

I'm constantly impressed at the work editor Stephen Wacker does on Amazing Spider-Man, employing some of my personal favourite writers (Mark Waid, Fred Van Lente, Roger Stern, Dan Slott) and teams of excellent artists, most notably Marcos Martin. In recent issues, I was stunned to find how much I enjoyed Humberto Ramos' art, having been disappointed with his work almost a decade ago. However I felt about the Ramos of 2001, the Ramos of 2010 is worth following!

As part of a research assignment, I went over Peter David's X-Factor, which I don't normally follow. I already knew some of the details of his most recent storylines, but it was eye-opening to read them for myself. In particular the X-Factor Special: Layla Miller which detailed the young mutant Layla surviving in a totalitarian future, X-Factor#39 with the birth of Jaime Madrox's son and X-Factor#40 featuring Madrox's grapple with life were some of the best stories of David's on this title.

Like so many on the internet, I loved Roger Langridge & Chris Samnee's Thor: the Mighty Avenger, sadly cancelled after a mere 8 issues. Written in a stand-alone continuity intended to bring in fans of the upcoming movie (who will, I guess, get to buy the trade paperback anyway), this is the best Thor comic I've read in about 15 years. The gentle humour and fun characterizations are part of what makes it so engaging, but more than anything it's that Langridge takes nothing for granted - nothing. He doesn't waste the reader's time and he doesn't invest in characters or scenes that aren't worth investing in. Every page and every panel matter to the story, so they matter to me.

Avengers Academy is Christos N. Gage's new series to replace Avengers: the Initiative. The concept - superhuman teenagers considered potential super villains being taught to be heroes by the Avengers - has endless potential. Although the series spun out of the Initiative it's actually the spritual successor to Brian K. Vaughn's Runaways as a series about teenagers grappling with their morality.

Even though Greg Pak returned to Incredible Hulk last year, I felt it wasn't up to the standards of Pak's earlier Planet Hulk or World War Hulk. Well, with an exception: Incredible Hulk#611 in which the Hulk battles his son Skaar led to an exceptional pay-off not only for readers of Pak's work, but for anyone who followed Bill Mantlo or Peter David's Hulk.

Fred Van Lente is always good (and needs to get his Comic Book Comics to ship regularly), but I felt his best work in 2010 was on the mini-series Shadowland: Power Man, featuring a teenager who adopts Luke Cage's old "Power Man" handle, along with Cage's old "Hero for Hire" job. Van Lente crafts a believable picture of life in Harlem...or, at least, the Marvel Universe version of Harlem where you're as likely to meet a ninja as anything.

...EVERYTHING ELSE

Sticking with super heroes, I've been giving Grant Morrison a sober second look lately by trying out some of his most esteemed work. So far that's included All-Star Superman, WE3 and the beginning of his Animal Man. I'm definitely learning to appreciate his writing, although I prefer him on stand-alone projects rather than his shared universe work at Marvel and DC. All-Star Superman has at least three panels which struck me with their visual, emotional power; I want to see more of his work. I blogged some more about WE3 here.

2010 was also the year I discovered Joe Sacco via Palestine, Safe Area Gorazde and Footnotes in Gaza. With all the flat-out fiction I read, it's nice to experience something of the real world in my comics. Sacco's work has done a lot to educate me on Israel and Bosnia and inspired me to learn more; it also helped inspire me to commit myself to a mission in Angola for 2011. After all the suffering I witnessed in Sacco's books, I felt the need to get overseas and help people. I blogged some more about Palestine here.

From Sacco I took an interest in How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less by Sarah Glidden. This is an autobiographical story where the author goes on a birthright trip to Israel and confronts her prejudices about the Israelis. She never really confronts the issues about Palestine which formed her beliefs so her story's finish is a letdown...but that's real life, eh?

After promising myself for years that I would delve into Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, I finally took the plunge in 2010 and it's been providing me with some of the most consistently enjoyable stories on my bookshelf. With more than 20 volumes of trade paperbacks in print Usagi seems daunting to outsiders, but as fans in the know promised me, you can start almost anywhere in the series and find the story easy to flow into; I'm currently devouring the snake at both ends, working my way through the trades in order while buying the new issues as they ship.

The concept of a cat-man who solves crimes sounds simplistic, right? It is. What isn't is the art of Juanjo Guarnido, whose ability to render a lush, verisimilitudinous "funny animal" version of 50s noir made Blacksad an instant favourite. The fact that John Blacksad has whiskers is a tool to catch your attention, and it certainly worked on me. I'm eager to see more of Blacksad as it's translated. I blogged some more about Blacksad (and Usagi Yojimbo) here.

James Turner's Warlord of Io seems to have run its (troubled) course, drifting from serialized print format to electronic-only to trade paperback. It's much more plot driven than Turner's earlier Rex Libris, but the plot - video game crazy Zing being named emperor but facing an immediate coup - serves to introduce all sorts of fun characters, situations and opportunities for Turner to flex his artistic muscles. I blogged some more about Warlord of Io here.

Two of my favourite humourous writers came out with projects in 2010: Jim Rugg with his blaxploitation satire Afrodisiac and Bryan Lee O'Malley with Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour. Actually, while Afrodisiac is straight-up satire on every page (to the point where you can predict the outcomes - Afrodisiac gets every woman because every woman wants him; lather, wash, repeat), O'Malley's final Scott Pilgrim took itself with a smidge of seriousness when it came to Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers' relationship (as in the previous volume).

I took a gamble on American Born Chinese, but considering it had already won a few awards, it seemed like a safe bet. This book collects seemingly-unconnected tales about people who want to be something other than what they are (notably the titular Chinese-American protagonist). I can't know how growing up Asian in a mostly-white society feels, but I empathized with the feelings of otherness and ultimately, it's why I read fiction - to gain insight into other people's experiences.

For decades now, Batton Lash has been producing Supernatural Law - currently on the web - yet it's seldom brought up in comic book circles and the collections are difficult to locate. Happily, I found the volume Sonovawitch! in which Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre, represent a man accused of bewitching a woman to love him. In reality, he's a victim of his witch mother, who just wants her son to get married. Sonovawitch! is just one of the stories collected in that trade but it's typical of Wolff & Byrd's misadventures; I look forward to finding the rest of the series.

Finally, I delved into two well-described titles by John Ostrander: Grimjack and the Spectre. The Grimjack Omnibus was a nice little tome with interesting mash-ups of detective, horror, science fiction and comedy; my favourite was a story where Grimjack was hired by a vampire to catch his killer. Ostrander's Spectre may be the best of his work I've read; over 60 issues he delves into Jim Corrigan, a murdered police man bound to the spirit of vengeance, cursed to combat evil until he understands it. Corrigan's journey through the series, particularly his grief at losing his closest mortal friend, a fight with Superman that's unlike any I'd seen before, the character's philosophical and theological discussions with the level-headed Father Craemer and that final issue, with Corrigan's funeral...seek out the Spectre; back issues can be difficult to locate, but it's well worth the effort.

Tomorrow: books!

Funny Animals: Blacksad & Usagi Yojimbo

They both live in worlds populated by humanoid animals; they both have a strong moral code, but usually work for money; both have adventures in a past era; one is in colour, the other is usually in black & white; one has been published in one form or another for over 20 years, the other is only 10 years old; the creator of one book hails from the USA, the other from France; both are published in North America by Dark Horse.

John Blacksad...

...and Miyamoto Usagi.

* * *

Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido's Blacksad is set in the USA of the 1950s and tells era-appropriate tales of John Blacksad, a private investigator. Blacksad is a black-furred humanoid cat. Of course, all the roles in Blacksad are portrayed by humanoid animals. Blacksad's adventures pit him against corrupt businessmen, racist ideologues and the atomic scare. As I said, it's era-appropriate.

Blacksad's creators make excellent use of the various animal types who comprise their cast - it's about more than just interesting visuals. In one story, Blacksad is apprehensive at following a rat down an alleyway. The reader understands his apprehension because the man is a rat. It's a great storytelling shorthand.

The creators also have an excellent sense of economy. In one sequence, Blacksad has just been roughed up and shambles back to his apartment. As he reaches the gate, this happens:

On the left you see the police car; on the right you see the policeman. Nothing more needs to said here, the following panel depicts Blacksad in the local jail. After reading so many North American comics which seem to adhere to the "shoot everything!" edict, it's always refreshing to find creators who know which details matter to the story. The wheres and hows of Blacksad's arrest don't actually matter and they know it. This is a briskly-paced action-packed mystery story, there's no space to slow down the narrative.

Another great element to Blacksad is the story dealing with racism; various white-furred animals begin cracking down on black-furred animals, which means Blacksad himself isn't safe, regardless of the colour of his muzzle.

(Although if there was World War II in Blacksad's world - and it seems that there was, based on various comments - would Nazi-like stormtroopers really fly in 1950s USA? Shouldn't they be Klansmen?)

* * *

Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo is set in Feudal Japan and relays tales of the wandering samurai Miyamoto Usagi. Usagi is a humanoid white-furred rabbit. Sometimes Usagi's tales touch upon real historical events, aspects of then-relevant Japanese culture or Japanese folklore. Unlike Blacksad, there are occasional efforts at breaking the fourth wall and observing how Usagi's version of Japan doesn't quite hold up.

(You probably recognize the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles above; Usagi is a separate intellectual property, but has been so closely associated with the Turtles during his publishing career that he's probably still most widely-known as a character from their lines of action figures and cartoon programs, rather than the star of his own unrelated comics books.)

It's amazing that there are still so many stories which can be told with Usagi after all of these years and it's a credit to Sakai that the current adventures remain vibrant. Usagi's excellent supporting cast, comprising characters like the rascally rhino bounty hunter Gen, tragic blind swordspig Ino and ever-replenishing ranks of the Neko Ninja, together make great foils for Usagi (and by the way, Usagi Yojimbo Book 4? Where all the aforementioned characters join forces? So good.).

Going back to the beginning, you can see some minor alterations in Sakai's artwork. This is Usagi then:

This is Usagi now:

Usagi does seem to have become slimmer over the decades - a thinner face, a less stocky build. The fur on the sides of his head has also become looser, more scruffy.

* * *

Blacksad was recently collected as a hardcover by Dark Horse, but apparently there are still new stories being published in France; hopefully Dark Horse will supply translated copies in the future.

Usagi Yojimbo is published almost every month by Dark Horse; there are now more than 20 volumes collected into trade paperbacks, but you can start reading the series almost anywhere; many issues are stand-alone tales and the trades always seem to complete story arcs.