Blacksad
Comic series
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Blacksad is a noir comic series created by Spanish authors Juan Díaz Canales (writer) and Juanjo Guarnido (artist), and published by publisher Dargaud in album format. Though both authors are Spanish, their main target audience for Blacksad was the French market,[1] publishing all Blacksad volumes in French first; the Spanish edition followed about one month later.[2] The first volume, Quelque part entre les ombres (literally Somewhere between the Shadows, but simply called Blacksad in the US), was published in November 2000. The second volume, Arctic-Nation, was published in 2003 and the third, Âme Rouge (Red Soul), was published in 2005. An English translation of the third volume was delayed due to the bankruptcy of its North American publisher, iBooks. In 2010, Dark Horse Comics published all three translated volumes as one volume.[3] The publication of this 184-page collection also coincided with the European release of the series' fourth installment, L'Enfer, le silence (literally The Hell, the silence), in September 2010. In 2014, a fifth installment of the series, Amarillo, was released in various translations.
| Blacksad | |
|---|---|
Cover of Blacksad: Volume 1: Somewhere Within the Shadows | |
| Author(s) | Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido |
| Website | http://www.blacksadmania.com/ |
| Launch date | November 2000 |
| Publisher | Dargaud |
| Genre | Detective |
The series has been translated into Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian.
Guarnido and Díaz Canales have received several prizes for the series, including three Eisner Award nominations in 2004,[4] two Eisner Award wins in 2013,[5] and an Angoulême Prize for Artwork.[6][7] A video game adaptation of Blacksad, under the name Blacksad: Under the Skin, developed by Pendulo Studios, was released in 2019.[8]
Synopsis
Rendered in a film noir style, the stories are set in late 1950s United States. All of the characters are anthropomorphic animals whose species reflects their personality, character type and role in the story. Animal stereotypes are often used: for example, nearly all of the policemen are canids, such as German Shepherds, Bloodhounds, and foxes, while underworld characters are often reptiles or amphibians. Female characters are often much more human-looking than their male counterparts.
The strip attempts to reflect a dirty, realist outlook and a dark cinematic style through fairly clean, realistic lines. Detailed watercolor drawings, including real-life places and cities, also contribute to the realistic feel of the series, despite the fact that characters are animals. The style of drawing has evolved throughout the series, with later issues displaying sharper, higher-quality colour and fewer grainy lines.
Cameos
The series occasionally features anthropomorphic versions of famous people, most notably in Red Soul. Adolf Hitler is portrayed as a cat (possibly in homage to Art Spiegelman's Maus), Senator Joseph McCarthy as Senator Gallo (a rooster), Mark Rothko as Sergei Litvak (a brown bear), the president as an eagle, and Allen Ginsberg as Abraham Greenberg (a bison), while Otto Liebber (an owl) bears a strong resemblance to many of the scientists involved in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos.
Main characters
- John Blacksad – hardboiled private investigator. A tuxedo cat was raised in a poor neighborhood and spent much of his youth running from the police. This and his service in World War II likely account for his above-average marksmanship and fighting skills. He also spent a year in college as a history major before being expelled. Like other hardboiled detectives, Blacksad narrates his stories, adding cynical commentary on the evils of the world around him. Unlucky in love, he never seems to be able to form a lasting relationship, often due to circumstances beyond his control. He usually wears a dark suit and trench coat, and uses the alias John H. Blackmore on several fake IDs, including debt collector, FBI agent and customs officer.
- Weekly – Blacksad's occasional sidekick. A weasel with an odor problem, he has a near-constant optimistic attitude, working as a muckraker for a tabloid called the What's News. His job and size enables him to aid Blacksad gather information by going undercover.
- Smirnov – Police commissioner and friend of Blacksad. A German Shepherd, Smirnov sometimes helps Blacksad to reach the rich and powerful which he himself cannot touch due to "pressure upstairs". He's willing to bend the rules to ensure all criminals are justly punished.
Volumes
The first three volumes were translated into English and released by American publisher Dark Horse Comics as a single graphic novel entitled Blacksad.
Somewhere Within the Shadows
Blacksad investigates the murder of the famous actress Natalia Willford, whom he used to be involved with – first as a bodyguard, then in a more intimate capacity.
Blacksad's first inquiries lead him to the screenwriter, Léon Kronski, a lion who is Natalia's last known lover, who has disappeared. He finds Kronski already dead and buried under a pseudonym. After Blacksad is severely beaten by two hired thugs, the police arrest him. Smirnov, a police commissioner, explains to Blacksad that because of "pressure upstairs" he himself cannot investigate the matter any further. Smirnov offers him a deal, advantageous to both sides.
As Blacksad returns home, two contact killers consisting in a monitor lizard named Fiston and a rat attempt to kill him. Blacksad shoots the rat, interrogates the dying goanna and finally uncovers the culprit of the whole affair: Ivo Statoc, a cane toad businessman who considers himself above any law. Statoc himself shot the actress because of her infidelity. After brutally infiltrating the office suite at the top of his skyscraper, Blacksad confronts the completely calm and cold-blooded Statoc – who first offers him a job, and then a bribe. Blacksad rejects both offers as a matter of principle and shoots Statoc in the head. The police arrange it so it appears to be a suicide.
Arctic Nation
Blacksad is hired by schoolteacher Miss Grey to investigate the disappearance of a young girl, Kaylie, in a racially divided 1950s suburb known as The Line. Suspicion initially falls on Arctic Nation, a white supremacist organization led by Huk the Arctic fox, who has ties to Police Chief Karup the polar bear. During the investigation, Blacksad partners with a journalist named Weekly and encounters both Arctic Nation and a militant black power organisation, the Black Claws, amid escalating racial tensions.
Kaylie’s mother, Dinah, is later found murdered, deepening suspicion around Karup and his associates. Blacksad eventually discovers that Kaylie and Weekly have been held captive at an Arctic Nation gathering. Following a violent confrontation, Kaylie is rescued.
It is ultimately revealed that the kidnapping was orchestrated by Jezabel, Karup’s wife and Dinah’s twin sister, as part of a revenge scheme against Karup, their father, for abandoning their black mother years earlier. The story concludes on an ambiguous note regarding Kaylie’s future.
Red Soul
During the Red Scare, Blacksad reconnects with his former teacher, nuclear physicist Otto Liebber, at a public lecture hosted by Dalmatian philanthropist Samuel Gotfield. Soon after, Otto becomes the target of an assassination attempt, and one of his associates is killed by a hired assassin.
As suspicion grows, Blacksad learns that Otto previously worked for the Third Reich and may be involved in passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. FBI agents intensify their investigation, arresting Alma Mayer, Gotfield’s fiancée, and accidentally killing Russian painter Sergei Litvak during questioning. Blacksad rescues Alma and discovers that Litvak concealed stolen nuclear information within one of his paintings, which is being shipped overseas. Blacksad intercepts the artwork before it reaches East Berlin.
Blacksad is later framed for Litvak’s death and interrogated by Senator Gallo. He uncovers evidence that Gotfield betrayed Alma to gain political favor and secure a place in a government nuclear shelter program. Using this evidence, Blacksad forces the authorities to drop the charges against him. Otto’s death is staged to allow him to leave the country.
Although Otto later writes that he has returned to Germany, Alma leaves Blacksad after believing he betrayed Otto. The story ends with Blacksad alone and unable to find her.
A Silent Hell
The fourth Blacksad album is a murder mystery set in the jazz scene of New Orleans. Notably, the story of the album unfolds in non-chronological order. The story alternates between day scenes and night scenes: the night scenes take place during a single night and are the culmination of the story, and the day scenes depict events that took place over several weeks before that night.
Blacksad and Weekly travel to New Orleans to investigate the disappearance of Boxer jazz musician Sebastian “Little Hand” Fletcher at the request of his former manager, Faust LaChapelle, a goat who is reportedly terminally ill. Fletcher, a talented performer struggling with heroin addiction, had recently vanished under suspicious circumstances. During their investigation, Blacksad learns that several of Fletcher’s former bandmates have died in staged suicides.
Clues point to a broader conspiracy tied to Fletcher’s hometown, where a fraudulent flu remedy sold by a man known as “Dr. Dupre” caused deformities and long-term health problems among local children, including Fletcher. Fletcher’s latest song publicly recounts these events and suggests corruption that allowed Dupre to avoid prosecution.
Blacksad eventually discovers that LaChapelle is in fact Dupre and that he concealed his identity while investing in medical research to cure a hereditary condition affecting his family. It is also revealed that a hippopotamus named Leeman killed Fletcher’s former associates to prevent them from exposing the past. Fletcher ultimately dies after being given poisoned heroin, apparently to stop him from performing his new song.
The story concludes with Fletcher’s funeral and uncertainty over whether LaChapelle’s crimes will ever be publicly revealed.
Amarillo
While on vacation in New Orleans, Blacksad accepts a job transporting a wealthy client’s car to Tulsa. The vehicle is stolen by two vagrant writers, Chad Lowell (a lion) and Abraham Greenberg, whose volatile friendship centers on their competing views of art and success. After Abraham publicly humiliates Chad and admits to mailing Chad’s unpublished novel away without permission, Chad shoots him in anger and flees in the stolen car.
Blacksad pursues Chad across the Southwest with the assistance of a hyena lawyer, Neal Beato, eventually tracking him to a traveling circus. There, Chad becomes involved with a Siamese cat performer named Luanne and is implicated in the death of another circus member during a violent altercation. The circus attempts to cover up the incident and abandon Chad, but he escapes with Luanne.
As Blacksad closes in, further confrontations result in the accidental death of Neal. Overcome with guilt for killing Abraham and causing additional harm, Chad ultimately confesses to the authorities.
The story ends with Blacksad returning to New York, while Chad’s discarded manuscript is discovered by a stranger, leaving its fate uncertain.
The American version features an introduction by Neal Adams, who co-translated the book into English.
They All Fall Down
Parts one and two of a four-part story were released on 20 October and 17 November 2021; the two concluding volumes were released later. Dark Horse has published complete English edition of " They All Fall Down" in two parts
Part one
Part one opens on an outdoor production of The Tempest attended by Blacksad and Weekly. The performance is interrupted by the police, who arrest the director, Iris Allen (a llama) for supposedly defiling the park that the play is being held on. Weekly strikes up a friendship with one of the actors, Rachel Zucco (a fox), a beatnik and self-proclaimed "new journalist". She is hired by the new director of What's News (Weekly's workplace), Carlo Tedesco, (a porcupine), who also threatens to fire Weekly unless he brings him the next big feature story. To this end, Weekly approaches Solomon (a peregrine falcon), the master architect for the city who intends to retire after completing his magnum opus - the world's largest suspension bridge. The two agree to have Weekly write an article on him.
Meanwhile, Blacksad is enlisted by Transport Workers Union president (and Iris's best friend) Kenneth Clarke (a leaf-nosed bat), who wants Blacksad to find and eliminate a mafia hitman named Logan before he can assassinate Kenneth to sabotage the union. Blacksad poses as a worker at the underground train factory in order to shadow Kenneth, until he catches Logan (who turns out to be a wolverine) attempting to stab Kenneth at a train station. Blacksad neutralises Logan, but an unseen figure pushes Kenneth in front of a moving train and vanishes into a set of hidden tunnels. With the help of a raccoon boy named Manny, Blacksad discovers that the murderer is a seagull named Shelby - an acquaintance of Solomon - and that he has a son, Dill, who has poliomyelitis and is being kept alive in an iron lung.
Iris and the union believe Solomon to have been behind Kenneth's assassination, due to his conflicts with the union and attempts at eradicating public transport in the city. The Mayor (a turkey) reveals to Solomon that he has given Iris's troupe a permit to construct an amphitheatre, but is confident that their lack of funding will leave the project in limbo while giving the Mayor a publicity boost. However, Iris manages to procure funding for the project from a group of wealthy investors and theatre enthusiasts. Weekly's positive coverage of Solomon's successes causes tension between him and Rachel, with her urging him to find out who is behind the mask. That night, Weekly seemingly finds incriminating evidence against Solomon and attempts to call Rachel using a phone booth, but is caught by Solomon and knocked unconscious. Shelby strangles Iris to death in her house and plants Weekly's body to make him look like the murderer.
The theatre troupe prepare to perform their season finale - Macbeth - but are left panicking due to Iris's disappearence as she is set to play Lady Macbeth. At the last moment, a replacement actor shows up, and the play is performed during a thunderstorm. As it ends, Blacksad watches as the mysterious actor unveils herself to be Alma, his former lover.
Part two
Part two opens some time later with the initial dig on the site of the future amphitheatre. The workers unearth the remains of Zachary (a wildebeest), Iris's deceased husband and the former union president who was murdered by Shelby. Blacksad, determined to prove Weekly's innocence in Iris's murder, finds a feather at the crime scene which he links to Shelby. He also speaks to Logan in prison, who reveals that the new president of the union, Farumfer (a naked mole rat), was the one who sold Kenneth out to the mafia. When confronted, Farumer says that he is merely following tradition as Kenneth was the one to sell Zachary out to Solomon. Solomon, in the meantime, finds himself in increasing conflict with Raffles (a groundhog), his senior engineer, and his unnamed Victoria crowned pigeon assistant, who seems to have a large hand in the construction logistics of the Solomon bridge. Despite Weekly being cleared of any suspicion, there is no evidence to connect Solomon to any of the crimes.
Shelby's son Dill dies as his iron lung fails due to a citywide blackout. In his anger, Shelby strangles his live-in nurse (a cow) and attempts to assassinate Solomon atop the bridge, finally free of his obligation toward him as Solomon was the one paying to keep Dill alive. Blacksad tries to talk him down, but Solomon throws a hammer at Shelby and causes him to fall to his death.
Months later, Solomon's bridge is completed, as is Iris's amphitheatre. Alma tells Blacksad that after the current season of Shakespeare in the Park ends, she will be returning to Europe to care for her daughter - though it is left unclear if the father is her husband (LeRoy Kirchner, a husky engineer) or Blacksad. During an intense storm, Solomon's bridge seems to be under threat of collapse. Solomon furiously confronts Raffles, who says he is powerless to do anything as his assistant is missing. The two men, as well as the assistant (who is standing at the promenade), watch as the bridge breaks and collapses. The assistant victoriously takes off her makeup and reveals herself as Rachel.
Shorts
"Like Cats and Dogs" and "Spit at the Sky" were originally published in Pilote Spécial 2003 and Pilote Spécial Noël 2004; they have been collected in 2014's Blacksad L'intégrale, an omnibus edition of the first five Blacksad stories. In English edition of "Silent Hell" published by Dark Horse, both short stories are collected.
Blacksad: The Sketch Files
A "behind the scenes" look at the making of the first Blacksad album from 2005, including preproduction art and interviews with Canales and Guarnido.[9]
Adaptations
Film version
In 2006, Variety reported that a film adaptation of Blacksad was in development. To be produced by Thomas Langmann and directed by Louis Leterrier (The Transporter, The Incredible Hulk), it was originally scheduled for a 2009 release. Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, Piranha 3D) had also expressed interest in directing the film,[10] which was reportedly budgeted around $100 million.[11] Aja is currently working on Mice and Mystics for DreamWorks Animation. As of 2026, there have been no news about it.
Video game adaptation
Blacksad: Under the Skin is an adventure video game developed by Pendulo Studios and published by Microïds. It was released on 5 November 2019, on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, with a Switch release scheduled for 10 December 2019. The idea of adapting Blacksad into a game was proposed by Microïds to Pendulo, as the publisher is owned by the same media conglomerate as Blacksad publisher Dargaud. The developer opted to create an original story not based on any particular Blacksad installment, but still took influence and inspiration from the existing series.[12] The game was announced in July 2017,[13] and its first teaser trailer was revealed in August 2018.[14] By February 2019, the game had been in production for roughly two years.[12] It was released on 14 November 2019, and a Nintendo Switch port of the game was released on 10 December 2019, to mixed critical reviews, many reviewers praised its atmosphere as being faithful to the comics, but criticized the game's many bugs, crashes, and long loading times.[citation needed]
Audiobook adaptation
The comic series received a French-language audiobook adaptation, courtesy of French company Blynd Productions.[15] It featured Eric Herson-Macarel as Blacksad, Bernard Gabay as Smirnov and Ivan Gouillon as Ivo Statoc.[16]