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Blacksad
(Blacksad #1)
by
Meet John Blacksad, a cat in the shadows. Imagine New York as a city of criminal rats, jazz-playing gorillas and rhino thugs. Enter a mystery where the suspects have tails. Find out why comics' biggest names are wild about one of the freshest graphic novels in years—a 2005 Eisner and Harvey Award nominee. Enter the world of Blacksad.
Natalia Wilford is a famous actress. To
...moreGet A Copy
Paperback, 56 pages
Published
September 1st 2005
by ibooks graphic novels
(first published November 10th 2000)
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Showing 1-30
Start your review of Blacksad (Blacksad, #1)
Fantastic graphics, original ideas - I loved this beginning of the Blacksad series. I loved all the humanized animals and the dark, romain noir atmosphere. A pure joy to read.
WARNING: in my opinion this comic book is not for children. The genre is noir, regardless the gorgeous arts of animals. The arts absorb some of the violence content of the story and I think that is the great quality of this comic.
One peek and I like it already. The art is really super. I love the puns here and there regarding the animals traits.
I can not say much more regarding the story without spoiler. The plot is a simple noir, and this is the first book from a series, so I think you could gu ...more
One peek and I like it already. The art is really super. I love the puns here and there regarding the animals traits.
I can not say much more regarding the story without spoiler. The plot is a simple noir, and this is the first book from a series, so I think you could gu ...more
Cats.
Cats.
Cats.
I really wanted to love it (it has cats, it's sad, one cat is black, I love crimes) but I wish the story had more strength. The whole crime was solved quite easily, without much of a mystery and I wish the struggle or the "labyrinth" of solving a crime was a bit harder or unexpected. Now it was too quick and not revealing much about anything else. The drawing style is very nice and the characters are drawn perfectly. Loved that the various animals, not only cats, also appear in t ...more
Cats.
Cats.
I really wanted to love it (it has cats, it's sad, one cat is black, I love crimes) but I wish the story had more strength. The whole crime was solved quite easily, without much of a mystery and I wish the struggle or the "labyrinth" of solving a crime was a bit harder or unexpected. Now it was too quick and not revealing much about anything else. The drawing style is very nice and the characters are drawn perfectly. Loved that the various animals, not only cats, also appear in t ...more
Blacksad is a very well-drawn book with a very boring, predictable and by-the-numbers story, with the only twist being those awful, AWFUL anthropomorphic talking animals as characters. This is something I hate in almost any story, and here I just couldn't get over it as well. I thought I'd read the whole hardcover collection, but after finishing this first chapter I just couldn't force myself to continue reading. So, not my cuppa.
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My first Blacksad on the recommendation of Ije, whom I thank.
I loved the sketches which eliminate the need for words being so full of detail.
Blacksad version of hardboiled noir went down a treat. Going on more more.
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Fitting into slot 10 of Lena's reading challenge. A book with a cat on the cover. ...more
Gorgeous artwork, lame plot.
Don't get why people are praising it.. ...more
Don't get why people are praising it.. ...more
Spaniards obsessed with noir, racial oppression in the United States, and McCarthyism. Weird. Oh, and the characters are all anthropomorphic animals--Blacksad himself being a cat. The stories are okay but they are shallow raking across ground already dug deep.
Every panel, however, could be a painting hanging in a gallery. So much beautiful care wasted on human-shaped animals. Sigh.
This totally got dinged for one of my mystery-crime pet peeves: showing the dead body of a woman (a cat woman in t ...more
Every panel, however, could be a painting hanging in a gallery. So much beautiful care wasted on human-shaped animals. Sigh.
This totally got dinged for one of my mystery-crime pet peeves: showing the dead body of a woman (a cat woman in t ...more
Not everybody can use about 50 which offers eropean comics album format well, but authors used limited space pretty well. Story is swift, there are no needless passages, and there is also place to build up some tension and mystery. Very well written, refreshing short noir story with great ending.
Apr 10, 2017
Marion
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
bande-dessinee,
2017
The first time I heard about this was almost 10 years ago when my best friend came back from Spain with the first volume and was head-over-heels for it. We even bought her a framed print of the character (which was really pretty). But back then she was reading them in Spanish, and I don't speak Spanish, so I couldn't borrow her copies to read them.
Time went on, I still heard about the series on a pretty regular basis, but never took the jump to actually go out and buy it.
And then at work, one of ...more
Time went on, I still heard about the series on a pretty regular basis, but never took the jump to actually go out and buy it.
And then at work, one of ...more
A nice noir graphic novel about a man who's trying to have his revenge and solve the case. A good start to a series.
...more
The art is simply gorgeous. And the 1940s aesthetic is definitely my style. I'll grab the second volume as soon as I can.
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Okay, okay... I'm sold. For a couple of years I've been hearing about how good the Blacksad graphic novels are, but the world is made out of hype and I'm tired of chewing it, so I wasn't biting this time.
Recently, though, I ran across the graphic novels at Periscope Studios, where I work, and since they're hard boiled detective fiction, and that's what I was in the mood for, I brought them home and read them.
And, yeah, they're fantastic.
Juan Diaz Canales hits all the right chords for detectiv ...more
Recently, though, I ran across the graphic novels at Periscope Studios, where I work, and since they're hard boiled detective fiction, and that's what I was in the mood for, I brought them home and read them.
And, yeah, they're fantastic.
Juan Diaz Canales hits all the right chords for detectiv ...more
I would not have thought anyone could have told an excellent noir story using anthropomorphism, but these creators did it. While a brief tale, we get to join PI Blacksad on an emotional journey that can leave one almost as dejected as the PI himself. There are no winners, and everyone loses something (life, love, idealism, etc.)
I never really cared for anthropomorphic characters, but I enjoyed this more that I was expecting to. I always had a thing for the noir style, no matter how cliché the stories usually are, I always end up enjoying the atmopshere, Blacksad is no different, fun enjoyable read.
50‘s american private eye trope, fantastically unimaginative. only twist are the animal characters, which in turn also enforce the thinking along stereotypes.
the illustrations are gorgeous, but true to the pubescent tone, women are pure ornament.
the illustrations are gorgeous, but true to the pubescent tone, women are pure ornament.
Gorgeous artwork in service of a bit of a baby's first noir plot, but I can't stress enough how gorgeous that artwork is.
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Oct 01, 2020
Amber Lea
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
graphic-novel,
fiction
I often like noir more in theory than I do in practice, but this one manages to not fuck it up.
1940's aesthetic? check
brooding protagonist? check
an unsettling amount of crime and corruption? check
sexism that isn't too in your face so that it feels intentional and not like it's there for shock value? check
a general sense of misery? check
a sleezebag that gets what he has coming to him? check
There really isn't anything new or original here, at least not in the first issue, except for the fact that ...more
1940's aesthetic? check
brooding protagonist? check
an unsettling amount of crime and corruption? check
sexism that isn't too in your face so that it feels intentional and not like it's there for shock value? check
a general sense of misery? check
a sleezebag that gets what he has coming to him? check
There really isn't anything new or original here, at least not in the first issue, except for the fact that ...more
Stars mostly for the graphics, because damn, this looks AMAZING. The details! The story could have been even weaker than it was now and I would have still been okay because the story looks absolutely incredible. Yes, the story is pretty basic, straightforward and predictable, and the main point are the characters that are animals but also very much like humans. But oh yes, I'm going to read more and hope the stories get better, because I want more eye-candy like this.
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I liked this enough though I wouldn't go crazy over it and didn't fancy reading the next volume. Though I can understand why people are really into it.
...more
Sep 16, 2020
Nial
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
graphic-novels
A really fun read and the only problem is that its too short!
Great characters, beautiful illustrations and witty dialogues and monologues. The plot itself did not leave me speachless but it is definitely an enjoyable book for 2 hour read.
The art is five-star worthy, but I give the overall work only three stars for the one dimensional female characters.
Stunning art. I don't think I've seen animals drawn this way in a comic book ever. Read it just for the art, if you can. The story is okay. Really nothing to write home about. Perfectly average detective plot. Fun, if you like your murder mysteries and private eyes. But the art is to die for.
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Awesome story! It's the first book on French that I red! :)
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With police cruisers parked outside along the driveway of a colonial home, a private detective is leaning over the corpse of a young movie starlet. Next to the private eye, the chief of police keeps hammering into him when the detective last saw the young woman and later warns him to keep out of this one. It’s police work. The detective pulls up the collar of his trench coat, tells the chief to go to hell and walks out.
‘Blacksad’ starts off like any pulp novel from the 1950’s. The dialogue is sn ...more
‘Blacksad’ starts off like any pulp novel from the 1950’s. The dialogue is sn ...more
Jun 20, 2013
João Jorge
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Everyone! Really, everyone!
Words fail me to express just how sublime “Blacksad” is. The art is simply magnificent, every page a masterpiece, with amazing detail and fantastic use of color. The drawings are beautiful, stylish and a perfect fit with the genre. “Blacksad” is all about noir. The title character is a hard boiled private detective wearing a trench-coat and taking on an investigation involving powerful people who want it buried even if they have to bury him along with it. Did I mention Blacksad is a cat? Every c
...more
One of the first thing that hits you about the graphic novel is the brilliant art (Guarnido). It is just too awesome and in my opinion one of the finest. The story revolves around Jean Blacksad who is investigating the murder of his ex-flame a famous actress. The set up is the noir style and the story moves at a good pace to keep you hooked. However the story(by Canales) is a bit predictable and what could have lifted the entire novel a notch would be to see Blacksad's detective skills. He gets
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Oct 12, 2012
Tamahome
added it
Um, the one I saw has a guy drowning on the cover. Kind of like Raymond Chandler noir with animals. But damn the art is nice. Think of those detailed backgrounds in old Disney animated movies. Just read a little bit so far. Apparently it's a big hit in Europe and just got translated into English.
Ok, wrong volume. I reviewed the French version of volume 4: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
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Even though this is gorgeously drawn (making it flow like a movie) and I love the whole 1950s detective world, the actual content and plot aren't very challenging. I also can't really see the point of the characters being animals, since they do everything what humans do. I'm still going to read the others too, but they're mostly going to be little snacks whenever I don't feel like reading a book.
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Beautiful classic noir story, the characters are great, but the real star here are the drawings: the figures are amazing, I love the coloring and the composition! I can't wait to read the next chapters, Blacksad is a beautiful discovery!
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