Kepler's 2020 Project in the News:
Follow us on Facebook
I have little patience for gimmickry in my reading. So, when Blacksad was described to me as “film noir, with animals,” I was not especially enthused. A super positive review on Boing Boing made me start to rethink my stance, and once Blacksad arrived, I thought I’d at least page through it to see what all the fuss was about. 30 minutes later, on the train home, I almost missed my stop because I was absolutely glued to the pages. It does not suffice for a graphic novel to simply have good art, but this is some of the finest artwork I’ve ever seen. The anthropomorphism is a bit strange at first glance, but the artists have carefully attuned each character to the animal that’s portraying them. While this makes villains easier to spot (gee, I wonder if the Rat is going to be, well, a rat?), it also helps build character in a medium that doesn’t have a lot of space for backstory and exposition. The attention to detail – this is a story set in 1950s America, with all the style that entails – is astounding; each panel is lovingly and carefully crafted, and it would be easy to spend hours just perusing each page. Beyond the art there is excellent storytelling. It’s true that Blacksad takes its cues from film noir - a favorite film style of mine - but it doesn’t feel derivative. The art and the appropriately sparse prose combine to make you feel the main character’s story – right down to the mental punch in the gut he takes in the last of the novel’s three stories (though it’s not bereft of humor either; one panel had our whole office laughing). Blacksad is one of those rare graphic novels that I would recommend to anyone: like mysteries? It’s for you. Like romance? For you too. Like art? My god, you must see it. Just a fan of plain old fashioned good storytelling? Pick it up. Now. One small caveat: while there is nothing especially explicit, some of the themes and a small amount of nudity make it more appropriate for the adult/late teen crowd. --Sarah L. |
|||
