You can duplicate the effect of Blacksad just by watching an old film noir -- and I don't mean that as an insult -- and mentally imagine all the characters with animal heads. The Criterion Collection recently released the hard-boiled, nuclear-paranoia classic Kiss Me Deadly on DVD, may I recommend that? It might amaze the young 'uns here what a movie made in 1955 could get away with in terms of violence and brutality.
Seriously, no-one's disputing the talent of Blacksad's writer and artist, but what's the big furry deal about it? It's what might be called 'Hepcats Syndrome' -- the furriness exists on a wholly superficial level, with no thematic or allegorical weight derived from it (unlike, say, Maus), and straightforward cliche species (eg, a fat, slobbish bartender who's a pig). Note also how Blacksad himself is supposed to be feline but it's not like he can see or hear in the dark better than anyone else.
You can duplicate the effect of Blacksad just by watching an old film noir -- and I don't mean that as an insult -- and mentally imagine all the characters with animal heads. The Criterion Collection recently released the hard-boiled, nuclear-paranoia classic Kiss Me Deadly on DVD, may I recommend that? It might amaze the young 'uns here what a movie made in 1955 could get away with in terms of violence and brutality.
Seriously, no-one's disputing the talent of Blacksad's writer and artist, but what's the big furry deal about it? It's what might be called 'Hepcats Syndrome' -- the furriness exists on a wholly superficial level, with no thematic or allegorical weight derived from it (unlike, say, Maus), and straightforward cliche species (eg, a fat, slobbish bartender who's a pig). Note also how Blacksad himself is supposed to be feline but it's not like he can see or hear in the dark better than anyone else.