Huzzah!
It's been a couple years since I read Blacksad, and I totally forgot about these guys (Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido, creators of aforementioned comic books). But lo and behold, tucked away on the shelf of my third favourite local library, the latest addition! I was gonna wait and read it with the BF* but he was incommunicado eating candy from a party we went to last night** and I just couldn't help myself.
How many 20 somethings have goodie bags at their parties?! When were little bags of candy replaced with craft beer? And you have to bring them instead of get them? Folks, goodie bags need to continue. They make everyone happy, especially when you're almost a part of the real world (i.e. almost done with your degree, moving out, having to get real jobs, etc.) but you don't really feel like it.
But I digress! The first Blacksad collection was gorgeous and atmospheric, you should pretty much read this series just for the artwork. And don't be fooled by the animal characters (and the fact that Blacksad kinda looks like Batman) it works perfectly with who they are. Only downside, sometimes the writing isn't up to snuff (maybe a byproduct of being written by a Spanish dude in French and then translated into English?). It's hard boiled detective stories, but without the kind of guts that really stick with you (also, I've just come out of a class on noir, reading some of the great crime writers of the 40s and 50s so my standards might be a bit high. When I read the first Blacksad my only experiences of noir were Humphrey Bogart everything, but still.) Anyway, I'll update after I finish it, maybe with a second opinion :)
UPDATE: Second opinion sez, best art and character design of the series so far, but definitely the worst story.
Now, you can get away with plot holes in The Big Sleep, but for something of this length...nope. (That part was me)
*amazingly I do have one. He's secretly weirder than me, so we get along alright.
**Minecraft themed. Unfreakin' believable (this is what Pinterest has done to our society!) I actually felt like the least nerdy person there. What.
