The series remains a best-seller for publisher Europe Comics (a 13-partner European comics alliance) and seems to be acquiring even more relevancy with each passing year. Just picture human-like felines dressed in KKK robes trying to stop detective John Blacksad from breaking up their racist operations.

It even forces the reader to consider specific American problems under a different mindset. The book’s approach to anthropomorphism is beautiful and it complements each style organically. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone considering Blacksad’s illustrator Juanjo Guarnido had previously worked with one of Disney’s satellite studios in France.īlacksad is a very deep exploration of American culture in a series of self-contained stories, shooting straight from the 1950s and playing with different storytelling styles that range from noir to Jack Kerouac-like road trip stories, only in this case every character is an animal. The in-game animation looked like it had bounced off the pages that were being displayed just a few feet away, which speaks more about the wildly kinetic illustrations of the book and how they sometimes feel one panel away from animation. It was kind of surreal seeing the playable version of the book so close to the actual source material. Blacksad is a monumental piece of comics literature and co-creator Juan Díaz Canales was at New York Comic Con signing copies of the book and talking to fans, next to a booth promoting the video game version of his classic.

Blacksad juan díaz canales