Volume 1 is great! It’s action packed; had a bit of violence, death and a seasoning of romance. If you want to listen to some music while reading, listen to Cemetery Blues, written by Sid Laney in 1923; quoted in the bar scene on page 32. Enjoy!
This volume kicks off with Blacksad discovering that his ex has been murdered; and that my friends is the beginning of his revenge story. He relentlessly goes on a search for the murderer, and dealing with all who are involved accordingly. Personally, I’m glad that he has this savage mentality, it gives the story a chance to show us great fight scenes and cold blooded murders – without it being too excessive.
Every character, had a bit of personality drawn into them. The best example would be, the lizard dying in Blacksad’s home. Blacksad offers him a cigarette, and he replies “Huh…no thanks, don’t smoke” – I like that detail.
I felt as though there were moments where it would jump from scene to scene, a bit too quickly. I’m still debating whether I like this or not…It does, however, maintain the fast momentum of the story, by not including unnecessary moments of characters travelling or random interactions. However, I do have to remind myself that it isn’t a TV show its a graphic novel. This also isn’t a storyboard, it is a graphic novel – things do not have to be drawn frame by frame.
One thing which always confuses me with an anthropomorphic animal universe is I don’t understand what makes certain animals human like and others still normal animals. For example, there was a scene where Ivo Statoc was holding a pinned beetle, from his insect collection. The first section of the drawing is what it really looked like, but imagine if it looked like this!
Also there are a bunch of anthropomorphic lizards and other reptiles rocking shirts and jackets BUT where are all the snakes? Huh…where!?
My favourite panels of the episode:
‘Blacksad ain’t no pussy’
‘Man like Smirnov’
What did everyone think about the first volume? If you have any suggestions of graphic novels or comics to read along with and for me to review, just drop a comment or let me know on Twitter or Tumblr
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