The Disney Company owns quite a lot of franchises these days: From Star Wars to Marvel, the Big Mouse has accumulated a vast gallery of rights, artists and studios under its white-gloved hands. Many wonder what Disney doesn’t own at this point.
This poses a more important and certainly more intriguing question: What if someone leaves Disney? What do they do after their time at one of the biggest companies in the world? Here is one of them: Juanjo Guarnido.
Juanjo Guarnido, born 1967 in Spain, always had a love for comics. He drew and joined many fanzines, gained the attention of Marvel, and started doing work for them. In 1993, Guarnido became an animator at Disney Animation Studios in Montreuil, France, and I am fairly certain that you have seen some of his animation work: strong and classy “Helga” in Atlantis: The Lost Empire, the expressive and emotional “Hades” in Hercules, and he was the lead animator of villainous leopard “Sabor” in Tarzan.
However, Guarnido decided to leave Disney and to rejoin with one of his older friends from his comic days in Spain: Juan Díaz Canales – they had been discussing producing comics together for a long time. And so, both of them came together as an artist-writer team to produce their own original comic, which was published in 2000: Blacksad.
They surely couldn’t imagine what this comic would later become: Universally loved by critics and the public, a strong, respected and recognisable franchise with 5 comics in total, and several outstanding awards, such as the Eisner Award in 2011 for the whole series. Let us take a look at this wonderful graphic novel:
[Spanish Complete Edition Cover.]
Blacksad is the story of the title-giving John Blacksad, black cat and private detective. His cases range from investigating a murder, to being a bodyguard, to simply fighting for his life which has gone downhill. Blacksad himself is the classic Film Noir protagonist, complete with badass traits and strength, but also emotional vulnerability and other flaws. The first volume, Somewhere Within The Shadows, shows the broken cat man in his messy yet functional office, telling of the character that works here.
Guarnido’s backgrounds are brimming with detail.
The first volume is a celebration of all that makes the Noir genre, chiseled men who believe in justice, bad guys who must be defeated, shady bars full of questionable characters, and a looming sense of villainy seeping through every rusty crack of the city. The Blacksad series is the distillation of 1950’s America: freedom, style, beatnik, jazz, but also racism, inequality, street violence, and everpresent crime.
Every volume plays in a different setting with a different theme, keeping the feeling fresh and interesting, with a reoccuring cast of colourful characters introduced slowly over time. And of course, these adventures will be intense, as the hardboiled genre asks it – action will go down.
Action in “Blacksad” is strong, clear and perfectly framed.
Here is where Guranido’s artwork shows its pure strength: Due to his experience as an animator, of drawing art in motion, he is masterful in his depiction of movement. Shots, punches, beatdowns and explosions all look visceral, right in the execution, as if stopped in a wonderous intense timeframe where one can look at all the details that only a comic book can allow.
If you wish to explore his animation style a bit closer, to also understand his way of framing action, look no further than his animated music video Freak of the Week by Swedish metal band Freak Kitchen. This 5-minute kickstarter-funded marvel is filled with some of the most vivid and expressive character animation in recent years, showing musicians in their fiery strong element, with rough outlines full of camera turns and fluid motion.
Especially that wonderful metal hair animation, fantastic. Sakugabooru.
But not only is the action stellar, the colouring and lighting are wonderfully crafted as well. The watercolour settings spring to life, with astonishing detail and such a graspable sense of space that one wishes to simply step into the frame.
All frames from Vol. 4, “Hell, Silence”, which focuses on the world of jazz.
To adress the elephant in the room and the reason many people start this series in the first place: the world is inhabited by anthropomorphised animals. And to see these Disney-esque character designs in dark stories is intriguing as a concept in itself. Together with the brilliant execution and talent of artist Guarnido and writer Díaz Canales, it has an inescapable charm and fascination – and when these bright character designs clash with the harsh reality of society, it is exponentially more shocking.
From happy times with friends…
…to shady places of the underground…
…to the hatecrime against a black-feathered bird in a small town.
This “Disney but not-Disney” feel is one of the main points that draws readers initially in. These themes and topics would never be touched by the family friendly corporation, but with Blacksad, it opens the possibility to a dreamland what-if scenario: What if Disney had never left 2D animation, and had started becoming adult with its content?
However, one should not reduce this graphic novel series to the past of one of the creators. These are expertly crafted comic books with masterful artwork, and I highly recommend that you experience this series yourself. (There was even word around of a Hollywood adaptation with a budget of up to 100 million dollars, however, the project seems to be stuck in development hell since 2009. This is not a problem, as the comics can easily stand on their own.)
An additional note I want to make here: Blacksad was released in France first, and was thus intended for the standard publishing size of that market. Franco-Belgian comic books have a larger format than their international brethren, which is perfect for detailed artwork and has a long tradition in itself. Hence, I would not recommend buying Blacksad digitally, as it can easily lose its impact on a small screen. Treat yourself to the physical release of your choice, Collector’s Edition or single volumes, and enjoy Blacksad as it was intended.
From left to right: manga size, American comic size, and the French standard size. Above, you see the full effect of the artwork if the book is flipped open.
Blacksad is a fantastic graphic novel series that I would recommend to anyone who is even remotely interested in comics, artwork and/or colouring. For fans of the Noir genre, this is an absolute must, and even if you are not into the genre – open the pages and let yourself soak in this retro atmosphere of a time long gone, now told with a charismatic cat man by a beloved and insanely talented artist/writer duo.
The End.
Sources: Wikipedia “Junjo Guarnido” “Blacksad”, Disney Wiki “Juanjo Guarnido”, Sakugabooru.
Elena DS 