US publisher Dark Horse Comics has announced a complete collection of Spanish creators Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido’s award-winning and internationally acclaimed Blacksad series in Blacksad: The Complete Stories – well, to date, anyway.
The classic hardboiled noir series featuring beloved anthropomorphic cat detective, John Blacksad, is celebrating its twentieth year of publication. and Pendulo Studios and Microids will release Blacksad: Under the Skin, a computer game based on the series, in November. Blacksad: The Complete Stories will be released on 1st July 2020.
First published in French by Dargaud, the adventures of Blacksad began in 2000 with Quelque part entre les ombres (literally, Somewhere between the Shadows, but titled Blacksad in the US), which won the Prix de la Découverte at the Sierre International Comics Festival and the “Avenir” Prize at the Lys-lez-Lannoy Festival, in Switzerland and France respectively. The series has also won two Eisner Awards and two Angoulême awards – the Angoulême Audience Award for the second volume, Arctic-Nation in 2004 and the Angoulême Prize for a Series in 2006.
The five stories published to date – volumes six and seven have yet to be published by Dargaud, but are expected soon after some delay – have been published internationally, translated from the original French and Spanish into a huge number of languages. Readers will now be able to experience the first five Blacksad’s biggest cases in a single comprehensive volume, with new material never published in English.
Dark Horse have previously published some of the Blacksad stories and Blacksad: The Sketch Files, a ‘behind the scenes’ book offering author commentary, was published by Milk & Cookies Press in 2005.
Blacksad is constantly up to his ears in trouble. Sticking his nose into mystery after mystery, often getting involved with women almost as dangerous as the criminals he thwarts. Be it solving the murder of a famous actress or keeping nuclear weapons out of terrorist hands, Blacksad’s grim work often provides a mirror for real world conflict and human issues, never turning a blind eye to racism, political tensions, or brutally sudden violence.
Díaz Canales and Guarnido redefine the standards for graphic storytelling in their Blacksad stories, carving striking characters that are both animalistic and intimately human. Guarnido’s sumptuously painted pages and rich cinematic style bring the world of 1950s America to life, earning high praise from comics legends like Will Eisner, Stan Lee, Jim Steranko, and Tim Sale.
Juan Díaz Canales is a Spanish animation artist and comic book author, best known as the co-creator of the Blacksad series with artist Juanjo Guarnido. He became interested in comics and their creation at an early age, which progressed and broadened out to include animated films. In 1996 he founded, together with three other artists, a company called Tridente Animation. Through this, he has worked with European and American companies, providing plots and scripts for comics and animation films, as well as directing animated television series and animation movies. During this period, he met Juanjo Guarnido, with whom Canales decided to create Blacksad.
Running to some 280 pages, priced just $29.99, Blacksad: The Complete Stories goes on sale 1st July 2020 And is available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at your local comic shop.
Pendulo Studios and Microids will release Blacksad: Under the Skin on 5th November, a video game based on Díaz Canales and Guarnido’s series. In the game, which won the “Best Adventure/Action game” award at Gamescom 2019, John Blacksad investigates the suspicious death of a boxing club owner.
• Pre-order Blacksad: The Complete Stories from Amazon (Affiliate Link)
• Pre-order Blacksad: Under the Skin, the game, from Amazon (Affiliate Link)
• Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido will sign in the Dark Horse booth (#1554) at New York Comic CIN on Thursday 3rd October from 2.00 to 2.50 pm and on Friday 4th October 4 from 1.00 to 1.50 pm.
• For more on Blacksad: Under the Skin visit Microids.com
• More about Blacksad on Blacksadmania in French
Blacksad copyright Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Games, Other Worlds
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