[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Blacksad_1_00_2604.gif]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Gritty anthropomorphic noir goodness]]

->"''I had wrapped myself in a vicious atmosphere made of hate, vengeance, and corruption. From that day on, this would be my world. A jungle where it's survival of the fittest, where people act like animals. I had chosen to walk the darkest path in life... And I'm still on it.''"

'''Blacksad''' is a series of (four so far) comic albums created by Spanish authors Juan Díaz Canales (writer) and Juanjo Guarnido (artist and ex-{{Disney}} animator; he was the lead animator for the character Sabor in ''Disney/{{Tarzan}}''), and published by French publisher Dargaud. Though both authors are Spanish, their main target audience for Blacksad is the French market and thus they publish all Blacksad albums in French first; the Spanish edition usually follows about one month later. Because of this is considered both a Spanish and French comic book.

In an [[PettingZooPeople anthropomorphic]] rendition of America in the [[TheFifties 1950s]] [[HardboiledDetective private investigator]] John Blacksad, a black cat, is embroiled in stories of mystery and intrigue. The albums come critically acclaimed and are a dedicated homage to the FilmNoir genre. There have been four albums published so far (the first three in English in an omnibus edition by Creator/DarkHorseComics, the fourth in a standalone hardcover):

* ''Somewhere Within The Shadows'' (French: ''Quelque part entre les ombres'', 2000) has Blacksad investigating the murder of an old flame.
* In ''Arctic Nation'' (2003) Blacksad is hired to investigate the disappearance of a young girl in a [[FantasticRacism racially charged]] atmosphere.
* In ''Red Soul'' (''Âme Rouge'', 2005) Blacksad watches over an old friend in the midst of the RedScare, and falls in love.
* ''The Hell, The Silence'' (''L'Enfer, Le Silence'', 2010), sets him in UsefulNotes/NewOrleans trying to track down a musician, before assassins do.

----
!!''Blacksad'' provides examples of:

* AbandonedWarehouse: In ''Arctic Nation.''
* AllAnimationIsDisney: Inverted. Guarnido worked for Disney, but it's really hard to tell (except for some of the facial expressions).
* AnachronicOrder: ''The Hell, The Silence''
* AnimalMotifs[=/=]AnimalStereotypes: Obviously and so much. All the cops are canines - nearly all of them dogs, with at least one fox on the force. The hitmen are reptilian. The 'Arctic Nation' includes an arctic fox and a polar bear. Otto Liebber is an owl and Lazslo Herzl is a monkey: both are scientists. The Joseph [=McCarthy=] expy is a cockerel. Also, the beautiful women tend to be cats or dogs; dignified ladies tend to be birds. [[WordOfGod The authors]] state that the species of each individual character was carefully chosen to represent who the character really is, and that the connection between the animal chosen and the personality of the character isn't always as obvious as the "cops=dogs" example. In the second album there is possibly a LampshadeHanging. Blacksad is at a drive-in, watching an awful BMovie about [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever killer giant ants]]. In this film, the scientist is a giant anteater, the chief of the military forces is a lion and [[EagleLand the President of the USA is an eagle]].
** BearsAreBadNews: Karup (a polar bear), and one of Statoc's enforcers (a brown bear).
** EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Jake the gorilla boxer, Lazlo Herzl and an unnamed orangutan blues singer.
** CunningLikeAFox: Smirnov's lieutenant and Huk.
** FrogsAndToads: Ivo Statoc is a [[WordOfGod toad]].
** OneForSorrowTwoForJoy: Cotten
** TheOwlKnowingOne: Otero and Liebber
** PantheraAwesome: 'Old Man' Windsmill and [[spoiler:[[PosthumousCharacter Leon Kronski]]]]
** PreciousPuppies: Smirnov's children, and Sebastian's son.
** ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Statoc's henchman and Ribs
** RhinoRampage: One of Statoc's enforcers.
** WickedWeasel: averted with Weekly; he's ThePigpen, but he's a good guy, played straight with the weasel henchman in ''Arctic Nation''
** YouDirtyRat: The rat from the Cypher Club. Lampshaded by Blacksad in his internal monologue.
* AntagonistTitle: Arctic Nation is the group of [[FantasticRacism white fur supremacists]] in the album of the same name who serve as Blacksad's antagonists. [[spoiler:It's eventually revealed as a subversion; the real antagonist was Jezebel, who orchestrated everything that happened to get revenge on her father.]]
* ArcWords: "Vengeance is a dish best served cold." in ''Arctic Nation.''
* TheAtoner: Otto Liebber in the third album.
* {{Badass}}: [[CaptainObvious Blacksad]], [[ProfessionalKiller Ribs]], the unnamed reptilian assassin in ''Somewhere Within the Shadows'' and the members of the Black Claws.
* BadassLongcoat: Blacksad.
* BareYourMidriff: Dinah. The stories are in a 50s setting, so her fashion choice is rather daring.
* BatmanGambit: A character in ''Artic Nation'' is in the middle of one several decades in the making. A key factor in this plot is [[spoiler:marrying her own father, while keeping him from discovering this particular bit of information. She succeeds at most of her goals, but her sister is killed in the process and her niece rendered an orphan]].
* BestServedCold: [[spoiler: Jezebel]] and [[spoiler: Dinah]] have been waiting a long time to enact their vengeance.
* TheBigEasy: The fourth album.
* BittersweetEnding: Each album ends with one, the most obvious being the third, ''Red Soul''
* BodyGuardCrush / RescueRomance: How Blacksad and Natalia met.
* CallBack: In ''Red Soul'', Blacksad is sufficiently annoyed when he has to attend a Natalia Wilford Look-A-Like contest when doing bodyguard duty for a rich client.
* CarnivoreConfusion: Unless those were vegetarian sausages we see Karup grilling in an old photo...
* CatsAreMean: AdolfHitler was a cat. See ShoutOut below. Totally [[AvertedTrope averted]] by Blacksad and Alma, though.
* ChekhovsGun ''and'' {{Foreshadowing}}: All over the place in ''Artic Nation''.
* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Jezebel]] had a grand plan indeed.
* ColdWar: In the third album. The story is set in the months leading up to the RedScare.
* CryIntoChest: Dinah.
* DeadpanSnarker: Blacksad, especially in his [[InnerMonologue inner monologues]].
* DidNotGetTheGirl: A result of Blacksad's necessary detainment in ''Red Soul''.
* DoubleEntendre: Ivo Statoc has 'cold blood' in a literal sense and figuratively he professes a cold detachedness.
* ExpressiveEars: [[ShownTheirWork Like their real-life animal counterparts]] characters ears will go back when they are threatened (or are being threatening), they'll droop when they are sad, and perk up when excited. Blacksad often swivels his ears like a cat does to hear things better.
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Karup in his backstory. Jezebel recalls that her mother told her that Karup was one of the kindest persons she had ever seen, which is why her mother fell in love with him. He eventually wanted to attain power in The Line, and became increasingly racist and abusive over time to blend in with the white elite. He finally completed his Turn when he abandonded his wife in the middle of the woods in winter, causing their eventual daughters to develop an intense hatred for their father and setting up the plot of the novel to get revenge on him.]]
* FacePalm: Blacksad after [[ChivalrousPervert Weekly]] [[WolfWhistle whistles]] upon seeing Karup's wife, Jezebel.
* FantasticRacism: What drives the events of ''Arctic Nation''. Played with, because the characters think of literal ''color'' over ''race''.
* TheFifties
* FilmNoir
* FlashbackEffects: Usually, flashbacks are shown in some kind of monochrome - sepia tone or blue-based - to distinguish them from the present. Special mention, though, goes to the effects towards the end of ''Arctic Nation''. The oldest flashbacks look like pure sepia tone photos, but as they approach the present day, they gradually become more and more colored like reality.
* FriendOnTheForce: Commissioner Smirnov.
* FullyDressedCartoonANimal: The entire cast.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent:
** In ''Somewhere Within The Shadows'', Blacksad visits the Cypher Club. A baboon and a leopard are seen arguing in the background (in an inversion, one panel has the two in the foreground, while the focus is on Blacksad in the background). The confrontation goes from shouting in the first panel we see them, to strangling each other in the last...
** In ''Red Soul'', when Blacksad goes to visit Liebber at Columbia he walks past a row of couples. All the girls instantly take notice of him and when he walks by them a few pages later they're all arguing with their boyfriends for taking such obvious interest in him.
* FurryComic: And a damn fine one at that.
* FurryConfusion: There are many anthropomorphized species in the series, but apparently insects and aquatic species (such as fish and sharks) are not among them as Ivo Statoc collects non-anthro insect specimens and there are aquariums.
* GenderEqualsBreed: Although it appears that most romances are between members of the same species, this still holds true to a certain extent. For example, Smirnov looks like a German Shepherd, and his wife is some kind of collie. Their children - a little boy and a girl -- follow their parents' breeds. And the same for Sebastian and his wife, Hannah - their son looks far more like Sebastian. Another example is [[spoiler:Karup and his first wife, a dog, whose daughters are both dogs]].
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: When Blacksad has sex it's implied to be very romantic and fulfilling. Whereas when we see [[spoiler: Huk and Jezebel]] having sex it's shown to be much less wholesome.
* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler: Cotten]]
* TheGrimReaper: Death himself doesn't show, but [[spoiler:Faust [=LaChapelle=]]] dons a costume in his image to go around incognito. Death apparantly looks like a man with a goat skull in the ''Blacksad'' universe, merging some of the imagery with that of traditional Western depictions of {{Satan}}.
* HardboiledDetective: Blacksad, of course.
* HollywoodVoodoo: Used by an old lady ape in ''The Hell, The Silence''.
* HotMom: Dinah, and Smirnov's wife.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Karup and his wife. [[spoiler: Both of his wives.]]
* HumanoidFemaleAnimal: Men look like bipedal animals, many female characters almost look like normal humans only with more fur and ears on the head. But only the beautiful women follow the trope — the rest have more variety, like the mouse cleaning lady of the first album, the doe teacher in the second, or the old lady ape in the fourth.
* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: Blacksad struggles with this when confronting [[spoiler:Ivo Statoc, subverting it when he does kill him with a bullet to the head]].
* IKissYourHand: Blacksad does this to Smirnov's wife.
* InSpiteOfANail: Despite (almost) everyone being anthro animals, and having many specific issues due to that fact, general history seems mostly unchanged, what with WorldWarTwo and the RedScare...
* IntrepidReporter: Weekly. He's also a bit of a [[ChivalrousPervert pervert]], too.
* ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans at the end of the fourth album.
* TheKlan: The Arctic Nation is a mix between this and the Nazi Party. At the beginning they wear uniforms resembling Nazi party ones complete with red armbands, and later wear ones resembling those of the KKK. Because this is a setting of PettingZooPeople, they're [[FantasticRacism white fur supremacists]].
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: At the beginning of ''Arctic Nation'' Blacksad is writing and monologuing about how he should publish his memoirs. Then he looks in the readers direction and mentions that he "Wouldn't be surprised if it ended up published as a detective novel." He was looking at a hanging body, but the 'Leaning' effect is there.
* LeaveTheTwoLoveBirdsAlone: Not that Blacksad gave Weekly much of a chance to refuse...
* LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy: A pair of human women are seen walking down the street in one panel of ''Somewhere Within The Shadows''.
* LoveInterests: Blacksad has one in the first and third album. The first example is posthumously, giving Blacksad his motivation for going on a quest for revenge against her killer, the second example [[spoiler:is ultimately subverted]].
* ManipulativeBitch: [[spoiler:Jezebel]]. See BatmanGambit for further information.
* MatureAnimalStory
* MeaningfulName:
** "Alma" means "soul" in Spanish and Italian. The title of the book she appears in is ''Red Soul''.
** "Jezebel" is a fitting name since it's often used to describe "an impudent, shameless, or morally unrestrained woman."
* {{Meganekko}}: Alma Mayer
* MightyWhitey: [[PlayingWithTropes Played with]] in ''Arctic Nation''. Plus, considering Blacksad himself is a ''black'' cat... or more precisely, a ''black and white'' cat. Which explains why neither the 'Arctic Nation' nor 'The Black Claws' can stand him. He even makes a smart-ass comment about it; when the Arctic Nation first comes around to harass him, he points to the white patch on his face and says, "What, isn't this enough white for you?". Later when a black horse tries to cover the white patch with black paint, Blacksad very seriously threatens to shoot him in the gut.
* MrFanservice: Blacksad walks down a university hallway to ''very'' admiring glances from the female students, and extreme disapproval from their boyfriends. When he comes back, the couples are in full argument mode.
* MurderByMistake: Intending to assassinate [[spoiler: Otto]], Ribs kills a similar looking owl, Otero.
* ANaziByAnyOtherName:
** Arctic Nation, an organization of white furred animals who want all the other colors to disappear in "a blizzard". They're a lot like the KKK too, even dressing in almost identical uniforms.
** There also seems to be a burgeoning Black Panthers expy.
** You can see pictures of actual nazis in the third album.
* NoExportForYou: Originally, only the first two albums were released in the [=US=] (the first even had StanLee's comment!), but album three didn't make it. Later, Creator/DarkHorseComics published a collected version of the three albums, though the newly released fourth album has yet to be published outside France, Spain or Belgium. The fourth album was translated to finish in 2010.
* OddCouple: Big and stoic Blacksad with excitable and relatively small Weekly. Also the literal cat and dog combo of Blacksad and Smirnov.
* OhCrap: In Album one where Statoc's mammal henchman follows the lizard henchman into a predominantly reptile bar. As the reptiles are happy to illustrate: Hairy guys like him are [[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: NOT ]]
welcome there.
* OnceAnEpisode: Except for the first album, every story has a classic American song in the background ("[[BillieHoliday Strange Fruit,]]" "That Old Black Magic Called Love," and "Summertime.")
* OneHourWorkWeek: When he first meets Blacksad, Weekly claims that his articles are of such superior quality that he can get away with only showing up at the office once a week or so, which is how he got the nickname. Later on, he 'fesses up that it's actually because of an office rumor about his bathing habits. Since it's never established one way or the other whether his claim about the amount of time spent in the office is true, it's possible he's encouraged to stay away to save his coworkers from dealing with his...distinctive odor.
* OneLastSmoke: Blacksad offers a dying {{Mook}} a cigarette in ''Somewhere Within The Shadows''. The mook [[SubvertedTrope happens to be a non-smoker]], and instead spends his last moments giving crucial information.
* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler:Jezebel's BatmanGambit relies on her marrying Karup, her own father. She does refuse to sleep with him, though.]]
* PedophilePriest: Karup is the director of the church's children choir. He may or may not be a pedophile... point is, [[spoiler: by the end all the townsfolk believe it.]]
* PostHumousCharacter: Natalia Wilford and [[spoiler:Leon Kronski]] in the first album. The entire plot of said album revolves around Blacksad tracking down Natalia's killer and avenging her death.
* PrettyLittleHeadshots: In the first story, even though Blacksad's old flame was murdered via a shot to the head, there's only a bit of blood and a small hole instead of brains and stuff being splattered all over the wall…
** … which might be explained by the fact that she was lying down on her bed and the shot was downwards. The nastiness would have splattered the pillow under her head rather than the wall.
* PrivateEyeMonologue: Naturally.
* ThePromise: Blacksad's promise to Cotten.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: When [[spoiler:Cotten]] threatens to tell the rest of Arctic Nation about the kidnapping he is promptly shot.
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent:
** Played straight in the first album; one of Ivo Statoc's henchmen is a lizard. He does get something of an AlasPoorVillain moment though.
** Ribs, the henchman of third album, is a croc.
* RescueRomance: This is the nature of Blacksad's past relationship with the deceased Natalia Wilford, as he helped her get rid of a stalker. They started a relationship afterwards but it wore off after some time, and they broke up before her untimely death.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: All the children. [[TheWoobie Kylie]], the little Zebra who plays with her, and [[PreciousPuppies Smirnov's puppies]]. Also, Weekly.
* SceneryPorn: This series is ''gorgeous.''
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: After offering Blacksad to [[WeCanRuleTogether come work for him]] instead of pursuing his revenge fails, [[spoiler:Statoc]] instead tries to buy him off. Blacksad rejects him again and makes a point of defying [[spoiler:Statoc]]'s attempt to invoke this trope.
* ShoutOut:
** Senator [[MeaningfulName Gallo]] is a cockerel, and is also an obvious ShoutOut to Senator Joseph [=McCarthy=].
** In ''Arctic Nation'' when Blacksad is crouching on a roof overlooking the city his silhouette [[/folder]]

[[folder: SCREAMS ]]
Batman. Down to his very Batman hood-looking ears.
** AdolfHitler is present too, but remains unnamed. As in ''ComicBook/{{Maus}}'', [[CatsAreMean he is a cat]].
** Several to PorgyAndBess in album four.
** In the fourth album, in an establishing shot of New Orleans, [[Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces Ignatius J. Reilly]] can be seen disapproving of the whole thing.
* ShutUpHannibal: [[spoiler: Delivered non-verbally via [[BoomHeadshot headshot.]]]]
* SideKick: Weekly from the second album onward.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: All Alma wants is a dedicated man who will take her to Niagara Falls.
* SoundtrackDissonance: Hannah singing "Summertime" to her baby as Blacksad races to find Sebastian dead of an overdose.
* StalkerWithACrush: When Blacksad meets her Natalia is harassed by a stalker, and hires Blacksad to get rid of him. Blacksad does so by shoving a gun in the guy's mouth and threatening to kill him.
* TheStarscream: [[spoiler:Huk the polar fox to Karup]].
* StealthPun: In "Arctic Nation", Huk, a huskie member of the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Arctic Nation]] [[spoiler:is in an affair with the leader's wife. Weekly catches them having sex from behind i.e. "Doggy Style"]].
* StepfordSmiler: Samuel Gotfield is a Type C before he goes [[SanitySlippage completely mental.]]
* StoutStrength: Ted Leeman, the hippo detective in the fourth album.
* SwissCheeseSecurity: Statoc's building seemed pretty easy to break into. Although this may reflect Statoc's confidence that he could sway Blacksad with money.
* UseYourHead: Blacksad pulls this on an attacker in ''Somewhere Within The Shadows''. It is very effective.
* WeCanRuleTogether: [[spoiler:Ivo Statoc]] tries to offer Blacksad a job in his employ when he's finally tracked him down and already dispatched his bodyguards; Blacksad refuses.
* WorldOfFunnyAnimals
* YouDirtyRat: The shady rat from ''Somewhere Within The Shadows''.
* [[YouKilledMyFather You Killed My Mother]]: This is what drives [[spoiler:[[ManipulativeBitch Jezebel]]]].
* YouWouldntShootMe: Statoc says this to Blacksad. [[spoiler:[[BoomHeadshot He is quickly proven wrong.]] Blacksad also notes that without the jolt of contempt he felt from Statoc's upfront taunting, he probably wouldn't have pulled the trigger.]]
----