Last modified: 2019-02-08 by peter hans van den muijzenberg
Keywords: blacksad | arctic nation | snowflake | guarnido (juanjo) | díaz canales (juan) |
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Blacksad is a quite common private eye in a quite usual 1950'ies US
big city. Of course he's also a quite common black cat, but that is not
so special, considering everybody else in this comic book series is also an
animal of some sort. Created by the incredible skills of Juan Díaz Canales
(plot) and Juanjo Guarnido (illustrations), and published by the mythical
comics publisher Dragaud, the Blacksad series escapes the usual furry pastiche
by orders of magnitude — and while manes, nostrils and whiskers are
detailed enough to keep this zoologist happy, the plot and scenary are only
too human. This, of course, includes flags.
António Martins, 23 April 2003
Blacksad's episode-book #2, Arctic Nation (2003 —
Portuguese edition ISBN:972-41-3290-0, couldn't find the original's),
is set in a economically depressed suburb of a big city, U.S.A., during the the
1950'ies. Racial tension arises, and a neo-Nazi
style movement agitates the neighbourhood, claiming that some day snow will
cover the world again, and then the white race will rule once more, as God
himself planned. This white race, n.b., are all creatures, great and
small, covered in white fur or feathers — bears, pigs, minks, wolves,
owls, dogs, goats, dugongs — and even an albino tiger: all are featured.
The said neo-Nazi organization is called Arctic Nation, its emblem being
adequately a stylized snowflake inside a ring. It shows crudely as a grafitti
(pl.2), and quite acurately on flags and related regalia. The snowflake, white
on black disc (no ring), shows in a leaflet, against paper-white background
(pl. 16.), and (with black lining suggesting the ring) on KKK-style (white)
outfit (pl. 31-32).
António Martins, 23 April 2003
image by António Martins-Tuválkin
Snowflake and ring emblem, on red background, but with the ring filled with
black: It shows as armband (pl.s 5, 7, 8), on KKK-style (red) outfit (pl.
30-32), and (vertically pinned, though possibly a regular) flag (pl. 5).
António Martins, 23 April 2003
image by António Martins-Tuválkin
A large square hanging banner, acting like a curtain, can be seen on pl.5,
with snowflag and ring white on black.
António Martins, 23 April 2003