Blacksad 3. Âme Rouge

ziritrion · Post by **ziritrion** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 15:56 -0700

I've been expecting this book for a long time, and then I found out yesterday that it had been released last friday (in Spanish, I don't know about the French edition yet). So today I went to my usual store and bought it.

If you're new here, and you haven't heard about Blacksad and why I like it so much, check out the following threads:

http://usagiyojimbo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=351

http://usagiyojimbo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=920

http://usagiyojimbo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1070

And... well, I LOVED IT! Seriously, the series keeps getting better. This time, the story is about the threat of the cold war: a group of leftist thinkers is under investigation of a McCarthy-inspired senator for being suspects of spying for the Soviets. One of these thinkers is an old acquaintance of Blacksad, and as the story evolves Blacksad sees himself involved in the conspiracy, partly because of his friendship with said scientist. I don't want to spoil the story, so I won't say much more.

However, there are a few issues which might turn off a few people. This volume doesn't have as much action as the pretty-much perfect Arctic-Nation, and relies more on dialogue. This isn't really a problem, but when I finished the book I felt like something was missing. Also, I don't like how a few panels are composed: one or two of them feel like if they were lacking a few dialogue bubbles (printer mistake? Or was it deliberate?), and other panels have overacting characters, they feel too cartoony. And, just like the other books, the story feels too short: I wish they could have drawn more pages to give the reader a better background for the story.

The best things: the story itself, obviously. Except for the said overreacting panels, they characters are very expressive and amazingly drawn. The McCarthy-like senator is a rooster, but he's probably the scariest rooster I've ever seen. Otto Liebber (Blacksad's old friend) is an owl who looks almost exactly like the O RLY owl that has been popping all over the internet lately, which I found very amusing. And, as always, the huge amount of research and the extreme attention to detail is just incredible.

I can't recommend this series enough. If you ever have the chance to buy any of the books, do so without hesitation. Just like Usagi Yojimbo, the stories don't relate much to each other except for the previously introduced characters, but it's not a big deal.

I just can't wait for the 4th volume...

ziritrion · Post by **ziritrion** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 16:00 -0700

Okay, I found a website with a preview of the 3rd volume:

http://blacksad-gallery.blogspot.com/20 ... rouge.html

And here's the official website (French only), with a very impressive Flash animation you shouldn't miss:

http://dargaud.com/dossiers/site_blacksadt3/

And I live in a cave: AR was released in France on November 18th and I had no clue at all

Just in case: Âme Rouge means "red soul"

.

I'm too tired to translate tonight, but tomorrow I'll try to make a good one.

Stan Sakai · Post by **Stan Sakai** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 23:59 -0700

That's one book I'll be looking for when I'm in France or Spain. The language doesn't matter to me since I don't speak either one.

The first two volumes have be translated into English, as this third volume may be in a couple of years.

Fanfan · Post by **Fanfan** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 5:07 -0700

Yeah ! really good comic book ! it has been released 15 days ago here.
There is also : L'histoire des aquarelles (published one month ago)

That's a kind of artbook where authors explain the story of some illustrations and their artistic choice.

In Japan it was the only foreigner comic book i have seen !

Mac · Post by **Mac** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 5:11 -0700

Looks pretty much like the french comic Canardo.

hakucho · Post by **hakucho** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 7:29 -0700

They were selling that in English at my comic shop! I didn't have enough money to get it, but now I regret not doing so so much! >_< I'm not sure which volumes though, but one of the stories involved a politician and the Klu Klux Klan...

ziritrion · Post by **ziritrion** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 8:27 -0700

That artbook hasn't been released here yet, but if it does I'll get it for sure. The first artbook was amazing.

I'll probably have the translation done in a few hours.

ziritrion · Post by **ziritrion** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 14:06 -0700

Okay, here's a yet-another-clumsy-and-rushed-translation service by ziritrion! Thank you, thank you!

Quick note: as always, I had a few problems when transating and rewriting the dialogues. Those problems are marked with [*]. I think they still mean what the original is rying to say, but of course the original tone of the characters may be lost in translation. That, and I'm not good at finding English expressions.

Quick note 2:I used both the Spanish edition and the French scans for the translation. I took a few liberties when translating.

Last quick (?) note: the translations are provided in the same order that you would read a normal comic-book. You shouldn't have any problems matching the translations with the bubbles.

Lots o' pix comin'!

----------

Being lucky or not being lucky... Could anyone define what both things are? Not me.

Usually being lucky is not enough...

...you need good legs too.

Although if you have enough money...

...you can rely on a thug to take care of your dirty jobs [*].

At that time, I kept thinking about the concept of luck. It was not by chance that I was in Las Vegas, where I dropped by to keep a promise...

Lately, I was doing nothing but collecting ill-paid jobs, debts, and sorrow. My bank account and my mood were betting each other to be the first one to reach the bottom.

That's why, when Hewitt Mandeline offered me a job as a bodyguard and collector, I had no choice but accepting it.

You need money to keep going on, and whoever loses pays. Rules of the game.

Perhaps somebody could think that I was lucky for getting such a well paid job. Not me.

I believe that you don't know if you've been lucky in your life until you die. And then, it's too late.

It was the penultimate foolishness of Hewitt what brought me back home.

My last service was accompanying him to an art gallery, where he had the intention of buying paintings to invest what he had won in Las Vegas.

"...and this work belongs to the "The Soul of the World" series, painted by Serguei Litvak, and soon it will be displayed at Eastern Berlin, thanks to the initiative of the Gotfield foundation..."

"Good Lord, it's huge! Do you charge for it by weight [*]?"

"Mph!"

"Well well, Blacksad..."

"...the last person I expected to find in this place!"

"Well, this doesn't look like a place for a co... police comissaire either."

"Of course this isn't my idea of spending my day of leave, but my wife adores all this shi... uh... all this jun..."

"Anyway, she says this is good for the kids. These are the kind of things you do for them. But you wouldn't understand, of course."

"And why not? All you need is a little sensitivity. My name's Dorothy."

"John Blacksad. Pleased to meed you, ma'am."

"Thank God, I see not all of my husband's friends are as ignorant as him. Would you like to have dinner with us? You may bring your girlfriend [*], if you like."

"Thank you, but it's impossible at the moment. Perhaps another time."

"It's a pity. See you soon then."

Hit and sunk. I had to find a good plan for the evening...

...a distraction to prevent my head from thinking too much...

...like a conference about atomic energy, for example.

"My God, they must have taken me for an idiot. Do you know how much they charge for that garbage? [*] For God's sake! The printing on my couch is more tasteful [*] than that!"

"Anyway, what do you think about coming with me to the "Wild Cats" club? Now tha's a good investment!"

"I appreciate it, Hewitt. But I have to meet an old friend."

We live in a great time. A time of great words...

...of great conflicts...

...and of great men, like Otto Liebber.

"I hope this hour-long chatter makes it clear to you that atomic energy is frankly a good thing."

"It has everything you expect from a woman: it's clean and inexhaustible..."

"Seriously, this energy opens the door to a better world..."

"...as long as you have a good shelter when the bombs start raining down..."

According to the magazines [*], Samuel Gotfield was a lot of things... Rich, young, handsome, dynamic, living room communist [*]...

After such play, I would've added a new epithet:

A$$hole [*].

----------

And that's it! I hope you enjoyed it. A 9-page long preview for a 54-page long comic-book is pretty good

. If you find any translation mistakes, want to improve the translation, or better yet, want to photoshop the translations into the pages, then please do

.

Fanfan · Post by **Fanfan** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 13:53 -0700

well Ziritrion, you should contact Blacksad's french editor for the english translation !
Vous parlez français ?

ziritrion · Post by **ziritrion** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 17:07 -0700

Desolée, mais mon français n'est pas bon

. I learnt French at my school for 5 years and I've lived in Andorra for 8 years, but I can't do much better than that

. But reading French is somewhat similar to Catalan, and online dictionaries and a Spanish edition of Blacksad help a lot

.

I was surprised though, I got the French DVD of Princess Mononoke, and I could understand most of what the characters were talking about. And I read the whole Fly manga (Dragon Quest - Dai no Daibouken) in French without many problems, but the dialogue wasn't precisely hard to understand

.

hakucho · Post by **hakucho** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 19:35 -0700

Wow, I think I've completely fallen for this comic

Fanfan · Post by **Fanfan** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 14:40 -0700

Votre français est charmant. You are too modest ! but i agree with you : to read spanish or italian is possible... if you don't grasp something in your translation from french, send me a message !

ziritrion · Post by **ziritrion** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 15:11 -0700

Thanks

. But understanding it is much easier than speaking/writing it.

If I ever need some help if translating anything, I'll let you know. Thanks again

.

Pekass · Post by **Pekass** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 16:54 -0700

I readed this book something like a week ago, I was wandering around the comic shop where I spend hours and saw it, I had been waiting for it for long time, since I had already read the previous comics and they are really good. I love the character.

If I had known that it was released earlyer in french I would have bought it..... since I dont have anyproblem understanding french.

Ne pas me oublier a l'ecrire, parce-que je peut le parler bien, mais pas lécrire, je faist becaoup de "typos"

Ben · Post by **Ben** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 13:52 -0700

Guarnido is a master of facial expessions. Check out Blacksad's scowl in the fourth panel on the third page.

Kind of ironic that animals do a better job of getting human emotions across than actual humans.