Estonia and Blacksad. Film noir.

We, my colleagues and I, were at the Estonian embassy on Thursday, celebrating the new Travelling hero's book on the Soviet Tallinn (Sankarimatkailija Neuvosto-Tallinnassa), It has been nice to edit and publish that one. Otso Kantokorpi, who is posing in front of the embassy, is a writer of style and ambition. Go, Otso, go! And soon we will organise a tour to the Soviet Tallinn, again. We have already done those several times.




Estonia is soon to have a new president, Mr Ilves. His name means a Siberian lynx. But I know so very little about him – yet! But no problem, I just have to read tomorrow´s Hufvudstadsbladet. I'm counting on the good quality its politcal reports and reviews, especially on Estonian issues.

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The annual Comics Festival is taking place now in Helsinki. We have been honored to have Juanjo Guarnido and Juan Diaz Canales as guests. Now I have the new Blacksad album, with great signatures. I am a huge fan of their work!

I got to meet them already yesterday at the Press Club bar, and today they were signing at the festivals. The line was long long long, hudreds of people waited for getting the cat picture into their books.

Blacksad 1: Quelque part entre les ombres (Kissa varjoisilta kujilta) is a good graphic novel. Technically, I see likeness to film story boards. They must have watched American film noir, of 1940's and 1950's. Welles, Sirk, Lang. (A good film noir page: www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.htm.) And its film noir atmosphere with violent goons, dirty cops and sadly slaughtered naughty little starlets, and in the middle of this all, a private eye who is struggling on a thin line between the law and the underworld, all of this reminds me of the works James Ellroy. Perhaps Guarnido and Canales are Ellroy fans? I have to ask that tomorrow when they are interviewed, on stage.

(But sometimes, or actually, very often when I meet really great artists like these guys I am too shy to ask anything – except when do the interviewing as a hostess myself. We'll see. And I hope Miss Funnybunny lets me to concentrate on anything else but her active and demanding personality. Or, come to the Gloria Hall yourselves, to Pikku Roba.)



More information about the Blacksad series here: www.dargaud.com/site_blacksad. I have to buy them all now, the other two in French.

See you!