Non-american artist masters...

[Kermit the frog]

to everyone

 

i've started recently posting some pics of the works of some important european masters (to share with OA fans) on the modern comics forum and tought it would be interesting to have one topic fully dedicated to this subject on this forum so...here you go. Hope you enjoy it

 

i've started with a modern classic fella: Enki Bilal

 

below you'll see some great pages from different works, from thye older ones to the more recent ones (like that you'll have a sense of evolution/time on his work/style/approach).

 

 

Le vaisseau de pierre: the stone spaceship

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

La foire aux immortels: the carnival of the immortals

 

 

 

 

[Kermit the frog]

 

A few great ilustrations...

 

the first one is for a certain "albino" scuba diving lover...there you go Steve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kermit the frog]

 

a couple more illustration pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

if you seek some more info. about this artist fell free to present your request.

 

i'll be posting more pics about other artists (trying to have a certain order/sequence on this presentation so the topic/posts are more easly readable/enjoyed).

 

regards

 

ps- again, sugestions/requests/advices are always welcome...

[Sal]

Bilal is incredible, no doubt.

 

another good one is François Schuiten. that's the thing about the old Heavy Metal mags, you would get to see these amazing European artists in every issue

[Mister Trent]

I'm from the UK, so enjoy a wide variety of artwork - irrespective of country of origin.

 

In my own CAF Galleries, I've got prime examples by such legendary British greats as:

 

Frank Hampson (DAN DARE, PILOT OF THE FUTURE)

Frank Bellamy (various, including HEROS THE SPARTAN)

Don Lawrence (TRIGAN EMPIRE)

Ron Embleton (WULF THE BRITON)

 

As well as lots of other good stuff.

 

Here's the link:

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=1865

[Kermit the frog]

Here's some nice info. about Bilal:

 

Enki Bilal

Enki Bilal (born October 7, 1951) is an artist and writer.

 

Born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, he moved to Paris at the age of 9. He met René Goscinny at the age of 14, and at his encouragement tried turning his talent to comic books. He worked on Goscinny's magazine Pilote in the 1970s, publishing his first story in 1972: Le Bol Maudit.

 

He began working with -script writer Pierre Christin in 1975 on a series of separate tales, with a surreal or dark nature.

 

The Nikopol trilogy (La Foire aux Immortels, La Femme Piège and Froid Equateur) took more than a decade to appear but is probably Bilal at his best, writing the -script as well as doing all the artwork - the final chapter even managed to be awarded the book of the year award by the very serious magazine Lire .

 

His latest publication has been 32 Décembre (2003), the second book in another trilogy this time dealing with the breakup of Yugoslavia but from the future. The first installement came in 1998 in the shape of Le Sommeil du Monstre opening with the main character, Nike, remembering the war in a series of traumatic flashbacks...

 

His cinematic career has recently been revived with the expensive Immortel, Ad Vitam which is his first attempt to adapt his books to the screen. The film has split critics, some panning the use of CGI characters but others have seen it as a faithful reinterpretation of the books.

 

Bibliography includes

See also

Famous Quotes

La Croisière des oubliés (1975)

Le Vaisseau de pierre (1976)

La Ville qui n'existait pas (1977)

Mémoires d'outre-espace (1978)

Les Phalanges de l'ordre noir (1979)

La Foire aux immortels (1980)

Partie de chasse (1983)

L'Étoile oubliée de Laurie Bloom (Los Angeles) ? Ed. Autrement (1984)

La Femme piège (1986)

Coeurs sanglants et autres faits divers (1988)

Froid-Équateur (1992)

Le Sommeil du monstre (1998)

32 Décembre (2003)

Filmography as director

Bunker Palace Hôtel (1989)

Tykho Moon (1996)

Immortel (Ad Vitam) (2004)

[Kermit the frog]

and a very nice interview, check it out:

 

 

ENKI BILAL

 

"I realize how much freedom in expressing myself I could be getting in comics by exploring various themes."

Having spent his first decade of life in Beograd, Yugoslavia, during the period 1951-61 - a very tough time for the whole country after the War - Enki Bilal (christened Enes) with his younger sister and mother finally joined his father in the "city of lights" - Paris, France. Enki's papa was Marshal Tito's personal tailor, who designed and made the great leader's famous uniform, thus he succeeded in earning his family a better life outside Yugoslavia and developing his son's artistic talents in the field of visual storytelling.

 

At the beginning of the 70's, Enki Bilal burst forth in French comics with the strength of a promising youngster, and soon became the peer of Druillet, Moebius, Hermann, Tardi and the like. He brought into the world of comics a very special feeling for a gloomy, depressing atmosphere, pulling inspiration from memories of his childhood in the ruined Yugoslavian capital, and a new Eastern European sensibility primarilt unknown to the Western world. In such a way, he made himself into a respectable figure among the intellectuals, fans and moviemakers and he became one of the bestselling creators in the comics field. Working with writers such as Pierre Christin, J.P. Doinnet, or illustrating his own scripts, he has made his greatest contributions to SF and the field of so-called "political fiction."

Visiting his own native town for the first time after 26 years, he made a sensation, thanks to the French Cultural Center in Beograd, its director Mr. Bruno Loyant, Mr. Francois Scharbonchi and a group of comics enthusiasts including Ye Scribe. The press, radio and TV went literally wild, and the fan response was enormous.

All of which is totally absurd.

You see, Bilal's comics are completely unkown in his native country! His fame came in Yugoslavia only through rare and sporadic information, bulletins, news and interviews he gave to the French press or Yugoslavian world-travelling correspondent Zoran Petrovic-Pirocanac. Maybe comics publishers in Yugoslavia were relutant to import Bilal's graphic novels because they didn't know how the authorities would react to the not-so-bright-and-positive image of the Eastern European regimes this author envisioned in his works - such as THE HUNTING PARTY, for example.

Hoping that this situation won't last forever, we present both parts of an interview conducted in Beograd - first part at the Student's Cultural Center, second part in the French Cultural Center and later the apartment of Ye Scribe and his wife. It was conducted by Bojan M. Djukic, transcibed and typed by Slavica Djukec, and not copy-edited by Bilal, bexause he went back to Paris trusting his words and opinions to his friends.

 

 

 

 

BOJAN M. DJUKIC: Although cartooning is not your only preoccupation, how did you stick to it and find your own way of treating political stuff?

ENKI BILAL: How did I get into comics? I started even in Beograd to draw and scribble; my parents encouraged me. Later, in France, I became obsecced with the passion of learning the new language! I had to master it for the sake of living there. This language excited me with its beauty and somehow it was noraml to wind up in comics. The French comics of that time became more and more of "l'auteur," and didn't bear the mark of a serial, hero or house style, but the creator and his personallity. I realized how much freedom in expressing myself I could be getting in comics by exploring various themes, expressing my feelings and my attitudes.

BOJAN: Did the Yugoslavian press and comics from the '50s have any influence on you?

ENKI: Well, I was too little at the time I lived in Beograd. I was too small to absorb the Yugoslavian comics at the time, too young to remember. I started tothumd through the papers during 1956-57. I adored good ol' MICKEY MOUSE, but my world was and is far away from him and his optimistic world. Knowing that we were going to emigrate to France, I was possessed with the "traveling fever." Not thinking at all of my future profession! The decision - that crucial moment for me - came later, in Paris.

BOJAN: Did you ever imagine being such a celebrity, with great recognition, awards such as the Grand Prix of Angouleme, and the respect of your peers? How much work and self-sacrifice was put into fighting for a place in the sun among such competitors and mega-production in the French comics field?

ENKI: Sure, I was happy because I won the prize in Angouleme... and the other rewards. But I need to stress the fact that there's such a struggle for that Angouleme prize! I'm lucky to have my audience of readers in France. It's not just the ideal of fortune and amking the list of bestsellers, but having your fans! Good ones! I know that the intellectual level of my fans is very high. In Francophone countries - and the same goes for Sapin, Italy and Yugoslavia, etc. - comics are getting their "civil rights." The public accepts and recognizes the comics as an art form. We have a smany creators and publishers in France as we have movies and film-authors. Think of our President Mitterand and the minister of culture, Mr. Jack Lang - great admirers of comics - that's the proof of civil rights for comics in French socialist culture.

BOJAN: Do you consider yourself a fantasy author?

ENKI: Wouldn't say so, no matter the image I've got. I'm telling stories which are a little bit fantasy, There are some weird persons, something happens in a near future - so, there are some elements of fantasy. I'm interested in starting from a real base - let's say, some political affair - which becomes fantasy through my draughtsmanship, passing into the domain of the unreal. But the fundamentals are in reality; that's the environment I'm comfortable in. There can be found my childhood memories, iconography I took from Beograd before the move to Paris. Now, those memories become apparent in my drawings - a very peculiar aestetics. It's fascinating how I managed to design landscapes which do not remind people of anything seen!

BOJAN: One of the best comic albums involving political themes after World War II is your PARTIE D'CHASE (THE HUNTING PARTY). How was it created, how long did you work on it, and how went your collaboration with the writer, Pierre Christin?

ENKI: It's the sequel to a previous album, entitled RANKS OF THE BLACK ORDER (masterful treatment of the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War). I'd been telling about terrorism in the West, so naturally I wanted to go on with a chapter about Terrorism in the East, right? I know Eastern European countries very well, so I thought I could make up something; although I was born in Yugoslavia, which is geographically in the East, it's not part of the Eastern Bloc and under the influence of the Soviets. I wanted to create a counter-balance to RANKS, so great preparations were needed. My pal Pierre Christin - who's a newsman and scripts for comics - and I had to travel a lot and prepare good files. We traveled a little together, but mostly separately. Because of "the Party" I fared alone in the USSR and every other Eastern country, to complete our files and paint the album - so hard, depressing and violent. It's the novel album you can hardly comprehend and take. So, I filled it with element of fantasy. It was necessary for the sake of better understanding.

BOJAN: Your work on Hunting Party was interrupted for some time for the sake of your collaboration with the film giant, Alain Resnais (one-time co-worker with Stan Lee on a never-realized movie project) on his film LIFE IS A NOVEL, for which you prepared beautiful matte paintings. It's known that Mr. Resnais is a great admirer of funnybooks and a comics fan. Tell me about that...

ENKI: We had to make this movie under very special conditions using a difficult technique - with actors in front of the camera, but behind painted -glass plates which simulate real environments. It was too complicated... very interesting as a try-out, if you ask me. We had little time for testing and mastering it. The film had... well, a modest succes, but was an interesting experience for me because of the matte paintings. Here I don't count my earlier collaboration with Mr. Resnais, when I painted the poster for his movie MY UNCLE FROM AMERICA.

BOJAN: Why have you chosen to eschew the serial approach to cartooning?

ENKI: I choose to always make something new and not tie myself down with the characters - purely a matter of my personal decision. I admit there's a little egoism - after all, I want to be completely free, not to have any serial obligations to my publisher, but to produce whatever I want or like, to express myself in my way. I always thought and still think it now: If someone makes something for his fun and pleasure, he's transfering the same feeling to his readers! So, for example, making LA FEMME PIEGE album (THE WOMAN TRAP, published in English in the pages of Heavy Metal magazine and as a graphic album by Catalan Communications). I broke with the serial principle, which has alarmed the experts of comics, film, theatre and literature in France. LA FEMME represents declining from the usual narration, but its success showed that personal expression can be interesting to fans and the money-maker. (Bilal's albums are sold by hundreds of thousands in France!)

BOJAN: In your earlier works youaven't mentioned your "old country" at all, but you've announced a project in which Beograd will play a distinguished part!

ENKI: Before all, I have to stress the fact that it's not a comics project, but a real graphics novel, similar to my LOS ANGELES book. Christin and I tell a story of several European cities and life in them - of New York, London, Cairo, Lisbon and my Beograd. Here, an artist will be the "big honcho" - meaning myself (Laughter.) I'm drawing illustrations for the book based on photographs I took in those cities, so upon those drawings we'll construct stories which resemble newspaper articles. French publishers eagerly accept such experiments, so I think it could be very interesting and lucrative for us.

BOJAN: Although France exports enormous bulks of its comics, as in the case of cheese and wines, making it a big business- there are rumors of crisis in the comics industry.

ENKI: It's too complicated, so I'm not sure I'm able to explain it. It's general crisis, reflected in movies, literature, comics. For comics, there was a very bad period between 1975 - 1980; after that comics rocketed up again, so people got the idea that they could print anything. Everyone got into publishing comics, big money was in the game. They thought fans would eat up everything printed and put on the market, but - they were Very wrong! Fans expected a certain level of quality they were used to. I think Glenat and Dargaud should be blamed for the glut of the market... Glenat maybe more than Dargaud! That's the crisis - too many comics, and the market unable to absorb them. Besides that, we had an over-use of some themes and genres - the publishers saw that fans dig SF, sex 'n'sleaze, hyper-violence etc., so they poured tons and tons of comics on the market about those themes. We even got situations when editors demanded from artists and writers:"Gimme some sleaze-and-sorcery fantasy, that goes now for a trend." And, unfortunately, many creators played the game, working strictly under publishers demands. So, it had to end like this. Yes, we have the crisis of comics in France.

BOJAN: From the early '70s arose that tidal wave of the new French comics, influencing fashion, fine arts, theater, television, movies... especially in the USA. But the masters of comics are neglected, although they initiated that sensibility of they '80s...

 

 

 

 

ENKI: All branches of art interact, enriching each other; I think it's good, one artform should support the other. I have atlked to many film-makers in the USA. Michael Mann, for whom I did some design work, told me that in Hollywood studios they have collected comics and graphic novels by many artists - various American greats, Moebius stuff, my work, etc. - which serve as an inspiration or bleuprint for design, "decor", for the whole image of a movie! Americans are ingenious; they first have discovered the chance comics have been giving to the movies and used it. I suppose that even we Europeans have to take that route. But, to be sincere, I'll say bluntly that comics artists - including me, for sure - are also being inspired by the movies, which are in a way very stimulating.

Take, for example, video-clips. They're kinda taped comics stories which move! People are flooded with images. The art of comic strips appears now as a little bit archaic, but I hope that younger generations are returning to the comics and that the future shall bring us many nice works. Yet comics shouldn't search for the references in themselves! They have to strive for broadness, to meet the demands of an audience and to endure the competition of other artforms.

BOJAN: Your costume design is, in my opinion, something most original in the world of funnybooks. How did you manage to tie the past and future together in desing?

ENKI: Concerning that matter, it occurs to me that if you work out something spontaneously, you get the best results. I never had a methodical approach towards the costumes - I've always been lazy during drawing! I always considered digging through the files a great waste of time. I like my pencil to work instantly on the design and the narration, to build the drawing, and that's why I never bothered myself about garbs. That is how I came to the design, mixing the past, the present and the possible future. Probably there lies the strenght of the universe I'm dealing with in my comics. My costumes are out of time. Once I was invited to sketch the gowns for a film, but when I completed my drawings and met with technicians and tailors, we realized that those duds can't be used! People couldn't put them on.

BOJAN: The fashion design Moebius and you promoted influeced the fashions of the late '70s and early '80s...

ENKI: I don't know, I'm not sure my works inspired any new fashion. My costumes seem old, worn-out - not as a blueprint for any kind of a fashion. But in France you could see a possible influence on people's garments, coming possibly from my works - an Eastern European llok, Russian style. In Paris, Cyrillic alphabet is "chic"! Didn't you know? (I didn't.) Three quarters of the people don't have the slightest idea what it is or means - but it looks to them interesting and very decorative! So, even comics have their own place in time - as the music and other art-forms.

BOJAN: Let's talk about the writer-artist relationship. How is it realized, what is the basis of it?

ENKI: Concerning my collaborations with Christin, he was always shooting first, giving me the story outline of a theme we'd discussed earlier. His instructions give me freedom - enabeling me to visualize in flexible conditions. My part is to direct the comic story, to make it live. I have to say that, after many years of working together, Pierre and I understand each other netter and better. There are no exact demands in a -script. Concerning THE HUNTING PARTY - a tale of the USSR and its satellites - we put down in advance verything about the matter. I had my own motifs and reasons, Pierre had his own. He insisted that everything should be with roots in documents and historical files, but I realized that it wouldn't be pallatable with no taste of fantasy. The finalresult - graphic album - had made it in the market easily, thanks to our mutual understanding and friendship. That's my vision of team-work.

BOJAN: Can you see the difference between the treatment of comics in the USA and in Europe? In France, comic strips are considered as a high art, no matter what the commercial success...

ENKI: In the USA, comics are produced as strips for papers and as serials for the comic books and are mostly thrown into the trash after consuming; on the other side, France is elitizing itself in the context of comics. It's a paradox, but I'm already considered an "old artist"! I hope they'll open the doors of the publishing houses again to the young people abd give them a chance to show their talents and begin pro work.

 

 

 

 

(This second part of our conversation took place the next day.)

 

BOJAN: Tell me something about your pencilling. Do you put down all the details, or do you first work out just the breakdowns?

ENKI: MY pencil drawings are very rarely detailed. I just lay out some outlines and "mise-en-scene." The most important part is inking and coloring. I use Blanzy pens and Isabelle brushes occasionally Varderhaar. I apply watercolors, gouache, acrylics and color pencils.

BOJAN: In book about you, your life and work, I've seen very eleborate and detailed pencil studies. Do you make anu difference between the illustration work and strips?

ENKI: Well, no... I don't enrich my pencil sketch with detailes in any way. It comes later. There's no important difference betwen those two approaches.

BOJAN: And is your coloring inspired with the gamma of the movie picture and lighting?

ENKI: I'm influenced by the photography, but only on the level of the first inspiration. Later, I'm choosing color intensity and lighting quite spontaneously.

BOJAN: Have you ever received an offer to do storyboards for a movie project?

ENKI: Yes, but I've refused, because it interests me not at all. I'd feel frustrated if I should work for someone else. Work in animation doesn't interest me, either. I couldn't simplify my drawings for the sake of the film's needs.

BOJAN: Your turn in building the narration is a rare case in French comics?

ENKI: No, Christin made it earlier with Tardi; I wasn't the first one. New fans are different from ealier generations. They're ready for new contents, such as THE HUNTING PARTY. They're grown-ups.

BOJAN: Besides leaving the serial approach, what do you think about bringing tragic tones into stories?

ENKI: Every tale has his own life. In the novel, in the movies - even in comics. Are you asking me about superhero muscle-sagas? I don't mind the stuff!

BOJAN: I think that your hero is not a person, but the time itself, or a period - mostly, a non-existing one. Is it Christin's influence?

ENKI: It's hard to explain... the time exist in my albums, but persons are the barometers of a time. Your question is too wide, we'd lose too much time, wasting it in my explanations.

BOJAN: Okay then... THE FAIR OF THE IMMORTALS you srcipted for yourself. How do you manage to control your characters? They seem to have their own life...

ENKI: Very interesting question... it concerns my way of work! I mean, when I write the -script, I have some characters and situations at the beginning. Later - with no strict plans - I let the story develop on and on by itself. My people have the chance independent life; the storyline can be changed, depending on characters' behavior.

BOJAN: Many writers, when they involve politics into their works, say that they put in only political elements. Are your comics "political"?

ENKI: No, I don't demonstrate in a political context and I don't describe the militarism. I only use politics as a support. Nothing else.

BOJAN: Do you put your characters against political context or political evil?

ENKI: I describe that problem in my strips - persons under political pressure and politics itself.

BOJAN: What prevails in stories you produce with Christin - history, fiction or remembering?

ENKI: I make no difference among the three of them. The most important for me is to tell stories. We make the stories together and let them develop by themselves. That's most important for Pierre and me.

BOJAN: How does he react to the fantasy elements you bring in?

ENKI: Not very enthusiastically, but we've agreed.

BOJAN: Do you change the -script during the work?

ENKI: Yes, it happens...

BOJAN: That aspect of fantasy gives things a universal look...

ENKI: I agree, but it has bothered Chrstin!

BOJAN: Some time ago I read in one of your interviews that you've not a "spontaneous artist." What does it mean?

ENKI: It means that I don't work if I have no idea. I'm drawing fast, but I'm not like some of my colleagues who always carry a sketchbook and sharpened pencils and draw at any given moment.

 

 

web sites consulted for this topic construction:

 

http://www.rpkbd.com/bilal/ci100.htm

 

http://www.rpkbd.com/bilalindex.htm

 

http://bilal.enki.free.fr/

 

http://www.humano.com/bilal/

 

 

 

 

 

 

best regards

[rob_react]

One guy that fits the bill that I've recently been exposed to was Colin Wilson. From New Zealand, he's worked mostly in the UK (2000AD) and France (picked by Moebius to do Lt. Blueberry ).

 

He's really, really good.

[Kermit the frog]

Rob and everyone

 

fell free to use this thread to present some of your fav. pics/info. about the mentioned artists...

 

regards

[rob_react]

His latest publication has been 32 Décembre (2003), the second book in another trilogy this time dealing with the breakup of Yugoslavia but from the future. The first installement came in 1998 in the shape of Le Sommeil du Monstre opening with the main character, Nike, remembering the war in a series of traumatic flashbacks...

 

There probably isn't another comic in the whole world I'm waiting for more than the finale of this trilogy. If I didn't have a pile of new comics to make it through I'd pull them out and read the first two again.

[Kermit the frog]

His latest publication has been 32 Décembre (2003), the second book in another trilogy this time dealing with the breakup of Yugoslavia but from the future. The first installement came in 1998 in the shape of Le Sommeil du Monstre opening with the main character, Nike, remembering the war in a series of traumatic flashbacks...

 

There probably isn't another comic in the whole world I'm waiting for more than the finale of this trilogy. If I didn't have a pile of new comics to make it through I'd pull them out and read the first two again.

 

i hear your pain brother...

[Kermit the frog]

to everyone

 

just thought on posting/presenting some new names/talents fav. of mine, so here we go, one of my modern fav. title: Blacksad

 

a little bit about this great title...

 

"...John Blacksad's a private investigator whose past has just caught up with him. An old flame has died, and Blacksad is determined to get to the bottom of the case. With the police leaning on him to drop his investigation, though, will he be able to discover who murdered Natalia? Or will her killers find him first?

 

In terms of story, Blacksad is actually pretty unremarkable. Blacksad wanders around asking questions, suddenly gets attacked, and is all but lead to the killer. There's no actual sleuthing going on here, which was a little disappointing. In many ways, Juan Díaz Canales's story is really only here to service Guardino's art, to try and provide some sort of narrative to link the art in some sort of coherent order. It certainly does that, and it tries to add in some real intrigue with anagramed-names and secret deals. It's just ultimately a disappointment because it just doesn't live up to one's expectations.

 

 

The same can't be said for Guarnido's art, though. It's utterly gorgeous, to put it mildly. Each panel looks like an animation cell, with its gorgeously sharp drawings and colors. In many ways it reminds me of classic Disney movies, where humanoid animals are used as people without any need for an explanation or particular "clever" takes on them being animals. For all intents and purposes, these are people... that Guarnido just likes drawing as animals. But oh, how he draws them! Everything is perfect, from their '50s-styled outfits to the expressions on their faces. There's such a great level of character design here, with each species picked to perfectly match their character, from the traits of that animal to the sorts of expressions they're going to need to have on their faces. Even the backgrounds look fantastic, with an amazing amount of detail packed into every location, be it an office or a street. Guarnido doesn't take anything for granted here, making sure flashbacks and shoot-outs alike each have their own distinct look and feel. If you feel like I'm overusing the word amazing, that's only because you haven't seen just how great this art is.

 

 

Was it worth the wait for the English-language Blacksad? Absolutely. Sure, the story didn't knock me over with delight, but it was nice to finally see exactly what happened in the book. More importantly, though, it means that I've got an inexpensive edition of this gorgeous book, and everyone else now has that opportunity as well. With high print quality in an attractive format, this is going to be the sort of book where one look and you'll be hooked. With a second volume hopefully on the way later this year, you'll be rushing back for more of Guarnido's amazing art. Whatever he draws, I will buy it, and so should you."

 

review/article from:

 

http://www.icomics.com/rev_011604_blacksad.shtml

[Kermit the frog]

and now here are some pics from it:

 

 

cover to the first album

 

 

 

cover to second album

 

 

 

a special cover

 

 

 

a new page from the upcoming album (it will be in stores - France - 18th november!!!)

 

 

[Kermit the frog]

now to the big finale, some great interior art!!!

 

 

 

a scene from the first volume...blacksad in the crime scene where his past love was recently murdred...

 

 

 

continuing the last scene...

 

 

 

 

a scene from the second album, blacksad with a friend/nosy young journalist always sniffing for a good story/article...

 

 

 

again the 2 of them during an "observation" street scene...

 

 

 

wasn't able to find a better pic, but this scene is one right after the above coffee shop scene, where a gang of a "black group" teases them off...the "black horse" tells blacksad that he isn't completly black because of a small white area in his face, and so tell him he's going to make up blacksad with some mud...blacksad says "if you touch me you're dead" (just look at the pistol on the horse's stomach)