I wasn't overly fond of Amarillo, at least when compared to the other Blacksad books, mostly because there's a big lack of stakes in the story, mixed with quite a lot of teeth-grinding cliché's. The best part I think was the lawyer/agent character which was pretty much another version of Weekly.

I'd say that Somewhere Within the Shadows was the real cliché-fest of the Blacksad series. And yeah, one could see the absence of the usual rush-to-avert-a-murder as a "lack of stakes," but Amarillo isn't that kind of story; it struck me as a psychological suspense story that hinged on whether or not a guilty man would take that first terrifying step towards redemption (y'know, like that Russian novel, what's it called, Crime and... something or other).

I agree that Shadows is cliché'd, but it was the first of the series and the whole style was fresh enough, but after 4 books, especially with such ambitious themes like Red Soul had, Amarillo left me severely underwhelmed. I also agree that the focus/theme of the book is different, but I could have done with something more interesting than the overdone traveling circus, attempted rape and lost heiress plot points, which I really didn't find compelling at all, in terms of story or characters.

Do you mean Crime and Punishment?

I agree that the Fantagraphics translation of Alack Sinner, from a million years ago, left something to be desired; at least, I never felt like reading another volume in the series. But there's simply no comparison between the extremely stylized, black & white artwork of José Muñoz and the lavish watercolor panels of Juanjo Guarnido, not to mention his Heinrich Kley-like mastery of human and animal anatomy.

Juan Diaz Canales has become a much subtler, more ambivalent crime writer since that first Blacksad volume fifteen years ago. The characters are more complex, and much less likely to do exactly what the reader expects them to do.