Grandville

I've always been of the opinion that Bryan Talbot's Adventures Of Luther Arkwright edged out Alan Moore's Watchman as the great monumental comic of the eighties, for all that Arkwright was messy with underground new ave influences as opposed to the stunning, but sterile, formalism of Watchmen. Anyway, Talbot's on my pantheon of greats, and I've been looking forward to trying out his Grandville series, combining as it does, according to the blurb, Conan Doyle, Rubert The Bear and Quentin Tarantino. So what we get is a post-9/11 alt-history steampunk adventure with sex, ultra-violence and anthropomorphic animal characters and tons of references to animals in art and comics. It's an absolute blast as Inspector LeBrock, quintessentially show more British badger detective and tough guy investigates the apparent suicide of a diplomatic aide, an investigation that takes him to the French city of the title and a wide-ranging conspiracy that implicates the most powerful in French society.

Admittedly the dastardly plot is VERY post-9/11 but there's no denying the amazing vision and dazzling art and the fantastic energy and dark humour, the wonderful homages and cleverness of the vision. show less

A British badger and his rat partner go to France to solve a murder. Sounds like the beginning of a weird joke, but I really liked this imaginative steampunk adventure. It reminded me of Canales and Guarnido’s Blacksad, which was also a detective story populated by strange humanoid animals (also, it was awesome—read it) but that one is crime noir. Both have incredible artwork and are on the violent side. This one has a wild alternate history and a lot of British lingo.
I don’t remember how this got on my radar in the first place, but it was great fun. I’ll be on the lookout for more Inspector Lebrock books.

Detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard comes across an apparent suicide, which turns out to be the work of a ruthless murder squad. This is a steampunk mystery with a twist; the main characters are all anthropomorphized animals. The story is complex and the alternative history setting is interesting, but it would have been great if the story had been much longer so that I had time to get really invested in the world properly. I also had a little bit of a problem with the anthropomorphized animals, not because they're animals, but rather the opposite: they're too human. Basically, they look like regular humans with animal heads. I'm not completely enamored with the result, but absolutely intrigued enough that I'll be looking into show more the other installments in this series. show less

I'm not usually that big on anthropomorphic characters but the magnificent artwork, dynamic steampunk setting and action-packed plot totally sucked me in. If you like subversive plots like [book:V for Vendetta|5805], you should appreciate Grandville. I even forgave the talking animals when I read the line "Badgers? We don' need no steenkin' badgers." I'll definitely be reading more of these.

Hint: Check with your local library to see if they have access to Hoopla digital content.

When Talbot decided to write alternative story, he did not just tweak one of the small events. In the world created in this graphic novel, France had won the Napoleonic Wars and is ruling the world, Ground Zero is where another tower had been (and despite its new name you know which one it is), humans did not evolve as the only talking and thinking animals and ended up the menial workers for everyone else and the science evolved a bit differently.

If that does not make you want to read it, add a few more details:
- A detective (which happens to be a badger) and his trusty companion (who happens to be a rat)
- A secret French society
- A war looming on the horizon and another one led away from home
- A few unexplainable suicides which hold show more the key for the whole thing.
- A love interest for our detective that seem to be at least as interested as he is.

It is a detective mystery, a political thriller and a steampunk novel rolled in one. Add a few references to history, European comics and the good art and this book is a must read. But do not expect a happy ending - in some ways, things finish well and we can call it happy. In others, it ends in the worst possible way.

Of course, it can as well be read it as a comment of the current state of politics in the States (current being the year when it is written - 2009) - I almost expected to see the "Any connection to real events..." warning. But then - this is expected in a way - art imitates life. And one of the points is exactly this - despite all the changes, we end up in the same situation. show less

I knew I was going to enjoy Grandville before the first book came out. It wasn't "just" the dapper-dressed gun-toting badger on the cover, nor even because the art and writing are by British comics legend Bryan Talbot, but because I was already a fan of the artist whose work inspired the series and whose nom de plume provided its title.
From the Grandville of the nineteenth century's wonderfully bizarre images of animals acting like humans Talbot has woven a fizzingly imaginative alternate world, in which animals rule and humans (or "doughfaces" as we're known) are reduced to underclass status. Down the streets of a gorgeously rendered steampunk Paris stalks hard-bitten Detective Inspect LeBrock, battling evildoers of every stripe and show more species with the help of his faithful partner and friend Roderick Ratzi.
If you find the idea of animals punching each other, stabbing each other or blasting ten bells out of each other with large calibre guns off-putting or upsetting, maybe this series isn't for you. The Wind in the Willows this ain't: the Grandville books are dark, gritty and surprisingly violent. They're also wildly thrilling and enormous fun. In the latest volume, Bete Noire, LeBrock /not only/ has to stop an army of machine-gun-packing robots, he /also/ has to foil a dastardly capitalist conspiracy to suppress figurative art and replace it with abstract expressionism! For those who notice, these books are stuffed with witty references to other works, other ideas - but never at the expense of a cracking good story. I think these books are terrific. I hope you will too. show less

Grandville: A Detective-Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard Scientific-Romance Thriller, is the latest graphic novel by Bryan Talbot. Inspired by nineteenth-century French illustrator Gerard, who worked under the nom de plum J.J. Greandville, the novel is the story of DI LeBrock on the hunt for the ruthless killers of a British diplomat. All fairly standard so far, but that is all that is standard in this graphic novel...

The first stand out point of the book is the characters themselves. Talbot has substituted the majority of the characters with animals instead of humans, whilst humans in the book are referred to as under-developed 'dough-faces', who are little better than slaves and have no citizens rights. The use of anthropomorphous show more animals is done excellently, with some hilarious results such as the drug dealing horse and the poodle hooker!

Another key part of the book is it's setting. Based mainly in France, Grandville is an alternate history story, set in a world where Napoleon won the war and Britain is little more than a colony that has just won independence. Alternate histories are a real favourite of mine, if done well, and Grandville does is perfectly. You are made aware of the worlds history early on, and the plot is largely based around the politics of this alternate timeline, but you are not smothered by it, which is something that has blighted many other books. If an author keeps emphasising the differences of their world to ours, it somehow looses it's sense of reality. The same can be said of the fact that this graphic novel falls into the category of 'steampunk', but Talbot understates this fact and it almost becomes unnoticeable, whilst managing to be an integral part of the story.

I was originally unimpressed by the artwork in Grandville, in fact it almost put me off completely, but whilst reading the book I realised how engrossing and beautifully detailed it is, with deep, rich colours and a great sense of pace. I particularly like both the blood and the movement effects, which are done perfectly. Talbot is clearly a masterful artist.

All in all I loved Grandville. It is a graphic novel I have been wanting to read for a long while and I am so glad I finally have. If anything, my only gripe is with the length of the book, I feel it could have been fleshed out more, it could have gone deeper into the heart of the story and we could have learnt more about the brilliant Detective-Inspector LeBrock. Fingers crossed that this is not a one off, as I can't wait for more Detective-Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard Scientific-Romance Thrillers!

Highly Recommended.

P.S. I love the front cover of this book!

http://IwishIwasabook.com/ show less