Bryan Talbot has just released this sneak peek at his new Grandeville book, Bête Noire (due for release 6th December in the UK from Jonathan Cape), on YouTube.
The Badger is back!
At Toad Hall, lair of multibillionaire Baron Aristotle Krapaud, a cabal of
industrialists and fat cats plot the violent overthrow of the French
state by the intervention of horribly beweaponed automaton soldiers.
Meanwhile, the brutal murder of a famous Parisian artist, mysteriously
stabbed to death in his locked and guarded studio, is subject to the
investigations of the tenacious Detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland
Yard, placing him and his faithful adjunct, Detective Sergeant Roderick
Ratzi, in pursuit of the mysterious masked assassin stalking the
cut-throat commercial world of the Grandville art scene.
Bête Noire
signals the welcome return to anthropomorphic steampunk detective
fiction of master storyteller and graphic novel pioneer Bryan Talbot
with the third stand-alone volume of the Eisner and Hugo Award nominated
Grandville series.
As the body count mounts and events spiral
exponentially out of control, aided by his brilliant deductive abilities
and innate ferocity, LeBrock battles against outrageous odds in this
funny, high octane thriller, an adventure shot through with both high
art and comic book references, a glorious illegitimate offspring of Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle and Ian Fleming - with animals!
Continuing Panel Borders' month of shows about anthropomorphic comics, Alex Fitch talks to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman, Rich Magallanes (Senior Vice President, Nickelodeon animation) and British comic book writer David Baillie about the ever popular franchise. Alex discusses the history of the comics and cartoons with Kevin and Rich as well as the latest versions of the characters appearing in IDW's new comic book and Nickolodeon's forthcoming series. Alex and David talk about the latter's experience in writing TMNT strips for the Eastern European market, in the form of two page comics that look at the point of view of both the Turtles and the villains from the series.
To complement this month's series of Panel Borders on anthropomorphic comic books, tonight's Clear Spot explores the use of animal characters with human characteristics in literature. In the first half of the show, we're proud to present an extract from one of Bryan Talbot's lectures on anthropomorphism in children's books, cartoons and comics, and their relevance to his own graphic novels series Grandville. Alex Fitch also talks to Bryan about his interest in the subject, and to children's writer and illustrator Helen Ward about her adaptations of Aesop's Fables for modern audiences.
by Bryan Talbot Published by: Jonathan Cape (UK) Dark Horse (US) Out: 2nd December 2010 (UK) 22 February 2011 (US)
The Book: Set three weeks after the finale of Grandville, Grandville, Mon Amour pits Detective Inspector Archie LeBrock of Scotland Yard against an old adversary, Edward 'Mad Dog' Mastock - a psychotic serial killer whose shocking escape from his execution at the Tower of London begins this fast-paced, Hitchcockian steampunk thriller.
With a range of new and fascinating characters and a mix of Holmesian deduction, knowing humour and edge of the seat action, Grandville Mon Amour continues the vein of high-octane adventure begun in the first volume. Can even LeBrock escape the past or do heroes have feet of clay?
The Review: Set in the same steampunk universe as Grandville but a standalone adventure in its own right, Grandville Mon Amour is a slightly more cerebral steampunk adventure than its predecessor but a delight all the same, peppered with the kind of action and humour we've come to expect of Mr. Talbot.
The tale opens with Mastock's brutal escape from the Tower of London and with LeBrock in pieces, his home a mess, still racked by remorse for his failure to prevent the death of “the Divine Sarah”. While the aftermath of the events of Grandville are in evidence they're not vital to the story, and, thanks to some TLC from friend Roderick, we're soon on the hunt for Mastock in France, who's taken to murdering prostitutes while searching for a missing and dangerous artifact capable of bringing down a government.
Although working outside the law after resigning his post following a blazing row with his superior officer, it's not long before LeBrock finds allies in the French police and the criminal underworld to help him track down the escaped murderer and bring to an end his horrific murder spree. This, of course, proves no easy task - Mastock has to be one of the most brutal anthropomorphic villains I've ever encountered in a comic. Along the way, we're treated to some wonderful cameos and supporting characters, such as Madam Riverhorse, the brothel-running hippo, and Billie the Badger, a sex worker who helps Ratzi and LeBrock find Mastock - although not the way she probably wanted to.
There are twists in the tale, of course - a deeper game is afoot, beyond Mastock's murderous rampage through the city of Grandville. Without giving away the plot, LeBrock finds he's soon chasing far more dangerous villains who have been hiding their true natures for years, ever since Britain gained independence from France after a brutal uprising.
Grandville Mon Amour is an ingenious and enjoyable conspiracy-laden tale, set in a world Bryan himself describes as "like Jules Verne and Sherlock Holmes directed by Quentin Tarantino - with animals." The beautifully-realized story comes peppered with visual treats and asides, such as banged up miscreants that include a well known duck and a sex-obsessed aardvark, but these details never distract from the main story - like the grave-digging steampunk robot and Victorian pump room where LeBrock finally confronts Mastock, they're there to come back to on a second reading and savour all the more.
There's some fun dialogue too: I especially enjoyed sex worker Billie's off panel appeal, "looking for a good time, ducks?" only for Lebrock to turn and find her propositioning two well-heeled mallards, who respond, "Not with you, dearie. You're not even water fowl!"
On top of this, we're still left with questions. How can an anthropomorphised cat have a 'real' cat as a pet? What is the role of humans (or 'doughfaces') in this mad, twisted universe? All things you're left to ponder -- and which Bryan tells me are both questions that will be addressed in Book 4: Grandville Noel.
A final word for the production on this book: the print quality is superb, doing full justice to Bryan's terrific art.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable romp of a book. Find it: buy it.
• GOSH Comics London are selling an exclusive bookplate edition of Grandville Mon Amour. More details on their website
• Bryan Talbot will be signing Grandville, Mon Amour at Forbidden Planet, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8JR on Thursday 2nd December (6 - 7.00pm).
Bryan Talbot has worked on underground comics, science fiction and superhero stories such as Judge Dredd and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Vertigo titles including Hellblazer, Sandman and Fables and has written and drawn the graphic novels The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, Heart of Empire, The Tale of One Bad Rat and Alice in Sunderland. In 2009 he was awarded a Doctorate in Arts.
Here, he talks about his latest project, Grandville Mon Amour, the sequel to his cirtically-acclaimed Grandville steampunk tale, which will be launched at the Thought Bubble convention in Leeds this coming weekend...
Set three weeks after the finale of Grandville, Grandville, Mon Amour pits Detective Inspector Archie LeBrock of Scotland Yard against an old adversary, Edward 'Mad Dog' Mastock - a psychotic serial killer whose shocking escape from his execution at the Tower of London begins this fast-paced, Hitchcockian steampunk thriller.
With a range of new and fascinating characters and a mix of Holmesian deduction, knowing humour and edge of the seat action, Grandville Mon Amour continues the vein of high-octane adventure begun in the first volume. Can even LeBrock escape the past or do heroes have feet of clay?
downthetubes: Grandville was a huge, deserved success for you. How does Grandville Mon Amour add to the 'universe' you have created?
Bryan Talbot: It builds on the characters of Detective Inspector LeBrock and his adjunct Detective Roderick Ratzi and supplies an insight into what Britain was like during the French occupation and the role of LeBrock and the British Resistance back then.
downthetubes: What kind of background research have you done to create the Grandville universe?
Bryan: Mainly reading books on Belle Epoch Paris and collecting images of animals and late Victorian and early Edwardian costume. I’ve also visited Paris a few times to do location and architectural research and the Natural History Museum in Milan, which has a huge collection of stuffed animals. The police museum in the Paris Prefecture was also very useful, as was the one in Manchester.
downthetubes: Do you have a favourite new character in this story?
Bryan: I have a few. I think Billie is great. She more or less invented herself while I was in the early “blue sky” stages of the book. She’s a badger prostitute who’ll become a major character in further books. She’s very worldly, intelligent and more than a little tragic. Another character who’ll be recurring is Chief Inspector Rocher of the Paris Prefecture, who’s a little like a posh Maigret.
There’s also a hipopotamus brothel madame that I’m particulary pleased with and Harold Drummond, the prime minister of Britain, a bulldog, obviously. The one that steals the show, though is probably Edward Mastock, the (literally) mad dog serial killer and a totally despicable villain.
downthetubes: You've been writing and drawing your own stories for many years. Do you think that sets any particular challenge in terms of storytelling? Have you ever pulled back from drawing a 'crowd scene', for example, because you have so much control over your work?
Bryan: As the writer, I’m a total bastard to myself the artist. I’m always writing in scenes that I think will look great while the artist is groaning inside, knowing how much work will be involved.
downthetubes: You've said elsewhere that it's hard to make money as a comics storyteller in the UK. Is there one thing that might help change that?
Bryan: The ongoing growth of the market for graphic novels and their mainstream acceptance as a legitimate artist medium.
downthetubes: What is the continued appeal of comics as a storytelling medium for you?
Bryan: I love illustration. I like looking at drawings. Comics take illustration even further, using multiple drawings to tell stories. What could be better than that? I also enjoy playing with the structures and visual storytelling of the medium: manipulating atmospheres, playing with layouts and compositional lines, designing everything to enhance the particular story I’m working on.
downthetubes: As a frequent self publisher in your earlier career, what one tool available to modern creators could you most have used back then to sell your books?
Bryan: Actually, I only ever published one small print run comic in the late 1970s when I was working somewhere that had a litho press. The rest of the time, the comics, even the underground ones, were published by other people. The obvious answer, though is the internet.
downthetubes: What one piece of advice would you give would be self publishers working on their first book?
Bryan: Persevere.
downthetubes: What's next for Grandville? Is it ongoing?
Bryan: I’ve plotted out the next three books and am currently scripting the third one while waiting to hear back from a publisher about a graphic novel collaboration that I may well be doing first with a writer. I don’t want to mention it here, in case it doesn’t happen, but will definitely let you know when and if it’s going ahead.
downthetubes: Would you consider seeing Grandville in other mediums, like animation, for example?
Bryan: Absolutely. It would work fine as a CGI movie.
downthetubes: Bryan, thanks very much for your time. Follow the badger!
The Grandville: Mon Amour Tour Saturday 20th November
The book will be officially launched at the Thought Bubble Comics Festival. Saviles Hall, Leeds. Bryan will be there all day to sign copies. On Sunday he will be giving the Grandville Presentation in the Hepworth Room at the Leeds Art Gallery at 3.30pm - 4.30pm. Admission free.
Tuesday 30 Nov 2010 7.00pm
"Grandville and the Anthropomorphic Tradition" - Powerpoint presentation at Orleans House Gallery - Coach House, Riverside, Twickenham, TW1 3DJ: Full price £7.00 Concession £6.00: Richmond Literature Festival.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - 6.45pm to 8.15pm ICA, The Mall, London SW1, In conversation with Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell: Tickets: £12, Concessions £11, Members £10
Bryan Talbot has posted a YouTube trailer for his upcoming steampunk graphic novel Grandville Mon Amour, which will be launched at the Thought Bubble convention in Leeds in November...
This follow up to his earlier steampunk tale, Grandville, is officially published in the UK on 16th December by Jonathan Cape, with a US edition from Dark Horse released on 22nd February 2011. We recently reported on a signing for the book at Forbidden Planet London to mark the UK release in December.
Set three weeks after the finale of Grandville, Grandville, Mon Amour pits Detective Inspector Archie LeBrock of Scotland Yard against an old adversary, Edward 'Mad Dog' Mastock - a psychotic serial killer whose shocking escape from his execution at the Tower of London begins this fast-paced, Hitchcockian steampunk thriller.
With a range of new and fascinating characters and a mix of Holmesian deduction, knowing humour and edge of the seat action, Grandville Mon Amour continues the vein of high-octane adventure begun in the first volume. Can even LeBrock escape the past or do heroes have feet of clay?
The Plot: Bryan Talbot's most recent book, Alice in Sunderland, was hailed by The Guardian as one of the ten best graphic novels ever and acclaimed by critics all over the world. Before that, at the start of his career, he created the first ever steampunk graphic novel, The Adventures of Luther Arkwright.
In Grandville Talbot brings us another steampunk masterpiece. Inspired by the work of the nineteenth-century French illustrator Gerard, who worked under the pseudonym 'Grandville' and frequently drew anthropomorphic animal characters, it tells the story of detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard as he stalks a gang of murderers through the heart of Belle Epoque Paris.
In this alternative reality, France is the major world power and its capital is thronged with steam-driven hansom cabs, automatons and flying machines. The characters are mostly animals, though there is an underclass of humans, often referred to as 'dough faces', who resemble the 'clear-line' characters of Herge's Tintin books.
Visually stunning, Grandville is a fantastical and audacious rollercoaster ride that will add to Talbot's reputation as one of the best graphic novelists in the world.
The Review: After what some would describe as the 'heavy' nature of Alice in Sunderland, with his new project, Grandville, writer-artist-Doctor Bryan Talbot kicks off his shoes and delivers a no-nonsense steampunk adventure melding Rupert the Bear, Tintin and Kill Bill-styled action, with plenty of humour along the way - and it's simply brilliant.
Quite apart from the stunning steampunk-inspired graphics there's plenty of action, beautiful art and a horde of in-jokes for comics fans that don't detract from overall adventure, as the unstoppable badger Inspector LeBrock takes on the devious French to expose a heinous plot that plugs straight into 9/11 conspiracy theories and more.
Well known for his attention to detail and fastidious art style, Bryan ensures his mystery plot has no holes, right down to the obvious silk ribbon in a typewriter used to write a mystery report by a murder victim LeBrock is called on to investigate in a rural England recently freed from French rule (no chance of reading the report from that). The in jokes are great: the drug addict 'Snowy' dreaming of Blue Lotus and more, and my favourite, the revelation that the dough-faced and odd-looking humans apparently originate in Angouleme (home of course to the world's most recognized international annual comics event and major bande dessines museum in our world).
Grandville is a delight: you can read it as a fun, no-nonsense, rip-roaring adventure or re-read it for all the subtext Bryan's woven into the tale. The central characters are heroic but endearing, the villains vile and well worth booing as they make their entrance.
With a every page a feast for the eye we have no hesitation is saying Grandville is highly recommended...
• Grandville is published by Jonathan Cape and is on sale from 15th October 2009
More Reviews
"I love this comic. It’s big, bold, brash, insanely detailed and has badgers torturing frogs. There are steam powered carriages and robots, gratuitous violence, big explosions, lots of kicking, a decent ending and Inspector Brock finding a long, long way from Wind in the Willows..."
The Plot: Bryan Talbot's most recent book, Alice in Sunderland, was hailed by The Guardian as one of the ten best graphic novels ever and acclaimed by critics all over the world. Before that, at the start of his career, he created the first ever steampunk graphic novel, The Adventures of Luther Arkwright.
Talbot brings us another steampunk masterpiece. Inspired by the work of the nineteenth-century French illustrator Gerard, who worked under the pseudonym 'Grandville' and frequently drew anthropomorphic animal characters, it tells the story of detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard as he stalks a gang of murderers through the heart of Belle Epoque Paris.
