Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Grandville by Bryan Talbot YP FIC TALBOT

Grandville is the story of an alternate timeline where Britain lost the Napoleonic War. 200 years have passed and Britain has finally won its independence, but is now a small nation of limited importance stuck in an Indo-China war and fighting internal anarchist terrorists. Oh, and everyone in this world is walking talking animals. Inspector-Detective LeBrock (a badger) of Scotland yard is on the case of a rash of mysterious suicides that lead to a conspiracy of international importance that go to the highest levels of power. He must solve the case and uncover a secret society of assassins before thousands are murdered in this animal steampunk, mystery-adventure!

This is one delightfully oddball graphic novel. It is a rousing mystery adventure with great action sequences made truly surreal by the fact that everyone is a giant animal person. It's like watching a cute and fuzzy Disney movie mixed with a hard-boiled detective novel. The art is really excellent. Talbot does great line work and his coloring is excellent. I got such a kick of seeming animal headed creatures stab and shoot each other! Beyond that somewhat silly reason the plot is fantastic. It takes a look at how nations respond to terrorism, racism, and class warfare...with fuzzy animals. If you like steampunk or Sherlock Holmes or fuzzy animals acting badly give Grandville a try.

No comments: