By Bryan Talbot
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
ISBN: 978-0-5224-09000-1
This the second anthropomorphic book I’ve looked at recently, but a different tale indeed from that of Blacksad. Like his visionary Luther Arkwright, Bryan Talbot has a gift for carving out detailed alternative realities whilst still successfully depicting the intimate hopes and fears of his characters. If you’ve not read the first instalment (and you should have done so), the hero is Detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard who inhabits a world where the French won at Waterloo and the balance of power very much shifted to the other side of the channel.
In this story a hideous (and he is hideous thanks to Talbot’s artistic skills, and in stark contrast to many of the cuddlier characters) and brutal killer escapes the Tower of London minutes before his execution and immediately takes again to slaughter. LeBrock brought him in before and hopes to do so again, but when he learns he’s been sidelined he takes matters into his own hands and the chase is on.
Compared to the first volume, Grandville Mon Amour has the luxury of assuming you understand the setting so can dedicate more of its pages to story rather than setting the scene, and I’d argue it draws you in quicker and maintains that pace until the end. Very enjoyable indeed.
And if you liked that: Make sure you’ve picked up a copy of Bryan Talbot’s The Tale Of One Bad Rat, a very different tale indeed.
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