Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Grandville by Bryan Talbot

The first thing thing that will be impressed upon anyone who picks up Grandville by Bryan Talbot, is what a gorgeous production this is in every respect, with some of the very best art and coloring you'll have the pleasure to experience. Amongst the inspirations for Grandville, Talbot lists Sir Arthur Doyle, Rupert the Bear, and Quentin Tartintino, which should give those curious about what Grandville is as to what kind of book this is. Bryan Talbot is a master comic book writer and artist, who never repeats himself as is evident with his earlier graphic novels The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, Heart of Empire, The Tale of One Bad Rat, and Alice in Sunderland.
Grandville is a steampunk, anthromorphic (talking animals), murder mystery adventure for mature readers that takes place in an alternate reality / history England and Paris and every page is an entertaining, charged read. As realized as the story is that unfolds within Grandville, Talbot's art is the true star here (along with the coloring) and this is a graphic novel that one could look at repeatedly and always find new delights. Grandville is a full-colored 100 page hardcover published by Dark Horse for a mere $17.95.

3 comments:

Rick Tucker said...

Seriously, put a copy of Grandville in my box as soon as you read this.
Rick

Ty said...

Way off topic, but I was in on Friday at noon and the replacement cashier said you were OUT of the last Planetary issue. He grabbed one from that mystery pile of comics that sits right under the TV.
I don't know comic retailing for shite, but isn't that a big drop of the moneyball?
What's really mental is that since it has been 2 years? since the last issue, the pretty Cassady art and a story that is a bare minimum above crap should mean that it is considered great and sells/out accordingly. Who the fuck remembers anything particular in the plot?
Ahh the comicbook business. Run like a goddamn Swiss watch

Ralph Mathieu said...

Hi Ty

Sorry I missed you, even more sorry that I did run out of Planetary #27, but I'm glad my substitute knew where to get one for you. I'll have more next Wednesday for anyone who didn't get one already. Yes, this is a wacky business - I thought I'd ordered enough to last awhile, but I didn't want to go searching through invoices over two years old to see how many I was ordering (#26 was bbefore I had a POS system).