Grandville: Force Majeure (Graphic Novel)

By Brian Talbot

Publisher: Dark Horse Books (November 14 2017)

Hardcover 176 pages

          Continuing with my current theme of reading graphic novels of worlds filled with anthropomorphic animals we come to Grandville: Force Majeure, the fifth and, unfortunately, last book in the series. The author states that essentially each of the pages simply take too long to produce and five excellent books surrounding this character is nothing to be ashamed of. He further states that he feels the art and story are the strongest so far and has decided to go out while on top.

          For those who don’t know, the world of Grandville is an alternate history steampunk setting where Napoleon was not defeated at Waterloo and went on to dominate Europe. The only recent break in this was in England, which won its independence after many decades of guerrilla warfare. Grandville is a nickname for Paris which is the cultural, economic, and political center of the world. The various animals races are not commented upon and, like all such worlds, one simply has to accept them. The main character is Detective Inspector Archibald Le Brock, a badger from a working class background who has risen up the ranks through brilliance and determination. A violent Wind in the Willows.

          This is a very dense book. A lot of ins and outs, flashbacks, take backs, explanations in the old Sherlock Holmes style (re-read some of the original stories they often have large portions of Holmes explaining his actions from earlier in the story). This is fitting as we are introduced to Le Brock’s mentor, Hawksmoor (a Holmes analog) and are treated to more of the detective’s history. The action escalates with the release from prison of the gangster Cray, the brother of the man who murdered Le Brock’s wife. This starts an avalanche of murder and mayhem which leads to Le Brock having to match wits against the Napoleon of Crime in Grandville, master of all of the Paris gangs.  This one is not for the kids.

          Even better than the story is the incredible artwork. Full color and glossy, the detail given to each of the various animal species is incredible. The author doesn’t stick to the normal array of animals as do most who create such worlds. He has shellfish, crabs, slugs, badgers, an extraordinary number of different bird, lizard, dog types, and even a T-Rex. There are also a few nods to the anthropomorphized characters from other series about: Blacksad, Howard the Duck, The Bearenstein Bears, Donald Duck, and a few others that have slipped my memory.

          I’m going to miss this series. The dialog, the characters, the world in general, despite being all animal heads, felt very real. It takes a true master of storytelling to allow a reader to effortlessly look past the more bizarre elements of the story and become swept away in this fiction. He did before with Luther Arkwright and has succeeded again with Grandville. And with both the author always leaves me wanting more.

           For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.