Art © Bryan Talbot

Comic creator Bryan Talbot has announced a new Grandville title in his ongoing Eisner and Hugo Award-nominated series is in the works – and will be published in November.

The first critically-acclaimed steampunk detective thriller graphic novel Grandville was published in the UK in 2009 by Jonathan Cape in the UK and in seven other countries, followed by Grandville Mon Amour in November 2010 and Grandville: Bête Noire in July 2011.

In Grandville: Noël, with his trusty adjunct, Detective Sergeant Ratzi, away for Christmas, there’s no holiday for Detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard as he embarks on an investigation into the disappearance of his housekeeper’s niece, Bunty Spall.

The trail leads to a growing religious cult, where a charismatic unicorn messiah and his con men cronies, already responsible for mass murder in the United States, are about to lead a crusade for the ethnic cleansing of the French Empire’s doughfaces – the derogatory nickname for humans used by the majority, animal-headed population. Teaming up with Chance Lucas, a gun-slinging operative of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, and reigniting his steamy love affair with the voluptuous Parisian badger prostitute Billie, LeBrock clashes with both cult fanatics and doughface terrorists, uncovering in the process a centuries-old religious conspiracy that threatens to plunge the world into bloody civil war.

Grandville: Noël signals the welcome return to anthropomorphic steampunk detective fiction from Bryan, featuring its trademark fast-paced blend of deduction, humour, artistic pastiche and explosive edge-of-the-seat action – dramatically raising the bar for the whole series.

With Paris in the grip of the mysterious crime lord, Tiberius Koenig, and an increasingly violent backlash by human extremists, can LeBrock stop the seemingly inevitable slide into fascism? What is the secret of the legendary True Gospels? Can he rescue Bunty Spall from the clutches of the strangely hypnotic unicorn named Apollo?

And, perhaps more importantly – we’ll have to wait until November to find out – does Bunty want to be saved? And will LeBrock be back in time for Christmas dinner?

No badger does it better!

• Grandville: Noël will be published in November 2014. If you haven’t picked up Grandville before, check it out over on Bryan’s official web site: http://bryan-talbot.com

• Read our review of Grandville

• Read our review of Grandville: Mon Amour

• Read our review of Grandville – Bête Noire

• Read about the Grandville figures released by Ocelot Games

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Star Trek Explorer (previously known as Star Trek Magazine) and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War and “Dan Dare”. He’s the writer of "Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies" for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Books, British Comics - Graphic Novels, Featured News

Tags: Adventure Comics, Bryan Talbot, Grandville, Grandville: Noel, SF Comics