Grandville by Brryan Talbot
Same as before. Hopefully Furplanet will get some decent way of line breaking or editing a post on comments for products or some sort of genuine forums. They would have a larger customer base if they only expanded on the ability to encourage some of this feedback on their products.
One of the things that caught my attention about this title was the hardcover and design. When I see a row of soft covers, and badly thrown together color covers something like this ultimately grabs my eyes. It's unique, has a simple and concise design, and shows enough of the setting to get me interested. For 20 bucks? A bit pricey compared to some work, but needless to say well worth the investment of reading. This is something a normal person can take off your shelf and read, or take a laugh from. There is no shame in displaying this to the general public.
The action and flow of the story is surprisingly relaxed for something so fast paced. Never once does the writer try to force anything down the audience's throat. This is something I truly appreciate, for the simple reason of I don't know where I am or what the characters are doing. I also don't know what an Inspector-Detective is, as people tend to use only one title. LeBrock has all the curtness and charm of Sherlock, but lacks any real defining characteristics. We don't know or find out much about him. Having him on the road for a majority of the story forces us to simply watch him in action.
Inspector is both a police rank and an administrative position, both used in a number of contexts. A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. Obviously LeBrock being of Scotland yard is no P.I., and yet I'm not use to hearing the conjoined title in context with all the crime dramas; It's bulky. It doesn't really give us any sort of impression of his rank. If he's an administrator why is he traveling? He's apparently very valuable, and police of that rank never tend to go outside of the office in most cases even in modern crime works.
There is no thought provoking period of putting together the clues, simply interrogation and execution guns blazing. Good for you action types, bad for character development. Not bad in a terrible sense where we see nothing, but bad enough to make some audience members shake their heads and wonder. In particular the romance sequence. There is no romance other than sleeping with a female character of limited importance. Okay, I can accept he wanted to hook up. LeBrock is not married. I know something about this character now.
A good device used in the story is that the main character isn't all knowing despite his Sherlock inspired origin. He relies on a partner to do his footwork separate from him, not alongside like a Watson only to be patronized. Detective Ratzi, although well dressed and having a monocle never puts on the heir of being an actual gentleman. He also falls into sidekick syndrome from time to time, but is more than capable of fending for himself.
The history and alternate time line of the story was well introduced and explained throughout the comic in small bits through observations. Dialog isn't forced or interfere with the story. Fiction is the controlled release of information, and this writer is a master of that control. For this one thing I applaud his work for, and possibly it's most compelling trait is the story and the way it's shown. Your made to feel your watching a movie at times, and bearing witness to something happening in a logical sequence of events. Transitions may be sparse, but the few that are there are seem less. I wish I had more space to compliment the writer more on this, as the absence of complicating the story makes it more enjoyable.
The variety of anthropomorphic people was uncanny. There were no holds barred, and if you enjoy specific types your bound to find at least one character to enjoy, minor or otherwise. I leave specific types out of my review for the fact that their characters aren't developed or ruled by what animal they happen to be portrayed by (save Ratzi), and again this is a very good thing. The writer doesn't play favorites, and the story doesn't suffer from having LeBrock as sort of a superhuman character which he was never meant to embody.
There are robots and other such steam powered devices that will make fantasy buffs either cheer or jeer. There is no way of predicting how well you will take to the element, but it isn't overplayed to the point where you will be forced to accept anything. They are in the background and of little importance save in one or two scenes where it's predictable to be used.
There are no classic sound effects or 'sfx'. No shaffakooms, no explosion noises, nothing. This is not a bad thing, as those sound effects would only clutter panels and obstruct actions and a very decent background in most cases. however it also shows that the artist loves to overload a page with panels. This is a common occurrence, and not exactly an error. He knows how to use space constructively, and even for all my looking over the pages with critical eyes only once or twice did I think a composition could be done better with fewer panels. The number of them on certain pages just shows how fast or slow a conversation in a scene goes at the pace of intense action.
the story goes in the opposite direction of the usual comic I've have picked up in the past, starting with a stark almost motionless scene erupting into a fast paced chase scene. A great device, but it doesn't work. In the introduction the audience is thrown into a chase they don't any idea for what reason it's even happening. Normally I wouldn't protest, but I use the Goonies as a prime example in a case like this for introductions. You knew who the criminals were and that they had broken a family member out of jail. That gave the chase a little more meaning than just pointless explosions and driving around town.
Also for cobble stone streets, none of these pneumatic powered carts and rocket skates seem to jerk or jump. Apparently in steam punk France there are ways of smoothing cobblestones out to behave like paved roads, or I am missing something.
I hope you like puns, and if you don't it's still worth groaning over. The obligatory badger pun is given. Are you really surprised?
One of the things that caught my attention about this title was the hardcover and design. When I see a row of soft covers, and badly thrown together color covers something like this ultimately grabs my eyes. It's unique, has a simple and concise design, and shows enough of the setting to get me interested. For 20 bucks? A bit pricey compared to some work, but needless to say well worth the investment of reading. This is something a normal person can take off your shelf and read, or take a laugh from. There is no shame in displaying this to the general public.
The action and flow of the story is surprisingly relaxed for something so fast paced. Never once does the writer try to force anything down the audience's throat. This is something I truly appreciate, for the simple reason of I don't know where I am or what the characters are doing. I also don't know what an Inspector-Detective is, as people tend to use only one title. LeBrock has all the curtness and charm of Sherlock, but lacks any real defining characteristics. We don't know or find out much about him. Having him on the road for a majority of the story forces us to simply watch him in action.
Inspector is both a police rank and an administrative position, both used in a number of contexts. A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. Obviously LeBrock being of Scotland yard is no P.I., and yet I'm not use to hearing the conjoined title in context with all the crime dramas; It's bulky. It doesn't really give us any sort of impression of his rank. If he's an administrator why is he traveling? He's apparently very valuable, and police of that rank never tend to go outside of the office in most cases even in modern crime works.
There is no thought provoking period of putting together the clues, simply interrogation and execution guns blazing. Good for you action types, bad for character development. Not bad in a terrible sense where we see nothing, but bad enough to make some audience members shake their heads and wonder. In particular the romance sequence. There is no romance other than sleeping with a female character of limited importance. Okay, I can accept he wanted to hook up. LeBrock is not married. I know something about this character now.
A good device used in the story is that the main character isn't all knowing despite his Sherlock inspired origin. He relies on a partner to do his footwork separate from him, not alongside like a Watson only to be patronized. Detective Ratzi, although well dressed and having a monocle never puts on the heir of being an actual gentleman. He also falls into sidekick syndrome from time to time, but is more than capable of fending for himself.
The history and alternate time line of the story was well introduced and explained throughout the comic in small bits through observations. Dialog isn't forced or interfere with the story. Fiction is the controlled release of information, and this writer is a master of that control. For this one thing I applaud his work for, and possibly it's most compelling trait is the story and the way it's shown. Your made to feel your watching a movie at times, and bearing witness to something happening in a logical sequence of events. Transitions may be sparse, but the few that are there are seem less. I wish I had more space to compliment the writer more on this, as the absence of complicating the story makes it more enjoyable.
The variety of anthropomorphic people was uncanny. There were no holds barred, and if you enjoy specific types your bound to find at least one character to enjoy, minor or otherwise. I leave specific types out of my review for the fact that their characters aren't developed or ruled by what animal they happen to be portrayed by (save Ratzi), and again this is a very good thing. The writer doesn't play favorites, and the story doesn't suffer from having LeBrock as sort of a superhuman character which he was never meant to embody.
There are robots and other such steam powered devices that will make fantasy buffs either cheer or jeer. There is no way of predicting how well you will take to the element, but it isn't overplayed to the point where you will be forced to accept anything. They are in the background and of little importance save in one or two scenes where it's predictable to be used.
There are no classic sound effects or 'sfx'. No shaffakooms, no explosion noises, nothing. This is not a bad thing, as those sound effects would only clutter panels and obstruct actions and a very decent background in most cases. however it also shows that the artist loves to overload a page with panels. This is a common occurrence, and not exactly an error. He knows how to use space constructively, and even for all my looking over the pages with critical eyes only once or twice did I think a composition could be done better with fewer panels. The number of them on certain pages just shows how fast or slow a conversation in a scene goes at the pace of intense action.
the story goes in the opposite direction of the usual comic I've have picked up in the past, starting with a stark almost motionless scene erupting into a fast paced chase scene. A great device, but it doesn't work. In the introduction the audience is thrown into a chase they don't any idea for what reason it's even happening. Normally I wouldn't protest, but I use the Goonies as a prime example in a case like this for introductions. You knew who the criminals were and that they had broken a family member out of jail. That gave the chase a little more meaning than just pointless explosions and driving around town.
Also for cobble stone streets, none of these pneumatic powered carts and rocket skates seem to jerk or jump. Apparently in steam punk France there are ways of smoothing cobblestones out to behave like paved roads, or I am missing something.
I hope you like puns, and if you don't it's still worth groaning over. The obligatory badger pun is given. Are you really surprised?