Canales and Guarnido use the type of animals they pick and even the color of the animals to add layers to their story. Thesetypes of animalistic characters are just another way that the cartoonists can tell their story and can be used to an almost infinite number of effects. On the surface, Talbot’s approach to his characters in Grandville: Mon Amour looks a lot like how Juan DÁaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido approach their Blacksad, published earlier this year by Dark Horse, and their use of animals in a series of grounded detective stories. The tension is still high between the two countries so when LeBrock has to travel to France to track down an English killer he finds little help from the local French authorities or his own fellow Englishmen. His Europe, conquered and united by Napoleon around 200 years ago, is falling apart as England has just recently earned its freedom from France and has become a new socialist state. Talbot’s steampunkish Europe is populated by dogs, rams, pigs, hippos, frogs and even the occasional human, who’s mostly just thugs for one of the more socially accepted animals. After reading Grandville: Mon Amour, there’s one thing that puzzles me why are most of Bryan Talbot’s characters in this book animals? Archibald LeBrock, the main character, is a walking, talking badger while his sidekick is a rather dapper looking rodent of some kind.
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