The Grandville Annotations

Go to any of the Grandville annotations pages:

- Batch 1 for pages 1 to 20

- Batch 2 for pages 21 to 40

- Batch 3 for pages 41 to 60

- Batch 4 for pages 61 to the end

Also see the annotations for all of the other Grandville graphic novels:

- Grandville Mon Amour

- Grandville Bête Noire

- Grandville Noël

- Grandville Force Majeure

 


Grandville Force Majeure original art and other Bryan Talbot artwork now on sale

Page 54 of Grandville Force Majeure by Bryan Talbot

Grandville Force Majeure original artwork is now available to buy.


Join the Facebook group for Bryan Talbot fans for lots of discussions and special offers announced on Facebook first.

 

The Bryan Talbot fanpage is also on Twitter - so give us a follow and join in the conversation!

 

Bryan Talbot fanpage on InstagramAnd we are also on Instagram: give us a like and a follow!


New Grandville miniatures are now available

Grandville miniature figures on sale at Crooked Staff

The Crooked Dice site now has not only LeBrock and Ratzi and Billie miniatures - but also Chance Lucas, Hawksmoor, Koenig and more!



Buy the Heart of Empire Directors Cut

This labour of love from Bryan and myself contains every single page of Heart of Empire in pencil, ink and final full colour format - as well as over 60,000 words of annotation, commentary and explanation from Bryan... - as well as the whole of the Adventures of Luther Arkwright!

Or see the Heart of Empire Directors Cut page for more details.



Also see the Bryan Talbot t-shirt shop! - we've got a vast array of Bryan's images on lots of different t-shirts, as well as other items like mugs and fine art prints: - but if there's anything else you'd like just let us know on Twitter or at the Facebook group.


This is the only place you can buy original Bryan Talbot artwork - except from Bryan in person at a convention.


This is the new version of the Bryan Talbot fanpage
But the whole of the original Bryan Talbot fanpage is still online


The Grandville Annotations - batch 2

Grandville by Bryan Talbot - the annotations

Grandville: the Annotations page 2

Welcome to the Grandville Annotations!

This is similar in concept to the Directors Cut of Heart of Empire that Bryan and myself created: it is an attempt to answer the eternal "where do you get your ideas from?" question, and a way to showcase the influences and images that went into the creation of Grandville.

Below are the annotations for the first Grandville, pages 21 to 40: if you missed them the first page of annotations covers Grandville page 1 to 20. We are publishing updates to this page every Sunday and we will cover the entire Grandville series.

Start reading the annotations below, or jump to the annotations for page 21, page 22, page 31, page 32, page 33, page 34, page 35, page 36 and page 37.

Page 21

Panel 5
The idea that LeBrock carries his dumbells around in his luggage was directly inspired by the actor Brian Blessed, who apparently does the same, and delights in handing his bags to unsuspecting bellboys.

Panel 6
Shepherdess Follies: The literal translation of Folies Bergère, the long-established Paris cabaret, named after the Rue Bergére. Just noticed that I spelt it wrong!

Shepherdess Follies: The literal translation of Folies Bergère, the long-established Paris cabaret, named after the Rue Bergére

Page 22

Panel 1
Sarah Blairow is very loosely based on the famous actress Sarah Bernhardt. The poster is adapted from a poster by Alphonse Mucha advertising her performance in La Dame aux Camelias.

Sarah Blairow based on Sarah Bernhardt

Blairow: “blaireau”: Fr. “badger”.

There’s also a poster of Omaha the Cat Dancer, eponymous heroine of the erotic comic created by Kate Worely and Reed Waller. The art is by Reed, originally produced as a postcard (I think).

Omaha the Cat Dancer, eponymous heroine of the erotic comic created by Kate Worely and Reed Waller

Panel 4
Inspired by A Bar at the Folies Bergère (Un bar aux Folie Bergère) by Édouard Manet and, yes, they really did used to sell the British beer Bass there. Many of their customers were British businessmen who used to frequent the nightclub to enjoy the saucy entertainment impossible to see in Victorian Britain.

A Bar at the Folies Bergère (Un bar aux Folie Bergère) by Édouard Manet

One of things that can be done in comics is to encapsulate a whole atmosphere between two facing pages, which is why I always design them together. The backgrounds inside the club are digitally painted using colours sampled from the Manet painting.


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Page 31

Mary suggested that I used a cod when I was stuck for the ideal animal to portray a snooty French waiter. An inspired choice!

A cod as the perfect examply of a snooty French waiter

Page 32

Panel 7
Turtell’s comments were a description of the xenophobic UK right-wing press of the time, and nothing’s changed since.

Page 33

One of the themes of the book is the way that some politicians blatently lie to the public, exemplified at the moment by Trump, whose supporters swallow any rubbish he throws at them, and Boris Johnson and his Brexit whopper of billions for the National Health Service. For those who don’t remember, George W Bush and Tony Blair claimed that Saddam Hussian had a “superbomb” aimed at London and other weapons of mass destruction, claims later proved to be false, in order to justify their invasion of Iraq.

(Jean-Marie) Lapin, the French Prime Minister is obviously a reference to Jean-Marie Le Pen. He was the long time leader of the far right extremist Front National party until he was kicked out in 2015 by his equally obnoxious daughter, Marine Le Pen, who assumed the leadership.

“Lapin”: Fr. “rabbit”

Panel 5
The title “The Knights of Lyons” is invented, inspired by the medieval Christian sect of the Waldensians, lead by Peter Waldo of Lyons.

Page 34

Ground Zero and the dirigible attack were, of course inspired by the many conspiracy theories centred around the tragic events of 9/11, far too many to go into here.

The Robida Tower is named after the first science fiction illustrator Albert Robida (1848 – 1926). He was a true visionary, his drawings filled with such wonders as metal flying machines, videophones and towering buildings.

The Robida Tower is named after the first science fiction illustrator Albert Robida (1848 – 1926)

Robida was a true visionary, his drawings filled with such wonders as metal flying machines, videophones and towering buildings"

He appears as a character in The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia, the third graphic novel I produced with Mary, based on the life of Louise Michel.

Page 35

Panel 3
“Lapin Menteur”: “Lapin Liar”: a reference to protest banners seen in the UK after the invasion of Iraq that read “Blair Liar”.

Panel 5
Indochine Français: French Indo-China: the old French colonial name for Vietnam.

Page 36

Throwing cobblestones at the police is a common Parisian pastime. If you read a history of Paris, it’s a litany of constant riots and revolutions. After the events of 1968, when students’ and workers’ protests lead to many violent clashes with the police, the authorities had the main cobbled streets tarmacked.

Page 37

I previously mentioned that there was a reason why the chief assassin was a fox. It was so I could have him in a fight with LeBrock. Foxes and badgers portrayed as opponents seems to be a running theme in the general anthropomorphic imagination. Have a look at this piece of political propaganda from 1784. It’s a broadsheet satirising the unpopular coalition government of the Tories and Whigs (Liberals), headed by Lord North and James Fox by the English illustrator and watercolourist Thomas Rowlandson.

The Fox and the Badger, a political broadsheet from 1784

It’s remarkable in having all the attributes of a modern comic strip: it tells a story in sequential panels, using a blend of words and pictures. It uses text boxes, speech balloons, and even thought bubbles.

Beatrix Potter’s fox and badger having a scrap in The Tale of Mr Tod.

Next is Grandville Annotations part 3, covering pages 41 to 60.