The Badger is back! At Toad Hall, lair of multibillionaire…

The Badger is back! At Toad Hall, lair of multibillionaire Baron Aristotle Krapaud, a cabal of industrialists and fat cats plot the violent overthrow of the French state by the intervention of horribly beweaponed automaton soldiers.

Meanwhile, the brutal murder of a famous Parisian artist, mysteriously stabbed to death in his locked and guarded studio, is subject to the investigations of the tenacious Detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard, placing him and his faithful adjunct, Detective Sergeant Roderick Ratzi, in pursuit of the mysterious masked assassin stalking the cut-throat commercial world of the Grandville art scene.

Bête Noire signals the welcome return to anthropomorphic steampunk detective fiction of master storyteller and graphic novel pioneer Bryan Talbot with the third stand-alone volume of the Eisner and Hugo Award nominated Grandville series.

As the body count mounts and events spiral exponentially out of control, aided by his brilliant deductive abilities and innate ferocity, LeBrock battles against outrageous odds in this funny, high octane thriller, an adventure shot through with both high art and comic book references, a glorious illegitimate offspring of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Ian Fleming – with animals!

Follow the Badger!

"I have greatly enjoyed the Grandville books. I think they’re superbly designed, beautifully conceived, admirably written – everything about them is terrific. They really show what the form can do. Comics is so rich a medium now that it can accommodate all kinds of wit and irony and self-referentiality without being arch about it. A graphic novel built on the solid foundation of a strong story."
Philip Pullman

Also new today: the Bryan Talbot online shop has got a load of new, original artwork from Bryan available... - this is literally the only place you can buy these masterpieces online: the only other place they can be bought is from Bryan himself at Comics Conventions... have a look at the new Luther Arkwright original artwork and treat yourself to something you've always promised you would buy yourself!

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Wednesday February 22nd: Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes at the Lit and Phil!
The Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society are hosting a Dotter event at 6.30pm on Tuesday 28th February, consisting of a Powerpoint presentation by Mary Talbot, followed by a Q & A session with Bryan and Mary. Entry £4/£2 concession (includes entry into the current exhibition Creative Passions). 23 Westgate Road Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne And Wear NE1 1SE, United Kingdom 0191 232 0192

Also Mary was interviewed on Midweek on Radio 4 today!