Fact or Fantasy; Ahead of a Major Comic Books Show in Birmingham This Weekend, Neil Elkes Talks to Leading Author Bryan Talbot

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Byline: Neil Elkes

British comic artist and writer Bryan Talbot won critical acclaim, plus a doctorate, for his stunning blending of local history, biography, literature and fantasy in his groundbreaking graphic novel Alice in Sunderland. But he returns to familiar turf with a rip-roaring detective thriller Grandville, only this time building on a fine tradition of animal characters in human clothes dating back to Rupert Bear and Wind in the Willows - known as anthropomorphism.

Grandville, to be launched at the British International Comics Show in Birmingham this weekend, is a page-turning adventure featuring an English badger detective Le Brock and his monocled rat side-kick Roderick as they uncover a sinister political plot in the heart of Victorian Paris.

While badgers, foxes, bears and rabbits are often associated with children's literature, …