Review by Karl Verhoven

You’ve got to give Xavier Dorison credit for plain guts. There aren’t many writers with the confidence to consider producing a sequel to Animal Farm, yet that’s what Animal Castle is, the copyright on Orwell’s tour-de-force having expired.

George Orwell used the farm as an allegorical setting for Russia as he told how the enslaved animals took over the farm, and after a while there was little to separate the new hierarchy from the old. Orwell dealt primarily with the rise to power, while in Dorison’s continuation the animals have been in power for a while, it’s a castle they occupy, not a farm, and the pigs have been overthrown by incomers.

The lead character is Miss Benaglore, the only adult cat in the community, yet doing the work of a mule to feed the kittens she keeps hidden. A strutting cockerel makes the official announcements for President Silvio who’s a massive bull, and order is maintained by savage hounds. “You can see for yourselves who nature has chosen to defend you”, snarls the President, “it has made bulls and dogs stronger than other creatures for one reason alone: to lead”. Like so many real world dictators, Silvio retains power not just through strength, but also through random terror, and promoting fear of an enemy, in this case alleged wolves. Yet, it turns out, even Silvio has his masters.

Although more intelligent and able to speak among species, the cast retain their animal forms, and artist Félix Delep is superb at humanising them. This is primarily by the look in their eyes, as he otherwise draws them posed and moving for the most part largely as they would be in the real world, leading to funny scenes of the bull on a bed surrounded by cows. The major exception is hares walking on two legs, and Miss B. sometimes seen standing on them. Although they occupy a castle, the animals primarily reside in the grounds, so it’s a farmyard habitat. Delep draws this with immense skill as a working area, scruffy and dilapidated, yet beautifully pieced together, and there’s also a beauty to the snow scenes of the second chapter. Such confidence and innate talent is all the more admirable for Animal Castle being Delep’s first solo series. He’s going to be much in demand.

Dorison deals in fables, yet while readers with a broad historical knowledge will recognise where his finger points at any given time, that’s not necessary to enjoy his revolutionary saga. This is prompted by nicely considered philosophical statements imparted by a rat who performs a travelling satirical show. He encourages ridicule and passive resistance as a means of fighting back, but Dorison isn’t in the business of supplying sentimentality or easy solutions, and shows the deprivations, distress and sacrifice any form of resistance causes. He also supplies suspense as savage retribution is surely inevitable.

There’s not a lot of comfort about Animal Castle, but although the final page seems to be an ending, this is an ongoing series, and this translation only combines the opening two French albums. You’re going to want more.