Heart of Empire by Bryan Talbot

This story picks up twenty or so years after the previous volume. The main protagonist is Victoria, the Princess Royal, daughter of Queen Anne and Luther Arkwright. Her mother is now Empress of most of the world and is depicted as a grasping octopus in scurrilous pamphlets being distributed by revolutionary suffragists calling for (gasp!) a system of democracy. Victoria makes a habit of walking amongst the common folk and evidently is keen to understand what their grievances are, unlike her mother appearing at court in grand Elizabethan style regalia to issue her decrees whilst hiding a ghastly secret.

As well as the revolutionary forces, other factions are at play - an assassin sent by a dying pope, a cabal of Neo-puritan fascists led by the head of Anne's secret police, an American journalist and his younger companion who seems to be remarkably adept at fighting, and various other characters drawn from the real world including Princess Diana and Kenny Baker. Of Luther Arkwright himself, there is no sign other than a memorial statue and a young revolutionary who bears a startling resemblance to him (and to Victoria). 

The action plays out over an ominous countdown of five days to an unspecified cataclysm. Preparations are under way for a grand victory day celebration at a newly constructed Crystal Palace, mysterious sigils keep appearing, psychic forces are building and the mystery deepens page by page.

The art style in this story is closer to a traditional comic book, and it's gorgeously coloured rather than the previous monochrome. It's still phenomenally detailed though, with some stunning sequences of hallucinations and dreams, switching between multiple silent panels and splash pages. The story is more linear than before, but Talbot is happy to take his time in the narrative unlike the traditional comic style that demands that everything be wrapped up in a 23 page issue including an obligatory fight scene. 

In retrospect, it was the right move to take a different approach with this volume both in style and tone, although there are many callbacks and references to it, and the theme contrasts the tyranny of monarchy with its mirror self of the puritan fascism. It would be nice to think (as Talbot concludes) that non-violent resistance will lead to democratic socialism, but, well, that idea is left as an exercise for the reader.

In conclusion, an excellent piece of work, not quite on the same level as the first story, but it really would have been difficult to top that. It's certainly made me want to revisit Alice in Sunderland as well as buying some of Talbot's other books.