The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott

Product Information

What makes Billie Scott different to traditional depictions of life in poverty or the working poor in British pop culture is its upbeat conclusion. Stories by the aforementioned Curtis and Nolan generally sideline class or economic concerns. Mainstream British journalists are pretty contemptuous of anyone who’s not like them (not surprising given 61% are privately educated). Ken Loach’s brand of social realism would never conclude in such an upbeat manner. Billie Scott’s sense that things can be good even when they’re not shares more commonalities with British soap operas such as Coronation Street, although episodic TV’s reliance on cliffhangers pushes those shows towards overly dramatic plot devices. psychedelia-esque curves represent smoke and musical vibrations, which seems suitable given that smoke and music, both ephemeral materials, have often been used as metaphors for each other. The visual language Thorogood develops throughout the book to denote music is employed at a later stage in a moment where the comic attempts to show something that is invisible through visual signs. It is an impressive effort to achieve something so counterintuitive.

Home | Avery Hill Publishing

As a depiction of young friendship, Billie Scott is great, just don’t expect too much from it about blindness. In fact, the impending blindness of the title works out to be not much more than a MacGuffin. As Scott herself says near the end: "this journey was never about my blindness.” It seems a shame that a story about a visual artist going on a road trip to ‘find what they’re looking for’ while going blind doesn’t utilize the allegorical and metaphorical resonances that blindness as a literary device offers. Also, nothing of the stuff that supposedly helps 'build the story' actually did that.. Like why was Billie living off the streets all of a sudden? I thought she had just become besties with her roommates (who didn't know she existed until a minute before that). Oh wait, it was (kind of) explained close to the end of the graphic novel, but I guess I just stopped buying whatever the author was selling at that point. A striking exposition on the art of creation and acts of kindness, “The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott” is an impressive debut.Humanity is on the verge of discovering immortality, which means the avatar of Death is out of a job… or is she? This memorable cast of characters also provides Thorogood with an opportunity to create a kind of art within the art as she draws the sketches of the subjects that lead to Billie’s paintings. This comic shows that she is fascinated by people and their inner workings, and Billie Scott has a sense of hope and wonder despite its protagonist’s loss of sight. Along with Billie, Thorogood populates her comic with a wonderful cast of characters from folk punk artist Rachel (who keeps getting thrown out of bars) and bride-to-be Sara to Falklands war veteran Arthur and mysterious “cool girl” Iris. Billie builds relationships with them that directly influences her art.

The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott - Google Books The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott - Google Books

Did I stay up way too late reading this in one sitting as I could not put it down? YEP. Is Zoe Thorogood the future of comics? Yea, probably? Weird question, sorry, why would I ask that. Oh, it’s because everything Thorogood does is so goddamn engrossing that I just want to shout about it to everyone. Which I have been doing at the bookstore anytime someone so much as glances at the graphic novel section. But for real, The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott from Zoe Thorogood is a delight. We follow runaway artist Billie who, on the cusp of their big break with a gallery showing, is the victim of random violence that leaves her going blind. With only weeks before her eyesight is gone, she sets out to make 10 portraits and keep her artistic dreams alive, facing the cruelty of living on the streets but having meaningful conversations and making lasting friends along the way. This is a moving story, with lots of ups and downs and emotional grit that really sinks its claws into you. Like the way a cat will climb up your leg and you think “ow!” but then “aw” because it snuggles up in your lap and you love cats. This book is like if that cat was art, all brought to life through Thorogood’s incredible artwork and humor. A conti fatti era l’unica cosa che le interessava fare, era sola al mondo e giacché era anche senza soldi non usciva molto. For a cynic like myself, the upbeat conclusion, romantic thread neatly tied up and all, feels a little too clean. I liked the fact that the book was setting up the conventions of a bildungsroman while introducing an unavoidable tragedy that up until the final act was unsettling my expectations all the way through. It’s a shame that that initial defiance of genre conventions is replaced with a narrative swerve that arrives at a nice but predictable conclusion. However, I also feel mean spirited for having such a complaint - why not forgive an author for imagining a positive outcome for characters they obviously have a lot of love for? With its upbeat, kind hearted conclusion, I’d hazard a guess that Billie Scott is the sort of book which introduces young adults to comics, more so than any of the formalist or purposefully miserable work that dominates my bookshelf. This isn’t untypical of British drama, either; some of our most successful storytelling exports, such as Richard Curtis and Christopher Nolan, regularly provide audiences with optimistic endings. This was NOT my kind of book I guess.. Currently giving it two stars, because I find it physically hurting to give one, but honestly? I might still change this rating in the end.Sie zieht also los, um in der ihr verbliebenen Zeit 10 Portraits von Leuten, die sie noch gar nicht kennt, zu zeichnen und landet dabei in Pubs, auf der Straße und im Obdachlosenheim, wo sie natürlich auch Freunde kennenlernt.

The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott : Thorogood, Zoe The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott : Thorogood, Zoe

It’s surprising that given all the bad things that may well happen over the next twelve months, many of the negative effects of which will mostly affect younger generations, a new book by a relatively young author delivers a positive visualization of the present and near future. Perhaps this is going to be our new survival mechanism moving forward, it’s not like dour realism has helped us much in a material sense. Unlike Scott, I’m not sure art can change the world, not in the way she implies here. What I can say is that art represents how people are thinking, and it’s an impressive and positive sign as to the resilience of both an emerging generation and the artistic impulse that The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott presents a UK where all the stuff that matters still matters. The houseless people we do meet are mostly extremely kind souls with several of them seeming to live on the streets... By choice? By the end of the comic one of them is somehow in uni, another has published three books, and yet another has bought a business and is now gathering huge crowds of customers.A few cheesy unoriginal passages about how life doesn’t stop at your hobby and that people can be interesting on a series of cute drawings, and this boring (and thankfully short) story is done. A colorful and eclectic comics anthology exploring a wide range of autistic experiences—from diagnosis journeys to finding community—from autistic contributors. The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott' ist das Debüt von Zoe Thorogood und hat nach ihrer eigenen Aussage auch schon autobiografische Züge.

The Impending Success of Zoe Thorogood - Comic Lounge The Impending Success of Zoe Thorogood - Comic Lounge

Zoe Thorogood's first graphic novel is spectacular. Her art has sophisticated echoes of Egon Schiele and Æon Flux/Peter Chung, with incredibly grounded storytelling. It's the mix of the two that makes this book so engaging. I devoured it in one sitting.

Wie in der Beschreibung zu lesen ist, ist Billie Scott angehende Künstlerin, die eingeladen wurde mit 10 neuen Werken an einer Galerie teilzunehmen. As Billie struggles to deal with her impending blindness, she sets off on a journey from Middlesbrough to London; into a world of post-austerity Britain and the problems facing those left behind. Her quest is to find ten people to paint for her exhibition, as well as the inspiration to continue with her art, and the strength to move on with her life. These would seem to be working against each other, but Billie is inspired to seize the moment and takes off on a road trip with the goal of painting 10 portraits of 10 people. This is brought on by an unexpected bonding session with the housemates she previously ignored and the realization that she’s been so focused on putting her art first that she’s cut herself off from life. Creating the 10 portraits is her opportunity at one last chance of living life while she still has eyesight.