If it hadn't been for this tutorial, I don't think I would've read this or even heard of this work. Reading it, I was defiantely reminded of Will Eisner's work in The Spirit and even Frank Miller's Sin City graphic novel. I know Billi 99 came out in the early part of the 90's, but I'm not sure if this had any influence on Miller's work, but there are defianatel similarities in tone, art, and many other aspects.
It was a really enjoyable story that took things that have already been used in comics and other media and made it unique. In fact there are even direct references to some of these influences such as Zorro. It's not necessarily a superhero book, but it does have a film noir style, probably best depicted by the choice of making it a black and white comic.
I'm familiar with Tim Sale's work in superhero comics with Jeph Loeb on Batman, Heroes, and their various Marvel projects, but he really blew me away with the art in Billi 99. Not only that but the fact that he did all the lettering, which was a joy to look at, especially the sound effects. There are many sequences that come to mind after reading it like the panel spacing on p. 11 that drop down to the corner. Or the flashback sequence on p.20-21, where the art style noticably changes. I don't know how best to describe it, only that the lines change, but you can tell this part is set in the past.
And of course, no film noir comic would be complete without silhoutes, which there are plenty of in the book. There's one I particularily like on the bottom left on p.30, which at first I didn't know what it was, but then I finally realized it was a closeup of Anunzi's bottom half of his face drinking from the glass. Another sequence to note is the chase sequence between Billi and the cop on p.148-149, that's arranged in interconnecting panels read from left-right in a curvy fashion. You just have to look at it to see what I'm talking about it, but it's such a unique way of staging a chase while still keeping the story going and not using too many panels.
Overall, I found Billi 99 enjoyable. Perhaps a little too similar to other works, but I'm guessing this came before many, and glad to read another jem that hasn't been noticed in the mainstream.
1 comment:
Taimur,
Great analysis of BILLI 99! I was really impressed with the thoughtfulness and time you took to write about Byam's story and Sale's artwork.
You astutely drew comparisons (no pun intended) with Wisner's and Miller's work. I loved it that you alluded to the "Zorro" influence -- Spanish hat and cape, bit give-away.
I was particularly interested in having you point out in class and on your BLOG that Tim Sale works on HEROES, doing the paintings. Also,
I did not read the BILLI 99 credits closely enough and did not pick-up on that Sale did the "lettering." I am appreciative that you pointed that out to me!
Byam is part of the Seattle comics-artists-writers scene, by the way.
Cynthia
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