The Lyrical Comics of Dillies Set: Including Abelard, Bubbles & Gondola, Betty Blues by Renaud Dillies
| The Lyrical Comics of Dillies Set: Including Abelard, Bubbles & Gondola, Betty Blues by Renaud Dillies | |
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| Category: Graphic Novels | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: A very enjoyable set of books in one combined offering – these animal tales are well worth exploring for their olde-worlde and melancholic charms. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 288 | Date: July 2017 |
| Publisher: NBM Publishing Company | |
| ISBN: 9781681121062 | |
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A young duck who plays horn in a jazz band is so rapt in his music he doesn't see his girlfriend leaving the bar with another man, which compels him to throw his instrument away and seek a change of scene – without realising what that might entail. A young mouse writer finds himself in the company of solitude, whether he likes it or not. And a young bird with a happy life still itches to learn what is over the horizon, and partly inspired by a crush on a girl he knows, seeks an entirely new life in America to attain the sparkly things that might be what turns her head. Yes, these graphic novels are entirely peopled by animals – sometimes unspecified species, too – but they have a very mature look at the world, and it's not a world where everything comes up roses…
This was a really welcome look at the output of a French graphic novelist whose work was unknown to me. He has many more titles to his name, but these three, with their anthropomorphised worlds, do have a connection together. What's more, by buying all three hardbacks in one super-saver bundle at once, you can see their similarities and their differences.
There is a progression, for one, in the design – from the first book that almost refused to leave its 3x2 grid layout, to the second, which again did so only reluctantly, to the final book, which had a much freer page display, and even went as far as having some curved edges to the images. There is a gradual shedding of the narrator's voice, where the first-person telling drops away, until we're left with our lovely but very naïve bird to close. The third story here, if you take them in chronological order as I did, offers a much richer maturity and more novelty than the others, and I don't put that at the door of it being a collaboration with someone else, more so that the author was hitting peak form.
The similarities include, of course the animals, and while their use presents an awkwardness at times (what with cross-breeding amongst species, and seemingly incorrect use of scale here and there) –I liked them. There's something special about the use of innocent little creatures, especially when we face the emotions these pages are giving us. The books never once get sentimental, but they do have a certain melancholia, whether it be the jazz scene tropes of the first book to the really pleasantly-conveyed European diaspora in the third. All our heroes are musical, and that creative side to them only adds to their appeal. And common to the first two books is a wonderful way with the dream scene.
So to my full response to the works. Well, I enjoyed the first certainly – it isn't a long read, but it has a depth to the world and a richness about it, even if it does borrow from cliché at times. Certainly the story quite wilfully takes you on paths you don't expect it to tread, however. Similarly the second one also surprises you (why can't he be allowed to form a friendship with the doctor, you'll ask yourself), but with its brief running-time and veering towards the cockamamie I felt it the weakest entry in this series, and the only one not to give me a really pleasant belly-laugh. I was all for saying these books are fine, but may be an acquired taste. But then – then I found Abelard.
And this is just wonderful. After two slightly fantastical worlds, I was a little surprised to see this story so steeped in our historical reality – with mention of Odessa, Eastern European names, gadjo here and gadjo there, etc. But there is a reason for America being the promised land, and it's not because that has been the common go-to place where the grass is greener. The whole balance here, from the sterling and quick way with character we can instantly latch on to, to the completely bizarre – the hat that serves as a deliverer of a daily fortune cookie – is just superb.
So it's utterly disappointing to read that there is a sequel to Abelard (like the original, in two shorter part-works) that has yet to see light of day in English. I say disappointing, not because I don't want more of the same – trust me, I do – but because it proves that this has been a really good calling-card for this author, and really has served to whet my appetite very successfully. And that's an appetite I cannot feed. I certainly want more, and when it comes to Abelard, you certainly will too.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
Grandville by Bryan Talbot began a series of more animal-based dramas, although there the animals were expected to behave as per their species, whereas the world in these books seems to be less keen on obeying such rules.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Lyrical Comics of Dillies Set: Including Abelard, Bubbles & Gondola, Betty Blues by Renaud Dillies at Amazon.com.
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