cover image Betty Blues

Betty Blues

Renaud Dillies. NBM Comics Lit (www.nbmpublishing.com), $18.99 (80p) ISBN 978-1-56163-758-4

A moody story of anthropomorphized animal romance from the creator of Abelard. Little Rice Duck is one of the best trumpeters in the West Wood’s various jazz dives. But he’s such a dedicated player that his girl Betty, a real glam looker, is starved for attention. So when a (literal) fat cat shows up and promises Betty all the champagne and high living she wants, that’s it for her. The already-anger-prone Rice spirals down fast, announcing that he’s “fed up with this life of monomaniacal musical has-beens.” He then renounces jazz for a life of wandering. Dillies’s autumnal-toned art is awash in smoky ambience, with its tangled alleyways and grimy clubs. The patter is straight painted-on noir, which makes it all seem like something of a gimmick. But Dillies tries to leaven the mood with the occasional romantic aside and comic detail: when a dog gets knocked unconscious, little fish circle his head instead of birds. The art is as lovely as it is irresistible. (Nov.)