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Billy Fog #1

Il dono dell'oltrevista

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Mi chiamo Billy Nebbia. Mi piacciono la solitudine e la notte, la pioggia e la malinconia. Ma la morte mi fa paura. Perché mi ha portato via Tarzan? Perché si è presa il mio gatto? E chi è, di preciso? Dove ci porta, quando viene il nostro momento? Questa notte svelerò il suo segreto; questa notte ritroverò Tarzan... Mi chiamo Billy Nebbia e ho un super potere, una specie di dono... Il dono della vista confusa...

144 pages, Hardcover

First published November 26, 2008

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Guillaume Bianco

89 books17 followers

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5 stars
98 (31%)
4 stars
101 (32%)
3 stars
75 (24%)
2 stars
30 (9%)
1 star
8 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
Profile Image for Julie.
192 reviews8 followers
December 22, 2018
Un univers très proche de celui de Tim Burton, des illustrations très fouillées, c'est un très beau monde sombre que propose Guillaume Bianco. Ce livre est un recueil d'histoires courtes, pleines d'interrogations sur la vie et la mort. Un très beau livre.
Profile Image for Ninon.
219 reviews252 followers
December 29, 2016
Mais quel coup de coeur... <3
Aussi étrange qu'originale cette BD transmets de magnifiques messages aux enfants comme aux adultes : conserver notre âme d'enfant, savoir ouvrir les yeux sur le monde, ne finalement pas avoir peur de la mort et savoir dompter ses angoisses, laisser place à notre imagination pour rendre le monde meilleur. Bref, de sublimes dessins, une conception hors du commun et une ambiance magique.
Profile Image for Feilyn.
565 reviews62 followers
October 13, 2021
Un style que j'adore et une ambiance spooky, voir dérangeante par moment, que j'ai trouvé asse cool ! Par contre, je me demande à qui s'adresse cette BD, ca me semble bien glauque pour des enfants, non?
Profile Image for Adela Bec.
263 reviews556 followers
February 10, 2013
Originally published in both ENG and RO on my blog:
http://vanillamoonblog.com/2013/02/10...

My Rating: 1/5

Review

I was intrigued when I read the description of this book and I didn’t hesitate a second and requested it on NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. I like Lemony Snicket’s books and since this book was compared to it, I didn’t think even for a minute that I wouldn’t like this one too.

Now I’m not very sure what the aimed age group this graphic novel is intended for, but I, for one, can’t imagine a child enjoying this. It’s very creepy, the sort of book that would give nightmares to those of young age. Then again, for young adults this may be boring, as it was for me.

I actually liked the first few stories in it, but only to be bored out of my mind reading the next ones, to the point where I was scrolling down the digital pages, reading everything with less interest than someone has when looking at the ingredients written on a product’s packaging.

Billy was cruel with his sister and downright annoying the whole time. The secondary characters didn’t impress me at all, with the exception of a little pity I felt for Billy’s sister and his cat – for having to deal with that boy, of course.

Some of the poem/stories had very interesting rhymes and a certain mystery in them, and the drawings were pretty good, but all these were shadowed by the poor story.

There were also some pages with information about the creatures in the book and what to do about them, but everything written in there was too silly for me to actually enjoy it.

This book was certainly not for me, as I see a lot of people actually loved it. So don’t take my word. If you’re a fan of creepy stories and monsters, you might enjoy “Billy Fog”.
Profile Image for M-AY.
324 reviews13 followers
March 12, 2011
En dépit d’une idée de départ intéressante (Billy Brouillard, son don trouble vue et son imagination foisonnante), le parler peu enfantin du héros de 8 ans (ou autour) rend les propos et la réflexion développée dans la BD peu naturels. Et pour peu qu'on n'accroche pas à l'histoire, on ressort encore plus mitigé de cette BD, pourtant loin d'être mauvaise.
A découvrir quand même.
Profile Image for patatecuite_.
309 reviews12 followers
January 29, 2022
Absolument merveilleux !!!! Dessins au-delà du magnifique, humour incroyable, l'objet livre est totalement fou. Bref, immense coup de cœur ❤️. Très hâte de l'offrir à mon lecteur de bd préféré, j'ai nommé mon grand-père 🥰
Profile Image for Cocoontale.
699 reviews58 followers
May 20, 2018
3/5
Une BD qui sort du cadre habituel avec des thèmes sombres comme la mort, la vie dans l'au-delà... Grâce à l'humour et à une imagination débordante, l'auteur parvient à nous faire ressentir de l'attachement et de la tendresse envers ce petit garçon. En revanche, je ne le conseille pas à une cible trop jeunesse (pas avant 10-12 ans). Si vous aimez Tim Burton, vous avez des chances d'être conquis !
Profile Image for El.
932 reviews36 followers
September 11, 2024
Urgh. Amazing drawings but no plot, no characters, incredibly boring and depressing and nothing to take out of it.
Profile Image for Anna.
170 reviews17 followers
November 16, 2025
4,5/5 c'était TROP bien, super drôle super touchant super tendre avec un style bien particulier, j'ai beaucoup beaucoup aimé !!
Profile Image for Rylan Pierce.
12 reviews
February 18, 2025
I want to make something like this.

Holy moly it’s so weird and whimsical and scary and amazing.
Profile Image for Elisa -.
309 reviews2 followers
June 26, 2025
La natura ci abitua alla morte tramite il sonno e ci avverte che esiste un'altra vita per mezzo del sogno.
ÉLPHAS LÉVI
Profile Image for Kitty.
208 reviews10 followers
February 14, 2018
Very morbid and not to be mistaken as a book for young kids! I liked a lot about this, including the art, the fascination with death, the natural history angles, and the fact that every page was numbered 13.
Profile Image for Michael Larson.
99 reviews4 followers
March 7, 2012
This is a fascinating work. Part an existential look at childhood, part phantasmagoric bestiary, part poetry collection. I've read some complaints that it never really gels as a satisfying whole, but I don't know that it's meant to. Childhood doesn't follow a narrative arc- sometimes we're playing in the woods with our favorite cat, sometimes we're being cruel to our sister, sometimes we're wondering where we go after we die, and sometimes we're wondering what that scratching noise was at our bedroom window.

The art here is fantastic- Edward Gorey by way of Bill Watterson, and I think this is a big part of what made all the disparate elements come together for me. Billy Fog might not be the most likable little boy, and the ambitious mix of 19th century spiritualism, invented creatures, and childhood ponderings on good and evil might seem ramshackle at times, but I found the book, taken as a whole, to be an inventively imagined collage of the ups and downs of being a kid.
Profile Image for Kerry.
849 reviews
April 26, 2012
What a brilliantly twisted little story. At the heart of the story it's just a little boy and his first experience with death and trying to understand it when he discovers his cat has died. Yes, the book is a little scattered, but I think that's the point and essentially we are seeing inside Billy's mind. I love the creatures he invents and his bestiary reminded me a little of a book about gnombs (as in the garden variety and the universe they live in) that I remember seeing as a kid. Emily Strange came to mind as well with the book's darkness. Not a book I'd recommend to everyone, but if you enjoy something that's a little "off centre" I think you might enjoy this one.
Profile Image for ☺Trish.
1,462 reviews
September 19, 2014
Creepy graphic novel about a budding sociopath, Billy Fog. Dark and unusual . . . which I usually enjoy, but a little too macabre for my taste. (Some reviewers have described Billy Fog as Burtonesqe, but Tim Burton's characters are always good-hearted, at their core. Billy does not fit that criteria, at all.)
15 reviews
January 29, 2018
Loved the art style, not fond of the layouts as much though. Macabre horror that reminded me of my Johnen Vasquez-loving days. Warning however for a depiction of self harm at one point and the fact that death of a loved one is THE central theme.
Profile Image for Fabien.
30 reviews1 follower
March 20, 2009
Quand Calvin et Hobbes est revisité à la sauce Tim Burton, cela donne un ouvrage drôle, attendrissant et original.
Profile Image for Melissa.
328 reviews4 followers
January 30, 2013
I really wanted to like this, but it was just dragging and odd. :(
Profile Image for Pinkerton.
514 reviews54 followers
September 17, 2017
Gli adulti sono tutti assassini…
Hanno ucciso il bambino che erano un tempo…


Billy Nebbia è un bambino atipico, alla sua età i ragazzini solitamente sono allegri, ‘solari’, lui invece, per sua stessa ammissione, ha un carattere ombroso. Nebbia è un nomignolo che gli si addice.
Vive a stretto contatto con la morte, del gatto Tarzan e animaletti vari (ad un certo punto avevo temuto persino quella della sorellina e mi stava per prendere un colpo), di cui vuole svelarne i misteri e carpirne i segreti - ha chiesto persino a Babbo Natale.
Per farlo vive avventure straordinarie, che si inventa di sana pianta alterando la realtà a proprio uso e consumo come fanno i bambini, solo che le sue hanno sempre una connotazione particolarmente macabra.
Un volume all’apparenza perfetto per le uggiose giornate di nebbia appunto, formato e colori giusti, è persino corredato dai dossier di Harry Price, celebre cacciatore di fantasmi, e da Estratti dall’Enciclopedia Curiosa e Bizzarra di Criptozoologia, di Billy Nebbia…
Le storielle però sono composte esclusivamente da brevi sketch legati a stento fra loro, inframezzati da schede che pur strappando un sorriso assumono presto un sapore ripetitivo. Diciamo che alla vista fa la sua figura ma in quanto a contenuti è abbastanza ridondante e pure un po’ scarno.
Un simpatico divertissement di umorismo funesto ma nulla più.
Profile Image for Vittorio Rainone.
2,082 reviews32 followers
September 26, 2017
E' una piccola storia di formazione alla morte per un bambino come tanti, discolo e pieno della sua fantasia peculiare, che un bel giorno trova il suo compagno di giochi, un gatto, morto, e chiede a Babbo Natale di riportarlo in vita (e in segnargli come fare a gabbare la dama con la falce). Il racconto è lieve e sa essere lugubre, tenebroso e colpire con una durezza che non pregiudica mai un tono da bambini. L'equilibrio fra i due registri, e l'avvicinamento naturale e ben frammentato al bel finale, rendono quest'opera davvero interessante. La natura polimorfica, che alterna a episodi di fumetto estratti di finti trattati sul tema dell'occulto, non diviene mai schiava del proprio gioco, rimanendo costantemente leggibile e godibile, merito di una struttura grafica notevole, con disegni precisi e dettagliati, pur nel mantenere la loro matrice buffa a la Calvin & Hobbes. Davvero una simpatica sorpresa dalla Bao, rimane solo da capire se un bambino possa veramente leggere una storia del genere.
Profile Image for Potions D'Automne.
21 reviews
September 23, 2022
Une petite merveille✨Quelques notes Tim Burtonniennes dans cette BD qui traite de tout un tas de sujets dits "sombres".
À mettre entre les mains de ceux qui ont gardé leur âme d'enfant et le goût de l'imagination débordante, mais certainement pas pour les enfants qui n'ont pas encore grandi... C'est souvent dur, parfois cru, ça met en scènes des cauchemars verrouillés à double tour dans notre esprit (sauf lorsqu'ils s'échappent), alors mieux vaut préserver les plus jeunes et impressionnables de cet ouvrage. Ou le réserver pour plus tard.
Profile Image for Mihldkae.
37 reviews
April 3, 2019
Bellissimo, cupo malinconico e sognatore.
Billy è un bambino speciale e io adoro questo genere di personaggi fuori dal comune.
Illustrazioni molto belle, tutta la veste grafica del libro merita. Non vedo l'ora di leggere il secondo volume che ho acquistato da poco, dopo molto tempo rispetto alla lettura del primo.
Profile Image for Jane Vellichor.
395 reviews8 followers
November 12, 2019
The illustrator could be a cousin to Charles Addams. Original and creepy creature cryptology that would truly terrify young children and leaves adults recalling long-forgotten nightmares. I was deeply invested in Billy's quest to contact his dead cat, Tarzan. The twist at the end shook me to my core.
Profile Image for Linda Carraro.
104 reviews
July 15, 2024
Come si spiega la paura della morte ai bambini? Tramite le domande dei bambini stessi e l'aiuto di Babbo Natale! Un libro ironico, pungente e delicato che mischia la fascinazione per il macabro (un classico dagli 8+) e il potere dell'immaginazione.
Profile Image for Julie.
367 reviews8 followers
October 17, 2017
Décidément, Billy Brouillard me fait toujours le même effet d'espièglerie enfantine mêlée à de grandes réflexions d'adultes - le tout avec un graphisme qui me parle toujours autant!
Profile Image for Jaclyn.
259 reviews3 followers
October 15, 2018
I liked the art, which was very Burton-esque..... but the stories were lacking and just gave me bad feelings. I kept reading, hoping it would improve.... but I was disappointed.
Profile Image for Trzcionka.
778 reviews100 followers
June 30, 2019
Nie ma najmniejszych wątpliwości, że ten komiks (jeśli można tak nazwać ten tytuł) stawia na aspekt wizualny. Poczynając od okładki, przez wklejkę, wszystkie ilustracje, jak i sam tekst - czysta perfekcja! (W załączeniu dostajemy nawet plansze Ouija do wywoływania duchów! :D) Postacie są fenomenalne, dbałość o szczegóły na najwyższym poziomie, a detali jest tyle że można dostać oczopląsu. Pomysłowości nie można autorowi odmówić.
Niestety miedzy stroną wizualną, a fabuła jest przeogromna przepaść. Jak już wspomniałam, ciężko tę pozycję nazwać komiksem, gdyż ten pojawia się na 1/3 stron. Pozostałe to urokliwe dodatki, które niestety, wg mnie, będą wartościowe jedynie dla młodszych czytelników. Coś na zasadzie - sympatyczne, ale jednak zbędne. Jest też kilka wierszy - jak dla mnie zupełnie nie trafiony pomysł. Choć to wszystko tworzy spójną całość, to ja chętnie podmieniłabym kilkanaście stron na komiks i przygody głównego bohatera, który jest prześwietny! Jego wypowiedzi, "styl bycia" w połączeniu z rysunkiem - idealnie oddane emocje, postać jest jak żywa i chyba będzie jedną z moich ulubionych komiksowych kreacji :)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews