Review by Ian Keogh
With Fetch and Carry On Cinebook have taken a leap into the present day with their translations of much loved French comedy strip Billy & Buddy. It’s the first of eight albums to date collecting the single page strips about the loveable scamp and his equally loveable pooch produced by Christoph Casenove and Jean Bastide since 2016.
The majority of earlier albums have been the work of series creator Jean Roba, whose cartooning is phenomenal, but whose jokes haven’t stood the test of time. A 21st century vitality is immediately apparent in Bastide’s approach. Billy may still be dressed in his yellow shirt and turnups, but his mates display a contemporary look. Otherwise Bastide maintains the sort of timeless neverland that’s characterised the strip for years.
Casenove’s scripts, though, do acknowledge the present day, with vegetarianism, remote controlled toy cars and laying phone line cables. While the jokes remain gentle humour, they’re more likely to raise a smile than Roba’s strips, and are paced to fill the panels, rather than stretched to fill them. Furthermore, Casenove will occasionally drop a real surprise, such as Buddy unfamiliar with his own smell following a bath. Supporting characters Caroline the tortoise and military minded neighbour Mrs. Stick appear, as do Billy’s parents, constantly attempting to maintain some form of order.
Although a full page, the set-up and punchline formula of Billy & Buddy is closer to the requirements of a newspaper strip, and experience shows any new creative team are going to take a little while to settle into a feature that’s been running for so long. Allowing for that, Casenove and Bastide are off to a fair start.
