The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott - Book Review

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Thorogood, Z. The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott . Avery Hill Publishing. (2021). Image Link.

Zoe Thorogood is an Eisner-nominated comic book writer and illustrator from the United Kingdom who has been labelled a rising star in the comic book industry. She is the creator of the critically acclaimed graphic novels The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott (2020) and the autobiographical It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth (2022).

The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott is 168 pages long and was published by Avery Hill Publishing in 2020. It tells the story of an up-and-coming young artist named Billie Scott who finds out that she is losing her eyesight just when her career as an artist is about to take off. Billie reacts to this devastating news by focusing all of her energies on completing ten portraits for an upcoming exhibition.

In an interview with Le Cabinet de mccoy , Thorogood talked about their childhood growing up, and how they started to get really interested in art when they were a teenager. The character of Billie was inspired by their own personal experience with impending blindness. Thorogood’s eyesight problems began when she was three-years-old. When she turned nineteen she started seeing black dots in her vision. She found out that her retinas were tearing themselves apart and that she was at risk of going blind. The prospect of going blind terrified her. As all of this was unfolding, she created the character of Billie Scott, and decided to mirror her situation after her own.

When I was researching this article, I stumbled across a series of posts that Thorogood made on Twitter back in September 2023 responding to critics of “Billie Scott” who felt that a “vision-having” author should not be writing about a character about to go blind. The backlash infuriated Thorogood who felt like she was left with little choice but to reveal her private medical history to defend her own book. What an awful corner for someone to be backed into.

“The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott” is a coming-of-age story about identity, emotional growth, and change. When Billie finds out she is losing her eyesight, she is devastated. Her art means everything to her. Her whole identity is built around being an artist. If she cannot be an artist anymore, what else can she do? Who will she be? Will she even be able to find the strength to keep on living? It is only after talking to some friends that Billie decides to keep on making art and to look for joy in new places.

I thought that Thorogood demonstrated a really interesting art style in “The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott”. I was impressed with her use of bold bright colours and swirling shapes. It gave the book a really psychedelic feel. What I liked most about the book was the message in it about not giving up when the universe gives you bad news.

Summary: The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott tells the story of an up-and-coming young artist named Billie Scott who finds out she is losing her eyesight just as her career as an artist is about to take off.
Cost $40.99
Websites:
The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott - Avery Hill Publishing
Zoe Thorogood - Official Instagram Page
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