Boule et Bill



Boule et Bill (Billy and Buddy in the English translations) is a Belgian comic series created by Jean Roba in 1959 and still running since.

Inspired by Peanuts, the series is in its vast majority composed of one-page gags about a little boy and his dog from the 60's European middle class.

For the other series by Roba, see La Ribambelle.

Boule et Bill provides examples of:

 * Animated Adaptation: two, the 2005 one being the only (a bit) famous.
 * Ascended Extra: One of the last gags by Roba featured a thief who befriended Bill. Said thief is a half-reoccuring (appears at least once an album) character of the Verron period.
 * Author Existence Failure: Roba passed the series to his assistant Laurent Verron before deceding in 2006.
 * Balloonacy: Bill once accidentally bit into a stick attached to balloons and flew away with it.
 * Blinding Bangs: Pouf, Boule's best bud.
 * Intellectual Animal: Bill doesn't speak but understands perfectly everything.
 * Interspecies Romance: the other pet of the family, Caroline the turtle, does not hide loving Bill.
 * Intimidating Revenue Service: Boule's dad freaks out when he gets a call by tax assessors--who show up dressed in vampire regalia and introduce themselves as "Leviathan and Lucifer".
 * Meddlesome Patrolman: Agent 22, a recurring nemesis of the characters in the early albums.
 * No Name Given: Boule has no more a family name than his own parents.
 * Non-Human Sidekick
 * Shout-Out: In one gag, Bill is upset about Boule laughing to tears on a Peanuts comic book. To attract his attention, he covers himself with flour and executes Snoopy's dance! Peanuts was referenced a second time when, while Boule's family was travelling in the USA, Charlie Brown and Snoopy made a brief Cameo.
 * Speech-Impaired Animal
 * Suburbia: Boule lives in the house of a residential district (of Brussels, one could figure).
 * Unnamed Parent