Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: Billi 99, kickstarter, Tim Sale

The Playlist And New Colours Of Tim Sale & Sarah Byam's Billi 99

The Kickstarter for the republication of the late Tim Sale's early comic Billi 99, has almost quadrupled its goal as it comes to an end.

The Kickstarter campaign for the republication of the late Tim Sale's early comic book Billi 99, written by Sarah Byam and republished by Clover Press, including new colours by Jose Villarubia, has almost quadrupled its goal as it comes to an end this week. And Bleeding Cool has had a look at some of those coloured and remastered pages ahead of the campaign concluding.

Writer Sarah Byam has also put together a playlist for the book for Bleeding Cool along with some short commentary for the book. Bleeding Cool has the Spotify playlist and the commentary from Byam below.

"Between the Mississippi, its tributaries, and the Great Lake waterways, Americans have always traveled throughout the expanse of the Midwest, sharing everything from food to labor to music. Some have been able to trace musical influence from place to place with some kind of chronology. I can't do that. But I can feel it. I can hear it.

"These are the songs I listen to while writing and reviving Billi 99. The melange of music mirrors the migration of immigrants moving from south to north to play, combine, and recombine their creative genius. Growing up in Michigan, we were blessed with so many types of music it was hard to tell where one genre ends and another one begins. Music, for me, is an emotional roadmap of experience. Radio out of Chicago and Detroit had a broadcast range that extended for 100s of miles. Lucky me

"Posting these cuts adds another dimension to Billi 99. As Billi makes her way through the city of Sulter, I imagine these songs giving her release, empathy, courage, and hope for the difficulties ahead.

"Some of these songs are current. Some covers of music that are very old. Each piece evokes soul in its own way. I specifically looked for sounds that might be familiar, but not yet worn out.

"Some Jazz, some blues, some joy, grief, rage, and triumph. I won't try to categorize what you will find here, but these musicians are making the world rich with love and empathy. It's like finding yourself in the pages of a graphic novel. These songs might call up something familiar to you. It's comforting to know we are not alone.

"Whitey Ford sings about what it takes to understand people we judge harshly. I love Robbie Robertson's American Roulette, about how the music industry controls musicians – which parallels one of the characters Billi saves. Saint James' Infirmary is an old New Orleans piece set to the march rhythm of a casket being carried to the cemetery where even the dead have to be weighed down. I love fusion, or music that people just make without labels. Rage Against the Machine is known for shredding guitar, while Tom Morello and his grandson update old union songs from the great depression. It works because, for working people, these struggles never go away. Generations of this music keep us going.

"Thanks to Clover Press, what began as a fascination with soundtracks became this playlist. All comics should have them!"

Tim Sale and  Sarah Byam's Billi 99 has raised $37,103 against a $10,000 goal from 449 backers on Kickstarter so far and will finish this week.

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