Boule et Bill

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

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.


Tropes used in Boule et Bill include:
  • 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-reoccurring (appears at least once an album) character of the Verron period.
  • 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 traveling 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