FRIENDS FIRST: BILLY & BUDDY #3 Format: Paperback

Billy’s got a good life with Mum and Dad. Plenty of play, a little homework, and a smart, loving dog. Of course there’s the occasional hitch: that nosy, bossy old maid of a neighbour—and her Siamese cat—or the cheeky beat cop Agent 22. But it’s never too serious, and even Dad’s occasional embarrassing blunders can’t spoil things for long. After all, as long as you have friends, everything will be all right in the end!

Jean Roba started illustrating for Spirou magazine in 1957, after a stint as an illustrator in advertising. He created the first Boule et Bill adventure in 1959, with a script by Maurice Rosy. After a complete trial story, Boule et Bill became fully established as a weekly cartoon strip, and Roba kept to this pattern for almost 20 years, giving the characters only one book-length adventure in 1982.