Britten and Brulightly

by Hannah Berry

Book Overview

A gorgeously drawn, strikingly original graphic-novel murder mystery Private detective Fern?ndez Britten is an old hand at confirming the dark suspicions of jealous lovers and exposing ugly truths of all varieties. Battered by years of bearing ill tidings, he clings to the hope of revealing, just once, a truth that will do some good in the world. It is a redemption that has long eluded him. Then Britten and his unconventional partner, Br?lightly,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805089276
• ISBN13: 9780805089271
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Metropolitan Books
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.7" x 11.6"

Customer Reviews

B & B rewards a second read.

I read this book for the first time in Barnes and Noble. I liked the art, but didn't catch all of the plot nuances. In retrospect, that's one of the novel's strongest points; it's complex and layered, with some interesting twists. The art is also great: luscious watercolors, interesting compositions, and gorgeous layers. I only wish it had more full-page panels; the few that it does have are elegant and memorable.

Fantastic Neo-Pulp Graphic Novel

Hard-boiled detective Fernández Britten is hired to investigate a suicide in this brilliantly illustrated and written graphic novel. Author/illustrator Hannah Berry has captured the dark mood of a 1940s pulp with her arresting scenery and twisting story. Britten works matrimony cases with his partner Brulightly, who is actually a tea bag but this actually works in a surreal way that could only be captured in a graphic novel. He finally is hired for a suicide/murder investigation that is anything but what it seems. Throw in adultery, blackmail, threats questionable business practices, deceit, lies and more, then you get a period pulp with modern sensibilities. Once you start reading, you are sucked into Britten's world and you can't put it down until you finish. At which point, you are not quite sure where you are, it has been an amazing journey.

A modern twist on a classic noir plot.

I can say, without exaggeration, that this is the best graphic novel I have ever read, bar none. (Granted, I haven't read *that* many graphic novels, but I've read a fair share.) Berry takes all the character types and plot twists you remember from classic noir films and novels and places them in London - a persistently overcast city which makes a natural setting for noir. (So much so, in fact, that it's curious that so little of the noir canon is set there.) This transposition seems small, but between this jump in geography and jump in media form (film/novel to comic), Britten and Brulightly looks and reads amazingly fresh. It is both familiar and brand new, all at once. By itself, this would be merely a remarkable idea, but fortunately Berry is also extremely talented as both artist and author. Her dry wit - often in the form of banter between Britten, detective, and Brulightly, his omnipresent teabag and "partner." The dialogue is also complemented by a delightful visual style that, like the book itself, manages to be both playful and dark. This was simply a treat to read. I can't recommend it more highly.

Solving the Case with the Help of a Humorous Teabag

In a very noir graphic novel, Berry introduces Fernandez Britten, a world-weary private eye, who becomes tired of exposing the adulteries of his client's spouses. Mostly retired, Britten says he won't leave his bed for anything "less than a murder." But when the daughter of a wealthy publisher wants him to investigate the suicide of her fiancé that she feels was a murder, Britten finds his motivation to try and resolve a case that doesn't end in heartbreak. But as Britten and his sidekick Brülightly (a small teabag that provides insight and the occasional comic interludes) explore the business and personal history of the family, they find that even when the case isn't looking for a cheating spouse, the secrets can be just as unpleasant and for Britten, as unsatisfying. Drawn deep into secrets the publisher was willing to willing to pay blackmail to keep private, Britten ends up in the hospital, another victim of someone else's greed. Berry's dialog coming from a teabag, and characters channelling Raymond Chandler, and her beautiful art and muted colors add to the noir feel.

"I don't get out of bed for less than a murder."

Truth transcends the darkest of human deceits in Berry's graphic noir, Britten and Brulightly. Illustrated with dark washes of sepia, blue and grey, PI Fernandez Britten slogs through the storm-washed streets of London in pursuit of answers. Shadowed by an acerbic, wise-cracking Brulightly (a presence noted by a tea bag: indeed, Brulightly is a tea bag), Britten has grown weary of exposing the tawdry infidelities of his clients. Taking to his bed under a cloud of disillusion, Britten refuses to consider any but the most extreme case: "I don't get out of bed for less than a murder. I don't get out of bed much." But when a grief-stricken client, Charlotte Maughton, daughter of a wealthy London publisher, enlists his help regarding her fiancé's suicide, Britten hopes to turn the table on despair and deliver a more positive resolution to the death of Berni Kudos. In the noir tradition, handwritten dialog reveals the questionable facts of Berni's suicide, a convoluted series of events that expose years of betrayal, blackmail and finally murder. Along the way, Britten- in constant conversation with Brulightly- plods through the lies and purposeful diversions of those involved, including a proselytizing fundamentalist, a pornographic publishing network and years of family lies. It's not a pretty picture, Britten doggedly following where the trail leads, awash in the end with no less than the usual detritus of human deception. Hiding in a sodden forest from his kidnappers, waking up in the hospital with a bump on his head and minus his little finger, and intervening too late to save a misguided woman, Britten faces once more the brutal reality of his business, even the witty Brulightly unable to lift his spirits. In a frantic mix of shadowy images and revealing text, the mystery unravels, Britten's dour mien unlikely to be brightened by what he discovers. This twisted tale is full of surprises, menacing individuals and deceitful women, a noir romp of love, death and betrayal. Berry's artwork is the perfect foil to the eccentric story, an Ecuadorian investigator often accused of being French, nicknamed Heartbreaker, tracking the obfuscations of the powerful and the desperate. One cannot but sympathize with a disconsolate Britten at the end of the story, minus a finger as a gloomy city skyline descends into night. Luan Gaines/2009.