Customer Reviews

Britten and Brülightly

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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.

Britten and Brülightly is a well written, fantastically illustrated noir mystery. Britten is a private detective who, for years, has specialized so in the tawdry love triangle cases that he has been publicly nicknamed "the Heartbreaker". Despite the encouraging words of his much more upbeat partner, Brülightly, Britten has become tired of both his job and his life. "I don't get out of bed for less than a murder," he said, and it potential murder that persuaded him to crawl out of bed into the public again.


Britten has been contacted by Charlotte Maughan after the apparent suicide of her fiance. To her, the pieces don't fit; she feels it must be a murder made to look like a suicide and hires him to investigate.

Britten and Brülightly is film noir in a graphic novel; it is by far the best written noir I have encountered. It contains the clasic elements of great noir : a fractured and down main character; a beautiful lady needing assistance; a complex mystery; realistic (leaning toward the unhappy) ending and leaves the reader or viewer sitting silent in amazement.


Berry's amazing art fits and adds to the story and to the noir feel perfectly. The predominant rain and gray days, the angles and corners, and the nearly monochrome color scheme enhance the feel of the story tremendously. The composition and "film angle", if you will, of the panels is that of a well done movie. They are not the common waist up, front on panels that are so predominant in the average graphic novel. From above, from below, half faces, close-ups: all are used to make an enormous contribution to both plot and ambiance. Berry's particular attention to hands is fantastic.

I had one small complaint: the story is hand written in a font that was, only at times, hard to interpret certain words. Oddly enough, though I had to squint and struggle, I found that in the end this rather added to the story, to the feel of uncertainty, mystery and confusion that were so prevalent in the story.

Britten and Brülightly simply awed me. It's a dark tale, and not a particularly happy one, but totally engrossing and simply stunning--text and image--from the first line ("As it did every morning with spiteful inevitability, the sun rose.") to that last breathtaking scene.

This is a wonderfully done noir detective mystery told in somber mostly black-and-white tones in graphic novel form. Set in Great Britain, circa 1940s, the story is about private eye Fernandez Britten and his "partner," Brulightly . . . who happens to be a teabag. Not, you may be happy to know, an animated teabag, but an inert one onto which (whom?) Britten projects his thoughts.

Britten is known throughout London as "The Heartbreaker" because when he tells his clients the truth they claim to be seeking, their hearts are broken. In this particular story, Charlotte Maughton comes to Britten to ask him to prove that her fiance did not commit suicide. Charlotte believes her fiance was murdered, and she wants Britten to prove it. The name of the dead fiance rings a bell in Britten's memory, so he searches his old cases and comes up with information that leads him to the fiance's mother.

This story is told only in dialogue, with no narrative panels. This causes a bit of unclarity about what's happening in spots, particularly during what might be a flashback scene when Britten breaks into the offices of Maughton Publishing. A narrative panel here and there would help this story a lot, especially with transitions and flashbacks. Another weakness of the book is what appears to be handwriting instead of typeset words. The handwriting gives the story a more intimate feel, and I like that. But the "r's" and "n's" in this handwriting are practically indistinguishable from one another, which causes problems with words such as "rest" and "nest." Strangely, the "g's" and "k's" sometimes look alike, too.

The ending is satisfying in that it fits with the character of Britten and the story. Remember, though, that this is noir fiction, so a satisfying ending isn't necessarily a happy one.

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.

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.

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.