The impending blindness of Billie Scott

by Tsu Yin Lue, MLIS

The impending blindness of Billie Scott is Zoe Thorogood’s first foray into the world of graphic novels. The entire story is based upon a life-changing incident that leads to a pivotal question: What would you do if you were going blind? This is the dilemma for Billie Scott, the protagonist, of this narrative. For Billie, a visual artist, the prognosis of impending blindness soon after winning an art competition whose prize is a gallery exhibition of new and original work is either a cruel punishment or the gift of motivation. Luckily, it’s the latter for Billie in the form of ten portraits. The goal of painting ten portraits in two weeks drives Billie and this narrative forward by pushing Billie into new surroundings and situations, while simultaneously introducing other characters that end up shaping and influencing Billie’s life. Whether Billie accomplishes her goal and finishes all ten portraits before she loses her eyesight is revealed at the end.

You may want to believe that this narrative is autobiographical and that Billie Scott is Zoe Thorogood completely incarnated on paper: a young, female artist with ophthalmological issues. However, that is the start and the end of their similarities. According to Thorogood in her second  graphic novel, It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth, Billie was her at the beginning of the story (Thorogood, 2022). Billie is the idealised perfection of who Zoe wanted to be.

Once Billie’s condition is diagnosed as retinal detachment with a prognosis of impending blindness, there is no further discussion about Billie’s medical condition besides the ophthalmologist saying, “I wish you’d come in sooner” (p.23). “More than 9 out of 10 detachments can be repaired,” but it’s dependent on the location and extent of the detachment, which if not treated can quickly lead to permanent loss of sight (MedlinePlus, 2025; American Academy of Ophthalmology, 2025). Ironically, Billie’s impending blindness as illustrated in this work’s title is a plot device, a MacGuffin, used to drive the narrative and the characters.  Even Billie says, “I don’t want to focus on the medical…this journey was never about my blindness,” and Thorogood confirms that in an interview, revealing that this work was about art, an exploration of and relationship with art, and of people (p. 144; Mccoylily, 2022/2025).

Zoe Thorogood creates a wonderful, well-paced narrative enhanced by her distinctive and engaging drawing style and use of a limited color palette. Visually, it is a captivating graphic novel that illustrates the bleakness of life, the power of relationships, unearths characters’ complex emotions, and makes you “look for the comedy within the catastrophe” (p.83). It is not as medically informative as hoped and expected but focuses more on human connection and art. The impending blindness of Billie Scott leaves us with an optimistic outlook on life, and Zoe Thorogood is a young and talented comic author that cannot go unrecognised.

Editor’s note: Thorogood’s more recent autobiography (It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth – An auto-bio-graphic-novel) is reviewed at the link provided.

References

American Academy of Ophthalmology. (2025). Detached retina.               https://www.aao.org/eye-health/diseases/detached-torn-retina

Mccoylily. (2025). ITW – ZOE THOROGOOD: Dans les yeux de billie scott.                                           [In the eyes of billie scott]. (M. Menezes, Trans.).             https://lecabinetdemccoy.wordpress.com/2022/12/21/itw-zoe-thorogood-dans-les-yeux-de-billie-scott/. (Original work published 2022).

MedlinePlus. (2025). Retinal detachment repair.   https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002960.htm

Thorogood, Z. (2022). It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth. Image Comics.

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Tsu Yin Lue is the staff assistant for the Research & Education librarians at the University of South Florida Health Libraries.