Margins
Billie the Bee book cover
Billie the Bee
2019
First Published
3.54
Average Rating
128
Number of Pages
In an alternative cartoonist’s debut graphic novel, a bee and her friends must save their ecosystem! In expressive black-and-white lines with forays into bold Cubism, Fleener tells the story of Billie the Bee, who is too big, too fast, and has far too much personality to simply collect pollen. So, the Queen Bee (with ulterior motives) sends Billie out to patrol the woodlands and marshes of San Diego for danger. She encounters a heron on hallucinogens, dirty joke-telling turtles, and humans illegally releasing vermin that will unbalance the entire ecosystem. Mixing coming-of-age graphic fiction with facts about bees and the environment, Fleener’s Billie the Bee is both a great reintroduction to a comics talent and ripped from the headlines. Black & white illustrations throughout.
Avg Rating
3.54
Number of Ratings
83
5 STARS
17%
4 STARS
36%
3 STARS
35%
2 STARS
8%
1 STARS
4%
goodreads

Author

Mary Fleener
Mary Fleener
Author · 3 books

Mary Fleener is an American cartoonist, writer and musician from Los Angeles. After quitting art school in 1976, Fleener pursued a career as both a rock singer and a visual artist. She entered the world of alternative comics in 1984, initially self-publishing mini-comics. Her cartooning style often draws inspiration from cubism and other art traditions. Her first book was Hoodoo (1988), a comic about writer Zora Neale Hurston. Her semi-autobiographical Slutburger series run for five issues from 1990 to 1995, followed by the three issues of Fleener from 1996 to 1997. Other short comics have appeared in magazines and anthologies, like 'Weirdo, 'Twisted Sisters' and 'Wimmen's Comix', to then be collected in books, most notably Life of the Party (1996, Fantagraphics Books).

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