SKIDMARKS

The complete BiC cycle

Publishing Company:
ILYA GRAPHIC
Imprint:
Format:
ONE SHOT
Creator(s):

ED HILLYER (WRITER/ARTIST)
Number of Pages:

96
Publication Date:

2003 (collected edition: ACTIVE IMAGES USA) / self-published on the UK small press 1987-1990
Age:
YOUNG ADULT, ADULT
Fiction/Non-Fiction
FICTION
Key words:
ADOLESCENCE, YOUNG LOVE, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, CRIME, SMALL TOWN LIFE,
Summary:

Bic was a small press comic, first self-published in 7 numbers, 1987-90; reprinted by Tundra UK as 3 issues of SKIDMARKS in 1993; then collected in trade paperback format as SKIDMARKS by Active Images (USA) in 2003. The material is the same and not contiguous.

It’s not an autobiography! ARGGGGH! I’ll be saying this til I die… It’s not even semi-autobiographical. The only semi is the hard-on!

Bic is a newspaper delivery boy who gets involved in a petty crime (theft) and struggles to correct his own moral compass. Plus, he meets a girl. Boy Meets Bike. Boy Meets Girl. Boy Loses Bike, But Gets Girl.

REVIEWS:

“Ilya’s SKIDMARKS ($12.95). To say it’s about bicycle riders in London is
like saying THE FOUNTAINHEAD is about a building. Ilya’s story comes in
little well done vignettes, but, cumulatively, they’re an extended snapshot
of a lifestyle and the people who try to live it because they’ve got nothing else, told with wit, passion and style.” – Steven Grant
Staff Writer, CBR
obvious1@comicbookresources.com

‘I first came across Ilya’s work in the long-gone Deadline magazine. It was one of those “oh… this is what comics can be like.”

Imagine Eddie Campbell’s “Alex,” crossed with Michael Caine’s “Alfie” with a little bit of “Trainspotting” and a chunk of “Love And Rockets.” That’s the story of Bic, his friends, their friends and a life lived on the edge. Except grim’n’grittiness is jettisoned in most part for the joys of close friendship with a group of your peers, the way you see the world and the way the world sees you. Makes you want to get on a bicycle and cycle through Camden immediately.’
– LYING IN THE GUTTER’s Rich Johnston (BLEEDING COOL)

Ties into THE END Omnibus edition, wherein BiC is a prominent supporting character.

Supporting character here, Alex, ties into NIGHTSHIFT (48 page full colour BD album) where he (Alex) is the central character.