Rarely someone comes up at the scene and makes a splash like Zoe has with just basically two graphic novels to her name. But when those two books happen to be The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott and It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth, you’re not just making a splash, it's an all-out tsunami.
Born in 1998, Zoe Thorogood is a British cartoonist, writer, and artist who burst onto the indie comics scene with a style that feels both deeply personal and universally resonant. Her debut, The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott, a strikingly raw and beautifully illustrated story about an artist racing against the loss of her sight, marked her as an instant talent to watch. Then came It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth, her formally inventive autobiographical graphic novel that breaks the fourth wall inviting readers inside, and makes them feel every moment of her journey.
With It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth, Zoe became the youngest person ever nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Writer/Artist, snagging nominations across multiple categories. The book also earned her the prestigious Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award and won the British Comic Award for Best Book. And because she’s not just shaping the future of indie comics but already making her mark on mainstream books, she’s also tackled Hack/Slash: Back to School and even taken a turn with Joe Hill’s Rain at Image Comics.
Here's my short-analysis on those two Zoe Thorogood must-reads:
The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott
The premise is a nightmare for any artist. To face the idea that you won't have time to accomplish all you want, that the thing you love will never be shared with the world, and by god, I won't even be able to experience the thing I love myself - maybe the only thing I love. Wait, who am I if I'm not my art anyway?
Billie Scott always wanted to be a visual painter. A visual painter is then all she is. Billie Scott takes a punch (oh the irony of taking a punch when out looking for inspiration, Zoe). Billie Scott is gonna be blind now. Billie Scott seemingly cannot paint anymore. Then Billie Scott is nothing.
The thing is, what follows in this graphic novel is not the direct opposite of a nightmare, what would actually be called a dream (although they are, of course, present) - or even a proper answer to anything. It's precisely a deconstruction of these questions. Billie Scott feels like nothing the moment what she taught was everything is put on the line. What a wonderful liberation to now fall in love with formerly perceived nothingness. And through streets and people, and wow, artists, formerly perceived as nothingness, she found art again. Is it what she also found in herself then?
I'll say that and let you experience this. The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott is as honest as a debut as it can be. Full of fresh (not necessarily new) and exciting explorations. What are books by younger artists supposed to be if not this. You will be obsessed with Zoe's art.
It's Lonely at the Center of the Earth
Oh and here we go. An artist's dream. Recognition. The most promising awards. The new face of comics. Everyone is obsessed with Zoe. But wait, it's so lonely up here, or down here. Whatever you choose to classify "center of the earth" as, up or down. So the center of the earth becomes perspective.
Zoe Thorogood always wanted to break into comics. Zoe Thorogood broke into comics with Billie Scott. Zoe Thorogood is now the girl who broke into comics. Zoe Thorogood needs to write and draw comics. Are the comics all that she is?
The thing is, what follows in this graphic novel is very much a nightmare, but not in the sense of being directly opposed to a dream, because here they are very much the same thing. The pressure and expectations are put into the page in the same way that they are the page itself. These comics are streets that Zoe deeply exposes herself in an attempt to make us see her and maybe in all that mess, also make her see herself. It breaks the fourth wall in a very funny and identifiable way that will have you laughing and sharing the pain moments later. One moment of “dare” where she breaks convention and does the most simple draw style-ever is by far the most complex thing here.
To question your success with a love and hate letter to that success makes her second graphic novel even better then the first. That's why every comic shop in the world will recommend It's Lonely At The Centre Of The Earth to you. A generation defying work.
Zoe Thorogood is the future of Graphic Novels
Zoe Thorogood is raw honesty, fearless experimentation, and a voice that feels urgently now. With only two books, she’s managed to capture the anxieties, contradictions, and beauty of being an artist, and more than that, of simply being. Whether through Billie Scott’s journey of rediscovering art or her own unflinching self-examination in It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth, Zoe’s work leaves a mark. And if this is just the beginning, the future of comics is about to get a whole lot more interesting.
