The Big Sheep: A Philip Merlot Thriller

Dundee, Scotland. I'd been teaching the film noir course for a few weeks, searching for the unfindable: a comic that referenced the critical films on the course. My feet dragged me from the closet I called an office and I headed south towards the Tay. I found myself sitting in the Dundee Comics Creative Space, surrounded by comic artists, academics and enthusiasts. Inspiration struck. I didn't know if it was the Dr. Pepper talking or if it was Raymond Chandler himself who spoke to me. I realised, the best way to prove film noir is a style rather than a genre is to make a comic that combines all of these elements and throws them in your face.

In this, the last week of the film noir module, I give you The Big Sheep. It's chock-full of noir and comics references, interspersed with some bad puns and an anthropomorphic twist. Hopefully, this isn't goodbye, because according to Chandler, "To say goodbye is to die a little." But what most people don't remember is that after that he said, "unless you study comics in which case you'll live forever, probably."