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Black Hole #1-12
Black Hole: A Graphic Novel
Suburban Seattle, the mid-1970s. We learn from the out-set that a strange plague has descended upon the area's teenagers, transmitted by sexual contact. The disease is manifested in any number of ways—from the hideously grotesque to the subtle (and concealable)—but once you've got it, that's it. There's no turning back.
As we inhabit the heads of several key characters—some kids who have it, some who don't, some who are about to get it—what unfolds isn't the expected battle to fight the plague, or bring heightened awareness to it, or even to treat it. What we become witness to instead is a fascinating and eerie portrait of the nature of high school alienation itself—the savagery, the cruelty, the relentless anxiety and ennui, the longing for escape.
And then the murders start.
As hypnotically beautiful as it is horrifying, Black Hole transcends its genre by deftly exploring a specific American cultural moment in flux and the kids who are caught in it—back when it wasn't exactly cool to be a hippie anymore, but Bowie was still just a little too weird.
To say nothing of sprouting horns and molting your skin…
As we inhabit the heads of several key characters—some kids who have it, some who don't, some who are about to get it—what unfolds isn't the expected battle to fight the plague, or bring heightened awareness to it, or even to treat it. What we become witness to instead is a fascinating and eerie portrait of the nature of high school alienation itself—the savagery, the cruelty, the relentless anxiety and ennui, the longing for escape.
And then the murders start.
As hypnotically beautiful as it is horrifying, Black Hole transcends its genre by deftly exploring a specific American cultural moment in flux and the kids who are caught in it—back when it wasn't exactly cool to be a hippie anymore, but Bowie was still just a little too weird.
To say nothing of sprouting horns and molting your skin…
368 pages, Hardcover
First published January 12, 2005
About the author
Charles Burns
115 books942 followersCHARLES BURNS grew up in Seattle in the 1970s. His work rose to prominence in Art Spiegelman's Raw magazine in the mid-1980s and took off from there, in an extraordinary range of comics and projects, from Iggy Pop album covers to the latest ad campaign for Altoids. In 1992 he designed the sets for Mark Morris's restaging of The Nutcracker (renamed The Hard Nut) at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He illustrated covers for Time, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Magazine. He was also tapped as the official cover artist for The Believer magazine at its inception in 2003. Black Hole received Eisner, Harvey, and Ignatz awards in 2005. Burns lives in Philadelphia with his wife and two daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,878 reviews
November 20, 2021
Adolescence as Disease
Charles Burns’s Black Hole is a strange and somewhat disturbing graphic novel depicting some teens engaging in drinking, smoking pot, and sexual acts. Ho hum, eh? It is also one of the best graphic novels and novels of any kind of the new century. If a “black hole” is the effect of gravity pulling so hard on a site in space that light cannot get out, the black hole of this particular summer of sex and drugs looks at times like it is a vortex you could not recover from. I was creeped out about it in an initial reading 6 or 7 years ago, but in close readings with summer and fall 2016 classes I began to see some warmth and compassion running through it. The artwork is amazing, and the disruptive and discontinuous representation of chronology, of time, is innovative and consistent with the disruption of adolescence Burns represents.
The story is set in one summer post-high-school-graduation from a Seattle high school in the late seventies, when Burns himself would have been graduating from a Seattle high school. Four characters take center stage, Chris, Rob, Keith and Eliza, though a once bullied boy named Dave also plays a central role. In the story young people begin to develop physical abnormalities as a result of developing sexual desire for someone, or actually having sex with someone. Some critics thought Burns might have been making a commentary on the AIDS crisis (as in: Just say no to sex, kids, or it will screw you up forever!), but Burns himself said it was more generally about adolescence than just sexual awakening. This transition to adulthood as Burns depicts it is infused with lots of drug use/hallucinations, and nightmares; while friendship is important in the story, it is mainly a tale of desire, fears, confusion and what happens if you are in any sense different as you pass from childhood to adulthood. The social distortion is matched by visual images of distorted bodies, though images of the natural world—the sky, trees, ocean--and physical beauty (including bodies) are also present and at some points--not all--restorative.
When I first read this story I thought it was just about a bunch of late seventies teens, boys and girls, growing up together, but in this reading I think Chris and Eliza--two young women--are the main characters. They are the primary ones experiencing the "black holes" of the title, though others are also lost in this vortex, as well. It's a book in part about girls and all the complicated issues they face as they experience sexuality. And yes, including some very real dangers. And there is the threat of violence and actual violence permeating the story. It almost seems impossible terrain for these young women to navigate, and they experience a range of both beautiful and terrible things, sexually, but we get some sense finally that it may be possible to--as most of us do, as difficult as it can be--survive this trip to adulthood. But as I see it the principal focus is on young women and how vulnerable they are during this time of life. For Chris and Eliza, this trip looks at times like a dark tunnel with no obvious light at the end.
Black Hole is a coming age novel of some complexity, which I categorize as horror, and which involves murder and insanity as one might expect from a book I call horror. It does feature the supernatural and surreal--these strange physical protuberances--and there is psychedelia that obscures our sense of things at times, but it is basically rooted in a familiar world we know, and of adolescence. It ends somewhat hopefully for some of the main characters as horror often can do. Evil exists, but it is human-made evil, preventable, avoidable. Black Hole is as difficult and challenging as any great post-modern novel, with visual representations that evoke the complexity of growing up instead of just words. As a story it’s not “fun” but is also not so disturbing that you can’t learn from it about what it means to make the often difficult transition to adulthood. Think of David Lynch and you are almost there, but this is its own art, a comics creation of real depth and power.
Charles Burns’s Black Hole is a strange and somewhat disturbing graphic novel depicting some teens engaging in drinking, smoking pot, and sexual acts. Ho hum, eh? It is also one of the best graphic novels and novels of any kind of the new century. If a “black hole” is the effect of gravity pulling so hard on a site in space that light cannot get out, the black hole of this particular summer of sex and drugs looks at times like it is a vortex you could not recover from. I was creeped out about it in an initial reading 6 or 7 years ago, but in close readings with summer and fall 2016 classes I began to see some warmth and compassion running through it. The artwork is amazing, and the disruptive and discontinuous representation of chronology, of time, is innovative and consistent with the disruption of adolescence Burns represents.
The story is set in one summer post-high-school-graduation from a Seattle high school in the late seventies, when Burns himself would have been graduating from a Seattle high school. Four characters take center stage, Chris, Rob, Keith and Eliza, though a once bullied boy named Dave also plays a central role. In the story young people begin to develop physical abnormalities as a result of developing sexual desire for someone, or actually having sex with someone. Some critics thought Burns might have been making a commentary on the AIDS crisis (as in: Just say no to sex, kids, or it will screw you up forever!), but Burns himself said it was more generally about adolescence than just sexual awakening. This transition to adulthood as Burns depicts it is infused with lots of drug use/hallucinations, and nightmares; while friendship is important in the story, it is mainly a tale of desire, fears, confusion and what happens if you are in any sense different as you pass from childhood to adulthood. The social distortion is matched by visual images of distorted bodies, though images of the natural world—the sky, trees, ocean--and physical beauty (including bodies) are also present and at some points--not all--restorative.
When I first read this story I thought it was just about a bunch of late seventies teens, boys and girls, growing up together, but in this reading I think Chris and Eliza--two young women--are the main characters. They are the primary ones experiencing the "black holes" of the title, though others are also lost in this vortex, as well. It's a book in part about girls and all the complicated issues they face as they experience sexuality. And yes, including some very real dangers. And there is the threat of violence and actual violence permeating the story. It almost seems impossible terrain for these young women to navigate, and they experience a range of both beautiful and terrible things, sexually, but we get some sense finally that it may be possible to--as most of us do, as difficult as it can be--survive this trip to adulthood. But as I see it the principal focus is on young women and how vulnerable they are during this time of life. For Chris and Eliza, this trip looks at times like a dark tunnel with no obvious light at the end.
Black Hole is a coming age novel of some complexity, which I categorize as horror, and which involves murder and insanity as one might expect from a book I call horror. It does feature the supernatural and surreal--these strange physical protuberances--and there is psychedelia that obscures our sense of things at times, but it is basically rooted in a familiar world we know, and of adolescence. It ends somewhat hopefully for some of the main characters as horror often can do. Evil exists, but it is human-made evil, preventable, avoidable. Black Hole is as difficult and challenging as any great post-modern novel, with visual representations that evoke the complexity of growing up instead of just words. As a story it’s not “fun” but is also not so disturbing that you can’t learn from it about what it means to make the often difficult transition to adulthood. Think of David Lynch and you are almost there, but this is its own art, a comics creation of real depth and power.
December 4, 2013
Well, the art was very lovely, and there were a lot of points at which I was like, "How does his brain manufacture this shit??" which is kind of the ultimate for art in one way, isn't it? But I do wish this had been around when I myself was a bad teenager, because I'm sure it would've affected me a lot more then. Burns does get at some extremely dark and real stuff about the horrific experience of adolescence, particularly that bizarre combo of fear, curiosity, and nihilism that drives so much self-destructive experimentation at that age. The depiction of drug culture and abuse is particularly disturbing here, in large part because Burns nails it so accurately.
My problem with this was that I just didn't care at all about the characters or the story. I mean, I liked reading it, but I never felt emotionally engaged in the slightest bit. I guess this wasn't a problem, exactly, but it's not really the mark of successful fiction.... Still, it's hard to argue with a gorgeously illustrated tale of burnt-out sex-mutant teenagers in the Pacific Northwest during the mid-nineteen seventies. If that sounds at all appealing -- and why on earth wouldn't it!? -- then you should definitely read this comic, preferably while horny as hell and stoned out of your mind in your parents' basement.
My problem with this was that I just didn't care at all about the characters or the story. I mean, I liked reading it, but I never felt emotionally engaged in the slightest bit. I guess this wasn't a problem, exactly, but it's not really the mark of successful fiction.... Still, it's hard to argue with a gorgeously illustrated tale of burnt-out sex-mutant teenagers in the Pacific Northwest during the mid-nineteen seventies. If that sounds at all appealing -- and why on earth wouldn't it!? -- then you should definitely read this comic, preferably while horny as hell and stoned out of your mind in your parents' basement.
May 27, 2011
ME: Everyone raves about this book. It’s one of like ten graphic novels everyone is supposed to read and love.
Me: It looks creepy.
ME: It’s creepy, but it’s also artsy and intellectual and a big metaphor about something important.
Me: What’s the metaphor?
ME: There’s a scary sexually transmitted disease, so… AIDS?
Me: I’m not buying it.
ME: Well, read it anyway. Trust me. It’ll be worth it.
Me: Okay, but it’s more than just an extended metaphor, right? There’s a real story with a real point?
ME: Just read it.
Me: I read it, and it didn’t go anywhere. You lied to me. I hate you.
Me: It looks creepy.
ME: It’s creepy, but it’s also artsy and intellectual and a big metaphor about something important.
Me: What’s the metaphor?
ME: There’s a scary sexually transmitted disease, so… AIDS?
Me: I’m not buying it.
ME: Well, read it anyway. Trust me. It’ll be worth it.
Me: Okay, but it’s more than just an extended metaphor, right? There’s a real story with a real point?
ME: Just read it.
Me: I read it, and it didn’t go anywhere. You lied to me. I hate you.
August 7, 2019
This graphic novel is so weird and twisted . . . yet, at the same time, makes so much sense. The first image below is just a taste of what you are getting into if you give this a try.
Standard adult graphic novel warning: the images in this book may be too disturbing for some. There are depictions of violence, sex, nudity, disfigurement, etc. Just putting that out there so if you see my 4-star rating and think that you usually agree with my ratings so you decide to try it, you don't come back to me and say,"why, Matthew, WHY!? I cannot unsee these things!"
Now that the warnings are behind us, if you are open to some mind-blowingly dark weirdness with some very good black and white imagery, I think you will enjoy this experience. Well . . . this may be a case of "enjoy" not being the right word to use. I will put it this way - if you are always to tempted to click links claiming to show "shocking images" or "actual footage of messed up stuff", then you must "click" this book.
I will close by saying I have definitely focused a lot on the weirdness of this graphic novel. But, in the midst of it all, the symbolism of the human condition, the complexities of difficult relationships, and the struggles of forbidden desires all make appearances. Several times I realized that I just read about and looked at images of something seemingly disturbing, but upon further reflection made so much sense. Often I could equate the scenario to real life.
Yup, real life is quite disturbing. Maybe this book is not quite as "out there" as I have made it sound . . .
Standard adult graphic novel warning: the images in this book may be too disturbing for some. There are depictions of violence, sex, nudity, disfigurement, etc. Just putting that out there so if you see my 4-star rating and think that you usually agree with my ratings so you decide to try it, you don't come back to me and say,"why, Matthew, WHY!? I cannot unsee these things!"
Now that the warnings are behind us, if you are open to some mind-blowingly dark weirdness with some very good black and white imagery, I think you will enjoy this experience. Well . . . this may be a case of "enjoy" not being the right word to use. I will put it this way - if you are always to tempted to click links claiming to show "shocking images" or "actual footage of messed up stuff", then you must "click" this book.
I will close by saying I have definitely focused a lot on the weirdness of this graphic novel. But, in the midst of it all, the symbolism of the human condition, the complexities of difficult relationships, and the struggles of forbidden desires all make appearances. Several times I realized that I just read about and looked at images of something seemingly disturbing, but upon further reflection made so much sense. Often I could equate the scenario to real life.
Yup, real life is quite disturbing. Maybe this book is not quite as "out there" as I have made it sound . . .
April 23, 2017
We watched Riverdale recently, The CW's newish series based on the Archie comics, and I found it a frustrating experience. It had all the elements that I normally love – namely, small-town America, murder, secrets and sexual tension among high-schoolers – and yet it didn't go nearly dark enough or deep enough to really hit the spot. I was fretting vaguely about these themes for some time afterwards, and when I saw a copy of Charles Burns's Black Hole in a bookshop, I realised that it was exactly what I'd been looking for.
I haven't read this since, I don't know, some time in the early 2000s, and I don't know if I ever read it all the way through at the time – doing so now, I realise what a superb achievement it is, surely one of the greatest comics to come out of the American tradition. In his chunky, moonlit panels, Burns builds up a shifting association of images linking the erotic with the horrific until you are primed to react to the slightest of his gestures with great surges of dread or excitement.
The teenage protagonists of this book live in a small town in the American northwest of the mid-1970s (you can date it only by a fleeting reference to Bowie's new album Diamond Dogs). Here, the usual confusion of peer groups, social cliques and sexual frustration is exacerbated and exemplified by ‘The Bug’, a sexually-transmitted condition that causes bodily mutations, some of them extreme – forcing their sufferers to live feral in the woods – and some more benign, allowing kids to ‘pass’ as normal.
This body-horror metaphor for guilty sexual awakenings in Protestant America may have been done a million times, but it just goes to show it can always be done again by someone brilliant. And Burns really does it well: Black Hole, as well as being technically excellent and superbly emotional, has that quality that I look for in every work of art I love – that sense of what the fuck is that. Some of the details here are exquisitely creepy, like the boy with a second mouth above his sternum which, when he's asleep, calls out in a high-pitched childlike voice to the girl he's lying with: “unn…it…it won't work…it can't last…nnn…never make it out alive…” as she shakes him and yells, ‘R-Rob? Come on wake up! Rob?’
Burns's artwork is marked by its thick black lines and a certain flat, depthless quality to the panels – as with a white-line etching, there's oceans of inky black background, and often his images have the stark clarity of a woodcut:
There's a lot of nudity in Black Hole, both male and female, which I particularly noticed this time around because I read most of it sitting at a pavement café on Bahnhofstrasse where my waitress did not seem to be a fan. But voyeurism is a very minor component – naked bodies here are not just about sexiness (though sometimes they are about that), they are also about vulnerability, the raw facticity of your physical frame that, as a teenager, is still new and strange; the absurdity of this shaped packet of meat that inspires pity, protectiveness, desire, or revulsion. This point comes across very strongly when one character leafs furtively through a porn mag, and we see the huge gulf between the sexualised nakedness of the models there and the awkward, defenceless nakedness of the teens in the actual story.
If it has faults, they perhaps come in the final couple of sections, where Burns can't quite find a resolution that lives up to the weight of mystery and feverish emotion that's gone before. But you're in good shape if you're falling victim to your own successes, and this is definitely a success – weird and transformative, it'll touch the parts that other comics, or TV shows, can't reach. Whether you want it to touch you there is another matter.
September 12, 2018
Flat on my back laying on the carpet - swinging my feet in our TRX stirrups... ( its comfy - don’t knock it)... my mind is swimming.
Feet swinging - mind swimming. I’ve never read a graphic book like this!!!!
WORDS OF WISDOM: ... haha... not from ‘me’....
READ David & Glen’s reviews ....or others ....
They rated this book 4 and 5 stars.... wrote cohesive intelligent descriptive excellent reviews.
Me? Yikes ... I have no idea what to rate this book let alone what to write about it....
other than for starters ..... this book put me into a gloomy spacey mood.
I started and stopped this book several times when it first arrive on my doorstep over a week ago —
But today I dived in head first with full force.
And now?? All I want to do is fall asleep —
During the 70’s when the world was a-changing.....I was on the ‘tail’..., ( haha -“tail” I repeat!!!!)..... end of change.
READERS BEFORE ME MIGHT LAUGH...
Naked woman ‘does’ have a tale....
This ex- cheerleader was a straight arrow slow poke... yet no matter what identity one related to ( None for me - just confused)....
nobody escaped those years squeaky clean.
If not directly drugged out - sexed out - everyone was mentally a mess!
So when I just read the tamest of historical books about the 70’s ... ( a little Woodstock, the Monterey bay music festival, flower power spirit, the Vietnam war, the sexual revolution, AIDS),
I’m fascinated and interested.....but I also know I didn’t do 99.9 % of the things people my age were doing.
I didn’t ‘start’ becoming a little fun until after 22 years of marriage...
So... when I read THIS BOOK ....
Oh my GOD... it’s soooo much over the top in experience- of GRAPHIC- visually AND in the storytelling than I was comfortable with.
I’m NOT A PRUDE... but I WAS DISTURB - uncomfortable- and creeped out!!!!
And that’s not to say this book isn’t filled with powerful messages.
Adolescence.... should never be about Disease & murder -
It’s hard enough being about drugs & sex.
I honestly don’t know what to say...
I need to sleep on this book - digest some thoughts ...
Read other reviews.
I AM GLAD I READ IT.... at the same time I would like to get it out of my mind.
Falling asleep!
Almost 4 stars... so 4 stars it is!
Feet swinging - mind swimming. I’ve never read a graphic book like this!!!!
WORDS OF WISDOM: ... haha... not from ‘me’....
READ David & Glen’s reviews ....or others ....
They rated this book 4 and 5 stars.... wrote cohesive intelligent descriptive excellent reviews.
Me? Yikes ... I have no idea what to rate this book let alone what to write about it....
other than for starters ..... this book put me into a gloomy spacey mood.
I started and stopped this book several times when it first arrive on my doorstep over a week ago —
But today I dived in head first with full force.
And now?? All I want to do is fall asleep —
During the 70’s when the world was a-changing.....I was on the ‘tail’..., ( haha -“tail” I repeat!!!!)..... end of change.
READERS BEFORE ME MIGHT LAUGH...
Naked woman ‘does’ have a tale....
This ex- cheerleader was a straight arrow slow poke... yet no matter what identity one related to ( None for me - just confused)....
nobody escaped those years squeaky clean.
If not directly drugged out - sexed out - everyone was mentally a mess!
So when I just read the tamest of historical books about the 70’s ... ( a little Woodstock, the Monterey bay music festival, flower power spirit, the Vietnam war, the sexual revolution, AIDS),
I’m fascinated and interested.....but I also know I didn’t do 99.9 % of the things people my age were doing.
I didn’t ‘start’ becoming a little fun until after 22 years of marriage...
So... when I read THIS BOOK ....
Oh my GOD... it’s soooo much over the top in experience- of GRAPHIC- visually AND in the storytelling than I was comfortable with.
I’m NOT A PRUDE... but I WAS DISTURB - uncomfortable- and creeped out!!!!
And that’s not to say this book isn’t filled with powerful messages.
Adolescence.... should never be about Disease & murder -
It’s hard enough being about drugs & sex.
I honestly don’t know what to say...
I need to sleep on this book - digest some thoughts ...
Read other reviews.
I AM GLAD I READ IT.... at the same time I would like to get it out of my mind.
Falling asleep!
Almost 4 stars... so 4 stars it is!
February 4, 2020
"You guys sound ****ed up . . . What're you on, anyway?" -- 'Jill's older sister,' a minor character coincidentally echoing what I'd like to ask the author after finishing this book
I was hoping to have a good time reading Black Hole - thinking it would be something like if Stephen King wrote his version of the screenplay for Dazed and Confused - but instead it left me creeped out (and not in that squicky fun way that occasionally works for the gross-out modern horror stories), bored and disappointed. It took me several days just to work up enthusiasm to type out a review.
Set during spring and summer of '74 (a character mentions David Bowie's Diamond Dogs album is a new release), a group of Seattle area teenagers who are literally screwing around begin to spread an unexplained disease or virus, and then they develop various individual bodily oddities. Too many characters confusingly resembled each other - in that era when longish hair was the style for both genders, and the nondescript slacks & shirt combo seemed unisex - and the plot was not particularly exciting, but the lack of firm resolution was annoying. I don't necessarily need everything spelled out, but a little more solid direction and explanation would've worked to the book's benefit.
I was hoping to have a good time reading Black Hole - thinking it would be something like if Stephen King wrote his version of the screenplay for Dazed and Confused - but instead it left me creeped out (and not in that squicky fun way that occasionally works for the gross-out modern horror stories), bored and disappointed. It took me several days just to work up enthusiasm to type out a review.
Set during spring and summer of '74 (a character mentions David Bowie's Diamond Dogs album is a new release), a group of Seattle area teenagers who are literally screwing around begin to spread an unexplained disease or virus, and then they develop various individual bodily oddities. Too many characters confusingly resembled each other - in that era when longish hair was the style for both genders, and the nondescript slacks & shirt combo seemed unisex - and the plot was not particularly exciting, but the lack of firm resolution was annoying. I don't necessarily need everything spelled out, but a little more solid direction and explanation would've worked to the book's benefit.
July 27, 2019
A sexually transmitted disease is infecting teenagers, a disease that mutates anyone that catches it. But what happens to the people who catch the teenage plague?
I'm a recent convert to Charles Burns so I was eager to try this, his multiple award winner. The awards were totally justified because Black Hole is awesome.
Set in the Seattle suburbs of the 1970s, Black Hole is the story of teenagers caught in a black hole of sex, booze, drugs, and a plague that inflicts mutations on anyone who catches it. Keith, Rob, and Chris are caught in its pull and may never escape.
Charles Burns' '50s EC throwback art is simultaneously sensitive and grotesque, depicting monstrous deformity, teenage angst, and gentler emotions with ease. The use of blacks is moody as hell and the book has a claustrophobic feel at times.
The writing is superb. Charles Burns clearly remembers what it's like to be a lovelorn, sex-crazed teenager. The angst, drug-addled tales are all too familiar if you toss out the ever-present threat of the sex plague.
Speaking of the sex plague, it could be interpreted as the feeling of alienation a lot of teens feel at one time or another. The afflicted separate themselves from the normals as they barely eke by, eventually withering away and dying.
I like that the story is told using shifting viewpoints and told in small morsels. Keith was the character I latched onto, although Chris and Rob had their moments. There's no happy ending, though. Nobody magically comes up with a cure for the sex plague. People just deal with it as best they can.
Black Hole deserves every award it has won. Five out of five sexually-transmitted mutations.
I'm a recent convert to Charles Burns so I was eager to try this, his multiple award winner. The awards were totally justified because Black Hole is awesome.
Set in the Seattle suburbs of the 1970s, Black Hole is the story of teenagers caught in a black hole of sex, booze, drugs, and a plague that inflicts mutations on anyone who catches it. Keith, Rob, and Chris are caught in its pull and may never escape.
Charles Burns' '50s EC throwback art is simultaneously sensitive and grotesque, depicting monstrous deformity, teenage angst, and gentler emotions with ease. The use of blacks is moody as hell and the book has a claustrophobic feel at times.
The writing is superb. Charles Burns clearly remembers what it's like to be a lovelorn, sex-crazed teenager. The angst, drug-addled tales are all too familiar if you toss out the ever-present threat of the sex plague.
Speaking of the sex plague, it could be interpreted as the feeling of alienation a lot of teens feel at one time or another. The afflicted separate themselves from the normals as they barely eke by, eventually withering away and dying.
I like that the story is told using shifting viewpoints and told in small morsels. Keith was the character I latched onto, although Chris and Rob had their moments. There's no happy ending, though. Nobody magically comes up with a cure for the sex plague. People just deal with it as best they can.
Black Hole deserves every award it has won. Five out of five sexually-transmitted mutations.
September 30, 2018
Black Hole is not about depression, but it nearly gave me one!
Alienated teenagers. Teenage angst. Coming of age. A plethora of drug abuse and sex.
Not my favourite topics to read about, but the story was strangely intriguing.
And nightmarish. I hope I can sleep well tonight...
I don’t dare to recommend this disturbing book to anyone.
Alienated teenagers. Teenage angst. Coming of age. A plethora of drug abuse and sex.
Not my favourite topics to read about, but the story was strangely intriguing.
And nightmarish. I hope I can sleep well tonight...
I don’t dare to recommend this disturbing book to anyone.
June 30, 2011
I find myself wondering about the people who read this collection when the issues were first individually released. Did people truly devour each and every story? Were they so enthralled by the end that this collection needed to be compiled? Weren't people concerned about the lack of plot and resolution? Or were people simply lost in the art and their own fucked up memories enough to dismiss the book's faults?
Maybe the story passed over my head. I am willing to admit the chance but I still feel as though Black Hole is overrated. I can see why it is a favorite of the critics. There is a great deal to say about the book's atmosphere and tone, the plethora of inner teenage angst. The entire work is a giant metaphor for the end of adolescence.
I had great difficulty telling the different characters apart. Too many looked alike, with long light hair. Individual characteristics were few and maybe this was intentional. Many of the characters I was only able to recognize once their particular deformity was revealed or focused upon but this did pose a problem with two of the main characters, who never really showed outward signs.
The entire piece was extremely depressing and the story felt incomplete. The focus was on the teenagers and not at all on any other connections. And there were drugs everywhere, being taken by everyone. Not that I am against as such in a book but I wanted a little more depth involving the topic. The book seemed to be saying that if a character slept around and partook of the many extra curricular activities readily available, then they were doomed. This is an overly simple explanation in my opinion and did not figure any of those missing connections that would be present in real life. I think this lack weakened the main point.
In the end, my interest was slightly peaked but the story still felt incomplete. I really did not care about any of the characters. I mostly thought they were a bunch of spoiled and selfish slackers bemoaning the result of their continued self chosen actions. I had looked forward to reading this a great deal and bought my own copy instead of ordering through the library. The entire experience has left me disappointed.
Maybe the story passed over my head. I am willing to admit the chance but I still feel as though Black Hole is overrated. I can see why it is a favorite of the critics. There is a great deal to say about the book's atmosphere and tone, the plethora of inner teenage angst. The entire work is a giant metaphor for the end of adolescence.
I had great difficulty telling the different characters apart. Too many looked alike, with long light hair. Individual characteristics were few and maybe this was intentional. Many of the characters I was only able to recognize once their particular deformity was revealed or focused upon but this did pose a problem with two of the main characters, who never really showed outward signs.
The entire piece was extremely depressing and the story felt incomplete. The focus was on the teenagers and not at all on any other connections. And there were drugs everywhere, being taken by everyone. Not that I am against as such in a book but I wanted a little more depth involving the topic. The book seemed to be saying that if a character slept around and partook of the many extra curricular activities readily available, then they were doomed. This is an overly simple explanation in my opinion and did not figure any of those missing connections that would be present in real life. I think this lack weakened the main point.
In the end, my interest was slightly peaked but the story still felt incomplete. I really did not care about any of the characters. I mostly thought they were a bunch of spoiled and selfish slackers bemoaning the result of their continued self chosen actions. I had looked forward to reading this a great deal and bought my own copy instead of ordering through the library. The entire experience has left me disappointed.
June 21, 2007
In truth, Black Hole should probably only rate three stars, but it's such an impressive effort and intriguing concept I'm giving it four. Stylistically, Burns' art is extremely intricate and has a very nice noir quality to it. I have a soft spot for any really well-done horror comic book. Like Adrian Tomine, Burns has obviously taken plenty of tricks from Clowes and Crumb. The strange thing about his art style is that even though it is very slick and eye-catching at first, the more you look at it, the more you look you notice a certain clumsiness abaout it. Partly this is because he draws so perfectly I think it kind of makes your eyes tired to look at and emphasizes the faults, but I do think some of the facial expressions and angles are not done quite right.
As far as the writing goes, I felt a little disappointed with where he took the plot and the dialogue and narration weakened over the course of the book too. He also uses a vagina-esque motif continuously in Black Hole, which bugged me. I mean, unless you think it's fun to see how many comparisons you can make between female genitalia and hideous gashes, tiny creepy mouths, and transforming into a freak. It may just be my dumb feminazi hang ups or something.
As far as the writing goes, I felt a little disappointed with where he took the plot and the dialogue and narration weakened over the course of the book too. He also uses a vagina-esque motif continuously in Black Hole, which bugged me. I mean, unless you think it's fun to see how many comparisons you can make between female genitalia and hideous gashes, tiny creepy mouths, and transforming into a freak. It may just be my dumb feminazi hang ups or something.
August 29, 2018
I finished Charles Burns’s graphic novel in the middle of the night, and wow… I gotta say, it lingers like the tail end of a surreal, disturbing dream. That’s fitting, because a lot of the book’s characters feel like they’re caught up in a nightmare too.
Black Hole is like the offspring of director David Cronenberg and YA novelist John Green. It’s simultaneously a look at the cliques and factions in high school, a frank examination of suburban anomie and a horrific response to body anxiety before, during and after sex. And of course it’s shot through with paranoia and fear about STDs and life after teenagehood.
In a Seattle suburb in the 1970s, there’s a sexually transmitted disease going around that hits only teenagers. Each person is affected differently. Someone’s face might turn feline, for instance; another might grow a tail or a second mouth on his or her neck; others might turn into hideous ghouls out of an old horror comic.
Once someone catches the bug, if their difference is evident they’re ostracized by friends and the rest of society. Some have set up camp in the nearby woods, like lepers. Others try to get by in different makeshift accommodations.
Within this unusual world, a handful of teens – Keith, Chris, Rob and Eliza – try to find some sort of connection, even as their bodies metamorphose and they’re alienated by their friends and families. Oh yeah, and there’s a twisted killer loose in the woods.
Plot isn’t Burns’s forte. The opening section is a little disorienting – I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be a flashback or an introduction to the entire novel. The episodic nature of the book can be frustrating, especially at the beginning, when there are a lot of characters to meet. And there’s little momentum to the story. The complications feel a tad contrived and not very organic.
And yet, you still turn the pages, just to see where these troubled teens will end up. Burns handles flashbacks particularly well, and some panels mimic the way a camera will either focus in on a closeup or gradually draw back to give you a larger picture of a scene. He also handles the sex and nudity very frankly and effectively.
Burns’s distinctive graphic style – his strongest asset – draws heavily on woodcuts and shadow, with blacked out backgrounds allowing the characters to pop out in relief. Even in scenes that take place during the day, there’s an ominous feel to them, like a modern film noir.
And the book’s cover image and endpapers evoke high school yearbook photos: those glazed, fixed expressions on people’s faces that are frozen in time and, when we look back at them, tinged with melancholy and ambivalent feelings.
These images, like the book itself, force us to wonder whether we knew everything going on behind those seemingly happy, placid faces.
Of course we didn’t; of course we never will.
Black Hole is like the offspring of director David Cronenberg and YA novelist John Green. It’s simultaneously a look at the cliques and factions in high school, a frank examination of suburban anomie and a horrific response to body anxiety before, during and after sex. And of course it’s shot through with paranoia and fear about STDs and life after teenagehood.
In a Seattle suburb in the 1970s, there’s a sexually transmitted disease going around that hits only teenagers. Each person is affected differently. Someone’s face might turn feline, for instance; another might grow a tail or a second mouth on his or her neck; others might turn into hideous ghouls out of an old horror comic.
Once someone catches the bug, if their difference is evident they’re ostracized by friends and the rest of society. Some have set up camp in the nearby woods, like lepers. Others try to get by in different makeshift accommodations.
Within this unusual world, a handful of teens – Keith, Chris, Rob and Eliza – try to find some sort of connection, even as their bodies metamorphose and they’re alienated by their friends and families. Oh yeah, and there’s a twisted killer loose in the woods.
Plot isn’t Burns’s forte. The opening section is a little disorienting – I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be a flashback or an introduction to the entire novel. The episodic nature of the book can be frustrating, especially at the beginning, when there are a lot of characters to meet. And there’s little momentum to the story. The complications feel a tad contrived and not very organic.
And yet, you still turn the pages, just to see where these troubled teens will end up. Burns handles flashbacks particularly well, and some panels mimic the way a camera will either focus in on a closeup or gradually draw back to give you a larger picture of a scene. He also handles the sex and nudity very frankly and effectively.
Burns’s distinctive graphic style – his strongest asset – draws heavily on woodcuts and shadow, with blacked out backgrounds allowing the characters to pop out in relief. Even in scenes that take place during the day, there’s an ominous feel to them, like a modern film noir.
And the book’s cover image and endpapers evoke high school yearbook photos: those glazed, fixed expressions on people’s faces that are frozen in time and, when we look back at them, tinged with melancholy and ambivalent feelings.
These images, like the book itself, force us to wonder whether we knew everything going on behind those seemingly happy, placid faces.
Of course we didn’t; of course we never will.
January 15, 2020
The fuck did I just read? It was like Dazed and Confused had a baby with The Twilight Zone...
This book was interesting but it was like reading about someone on an acid trip that slowly went bad. It's set in the 70's and there's a sexually transmitted disease that causes physical mutations (a tail, a mouth where it shouldn't be, etc.). All of the main characters are teenagers, and it mostly follows two narratives, one girl, one boy. Things start off not too bad for the teens, but things change, and it suddenly turns really dark. I think I would've liked it more if it had a more coherent ending, but instead it just kind of drops you off in the middle of nowhere. Also there's a lot of sex in this, so I would only recommend this for 18+. If you like really strange things that don't make any sense, have no alternative history background, or endings that give you zero closure, then this is the book for you. Otherwise, I'd have to say pass.
This book was interesting but it was like reading about someone on an acid trip that slowly went bad. It's set in the 70's and there's a sexually transmitted disease that causes physical mutations (a tail, a mouth where it shouldn't be, etc.). All of the main characters are teenagers, and it mostly follows two narratives, one girl, one boy. Things start off not too bad for the teens, but things change, and it suddenly turns really dark. I think I would've liked it more if it had a more coherent ending, but instead it just kind of drops you off in the middle of nowhere. Also there's a lot of sex in this, so I would only recommend this for 18+. If you like really strange things that don't make any sense, have no alternative history background, or endings that give you zero closure, then this is the book for you. Otherwise, I'd have to say pass.
January 5, 2016
Charles Burns' Black Hole is not just one of the best graphic novels I've read in the past few years, it's one of the best novels period. Taking place in suburban Seattle in the 70's, and featuring rotating POV's of various high-school students, Burns' top-notch writing, characterization, and artwork perfectly capture what it's like to be a teenager, complete with all the fears, insecurities, triumphs, and tragedies that seem so important at the time.
But there's a surrealistic, nightmarish element thrown in the mix: the bug, an STD that manifests itself in a variety of deformities: tails, extra mouths, shedding skin, etc. I found it interesting that the town's more popular kids had the more concealable versions of the disease than the unpopular, a subtlety I didn't even notice until this most recent re-read but one that added a whole extra dimension to this multi-layered story. The fact that the infected outcasts all live out in the woods, separate from the rest of society, only enhances the dream-like feel of the book. In real-life, of course, their parents would probably file a missing persons report, get them treated by a doctor, etc. But I think the way Burns handles it only deepens the theme of alienation, making it a more powerful statement overall.
Black Hole has really stayed with me over the past few years, even popping up in a dream I had recently (which was the reason for this recent re-read). The characters feel so real, their struggles so sympathetic and universal, that it's hard to forget. Most everyone has been where these characters are at one time or another. Maybe not the physical deformities, but the feeling of alienation and aloneness (not loneliness). It's not very often that something affects me the way this has, and I'm hoping this review serves as a sort of exegesis, so that I can get into these other books I'm trying to read. But I have a feeling it will be staying with me a long, long time.
5 Stars (and a desert island book for sure).
But there's a surrealistic, nightmarish element thrown in the mix: the bug, an STD that manifests itself in a variety of deformities: tails, extra mouths, shedding skin, etc. I found it interesting that the town's more popular kids had the more concealable versions of the disease than the unpopular, a subtlety I didn't even notice until this most recent re-read but one that added a whole extra dimension to this multi-layered story. The fact that the infected outcasts all live out in the woods, separate from the rest of society, only enhances the dream-like feel of the book. In real-life, of course, their parents would probably file a missing persons report, get them treated by a doctor, etc. But I think the way Burns handles it only deepens the theme of alienation, making it a more powerful statement overall.
Black Hole has really stayed with me over the past few years, even popping up in a dream I had recently (which was the reason for this recent re-read). The characters feel so real, their struggles so sympathetic and universal, that it's hard to forget. Most everyone has been where these characters are at one time or another. Maybe not the physical deformities, but the feeling of alienation and aloneness (not loneliness). It's not very often that something affects me the way this has, and I'm hoping this review serves as a sort of exegesis, so that I can get into these other books I'm trying to read. But I have a feeling it will be staying with me a long, long time.
5 Stars (and a desert island book for sure).
April 22, 2012
I was caught up in that lamentable period of American cinema (has it stopped?) where implausibly attractive actors in their late twenties pretend to be nubile teenage virgins hiding from serial killers or participating in leery innuendo-laden unfunny antics with ex-sitcom stars. Oddly enough this phenomenon was helped along by Wes Craven’s Scream, a film that satirised all the clichés of a genre it single-handedly repopularised—the layers of irony gradually falling away until the reliably bankable properties of cheap sexism and hack writing were fully reinstated at the top of the box office. Where they belong.
This collected comic strip dates form the early nineties and beyond so can be excused for leaping on any sexy-teenagers-and-the-supernatural bandwagons that have popped up in recent times. My central problem with Black Hole is my weariness at having sexy American teenage brats as protagonists, especially those undergoing coming-of-age experiences with an added macabre aspect. Especially if the sympathetic characters are overly sexy teenagers drawn to look like actors in their twenties. I have no time for this shit. The teenagers in American films resemble no teenagers I have ever met in my short life. They might as well be bepimpled alien creatures with tails and horny schnozzles.
Still, despite this bulging bias, I found Black Hole compelling for its structural cleverness, its striking plunder of the dark imagination, the uneasy union of the erotic and perverse. I still resented how the sexy chick escaped with only a partial tear down her spine, and distanced herself snootily from her fellow freaks, but those are my own armchair issues. (I suppose it makes a change to have a graphic novel where the nerd isn’t the hero). As for the dialogue, it clearly escaped from a teen movie of some description, but the drawings redeemed the whole shebang. Hopefully no movie will ever be attempted.
Edit, following admonishment from friend:
I have been informed by an absolutely furious friend this GN has more in common with fifties horror B-movies and ye olde pulp comics than the nineties teen-slasher parodies mentioned above. There also isn’t really a hero (even though the sideburns guy is sort of a hero), so apologies for that misleading piece of shoddy reviewage. Also, “reviewage” isn’t really a word, and only highlights my own desperate ploys for lexical originality in these hastily typed literary judgements. And finally, the forthcoming film should be written/directed by David Cronenberg or someone of his ilk, not written by Neil Gaiman and directed by some other geezer. I apologise for the distress this misinformation has caused. P.S. I also have issues with sexy beauty-queen freaks. Thanks.
This collected comic strip dates form the early nineties and beyond so can be excused for leaping on any sexy-teenagers-and-the-supernatural bandwagons that have popped up in recent times. My central problem with Black Hole is my weariness at having sexy American teenage brats as protagonists, especially those undergoing coming-of-age experiences with an added macabre aspect. Especially if the sympathetic characters are overly sexy teenagers drawn to look like actors in their twenties. I have no time for this shit. The teenagers in American films resemble no teenagers I have ever met in my short life. They might as well be bepimpled alien creatures with tails and horny schnozzles.
Still, despite this bulging bias, I found Black Hole compelling for its structural cleverness, its striking plunder of the dark imagination, the uneasy union of the erotic and perverse. I still resented how the sexy chick escaped with only a partial tear down her spine, and distanced herself snootily from her fellow freaks, but those are my own armchair issues. (I suppose it makes a change to have a graphic novel where the nerd isn’t the hero). As for the dialogue, it clearly escaped from a teen movie of some description, but the drawings redeemed the whole shebang. Hopefully no movie will ever be attempted.
Edit, following admonishment from friend:
I have been informed by an absolutely furious friend this GN has more in common with fifties horror B-movies and ye olde pulp comics than the nineties teen-slasher parodies mentioned above. There also isn’t really a hero (even though the sideburns guy is sort of a hero), so apologies for that misleading piece of shoddy reviewage. Also, “reviewage” isn’t really a word, and only highlights my own desperate ploys for lexical originality in these hastily typed literary judgements. And finally, the forthcoming film should be written/directed by David Cronenberg or someone of his ilk, not written by Neil Gaiman and directed by some other geezer. I apologise for the distress this misinformation has caused. P.S. I also have issues with sexy beauty-queen freaks. Thanks.
November 11, 2014
If you want to read a weird comic with horrifying pictures, a plot that doesn't really go anywhere and a completely unsatisfying ending, then have I got a book for you.
October 17, 2018
I guess I just expected more..? This was very strange and very boring and the plot never really went anywhere. Some of the images were very creepy and terrifying which is what I wanted from this but the story was not compelling at all, and I found myself skimming most of the story. The ending wasn’t satisfying at all either (if that’s even considered an ending really...?)
This has some really creepy imagery but other than that the story itself is very uninteresting.
Book 2 of the Spookathon is complete! This completes the challenge for reading a book with pictures!
This has some really creepy imagery but other than that the story itself is very uninteresting.
Book 2 of the Spookathon is complete! This completes the challenge for reading a book with pictures!
April 9, 2008
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)
It's definitely true, that although I personally am a big fan of so-called "comic books for grown-ups," I rarely review such projects here at CCLaP, for a variety of deliberate reasons: because of the medium's sketchy reputation with the public at large, for example, because of CCLaP's emphasis on being a destination truly for adults (as opposed to a destination for extra-smart adolescents), because of so many such "graphic novels" barely qualifying as reviewable literature in the first place. (So in other words, many of these projects are not bad per se, but are merely not substantial enough to have a lengthy analytical essay written about them.) Ah, but I'm making an exception today for writer and illustrator Charles Burns, again for a variety of deliberate reasons -- because I've been following his work since the early 1980s (originally through the pages of RAW magazine while in college), because he does lots of other interesting things besides just comic books (he was the set designer, for example, of the Brooklyn Academy of Music's controversial 1992 production of The Nutcracker, and is also the full-time cover artist for lit-crit magazine "The Believer"). Most importantly, though, Burns' creations over the decades have mostly been a far cry from the usual navel-gazing whining and postmodern superhero discourses of most "alternative comics;" he is instead a master of the grotesque and macabre, the unsettling and weird, a bastard love-child of David Lynch and Walt Disney, with a little Robert Crumb and Hieronymus Bosch thrown in for good measure.
And thus do we come to Burns' magnum opus, 2005's Black Hole, actually written over the course of a decade and originally published serially through hipster comics outfit Fantagraphics. (DISCLOSURE: As is the case with many small presses mentioned here, I am personal friends with several people associated with Fantagraphics; it makes me pre-inclined to like their projects more than other critics do, something you should be aware of when reading this review.) Like many of his other projects, Black Hole is a "body horror" tale, in which otherwise normal people slowly mutate into horrible freaks over the course of the plot; instead of the pulpy noir tales of many of his most well-known past projects, however, Burns here tackles a much more complex and down-to-earth story, using his creepy visual style to metaphorically evoke terrors which are usually only psychological in nature. And indeed, I don't think it's any coincidence that the dust jacket of this book features dual illustrations of Burns himself, one from the 1970s and one from our times; although not literally an autobiographical tale, you do get the sense that Burns is working out at least a few personal issues from his own youth here, using an otherwise fantastical tale to intimately explore many of the emotional subjects that come with being a teen.
The story is simple enough -- it is the late '70s, and a mysterious new sexually-transmitted disease is starting to affect the high-schoolers of suburban Seattle; but instead of being an AIDS-style killer that eats away from the inside out, this virus actually attacks a person's exterior, manifesting as a series of random genetic mutations depending on who you are but otherwise leaving the inside of the body healthy. And since these are very prominent mutations for the most part (mysterious tiny mouths appearing on people's throats, bodies covered in rotting boils), it soon becomes quite apparent to all which teens are sexually active ones and which aren't, leading not only to a moral panic among the parents but a whole new system of class stratification among the high-schoolers themselves. Burns' 400-page tome, then, is a detailed and complicated look at the lives of half a dozen of these suburban teens, as well as the dark milieu they inhabit -- including a dangerous shantytown in the outlying woods where many of the teens relocate after becoming family outcasts, as well as the various complicated relationships these post-outbreak kids all have with each other in their little self-contained new society.
That's probably what's most interesting about Black Hole, to tell you the truth; because when all is said and done, what this book is mostly about is the natural awkwardness and alienation that most people go through during their teen years, and especially about the endless ways such teens hurt and disappoint all the people around them because of a whole series of romantic misunderstandings and miscalculations. And the reason this is so interesting, I think, is because Burns shows how it's almost more efficient to tackle such a subject through the bizarre metaphor of sexually transmitted genetic mutations, rather than a traditional plot; to cite just one great example, there's a sex scene in this book involving a vestigial tail that explains the erotic-awfulness / awful-eroticism of young sex in a better way than a thousand John Hughes movies added together. This is what I mean when I say that Black Hole is both autobiographical and not, and why I think it's one of the rare graphic novels worth reviewing here; because although the story is definitely one that can only be told in comic-book form, it still rings emotionally true from the very core of the plot, in a way that straight-ahead dramas about teen angst often fail to do. It's a big book, one that takes a surprisingly long time to actually get through (welcome news for regular comics readers, I know), but certainly one that is worth the effort, and one I highly recommend to those who only tackle one or two graphic novels a year.
Out of 10: 9.3
It's definitely true, that although I personally am a big fan of so-called "comic books for grown-ups," I rarely review such projects here at CCLaP, for a variety of deliberate reasons: because of the medium's sketchy reputation with the public at large, for example, because of CCLaP's emphasis on being a destination truly for adults (as opposed to a destination for extra-smart adolescents), because of so many such "graphic novels" barely qualifying as reviewable literature in the first place. (So in other words, many of these projects are not bad per se, but are merely not substantial enough to have a lengthy analytical essay written about them.) Ah, but I'm making an exception today for writer and illustrator Charles Burns, again for a variety of deliberate reasons -- because I've been following his work since the early 1980s (originally through the pages of RAW magazine while in college), because he does lots of other interesting things besides just comic books (he was the set designer, for example, of the Brooklyn Academy of Music's controversial 1992 production of The Nutcracker, and is also the full-time cover artist for lit-crit magazine "The Believer"). Most importantly, though, Burns' creations over the decades have mostly been a far cry from the usual navel-gazing whining and postmodern superhero discourses of most "alternative comics;" he is instead a master of the grotesque and macabre, the unsettling and weird, a bastard love-child of David Lynch and Walt Disney, with a little Robert Crumb and Hieronymus Bosch thrown in for good measure.
And thus do we come to Burns' magnum opus, 2005's Black Hole, actually written over the course of a decade and originally published serially through hipster comics outfit Fantagraphics. (DISCLOSURE: As is the case with many small presses mentioned here, I am personal friends with several people associated with Fantagraphics; it makes me pre-inclined to like their projects more than other critics do, something you should be aware of when reading this review.) Like many of his other projects, Black Hole is a "body horror" tale, in which otherwise normal people slowly mutate into horrible freaks over the course of the plot; instead of the pulpy noir tales of many of his most well-known past projects, however, Burns here tackles a much more complex and down-to-earth story, using his creepy visual style to metaphorically evoke terrors which are usually only psychological in nature. And indeed, I don't think it's any coincidence that the dust jacket of this book features dual illustrations of Burns himself, one from the 1970s and one from our times; although not literally an autobiographical tale, you do get the sense that Burns is working out at least a few personal issues from his own youth here, using an otherwise fantastical tale to intimately explore many of the emotional subjects that come with being a teen.
The story is simple enough -- it is the late '70s, and a mysterious new sexually-transmitted disease is starting to affect the high-schoolers of suburban Seattle; but instead of being an AIDS-style killer that eats away from the inside out, this virus actually attacks a person's exterior, manifesting as a series of random genetic mutations depending on who you are but otherwise leaving the inside of the body healthy. And since these are very prominent mutations for the most part (mysterious tiny mouths appearing on people's throats, bodies covered in rotting boils), it soon becomes quite apparent to all which teens are sexually active ones and which aren't, leading not only to a moral panic among the parents but a whole new system of class stratification among the high-schoolers themselves. Burns' 400-page tome, then, is a detailed and complicated look at the lives of half a dozen of these suburban teens, as well as the dark milieu they inhabit -- including a dangerous shantytown in the outlying woods where many of the teens relocate after becoming family outcasts, as well as the various complicated relationships these post-outbreak kids all have with each other in their little self-contained new society.
That's probably what's most interesting about Black Hole, to tell you the truth; because when all is said and done, what this book is mostly about is the natural awkwardness and alienation that most people go through during their teen years, and especially about the endless ways such teens hurt and disappoint all the people around them because of a whole series of romantic misunderstandings and miscalculations. And the reason this is so interesting, I think, is because Burns shows how it's almost more efficient to tackle such a subject through the bizarre metaphor of sexually transmitted genetic mutations, rather than a traditional plot; to cite just one great example, there's a sex scene in this book involving a vestigial tail that explains the erotic-awfulness / awful-eroticism of young sex in a better way than a thousand John Hughes movies added together. This is what I mean when I say that Black Hole is both autobiographical and not, and why I think it's one of the rare graphic novels worth reviewing here; because although the story is definitely one that can only be told in comic-book form, it still rings emotionally true from the very core of the plot, in a way that straight-ahead dramas about teen angst often fail to do. It's a big book, one that takes a surprisingly long time to actually get through (welcome news for regular comics readers, I know), but certainly one that is worth the effort, and one I highly recommend to those who only tackle one or two graphic novels a year.
Out of 10: 9.3
February 15, 2012
Ah, the seventies...
What other decade could give us both platform shoes AND Earth shoes? Mood rings, bell bottoms and hideous polyester clothing? Art rock, progressive rock, glam rock, punk rock AND disco?
I was a teenager from 1974 - 1981. I wore ugly clothes and listened to some great music. And yes, I still have my mood ring.
It was not a bad time to be a teenager.
But then again...I was not sexually active.
AIDS had not yet reared its ugly head. The worst sexually transmitted disease you could get was herpes. That sounded awful. Eruptions of repulsive festering sores...and there was NO CURE! Once you got it, you had it for life.
In this bleak graphic novel, set in the seventies, Seattle area teens have to deal with all the usual angst ridden issues of their age group - peer pressure, popularity, sex, isolation - AND - a strange, uncurable STD that causes not only eruptions of repulsive festering sores, but lumps, shedding skin, gaping wounds that talk, and tails. Kind of makes herpes seem like a walk in the park.
Not all the kids are affected in the same way. Some can hide their deformities and "pass" as normal. Others are so badly maimed by the disease, they live like lepers in a colony in the woods.
But no one, once infected, will ever be the same again.
Be forewarned. Bad things happen in this book. Not even light can escape from a black hole.
What other decade could give us both platform shoes AND Earth shoes? Mood rings, bell bottoms and hideous polyester clothing? Art rock, progressive rock, glam rock, punk rock AND disco?
I was a teenager from 1974 - 1981. I wore ugly clothes and listened to some great music. And yes, I still have my mood ring.
It was not a bad time to be a teenager.
But then again...I was not sexually active.
AIDS had not yet reared its ugly head. The worst sexually transmitted disease you could get was herpes. That sounded awful. Eruptions of repulsive festering sores...and there was NO CURE! Once you got it, you had it for life.
In this bleak graphic novel, set in the seventies, Seattle area teens have to deal with all the usual angst ridden issues of their age group - peer pressure, popularity, sex, isolation - AND - a strange, uncurable STD that causes not only eruptions of repulsive festering sores, but lumps, shedding skin, gaping wounds that talk, and tails. Kind of makes herpes seem like a walk in the park.
Not all the kids are affected in the same way. Some can hide their deformities and "pass" as normal. Others are so badly maimed by the disease, they live like lepers in a colony in the woods.
But no one, once infected, will ever be the same again.
Be forewarned. Bad things happen in this book. Not even light can escape from a black hole.
January 28, 2008
The "high school" story is pretty well established, and in many ways Black Hole doesn't deviate from the genre standards. Pair of star-crossed lovers? Check. The Nerdy vs. the Cool? Check. Drugs, alcohol, and awkward sex? Check. Teen angst directed mostly at the parents who ruin their lives? Well, that one would work if any adults lasted in this book for more than four panels. But the thing is, if you are going to have a teen plague that distorts infected bodies so that kids grow tails, bumps, horns, or webbing, then having adults in your story kind of gets in the way of . . . everything. This is a story that persistently resists any kind of resolution, and it seems to suggest that adults are simply that--resolution. Adults are what teens become when they settle down into a life that attempts to eliminate through acceptance or rejection the odd and the grotesque and no one in this book is quite there yet; Chris ambiguously ends up floating in the Sound, and while Eliza and Keith have "escaped," their dream of finding a safe place is brittle at best. Sure, the desert is bright, suffused with the kind of white spaces that are noticeably absent in the panels depicting Seattle, but it is a brightness that is fairly empty. And besides, Keith and Eliza's hotel room is disturbingly dark. Sure, they've found each other, but Chris's mantra that Rob could be everything for her isn't guaranteed to work for Keith and Eliza.
I used to teach this in my freshman composition class--I thought it would be a good way to talk about the transition from being a high school teenager to being a college adult. I was very surprised by the reactions to this text: 1.) disgust/dismissal and 2.) the majority of the students read this as a warning against teen sex and drug abuse. Huh? Part of me thinks that the average middle class kid is so conditioned to think that drugs, sex, and alcohol are bad, bad, bad (in and of themselves), that this was mostly a knee-jerk reaction. But the oddity of the book seems to be that you can only really appreciate the idea of transition in the novel (the movement from narrator to narrator, the shift from cool kid to outcast, the amphibians littered throughout the text, or going from "normal" to "mutant") if you've already experienced that transition. Or, alternatively, if you are at the fringes of the social structure described in the novel--if you are the "weirdo" kid in high school, rather than a Chris, Keith, or Rob type. That said, I think it was really worthwhile teaching this text to my freshmen--I think it is the kind of novel that will stay with them (not to mention get passed around in a "I had to read this for college" sort of way). Eventually quite a few of them will have a headslap moment in which they finally figure out that the book is a lot less about the consequences of teen sex, and a lot more about the consequences of growing up.
I used to teach this in my freshman composition class--I thought it would be a good way to talk about the transition from being a high school teenager to being a college adult. I was very surprised by the reactions to this text: 1.) disgust/dismissal and 2.) the majority of the students read this as a warning against teen sex and drug abuse. Huh? Part of me thinks that the average middle class kid is so conditioned to think that drugs, sex, and alcohol are bad, bad, bad (in and of themselves), that this was mostly a knee-jerk reaction. But the oddity of the book seems to be that you can only really appreciate the idea of transition in the novel (the movement from narrator to narrator, the shift from cool kid to outcast, the amphibians littered throughout the text, or going from "normal" to "mutant") if you've already experienced that transition. Or, alternatively, if you are at the fringes of the social structure described in the novel--if you are the "weirdo" kid in high school, rather than a Chris, Keith, or Rob type. That said, I think it was really worthwhile teaching this text to my freshmen--I think it is the kind of novel that will stay with them (not to mention get passed around in a "I had to read this for college" sort of way). Eventually quite a few of them will have a headslap moment in which they finally figure out that the book is a lot less about the consequences of teen sex, and a lot more about the consequences of growing up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 18, 2022
I’m no connoisseur of the graphic novel as an art form but I know what I like. Black Hole represents one of those rare events when all the stars are in alignment—when fantastic illustrations merge with a storyline that is both surreal and superb. It’s a book I want to share with friends just so I can be there to see the expression on their faces. It’s weird, it’s a bit erotic, and it’s grotesquely monstrous in all the right places. Five Stars.
December 18, 2017
I like to think I've read a lot of comic classics, but I always found myself putting off Charles Burns' work. Black Hole and X'ed Out became books I'd flip through when walking through bookstore or comic shop isles. I'd note some impressive line work, tripy-looking art, and move on to whatever else caught my eye. Luckily, all the stars aligned when I found Black Hole in a late-night comic store encounter for an irresistible $12.
I'm glad I finally got the chance to see what all the hype was about: Black Hole is a weird and wonderful graphic novel that kept me entertained throughout my reading. The premise of the story is that a group of Seattle teens are plagued with a sexually transmitted disease that deforms each person in a unique way. Think of it a bit like the X-men's mutant powers, but with very few advantages and horrible disfigurement. Using this neat little metaphor for the uncleanliness of the sexually active teenager, Burns embarks on a kaleidoscopic journey through the teen psyche.
Burns' art is the highlight of this graphic novel and it managed to keep me enthralled as our three leads traffic amidst all sorts of different characters and situations. There's a group of stoner friends who are downright hilarious in their cloudy wisdom, a series of unfortunately clueless and unhelpful parents, and everyone else you remember from high school shot through Burns' particular vision. What's more, each of these three teens find themselves in psychedelic vision quests that mirror their external and internal conflicts. Overshadowing all of this is a group of teens whose deformities have forced them to retreat from society and live together in the wilderness. There's a bunch of creepy crafts in the woods that hint at a sinister individual lurking at the edge of the teens' vision.
Though there's a lot to like in this background murder storyline, the real money comes from Burns' supreme character work. Each of the characters are relatable and their struggles endearing. This comes in part through the intimate moments we spend with each of the teens. Largely, this comes in the form of the characters' sexual awakenings and experiences. Burns captures passion and vulnerability in equal measure, and is never shy about nudity. Indeed, you may want to read this in the comfort of your own home as I could easily imagine drawing stares in a public arena.
Black Hole was just another tick-mark on my attempt to read many comic classics (feel free to point out others!), but it surprised me with its depth and thematic consistency. Burns' faces remind me of Joe Sacco's blended style of realism and caricature, while his backgrounds are all wonderful naturalistic and surreal vistas. Overall, I quite enjoyed my reading of Black Hole and will be sure to read more from Burns in the future!
I'm glad I finally got the chance to see what all the hype was about: Black Hole is a weird and wonderful graphic novel that kept me entertained throughout my reading. The premise of the story is that a group of Seattle teens are plagued with a sexually transmitted disease that deforms each person in a unique way. Think of it a bit like the X-men's mutant powers, but with very few advantages and horrible disfigurement. Using this neat little metaphor for the uncleanliness of the sexually active teenager, Burns embarks on a kaleidoscopic journey through the teen psyche.
Burns' art is the highlight of this graphic novel and it managed to keep me enthralled as our three leads traffic amidst all sorts of different characters and situations. There's a group of stoner friends who are downright hilarious in their cloudy wisdom, a series of unfortunately clueless and unhelpful parents, and everyone else you remember from high school shot through Burns' particular vision. What's more, each of these three teens find themselves in psychedelic vision quests that mirror their external and internal conflicts. Overshadowing all of this is a group of teens whose deformities have forced them to retreat from society and live together in the wilderness. There's a bunch of creepy crafts in the woods that hint at a sinister individual lurking at the edge of the teens' vision.
Though there's a lot to like in this background murder storyline, the real money comes from Burns' supreme character work. Each of the characters are relatable and their struggles endearing. This comes in part through the intimate moments we spend with each of the teens. Largely, this comes in the form of the characters' sexual awakenings and experiences. Burns captures passion and vulnerability in equal measure, and is never shy about nudity. Indeed, you may want to read this in the comfort of your own home as I could easily imagine drawing stares in a public arena.
Black Hole was just another tick-mark on my attempt to read many comic classics (feel free to point out others!), but it surprised me with its depth and thematic consistency. Burns' faces remind me of Joe Sacco's blended style of realism and caricature, while his backgrounds are all wonderful naturalistic and surreal vistas. Overall, I quite enjoyed my reading of Black Hole and will be sure to read more from Burns in the future!
May 10, 2017
There's something both claustrophobic and cinematic about the black-and-white art in Black Hole. It demands concentration: in many panels, multiple characters, with their epicene seventies haircuts, appear identical unless you look carefully. It evokes quiet but expansive sounds, like the wind stirring a field of tall grass at night. It's intense, something to be measured out in small doses, and I can see how it would have been perfect as a serialised comic; in a single volume it's perhaps a little overwhelming. Reading it all in one sitting would've been like drinking a pint of espresso. As much as a lot of the story is made up of social scenes, the impression I'm left with is one of solitude and darkness, an overwhelming (but not entirely awful; in some way oddly comforting) sense of one's helplessness and insignificance in the vastness of the universe.
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February 27, 2015
Creepy, nostalgic and depressing. It read like a bad acid hit. I couldn't put it down even if I didn't want anymore. I was suck in the hole and I really didn't want to be there.
The art work is amazing. The details, hidden bits and suggested images had me staring for long periods like a Hidden Picture puzzle. It was also creepy, creepy faces, shadows, that filled me will a dark sick feeling. The little bits of the 70's shown in the background the music, the drugs the attitude, nailed it. I was a teen in the 70's and even remember some of it. LOL This is a dark book. I like dark, but this one was too close to home ? I'm not sure. I lost friends to drugs, Aids, depression, some ran away never to be seen again.
I rated it only three stars because I don't want to read it again. I would not recommend it because of how I reacted to it.
So if you are good with dark, sexual, drug, murder, social drama, read this. It is unlike anything I've seen.
The art work is amazing. The details, hidden bits and suggested images had me staring for long periods like a Hidden Picture puzzle. It was also creepy, creepy faces, shadows, that filled me will a dark sick feeling. The little bits of the 70's shown in the background the music, the drugs the attitude, nailed it. I was a teen in the 70's and even remember some of it. LOL This is a dark book. I like dark, but this one was too close to home ? I'm not sure. I lost friends to drugs, Aids, depression, some ran away never to be seen again.
I rated it only three stars because I don't want to read it again. I would not recommend it because of how I reacted to it.
So if you are good with dark, sexual, drug, murder, social drama, read this. It is unlike anything I've seen.
October 9, 2023
I'm, like, 90% certain I hated this with a burning passion.
Did not like the art style at all, and the story is really weird and messed up? And at no point was I thinking 'wow, this is good I can't stop reading' it was actually more like, 'what the actual eff is happening here I NEED ANSWERS.'
But I still read the whole thing because I kept trying to work out the point of it.
The story is about a bunch of teenagers who are spreading a mutation disease via sexual intercourse. Rather than explain anything about the disease and where it comes from and how they may cure themselves, this is more about mutant teens getting high and having a lot of sex and weird dreams/trips.
There's something here about being shunned by society because of appearances etc but it's such a done to death theme that it didn't really land here. It was weird and disturbing but ultimately the message was a bit lost I think.
Maybe people that are smarter than me will enjoy untangling this mess but it was too much teenage drama for my horror tastes.
Did not like the art style at all, and the story is really weird and messed up? And at no point was I thinking 'wow, this is good I can't stop reading' it was actually more like, 'what the actual eff is happening here I NEED ANSWERS.'
But I still read the whole thing because I kept trying to work out the point of it.
The story is about a bunch of teenagers who are spreading a mutation disease via sexual intercourse. Rather than explain anything about the disease and where it comes from and how they may cure themselves, this is more about mutant teens getting high and having a lot of sex and weird dreams/trips.
There's something here about being shunned by society because of appearances etc but it's such a done to death theme that it didn't really land here. It was weird and disturbing but ultimately the message was a bit lost I think.
Maybe people that are smarter than me will enjoy untangling this mess but it was too much teenage drama for my horror tastes.
April 23, 2009
I found myself deeply unaffected by this book and profounding bored with its metaphorical suburban misery. I don't know. It's some how less unrealistic to me that there is a mysterious sexually transmitted diseases that makes you grow a vaginal-metaphor in your throat or a tail or turn into a dog-face boy than that dozens of teenages from nice suburban homes could develop horrible mutations and disapear en-masse into the woods with absolutely no part of the adult world even noticing.
I didn't care about any of the characters and kept wishing they would just up and kill themselves already to please spare me from any more Lord of the Flies allusions. It doesn't help that all the female charactesr are creepy projections of teenage male fantasies.
It really doesn't help that the ending is obviously intended to be lyrical and beautiful and symbolic and open to a variety of interpretions and is instead just pretentious and confusing.
My brother gave me this book. I'm still confused as to why. I think it was to punish me for not appreciating No Country for Old Men.
I didn't care about any of the characters and kept wishing they would just up and kill themselves already to please spare me from any more Lord of the Flies allusions. It doesn't help that all the female charactesr are creepy projections of teenage male fantasies.
It really doesn't help that the ending is obviously intended to be lyrical and beautiful and symbolic and open to a variety of interpretions and is instead just pretentious and confusing.
My brother gave me this book. I'm still confused as to why. I think it was to punish me for not appreciating No Country for Old Men.
February 10, 2017
This is a weird one. At times, it’s almost TOO all over the place, at least in terms of a focal point, but really, that might be the idea. It’s a world where sex causes hideous body mutations, and the stigmas and fear these new changes bring. This is a coming-of-age story to be sure, but tone and atmosphere are the driving forces here, as we explore each character’s budding alienation. Often disturbing metaphorical imagery is made all-the-more palpable by thick, shadowy illustrations. There is complexity of character and of the world itself that is begging me to give this a second read, if not to enjoy the art again, to unlock all the layers twisted up in this tale.
May 1, 2020
Black Hole - growing up in an American town where an STD (yes, a sexually transmitted disease!) that causes mutations in their appearance runs amok. In place of the stereotypical teen-angst / puberty line, Burns really utilizes the disease and how it impacts on the sufferers and those free of it. He casts a no holds barred look at the drug sub-culture, the need to fit in and social exclusion. A haunting and at times very serious, but consumingly addictive read. 7 out of 12.
June 2, 2016
Can't believe I've never remembered to put this on my shelves. I love this graphic novel, which turns teen sexuality (and terror of same) into a metaphor that's, like, Hawthornian in its perfection and simplicity.
February 4, 2008
I don't usually read graphic novels -- especially not gruesome graphic novels about teenagers with bizarre sexually transmitted deformities. But I loved this! Well, "loved" might be the wrong term, but I thought it was incredibly compelling.
With some graphic novels, I've found that the text distracts from the art, or vice versa, but Black Hole is seamless. The art and words equally carry the story. And that art is stunning -- the book looks like one long, detailed woodcut.
For a sometimes graphically horrific story, it's surprisingly sweet -- the teenagers are vulnerable and oddly romantic. It's a very realistic portrait of many aspects of teenage life in America (set in a convincingly detailed late '70s milieu) -- the boredom, the worries about social acceptance, the moony crushes. The effect ends up being less horrific (although some of the images are unforgettably gruesome) than wistful, sad, and sometimes funny.
I just finished "Never Let Me Go," and these books seem to have much in common to me -- oddly passive protagonists in a horrific situation, who mostly seem to lack the will to do anything to avoid it. Burns' teens get infected almost haphazardly -- they know the mysterious disease exists, but they'll still sleep with each other at the least pretext, as if trying to save themselves is futile. And yet they're capable of great courage and kindness. It's a haunting book on many levels and I'm really glad I read it.
With some graphic novels, I've found that the text distracts from the art, or vice versa, but Black Hole is seamless. The art and words equally carry the story. And that art is stunning -- the book looks like one long, detailed woodcut.
For a sometimes graphically horrific story, it's surprisingly sweet -- the teenagers are vulnerable and oddly romantic. It's a very realistic portrait of many aspects of teenage life in America (set in a convincingly detailed late '70s milieu) -- the boredom, the worries about social acceptance, the moony crushes. The effect ends up being less horrific (although some of the images are unforgettably gruesome) than wistful, sad, and sometimes funny.
I just finished "Never Let Me Go," and these books seem to have much in common to me -- oddly passive protagonists in a horrific situation, who mostly seem to lack the will to do anything to avoid it. Burns' teens get infected almost haphazardly -- they know the mysterious disease exists, but they'll still sleep with each other at the least pretext, as if trying to save themselves is futile. And yet they're capable of great courage and kindness. It's a haunting book on many levels and I'm really glad I read it.
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