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Black Hole (Hardcover)

by Charles Burns (Author)

3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product Details

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Pantheon (Oct 18 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 037542380X
ISBN-13: 978-0375423802
Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 17.2 x 4 cm
Shipping Weight: 1.1 Kg

Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Amazon.ca Sales Rank: #89,634 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. The prodigiously talented Burns hit the comics scene in the '80s via Raw magazine, wielding razor-sharp, ironic-retro graphics. Over the years his work has developed a horrific subtext perpetually lurking beneath the mundane suburban surface. In the dense, unnerving Black Hole,Burns combines realism—never a concern for him before—and an almost convulsive surrealism. The setting is Seattle during the early '70s. A sexually transmitted disease, the "bug," is spreading among teenagers. Those who get it develop bizarre mutations—sometimes subtle, like a tiny mouth at the base of one boy's neck, and sometimes obvious and grotesque. The most visibly deformed victims end up living as homeless campers in the woods, venturing into the streets only when they have to, shunned by normal society. The story follows two teens, Keith and Chris, as they get the bug. Their dreams and hallucinations—made of deeply disturbing symbolism merging sexuality and sickness—are a key part of the tale. The AIDS metaphor is obvious, but the bug also amplifies already existing teen emotions and the wrenching changes of puberty. Burns's art is inhumanly precise, and he makes ordinary scenes as creepy as his nightmare visions of a world where intimacy means a life worse than death. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 11 Up–Set in a Seattle suburb during the mid-1970s, this dark, atmospheric story is a gripping (and often unsettling) journey into the psyche of suburban teens on the brink of adulthood. The bug is a sexually transmitted disease that causes strange and irreversible mutations: one boy grows a miniature second mouth above his collarbone, a girls skin begins to molt, and another grows a preternatural tail. Some are able to conceal their mutations and live a normal life, while others are shunned and forced to seek refuge in a supportive, but tenuous community deep in the woods among the homeless and the homicidal. The impact of the plague on the community is seen through the eyes of two teens, Keith and Chris, both of whom become infected and develop mutations. Burns skillfully explores the inner drama of high school alienation with tenderness, precision, and grace. His masterful black-and-white illustrations evoke an eerie surreal tone that beautifully complements the underlying horror of the textual narrative. This accomplished graphic novel is a serious work of artistic and literary merit and is essential for any collection that includes adult graphic novels such as Dan Clowess David Boring (Knopf, 2000), Craig Thompsons Blankets (Top Shelf, 2005), and Gilbert Hernandezs Palomar (Fantagraphics, 1989).–Philip Charles Crawford, Essex High School, Essex Junction, VT
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unique, but surprisingly predictable and boring on the whole, Aug 27 2006

By	Paul Dallas (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Let me just start off by saying that the artwork is absolutely mind-blowing. Poetic and loomy and totally appropriate for a high school environnment that's as alien as it is familiar. My problem was with the story, and it's not really my problem, it's Burns'. I dropped the $40 at my local comics shop (waaayyy cheaper here by the way), so I did my part. I was ready to be moved and terrified by an incendiary attack on high school. Didn't happen. Suffice to say, the 'satire' doesn't take off. Thematic satire maybe. An AIDS-style STD sweeps across a community of high school kids, causing freakish deformities and forcing the afflicted teens to go underground. It's a great premise, but it doesn't really go anywhere. The same relationship drama pretty much plays-out like it did before they were infected, making the deformity stuff sink into the realm of the sight-gag. At one point a girl's tail breaks off during sex, the guy is horrified, but she says 'it's ok, another'll grow back'. It's a hilarious and welcome break from the sexual tension, and very true of the kind of confusion and discovery throughout our teen years, but it was the only humour I could draw out of the entire 350+ page book. Jeez. At least let the deformed kids develop special and ironic powers.

There's also a series of murders which doesn't really make much sense, and when you find out whodunnit it isn't a shocker, and when you find out why, you roll your eyes.

It's observational, almost documentary-like in its authentic cycle of high school life: sex-pot-kegger with moron friends-alienation-beer-sex-pot-moron friends-alienation-beer, but the tone gets old after a while. It's also totally devoid of any real feeling or editorial voice.

That's another thing too - it's hard to tell some characters apart. They're all pretty much the same. We're not allowed in. He's cheating.

It had tremendous promise - they got certain details right, but it could've been more imaginative in its narrative and spent a little more time inside of his characters.

It's a 3.75 out of 5, which is a proficient way of saying 'good ideas, inconsistent tone - can't wait to see your next one'. Although I see he's also done a comic about a big psychotic baby and that idea bores and dissapoints me. The kind of image you find on a tame Punk cd jacket.

If you want a gorgeous, unique, hilarious and disturbing story with fresh characters in loomy black and white, check out Clowes' 'Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron'. If you want a colourful 'urban gothic' story with light touches of social commentary, a strong premise and an intriguing mystery, check out Alan Moore's 'Watchmen'.

Black Hole is neither of these.

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