Black Hole (Pantheon Graphic Library)

Charles burnt me with this book...not the worst one ever but very dissapointing....wish there was more to it...dont wanna spoil it for anyone but i will not endorse..

Not the same genre but doesnt hold a candle to TWD...writing art story...nada

I was led to believe that this is a great ground breaking book in comic novel, but came away with a bad taste in mouth. I think the artist lacked the sense of meaningful unity in his story. Then again, I am much older, more comfortable with the underground comix from the late 60's-70's. The artwork in this book gives that nostalgic feel for the black and white comix, but wow...very derivative of pointless highschool "drama" genre...where there is no drama, but life goes on drearily.

I haven't read any of the author's previous work, so I may be missing something, but this book was boring.

It never seemed to get started, and the intrigue about the bug that these weird kids had never materialized.

I read to the end hoping for more, but the book disappointed.

The book has very explicit nude and sexual drawings. I would not have purchased this as a gift had I known this - luckily I flipped through it before wrapping! I was swayed by the 5 stars and excellent reviews, which failed to mention the graphic graphics.

This graphic novel is set in 1970s suburban Seattle. A group of high school kids are aware of a sexually-transmitted plague affecting some of them, that leads to hideous deformities. Some deformities are extreme, others can be covered up, but all are irreversible. Most victims eventually feel the need to exclude themselves from society and go live in the woods. But the woods are not safe.

Laced into this story are familiar themes of teenage, alienation, self-loathing, tentative steps into first love, and cruel mockery. The plague's deformities could be taken as a physical symbol of the kind of stigma that is often attached to promiscuous teenagers in small communities. Once you are ostracised, your only real option may be to leave.

This book is eerie, creepy, spaced-out, romantic, erotic and weird. The black and white art is superb, and Burns avoids the more cliched plot developments in favour of something more subtle. The only criticism I could really make is that there is perhaps a bit too much teen angst, but I suppose that is a necessary part of it.

Of all the graphic novels in my collection this is the one that surprised me the most. Perhaps because the blurb describing the book suggests a very different vibe - you'd think that this is a story of body horror and mystery. I've seen this book compared in retrospect to the movie It Follows. I would not say that this is an accurate comparison. This book is all about mood. Sure there is body horror (kids are indeed getting weird mutations) and sure there is some scary stuff (isn't being a teenager scary enough?) but the mutations-as-STD element is very much in the background. The characters don't seem to make the connection between sex and these particular consequences - typical of teens, but here it is made literal in a very new way!

A lot of this book's plot is rather... relaxed? It's hard to describe, really. I'd say that instead of being slow, the story leaves a lot of space to consider the vagaries and mysteries of life in general and the teenage experience in particular (it helps that this is a pre-internet period piece). The art adds a lot to this - it is at once very straight forward looking AND very trippy, and often takes a hard turn into the absurd and grotesque. It contributes to the theme - if you're still figuring life out, is anything straight forward at all? There's an infinite universe of possibilities out there and all you know of it is your direct experience - maybe you just don't have the perspective to understand how horrifying your life (or freakish mutation!) actually is.

One great thing about this book is that it was able to keep my interest for the entire 368 pages. It's a real page turner in that regard. Another great thing is the art. While I don't actually care for Burns's style and how he draws characters, the inking is so nice and so well done that it makes up for the rest of the art's problems. Now it's time for the bad.

Black Hole is an interesting study because while it apparently considered a sci-fi, it's really just a slice of life/coming of age style thing about some high schoolers who do drugs and get STDs. Really, if you took away the STD sci-fi component from this, very, very little would change. This story is a normal slice of life type thing in how there's not too much of a plot. I didn't have a problem with this, but then Burns felt the need to include a plot twist at the end that simply felt out of place and wasn't properly built up to. Really, one thing about this book is that the are a lot of interesting ideas and images that aren't fleshed out, meaning that they come off as half baked. I have no problem with writers choosing to leave certain aspects of their work up for interpretation, but there are just so many things that aren't properly dealt with that I can't help but wonder if Burns forgot what he was doing halfway through. The dream sections are one part of this.

The dreams of characters in this book are used to establish their hopes and to show the reader a bunch of trippy stuff. The dreams are present from the beginning of the book, so they certainly fit in with the rest of this, but the dreams don't ever amount to much, especially in the end, where Burns felt the need to show the reader a bunch of objects from prior issues.

The ending of this isn't great. It's so abrupt and does not feel like an ending. If you told me there were more issues to this series, I'd absolutely believe you because of how suddenly the book ends. It's annoying to spend a couple hours reading something, only to have it end without any closure.

The page layouts were very bizarre at first because they would show the same characters in very positions, but panels would look like they'd line up when they wouldn't really. That's a bad description, I know, but basically the page layouts were bad and were poorly planned out for the first half or so of this book.

Really, I enjoyed Black Hole at first. I could've overlooked its flaws if it had been as good as it was in the beginning. I do not recommend this book because there are so many better slice of life/ coming of age/ sci fi stories out there.

Black Hole is certainly one of the strangest graphic novels I've ever read. Few comics go for this level of surreal horror, and it certainly isn't for everyone. But for those who like creepy stories, this might just be your thing.

Black Hole takes place in Seattle Washington during the 1970's. Some weird STD strain has broken out, causing anyone who gets it to suffer stange disfigurements. Some are minor enough and in the right places to hide, but others are not so lucky. The story principally follows two characters, Chris (a girl) and Kieth, as they attempt to navigate the weird world of their school.

The strong points of the story are the art and the intimate character interactions. Without ink to cover up flaws, the art is stunningly detailed, and shows the disturbing body horror perfectly. And the characters we follow are strongly developed. Both Chris's romantic relationship and Keith's pining for something more show off a dark side of high school life.

However, the book does lose a little something in the plotting. While the focus characters are fine, the book doesn't really spend any time on the overall reaction to the plague. Also, the kids parents barely feature in the story, almost to the point of absurdity. It seems the author wanted to make a comparison to the AIDS virus, but downplayed the public outcry that accompanied it.

While it is impossible to say that any one artist in the field of sequential art is better than the rest, or to even narrow it down to a list of 100, there is no question that Charles Burns' ultra-polished, ultra-black style, drawn from the examples of EC great Al Feldstein, Dutch and Belgian bande dessinee pioneers E.P. Jacobs and Herge, and legendary creator of Terry and the Pirates Milton Caniff, should be very near the top of anyone's picks. His ligne claire/chiaroscuro hybrid look is instantly recognizable, with a heavily stylized portrayal that is vaguely cartoonish in the manner of Dan Clowes (an artist whose early, pre-'Ice Haven' work owes much to Burns).
'Black Hole' was over 10 years in the making, serialized at a rate of about one issue a year, for a total of twelve issues. The consistency of both art and story is a testament to the focus that is required to produce a masterpiece like 'Black Hole'; and it is most assuredly a masterpiece. The best examples of sequential art are mostly the creation of a single mind (with a few exceptions) -- Chris Ware's 'Jimmy Corrigan', Dan Clowes' 'David Boring', David B's 'Epileptic' and Jim Woodring's 'Frank Book' are some of the few works that rival 'Black Hole', all of them the doing of a single writer-artist, perfectly envisioned and executed.
The story is set in the American Northwest of the mid-to-late seventies, loosely based on Burns' own adolescent experiences and environs. In this version of a not-so-distant past, however, a sexually transmitted disease is quietly terrorizing the teenage population, creating a largely sublimated climate of fear, suspicion, and confusion. This is not HIV; this is 'The Bug'. It is rarely discussed in public, and even in private people barely whisper. The Bug turns those who contract it into monsters... literally. Some grow horns or tails, some develop second mouths, third eyes, reptilian scales, doglike snouts... only a very fortunate minority are able to hide their symptoms enough to 'pass', to deceive their friends and family and the endless scrutiny that is high school. For those whom The Bug has obviously ravaged and tainted, exile is the only option, and they form a loosely-knit tent community in the woods.
From this premise Burns gives us a vivid metaphor for the feelings of intense isolation, and the pain of being ostracized, that are a daily struggle for many kids.
He also creates a gripping drama of interconnected lives, of the casual brutality and treachery that is just a fact of high school life. As the story shifts narrative and even chronological perspectives, the dark intensity at its core grows, and the horrors only hinted at come to the fore...
Anyone interested in the comic medium will not regret buying this book. It is beautiful, haunting, and horrifying

That Charles Burns is a "prodigiously talented" graphic artist I wholeheartedly concede. Black Hole is an exceptional work of visual art. But a "prodigiously talented" story-teller? I confess, I don't see it. True, the work in review is very unusual. True, it is symbolically potent. True, it tells a story -- sort of. But what exactly that story is, I'm not sure I could say (without referring to the jacket blurb or other reviews). Though I think I know what the entirety of this novel is meant to represent, I don't think its presentation (the verbal as opposed to the graphic, that is), represents it well. Black Hole is touted by some as one of the finest examples of graphic novel literature. I don't have much of a basis to compare it with, but I hope that's a hyperbolic judgment. What CB paints with a pen is extraordinary (5-star material for sure); what he writes with a pen is, in my view, banal -- hence my averaged-out 3-star rating. I'd definitely read future graphic novels of his, but express the hope that his so-so writing skills will one day catch up to his truly exceptional artistic skills.

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.

Black Hole is a coming of age story with a twist. This world has STD that physically change you, while some can be covered up other's have the misfortune to not even resemble their former selves . The visuals alone in this graphic novel are enough to get you to pick it up. Great Black and white art that is showcased the most in intricate hallucinatory dreams that the main characters have. The book focuses on two characters whose lives intersect with one another as they both cope with hardships of growing up and finding love and the complications that sexual diseases present when someone you are in a relationship with has one. The book shows the cruel and complex nature of high school students as they shun are shunned and bully each other even before some contract a disease. This book shows the terrible isolation one feels in high school and the overwhelming sense of despair one may have when catching an STD. This graphic novel shows a physical representation of living with STD's in a compelling story that never dulls and only intensifies as you turn the page.

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.

Charles Burns' 'Black Hole' was not just one of the best graphic novels I've read recently, it was 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 I was almost finished, 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 adds to the dream-like nature 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 adds to the theme of alienation, making it a more powerful statement overall.

'Black Hole' has really stayed with me during the last week since finishing, haunting my dreams, even. The characters felt so real, their struggles so sympathetic and universal, that it's hard to let go. 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 move on to something else to read. But I have a feeling it will be staying with me a long, long time.

Imagine an alternate mid-1970s America where a sexually-transmitted disease called "the Bug" causes non-fatal but otherwise very noticeable physical mutations in its victims. Now imagine that most of these infections occur in adolescents. This in itself would be an interesting premise for a story or a purely satirical perspective on social taboos with regards to STDs or STIs, but Charles Burns sets this as the background setting of his Black Hole narrative and makes the story a lot more personal: displaying the lives of four high-schoolers in Seattle as they deal with the disease, their own developing sexuality, relationships and social alienation.

Through his twistedly organic black and white illustrations and panels, Burns amplifies the inherent sense of psychological isolation, physical awkwardness, hormonal confusion, sexual and hygenic anxiety and a deeper kind of fear that is traditionally associated with adolescence to say something about real ugliness and true humanity. For in addition to the characters all feeling a sense of rejection, personal horror, and a desperate need for survival and meaning there is also the matter of a murderer of "Bug" victims prowling around amongst them to consider.

Yet despite these themes and aesthetics, this is not a murder mystery, nor is it "a freakshow comic." Rather, it is a story about the human spirit dealing with the greatest black hole of all -- an internal dark inner forest of personal demons and despair -- a kind of twisted initiation into adulthood in which either growth or death waits at its end. At the same time, there is also a gentleness and carefree potential and freedom inside this cruelty personified in some ways by the unique figure of Eliza. It is this element that can potentially make a reader understand and sympathize with the characters, while at the same time making them truly question what a monster really is.

As for the rest, remember that monsters are misunderstood, changes are often growth instead of disease, and all outsiders and the Other have to be someone. Also remember that someone always dies, another will gain understanding and there may yet be something of a happy ending for another.

This was a very touchingly visceral book and I feel it deserves this rating.

I originally read Black Hole as it was published in bits and pieces by Fantagraphics over a decade, so it was satisfying to have the entire series collected in one volume. Reading Black Hole in one sitting was a disconcerting experience; I was absorbed into Burns' world of mid-1970's high school students (my own time period, although my high school experience was NOTHING like this) and the David Lynchian events that take place.

Charles Burns is a gifted artist and storyteller - his slick, shiny style is perfect for a tale where the safe and familiar becomes threatening and bizarre. Black Hole may be too edgy for some readers, but fans of Daniel Clowes and William Burroughs will find much to enjoy here. Pantheon Books has done a wonderful production job with this book - the design matches the content perfectly.

Going into this book, I had my reservations about it. This is one of the first true graphic novels I have read and I was not let down. Charles Burns leaves a lot for the reader to try and decipher the true meaning of his writing.The book likes to jump around when it comes to the timeline, and the reader really has to pay attention to that when they read. Also two of the main characters Rob and Keith look similar.

The idea of the virus and having it transmitted through STDs like conditions, reminded me a lot of the AIDS epidemic. There also seems to be a reoccurring theme of water and those who have been mutated finding comfort in it.

Overall this story was a fast read and diffidently worked in the horror genre.

"Fasten your seat belts, children. It's going to be a bumpy ride". With this book, a compilation of ten years of strips, Burns established that graphic novels are here to stay, that he is a master of the genre, that the teen age is almost literally a horror story, and that the graphic novel may be the most compelling means to tell that story. Sex, symbolism, the surreal, (and Seattle), have never since looked so good together.

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 horrifying (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.

BLACK HOLE by Charles Burnes
Pantheon Books, 2005

I checked out BLACK HOLE along with a bunch of other books from the library yesterday as it has been recommended to me on more than one occasion. As I was flipping through these books at about nine o'clock last night, I picked it up with the intention of doing nothing other than reading the jacket blurbs and perhaps flipping through a few pages. Basically, the next thing I knew I was turning the final page of the book, closing it, and looking up at the clock somewhat bleary-eyed to see it was four o'clock in the morning. In short, this is one engrossing read; you know you've been really hypnotized by a tale when artwork that's as beautifully rendered as Burns' basically goes unnoticed because you've forgotten that you're reading a book.

BLACK HOLE is not a book for everyone, but I suspect that most people who like it at all will like it a great deal. Recommended, particularly to those who enjoy films like Blue Velvet (Special Edition) and River's Edge,to those who were young in the 70s, or both.

BLACK HOLE is a collection of Burns's comics of the same name and it is an intriguing and visually compelling look at life in high school, but a look that twists your perspective. If you remember high school in the 70's (Yes, I'm dating myself.), you'll see that Burns has done an amazing job of recapturing the images and look of the period. The casual attitude towards drugs and drinking, the eternal pursuit of sex and the mullets are all elements in Burns's examination of this stage of life. The confusion, the struggle to "fit in," and the brutal treatment of others who are considered different is magnified by Burns's throwing in an element of the fantastic; a sexually transmitted disease that causes mutations that range from the hideous to the disguisable. By adding this element, Burns is able to magnify the horror that high school is to some, while others remain oblivious. The narrative bounces from character to character, constantly changing the reader's perspective; this can prove confusing but adds to the tension that is constantly building throughout the story. By the time the story reaches its climax, the reader will have entered into this dark world and will be happy to escape. This is not a negative; it just demonstrates how effectively Burns has made his world. While there are elements that reach a bit too far into the psychedelic for me, the images and the stories will stay with you for quite awhile.

Touted as `one of the most stunning graphic novels yet published' by Time magazine, Charles Burns's Black Hole had a lot to deliver just to be deemed adequate. A bit to my surprise, I found it an excellent and haunting story, with several stylistic choices that really enhanced Burns's narrative.

Set in mid 1970s Seattle, the narrative focuses on a group of teens who are infected with a mysterious, sexually transmitted disease that causes all manner of mutations and leaves them outcasts from society. One boys face turns feline, another girl sheds her skin, while yet another grows a second mouth on his lower neck. Though many of these teens are involved in the drug culture, Burns avoids a judgmental stance by presenting several people who are users and having sex yet do not contact the `bug.'

It is refreshing to see teenagers written in a believable way. Too often I have read books or seen movies, most recently Juno, where it is impossible to believe that a person that age would say those things or have those thoughts. Yet throughout the novel, I felt my own teen years conjured up, and seeing how Keith pines for Chris only to have his love unrequited, I remembered how I felt the same way in high school. And while I wasn't around in the mid-1970s, the elements of the drug culture seemed to be accurate to me as well.

Instead of exploring the origin of the disease, Burns is more interested in how its presence affects those who are infected. Their relationships with each other and the outside world are altered, often tragically, yet a chord is struck between the alienation these teens feel and the alienation we all felt as we were growing up. Perhaps we didn't have strange growths coming off of our bodies, but in a sense we were all infected.

Burns uses varying perspectives, often of the same material, in order to tell his story. The inner monologues of Chris, Rob, and Keith are poignant, and it is interesting to note that the fourth major character, Eliza (the sexy woman with the tail), never serves as the point of view in the narrative. Wavy lines are used to border panels that show the past or contain dreams, blurring the line between memory and fantasy.

There is no gray in this comic: only black and white. Mostly black. In the world of Black Hole, there are only two ways to end, happily or horribly. And the dominance of black is reflected by the ending, with the majority of characters meeting not so happy fates.

Burns also shifts visual perspectives from panel to panel is striking ways, often blending faces together. In one instance, he splits the faces of Rob and Chris and sets them side-by-side, so that a reader must rely on the boxed text and dialogue to grasp that the face, which merges from the two panels, is actually two distinct faces. In another, the adjacent panels are aligned so that it appears the back of one character's head is spread between the two, yet Burns actually has this over the shoulder perspective flip from character to character, causing temporary confusion until one realizes that we are over Rob's shoulder in one perspective, and Chris's in the other. I know that images would help convey this better than I can with mere words, but I am unable to locate appropriate ones online.

My experience and knowledge aren't broad enough to judge whether Time's assertion is true, but I can say that Black Hole is an engaging and satisfying read. The narrative is compelling, but you would be doing yourself an injustice to not slow down and take in the artwork as well. A haunting read that will likely evoke your own feelings of adolescent alienation.

This book was fantastic. I'd circled it for years in the book store, and I was so happy I finally picked it up. Burns' characters are consistent, believable, and thoroughly fleshed out. You feel their emotions with the way Burns tells his story, and it brought me back to being a teenager and how the world looks through such inexperienced eyes. At the same time, there's something strange happening to everyone, and instead of being overdramatized, the problem lies in the background. Like so many of the threats in real life, the characters hope by ignoring it and pretending it's not true that it'll go away, or at least not affect them. The art was excellent, staying consistent and clear, creating an atmosphere that was believable but unique. I love the ending too, and I won't ruin it here, but it was perfect for the type of story told and leaves the reader feeling that everything that needed to be said was said.

I read this, and I read this quickly. I enjoyed the story and the artwork. I would pass it around and tell my friends to read it, buy it, check it out of the library. However, there is a lot of ambiguity in the story. I as a reader was interested but I keep wanting more. Not more in the sense of I like the universe of the story which is in itself a well-contained narrative.

What Black Hole lacks is a well contained narrative itself. This device might be a conscious effect of the writer. The reader is left with many questions unanswered about the plot in general, the motive force behind the plot, and the ultimate fate of the characters. I want you to read this book so I can ask you what you think the bug is.

I think it's a metaphor for teenage alienation, but I'm not sure. I just don't want to get it.

Charles Burns, Black Hole (Pantheon, 2005)

Really, the only thing I should need to say about Charles Burns' superlative Black Hole is "wow." And I'm not terribly sure I can say anything more; many professional reviewers have tried, and as good as the reviews have uniformly been, all of them have failed to capture what it is that makes Black Hole one of the best books, graphic or no, of the past half-decade (or more). When faced with such glorious failure, why not give it a shot?

Set in suburban Seattle in the mid-seventies, Black Hole centers on two high-school students, Keith and Chris, who know nothing about one another other than the they share a biology class. Keith, like most of the rest of his class, has a major crush on Chris; Chris thinks Keith is a really nice guy. The chapters alternate between the exploits (and points-of-view) of the two.

Surrounding the tale of these two would-be lovers is the Bug, a sexually-transmitted disease (while one couldn't call it akin to pregnancy, given its 100% infection rate, Burns does have a few amusing moments where his characters liken it to same). People infected with the Bug are outcasts who live in a wooded area above Ravenna Park that Keith and his stoner pals call Planet Xeno (for no particular reason they can name). There are also weird goings-on in the woods (that will likely put you in mind of The Blair Witch Project). And then people infected with the Bug start to disappear...

Black Hole is pitch-perfect in tone, pacing, and characterization. There's just a touch of nostalgia, though Burns never allows himself to fall into the trap of romanticizing the mid-seventies. The mystery angle is handled strangely but effectively; the world outside doesn't know about it, and the infected themselves almost seem to accept it as one more way in which they're outcasts. No one's really interested in solving it; it's just there. It's an unexpected way of handling things, and risky. But as everything else in this book, Burns handles it with brilliance.

If there is a weakness to the book, it comes in the final fifty pages. One of the storylines (telling you which would probably be considered a spoiler) has a weak ending. Burns, however, makes up for it with the ending to the other storyline, which is handled with even more eloquence and power than the rest of the story.

I can't say enough about the art, either. Burns cut his teeth in early issues of RAW Magazine, and it shows; his work (this was, according to interviews and other reviews, a conscious decision on Burns' part) never changed during the decade it took him to write this book. From the looks of things, if you compare his work in RAW (what I remember of it, anyway; it's been a while) to the work in Black Hole), it's still strikingly similar. Because it's what I've been reading, I have an urge to compare the art in Black Hole to that of, say, Sandman; the problem is that the Sandman artists and Burns are miles and worlds away from one another artistically. It wouldn't be like apples and oranges, but maybe Golden Delicious apples and d'Anjou pears. Burns does what he does, and while it may look more crude than recent titles, everything has its reason, and by the time you've finished this, there will be no argument that Burns is at the top of his game here.

Fantastic. Will easily find a spot near the top of my Best Reads of the Year list. *****

The best graphic novel I have ever read. The artwork is amazing and the story is wonderfully crafted. It is unlike anything I have ever read. The novel centers around teenage love, alcohol, marijuana, STDs, loneliness, dreams and reality. I highly recommend you check this out and I will be looking into reading Charles Burns' other novels myself.

Graphic novel, set in the '70s, with a group of teenagers and the very strange mutating-STD that develops. Primarily a character-driven piece, using the weird disease as both metaphor and the driving plot to character transformation. Also has a somewhat unnecessary horror mystery arc put within the larger narrative. The artwork is beautiful, very distinctively and evocatively drawn. I first saw this book in the gift shop for an art museum, and I can see why. The story is also reasonably effective, if not quite as breathtaking. The use of genre elements is poor (the bug pretty much has to be magical, no explanation for the origin is given and people seem remarkably unconcerned about a disease that causes a second mouth to grow on someone's neck). Still, it's effective for some very creepy moments and some solid character progression.

I picked up Black Hole completely on a whim last week, enticed by the intriguing cover but having never heard of it or author Charles Burns. Now, having read it through (in a period of about two hours), I can see where all the acclaim comes from, as I've never encountered a novel, graphic or otherwise, quite like this one. Rendered in stark, shadowy, black-and-white, it's a roller coaster of emotions that, sadly, stay frequently buried beneath the surface, but they're certainly no less compelling for it. It's laden with symbolism and subtleties, but at the same time the narrative moves forward with lightning speed and economy as its tale of fear and loathing in 1970's suburbia unfolds. Even though it's set in a particular time and place among a particular age group, there's so much of the universal in Black Hole and its characters that pretty much anyone should see something of themselves in it.

As the book opens, a town just outside Seattle has been stricken with an STD known only as "The Bug," a plague that manifests itself in all sorts of bizarre symptoms ranging from molting skin to webbed fingers to much nastier and less concealable deformities, with two interesting qualifications: it never goes away, and it only affects teenagers. We quickly learn that The Bug is spreading through the local high school, and apparently it's gotten far enough that the students are no longer even trying to stop it but instead carrying on with their usual activities and old social order. The popular kids are still self-medicating with booze, drugs, and casual sex, while the chess-club geeks are cast out even more explicitly than before, with their conditions driving them to a lonely, near-feral existence in the woods outside of town. At the same time, though, all sorts of weird apparitions (baby dolls tied to trees and the like) are showing up in the woods, presaging a string of murders that leave pretty much everybody a little on edge.

Much of the story is conveyed through narration by the two main characters (more on them later), and while I'm normally not a fan of the device the narration here is so frequently poetic and affecting I was willing to give Burns a pass. Black Hole is also laden with fevered dream sequences like something you might find in the Sopranos, allowing Burns to indulge his (apparent) penchant for freakish, foreboding visions that further add to the book's general feelings of horror and alienation. As one might expect, discomfort, whether social, sexual, or some combination of the two, is a prevailing theme of the book. Granted, that's nothing out of the ordinary for high school, but in this case everything's magnified by the presence of The Bug, adding a whole new element to Black Hole's examination of inner turmoil and interpersonal dynamics among teenagers. What's afflicting the characters on the outside reflects back what they're going through on the inside as they struggle with the feelings of longing, existential angst, and plain old teen boredom.

There were some shots sprinkled throughout the book that I found rather unpleasant (both concerning the bug's symptoms and otherwise), but given that the characters are a stage in their lives when they're just discovering themselves and their bodies the occasionally unsettling imagery isn't at all inappropriate. More to the point, though, Burns tells his story with so much empathy and humanity that the depictions of sex and violence only serve to heighten its tensions rather than distract from them. The book centers mainly around two characters, Keith and Chris, who are brought into contact early on and who form an ambiguous relationship amidst the insanity brought on by The Bug. They're both sort of stuck in the wrong crowds, and you can tell they're looking for some sort of release from the constraints of their high-school environment, but at the same time their different social circles prevent them from really connecting the way Burns makes you feel they should. Both are extremely well-drawn and complex characters, though, whose feelings are way more sophisticated than what you'll find in pretty much any depiction of teenagers in popular media. There's Keith, the thoughtful guy who's a little too sensitive for the stoners he hangs out with, and Chris, that rare hot and popular chick who's also actually nice and intelligent, and whom Keith (along with lots of other guys) has a deep-seated thing for. For most of the book they just sort of circle each other as Burns tells their stories in alternating chapters, with Chris never seeming to realize just how Keith feels about her, which gives all of their interactions a sort of tragic quality as they each pursue happiness with someone else.

So, to review: Black Hole is a great book, and if you don't read it you're missing out. And, yeah, that's pretty much it.

I've been waiting to get my hands on this book for a while and finally got a copy when Border's was having a going out of business sale. I think I had read the first half of it in the store way before I purchased it.
Black Hole is about a high school where teenagers are being infected by and STD called 'the bug'. It seems to have a different effect on each person affected by it. Some kids become grotesquely disfigured while others seem to be minutely afflicted. Some of the more harsher cases choose to take to a community in the woods while the other kids stay in the comfortable homes and seem to be unaffected.
The artwork through out the book is astounding. Stark black and white, but perfect for the series. I especially like the parts that seem to be delving into dreams.

Combining the best elements of sci-fi, horror, and those cheesy movies designed to scare teens in the '70s, Black Hole is wonderfully funny and subversive while also being genuinely thrilling and disturbing. In 1970s Seattle, a group of teens battles against sexual desires that threaten to leave them monstrously deformed. A new sexually transmitted disease has come alive, and there's no cure. The strange effects of the disease--different for everyone who catches it--mirror the pain and isolation of high school. Black Hole is tragicomic in the best sense of the word: It takes itself seriously, and so do its readers. How could you not? When one chance encounter with the wrong person could lead to a lifetime of horror, you can't help but be just a little bit nervous.

-- John Hogan

Can't wait for the movie version, though I was disappointed to learn that, after all the chazzerai, my favorite director (David Fincher) won't be doing it after all. For many years it was his passion project and I feel, who else can turn Charles Burns' powerful and yet turgid vision into something worth seeing?

As many have noted, Burns' artwork is stunning, and he has the 70s down pat, and the mysteries of teenage loneliness and angst he knows as well. As a writer, he suffers from a fatal dullness. The pictures he paints are scary, but his characters just mope along in mumbles, and what's worse is that, I've been reading the book for about a year and a half now, and I still can't tell the characters apart. Which one is Chris and which the artistic girl? Rob, Keith, what's the difference? And the action, if you can call it that, is so attenuated I grow sleepy. Finally today in a burst of energy I finished the book and it is dull. What a frustrating piece of work, so great on the one hand and such a disaster on the other. But yes, it is moody. And it will stay with me a long time.

Black Hole is a graphical masterpiece, and perhaps Charles Burns finest work to date. Originally published as individual comics, the issues have been compiled together at last in this sturdy hardcover edition. Masterfully rendered in nightmarish black and white artwork, Burns creates a perfect reflection of life growing up in the 1970s. Based partially upon his own experiences growing up during that time period, Burns has captured the zietgeist of what it was (and still is) like to be a teenager. Burns pulls no punches, and many of the beautifully inked pages of Black Hole are filled with the raw emotions of the teenage experience: alienation from one's family and friends, premarital sex, recreational drug and alcohol use are all on display here in Burns' unique and original style.

One small warning for those who may be unfamiliar with Black Hole: If you are offended by representations of drug and alcohol use, or by male and female full frontal nudity, you probably won't enjoy this novel. Otherwise quit wasting time reading this review - go pick up a copy of this excellent book and prepare to be spellbound.

Black Hole itself is amazing, but once I finished it in less than half a day the most incredible thing about it all is that it took Charles Burns a decade to write this and a mere handful of hours for me to read it. He has "condensed" so much into these pages that the frantic pace I first read the book at is forgivable in light of the pretty much insurmountable urge to re-read it, savoring each panel one at a time. And these panels are almost bursting with imagery, iconography, symbolism and sheer stark beauty.

It's sad, it's creepy, it's haunting, it's hot and it just won't go away. And, even more amazing, Burns actually throws a decent amount of curve balls in addition to creating an astoundingly evocative picture of a teenage experience. Let's just say that the narrative arc involving Eliza did not turn out the way I expected, and I am extremely glad Burns did not explain specifically the cause of the bug, and that these two things are related very heavily in my mind.

The category of "If you can own only one comic book/graphic novel, buy this one" is getting more and more packed but Charles Burns' Black Hole deserves to be mentioned.

Black Hole is one of my favorite comics/stories of all time. The exceptional art is mirrored by an equally compelling story--both of which have a wonderful morbid undertone to them. There are plenty of regular reviews out there so I wont go into the story, but if you enjoy unique story telling and fantastic art this is for you.

Black Hole is head and shoulders the best graphic novel I have ever read.

The story is based around a group of teens in suburban Seattle who are ravaged with a disfiguring STD. It drives most of them from their homes into hiding, and no one in the book ever reemerges into the "normal" world. I heard good reviews of the book but was skeptical when I picked it up, fearing that I wouldn't be able to identify with such a fantastic storyline. I was absolutely wrong: what struck me first about Black Hole is that the disease's physical effects are not at all the focus. They merely serve as a backdrop for a gripping portrayal of teenage life. Anyone who reads the book will be able to identify with the desperate need for belonging that causes us to make the most irrational decisions.

One of the interesting aspects of the book is the vast differences in symptoms from one individual to another. Some merely grow bumps on their chests, while others develop exoskeletons. Equally absorbing is the fact that the infected teenagers who fare the best in the story are those whose particular symptoms are not as visible. Whether Burns intends it or not, there is a tacit hierarchy among the diseased that I found fascinating. Just like in any other form of prejudice, the closer kids appear to the "ideal" - in this case being non-diseased - the better they fare and the more they are accepted.

Finally, the novel's graphics are simply amazing. Burns' artwork is almost overwhelming in its intensity and frequently in its detail. Despite the plot of the novel pushing me to read faster, I couldn't help but slow down and take my time looking at each page. Every pane is dark and often horrific, but each is tremendously beautiful.

Just like the story.

I had seen Black Hole around for a long time but never got around to reading it until recently. Overall I enjoyed it, the book has excellent artwork that fits perfectly with the stories dark Gothic mood. I especially thought the dream sequences and night scenes were very effective. I felt the book was at its strongest early on when the plot was unclear and ambiguous, later it becomes a more conventional murder mystery.

The main issue I had with Black Hole was the similarity of the drawing of the main characters. I'd like to say that this was intentional on Burns part but I think its more what happens when an artist is sometimes using themselves as a reference for different head positions and looks.

Rob, Jeff and Chris are very similar looking, early on I would start a chapter thinking it was from one character point of view and then have to look back to see who the character actually was. With other characters as well sometimes the difference is as subtle as the direction of hair parts and different shaped glasses. This made the difference between Jeff and Rob confusing since the difference between them only became clear later.

Overall the plot is made up of 12 issues and feels as if Burns did not work out where the story was headed, so the ending of the story is tied up a tad too neatly considering the very effective ambiguity of the early chapters. The story has an interesting premise, a contagious deformity that is unique for each person and spread sexually but runs out of gas later in the book. The strength of the artwork makes the graphic novel worthwhile, the plot by comparison is forgettable.

This graphic novel is unpredictable and compelling. Where some books are just the opposite, making for a simple read, this one has some seriously freaky content that will make you think twice about your interpretations. At least, that's what I think about the book. I read it over a year ago, and I still find myself wondering about the (don't worry, no spoiler here) bio-medical stuff going on in the book. There are all kinds of crazy themes here about sex, disease, and what it means to be human. As the title suggests, this book is DARK, and for that, I appreciate it.

This graphic novel is just plain weird. Charles Burns, the writer and artist, uses very dark pages, nearly entirely covered with black India ink to tell the tale of teenagers in the 70s. Told from shifting points of view, this macabre story meanders, with the teenagers dealing with relationships, the opposite sex, drugs, and more sex. At times the teen angst of living at home with parents as a young adult is palpable.

Again, this story is just so weird: one girl grows a lizard tail and a guy grows an extra mouth in his neck. These strange deformities all happen after having sex with one another. The weirdness pulls you in, and the art recalls the style of R. Crumb or a black velvet poster from the seventies. In other words, really cool. This book stayed with me for days... almost haunting me... the emotions felt so real and the story was so strange that I almost couldn't read it at night. Weird.

This is the first of Charles Burns' comics I have ever read, but since reading an excerpt in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern a year ago, I have been waiting with bated breath for the release of Black Hole. I was not disappointed.

The story focuses on an STD circulating among Seattle-area teens in the 1970s, each of whom displays symtoms of 'the bug' in a unique and varying way. But as the description says, the story is not about the bug, its origin, or attempts to control it. It is about the bizarre social relationships of American teenagers and the savage, cruel world of high school. 'The bug' is merely a plot device; the despair, anger, confusion, and unrequited lust portrayed in Black Hole are immediately recognizeable to anyone who's ever endured their teenage years.

The art is fantastic, the story haunting and revealing. My only complaint is that it left me with so many questions, and seemed to end so abruptly. But dreams and hallucinations figure so prominently into the story, it's only fitting that the book itself is like a strange nightmare. Black Hole will definitely be required reading for comic nerds and novices alike for several decades to come.

This was the second graphic novel that I ever read, the first was the book version of The Originals. I am not into manga or anime, but I decided that I should give this genre a try.

I really enjoyed Black Hole. It is a thinly veiled commentary on how people who are different are outcasts. He used the freakish nature of the disease to get our interest, but it is actually a parable for what goes on in our society everyday. The illustration style is captivating and engaging.

Since reading Black Hole, I have gone on to read other graphic novels. It was a great place to start.

I love this novel.

Black hole has many of my favorite elements used in graphic novels in one book.
~It has a rich dark mood.
~The author used a creative way to narrate the story (he narrated it using two different characters.)
~The text was easy to read and follow.
~It was easy to differentiate the characters.
~The Illustrations evoked and expressed complex emotions.

My friend handed this to me and told me it was absolutely a must-read. I admit that I put it off for a while. Something about the illustration style threw me off. But then I picked it up. I couldn't put it back down.

The emotion is raw and the feelings are uncomfortably honest. I finished it not ten minutes ago and I'm thinking of all the people I could tell to read it.

Read it.

Great story, eerie premise, wonderful art. Yes, this was very good, fascinating really. Quite a switch from my usual fare, but zowie, I couldn't take my eyes off of this. You know, usually you buy a hardcover, you spend 25 bucks and call it a deal if you get 300 pages for your money. THIS BOOK-- you get at least that but each page is covered with kick arse artwork. This is the first book I couldn't put down in quite some time, I know that's a cliche you read alot and it's rare that it's a fact but I'm not bustin your chops here, this is weird and great.

I am very impressed with Charles Burns. His work just pulls you into the story and it's hard to put the book down. He really captures the complexity of the human experience for quite a compelling read. Burns has the ability to create such believable characters that you can relate to, root for, or wince at when faced with devastation and vicissitude. This particular story has now become one of my favorites for those reasons, along with the visceral imagery, artistic symbolism, and the overall beautiful illustration.

Okay. I expected this book to be strange and artistic, but no way did I expect it to be like this! I had read a brief review/ spotlight on this book in wizard magazine and I thought the concept of a Venereal Disease that mutates the infected was an intriguing idea. There was NO WAY I expected this book to have any sort of emotional pull to it, but it does.

It has an emotional pull alright, just not in the way that you would normally perceive that sort of thing. This book was written and drawn with such raw emotion that you could feel the atmosphere in which these character were immersed. If they were depressed, you not only knew it from the words, but you also sympathized with them on a visceral level. When they lusted, you understood why, even though their situations were often outrageously grotesque.

Another thing I appreciated about the book was its non-sequitor style of storytelling. You have to be careful reading this book, as I could see it being easy to lose track of the main characters by the nature of the storytelling.

I knew that this book would not be a normal book, and it wasn't. I wanted to feel more comfortable with the material, hoping that eventually, the edge would come off - but it didn't. I didn't want to feel for some of the characters in the book, but I did. I just wanted to read a book that required no thought processing, but I was engrossed from the beginning.

This book was extremely disturbing. I loved it.

If there is only one reason comic books exist, it is so that Black Hole could come into being. This is one of the deepest and unique trips ever written, and the only possible venue for this story is the comic book format. Black Hole is frightening, nostalgic, nightmarish, beautiful, surreal, and chock-full of teenage insecurity. If any comic books become textbooks for future college literary classes, Black Hole will be at the top of the reading list.

writing: [10/10]
art: [10/10]

This was an excellent, well-drawn novel with a great story. I would recommend it to anyone. It just wasn't five-stars good. I picked it up at the book swap here at work, and I'm glad I did. I enjoyed the read, but I would have been slightly disappointed if I had bought it.

This book was a very easy read. The drawings are, for the most part, pretty simple, and the dialouge flows well. I finished it in about 2 hours. For most of the first chapter, I contemplated stopping and returning the book, but it does slowly draw you in.

Like I said, it's a good read, and worth the time, but I'm not sure it's worth the money. I doubt I would ever re-read it.

The art is stark and beautiful, more like wood cut block prints than pen and ink. The story is intruiging, propelling, and sensitive. I love how Burns uses swirling recombinations of visual motifs and symbols to biuld a sense of mounting chaos and intesnity. I love how the plot centers on an extremely bizarre and outlandish premise (the "bug") but the narrative barely seems to notice; we're not subjected to any off point explanations about what it is, how it works, the philosphical or political implications. Like everything else in a teenage world, the bug is just one more f-ed up situation interfering with everyone's attempt to find meaning and love and fun. This book is all about the characters, who are unravelled masterfully from beginning to end. I didn't give it a 5 because I need to save something for Chris Ware's work.

Compelling with beautiful visuals and an outstanding story. If you want something that breaks into the depths of innocents, sexuality, isolation and pain this book gives all and more. I can not recommend it more!

This was the first graphic novel I read that wasn’t a comic series. I didn’t know who Charles Burns was or what to expect. It seems anyone I talk to about this book was really disappointed but I absolutely loved it. It wrinkled my mind in the same way Twin Peaks did. I was so struck by it that I read it twice, and I’d read it again if my friend in college had returned it years ago.? Bit©h...

This was really enjoyable to read. At first I was weary of the surrealistic content, but I really grew into it.
One thing though, I was kind of perturbed that it is very easy to get two characters, Keith and Rob mixed up. They are drawn almost identical, and I thought Rob was Keith at times and Keith was rob. Therefore, I was confused for half the story. Just remember, Rob has a small beard and Keith does not.

Ending was what I expected, but I was a little disappointed, it kind of seemed to trickle out. Doesn't explain why or how certain things happened. However, this seems to be quite characteristic of this style of storytelling so I wasn't too surprised.
I love the cleanline drawing style.

The Book Black Hole is the most intriguing graphic novel I have ever read. The moment i picked the book up and started reading it I could not put it down. It is a bazar book that still covers real life problems that people go through daily. This book covers the topics of sex, drugs and how it effects people. Also Black Hole has many different situations were it has per-pressure on doing all different types of bad things, shows what kinds of misses they get into. I would recommend this book to a person that is matcher enough to handle seeing sex and drugs in action. Black Hole would probably be a great book for a teenager between the ages of fifteen and nineteen. The book would really grab these folks because of the ages in the book and how it grabs it's audience. If a person is looking for a graphic novel that will really grab their attention, then Black Hole is for them.

An amazing piece of writing and art. All black and white. The metaphor used to define the particular issues at hand is really quite stunning. There is no romance to the time it takes place and the author has no problem with making the horrific compelling. I highly recommend this. This is a book to give as a gift to any fan of comics. Just as long as that person isn't a child.

A twisted, creepy, disturbing, yet enticing graphic novel about a foreign "bug" infecting a city and ruining the lives of the people who receive it. (I interpreted it as a metaphor for AIDS, but every other review seemed to associate it with teenage loneliness, which makes sense as well...) The two main characters are both extremely brooding and angsty (go figure--they're high schoolers), and it's got confusion, murder, sex, and drug-trip-inspired creepiness.

If you're into film noir and dark stories, you will probably love it. If you can't do macabre, steer clear. And if you can't take angst with no true rationale behind it, this story will probably seem over-the-top. But I enjoyed the ride.

All I can say is WOW. The art in this is amazing. This guy is gifted. I found myself studying the lines more than than the story. That's not to say that the story isn't great. Set in the 70's, the story follow a group of kids who are striken with "the bug," a mysterious illness that causes deformations and is passed through intercourse. It's written in a way that is so believable yet truly imaginative.

Like Chester Brown's Yummy Fur before it, Blackhole creates a special kind of eerie spell that is impossible to forget. I was reminded of my own teen years more than once, and felt that the emotional resonance juxtaposed with the elements of outright horror created a perfect tension. Both of the lead characters, a teenage girl and the boy that love her share a believable teenage angst that never becomes maudline, but reflects my own experiences growing up. Amazing work from Charles Burns.

This is not only an incredible graphic novel, filled with top notch and telling illustrations, it's also one of the best written pieces of modern fiction that I've read. It captures the fear, insecurity, confusion, sexuality, and perversion of high school and teenage life in an incredibly detailed way. On top of that, the story is truly compelling, and there were several times in the book when I found myself worried to turn the page. The characters are clear and succint, and the artwork is fantastic. Do yourself a favor and put this one on your shelf. I literally couldn't put it down once I'd picked it up.

There are so many great things said about this book, that I'll just say that it's one of my favorite graphic novels I've read, and that's quite a lot. Everything is perfect about this book, one of my favorite aspects is the excellence Burns has when it comes to capturing hallucinations/dreams/tripping/disorientation, never before have I read anything that ao perfectly captures this.

This book, one of the many early 2000's graphic novels about everyday people, is one of my favorite books. As you continue to read, it sucks you in, like, well, a black hole. The story gets weirder and more complicated as you learn more about the characters and the disease that surrounds them, and as a result, the storytelling methods used by Charles Burns become stranger and stranger. A great read.

Capturing the moment when you've taken enough pulls on the joint/pipe/bong and are left to yourself or a quiet person who's also there. Been sober for a long time, but contact high from the images in this comic. Explores the dark places accessible when something takes you out of normal reality- those deformities, unbearable grotesquenesses that come with being human, exposed and with nowhere to hide. Because they are visible to you. The beauty, too. Spellbinding, genius work that tell the truth, or at least a truth. Will stay with you.

Black and white, dark, ultra-dark stories about teenage's love, sex and drugs mixed with mutations, bugs, virus and hallucinations. A lot of young people are becaming ill (just like AIDS but this don't kill, just destroys and mutates your skin) and there's nothing we can do. Unforgettable, you'll read it twice minumum, i'll bet.

Since the store and fellow reviewers have done a great job at describing the story and art, I don't even feel my review is necessary but I HAD to add my stars and few brief words. The art is exceptional, fantastic use of negative space. The concept almost reminds me of Uzumaki, how an entire community is taken in by the 'holes', and the nothingness swallows them all.

I see the black hole as a metaphor for adolescent loneliness... All the characters have the typical teenage emptiness and insecurities (save for the tailed girl, Liz) and that is what they spread and what ultimately swallows them. I think a huge symptom of deep insecurity is teenage sex. The "sick kids" are all misfits, even Chris is in her own right.

I loved the ending with angsty shoot out.

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.

A big, sprawling tale chock full of tales of the crumbling, mythos of the utopic American suburbia of the 1970's interspersed with grotesque imagery and interludes that demonstrates Burns' signature artistic vision to the fullest.

Wow. Last year I took a college course on graphic novels, and I've been really delving into the medium ever since. Recently, my "go to" recommendation was probably Blankets. But after finishing this, it has become one of my favorite things I've ever read. It's got this really neat psychadellic dreamy imagery, and at one point, I cringed so hard I had to briefly put the book down. It's like a teen horror/psychedelic drama. I absolutely loved it. PICK THIS UP NOW!!!

There is no way for me to describe the beauty and genius of Black Hole and I would only do the book a disservice in attempting to do so. You will never forget this book and your subconscious will eternally mull over the wealth of symbolism contained in the book's words and art. It's rare to be given the opportunity to step into the mind of a genius through words, let alone visual art. I'd like to thank Charles Burns for inviting me into his for that brief moment in time.

As everyone's said, amazing artwork. The inkiness, the surreal motion of the illustration are haunting. I read Black Hole in a few nights and felt like I had the heeby-jeebies before bedtime.

But I had gripes with the basic storyline/plot. The idea of "the bug" is SO rich. Burns is clearly aware of his symbols. Everywhere there are phallic and vaginal images that emphasize the difficulties of sexuality. The bug is more than an AIDS allegory (which I don't believe it is), or the difficulty of sexuality or maturation. The bug complex in the way it manifests differently in different people, complex in that some of the manifestations have agency--like Rob's "talking mouth" on his neck. Not only can the bug have agency, it can be prophetic. And it can even have a tongue that can kiss! (We don't even know if the disease has stages. Do the bums we see eating from the garbage with disfigured faces represent an advanced stage of the bug? --OK, maybe an unfair question if "the bug" is simply allegorical.)

But since it is so interesting and has so much potential, why does Burns ruin it with a "murder mystery"? It cheapens the whole experience. The bug alienates teenagers, and to boot, someone's running around killing people. --OK, maybe Burns is telling us that a situation can always get worse.

(SPOILER WARNING) That's my first problem. My second is that the essential story goes: Keith, sensitive, arty, nerd-boy struggles to court the Chris, girl of his dreams, fails, and somehow winds up with a sexy artist woman.

Chris, beautiful, smart girl finds the love of her life, only to lose him because yet *another* nerd-boy who has a crush on her. She is punished for being nice and good-looking because boys don't know how to behave around her. In short, boys are rewarded for being a nice, (since Keith winds up with the sexy one) and girls rewarded for being nice (since... she winds up alone/dead).

This is only reiterated in the character of Eliza, Keith's sexy reward. She, like Chris, is surrounded by sexually-frustrated boys, and since she doesn't BELONG to any of them, she is brutally punished. You would think that her strong personality and artistry might be an exception. But no, of course, she's rescued by the niceness of Keith. Blegh. It almost makes you wonder if the author is still suffering adolescent anger at the girls who rejected him in high school.

I don't know if this is what Burns would want to convey; I hope not. But the story pivots around these "punished girls." Without Chris and these agonized adolescent male crushes on her, there would be no story.

So why not just tell the story of the bug, which is SO much more interesting and SO much less cliched/ problematic?

I very much like reading graphic novels and I came by this one by accident. I had never heard of Charles Burns before. When I looked through it at first, I was immediately drawn to the great artwork and bought it straightaway. The story is just plain great, no other words to describe it. Dark, intense, scary and fascinating.
I would highly, highly recommend this novel to anyone who likes the genre. If you, for instance, enjoy the books by Daniel Clowes (like a velvet glove cast in iron), this will not disappoint you! In fact, it is even better! Great, great book!

Picked this book up in my school's middle school selection of graphic novels. The cover and the story sounded intriguing enough. I can't believe that this book is available on the shelf for 11-14 year-olds. It's about a bunch of teenagers who are constantly drinking and smoking pot and having sex. The characters are a bit confusing, the story is completely unrealistic and it's quite dark.

I love this book! It's packed with gritty imagery about an STD that mutates teenagers during their coming of age years. The illustrations are great and the subject matter keeps you drawn in. I picked this book up and didn't put it down till it was complete.

This series was featured in most of compiled comic lists by websites. I was very intrigued in the start, because the art work is dark and amazing, it also got great promise. After reading further in, the plot just stuck as it was from the very few episodes, very little plot will be understatement. Like some I too had difficulty in identifying the different characters, there were so much similarity between them, but this could be intentional, and kind of art form exactly the Burns wanted. But when it ends you'll be surprised, it will not be satisfying ending. You'll wonder whether there could be more story and was cut short? What is the story for the 'bug' and its weirdness mutation, dream sequences, weird objects and art works thrown across the pages, you will be short circuited out the black hole world without knowing where the bug is headed, what happens to the mutated teens, what else happens in the woods... Even the teenage STD/AIDS metaphor could be obvious for the bug and dream sequences, it doesn't help to create a thinly veiled story around it for the reader.

This is the first graphic novel I have read. Charles Burns uses this medium to it's utmost. The story is extremely compelling and as you go through the book you feel imersed in the atmosphere of the characters.

The art work is outstanding. At many times in the book I just stared at some of the panels just admiring the fluidity and craft of the illustration.

I think the greatest compliment for a book is when the reader feels transformed and different after having finished it. This is exactly how I feel. I look at life just a little bit different after having read this book.

a real masterpiece, this comic book by charles burns; a gallery of freakish characters, running through the chilling atmosphere of the black and white pages, sharp and aggressive as only the unparalleled style of burns can be; a love story also, as sad as the existence the mysteryous spreading plague obliges those young people to live... really great!

This is one of the strangest, yet, brilliant things you'll ever see. It's, by turns, sexy, violent, decadent, and nightmarish. The detail, to even the most, seemingly, insignificant things is incredible. While the action takes place in the 70's, the message is timeless. You'll never look at casual sex, STD's, drugs, alienation, and the homeless, the same way, ever again.

This book was very enticing and kept me interested the whole time. Even further, the art really fit with the stories and was more than complimentary. Unique, exciting, and fun. This makes for a great read!

"Black Hole" combines the unsettling normalcy of Dan Clowes with the heart-rending angst of the Hernandez Bros. His images are clean yet complicated, and the story is masterful.

"Black Hole" is a challenging read, revealing the darkest depths of teenage life. This is a story about the things that happen at 3am, after all the good times have ended, and things just get weird. It's also about growing up, coming of age and all that is inherited. And there's a little suspense thrown in for good measure.

It took Charles Burns a long time to create this book, and I'm willing to wait for his next one, too.

A lot of reviewers have gushed over this GN, but I just didn't see what all the fuss was about. I will say that the art is great, actually very disturbing at times. I did not grow up in the seventies, but the experiences of these teenagers were very familiar and it is obvious that Mr. Burns' teenage years are very fresh in his mind. With all that said, the story really doesn't go anywhere and there is never a satisfying, "wow" type moment. Maybe it was supposed to just be a nihilistic journey through a surreal group of high school kids who want to get high and laid. It acheived that for sure, but the effect was quickly forgotten after closing the book.

The central conceit of Black Hole is intriguing: Imagine an alternate version of the '80s in which there exists a sexually transmitted disease, referred to by the characters only as "The Bug," that causes bizarre deformities. The symptoms of The Bug, as we see it wreaking havoc on a cast of mostly high schoolers, vary widely. A group of geeks have been so horribly wracked by the disease that they live in the woods, ostracized by society. The more popular characters develop less obvious but weirder alterations, such as the second mouth on Rob's chest (which even speaks sometimes). One girl merely grows a tail.

All of this is accepted by the characters as normal, so apparently The Bug has been around for a while; we never get any backstory on it. In fact, there's little story to speak of: a couple of romances, a handful of murders. It never really comes together. This is an art comic first and foremost. And the art is... well, it's memorable. Everything about Black Hole is memorable.

But that's not necessarily a good thing. After finishing the book, I was left with the feeling that something deeply disturbing had happened, and little else. I'd been given a glimpse of an interesting world populated by largely uninteresting characters, high schoolers who, despite the lurking presence of The Bug, seem primarily concerned with getting laid and getting high. John Hughes it ain't. Rather than mocking these teenagers for their short-sighted, superficial concerns, Black Hole takes them seriously, exaggerating their adolescent turmoil to the point that it seems to take priority over the world's very real problems.

Stories about puppy love can be terrific--see the heart-warming Blankets, for instance--but the surreal disease at the heart of the comic only serves to make the romances frivolous. It's all about The Bug. Love is just a carrier.

I'm surprised this book got such a favorable reception. I found it half-baked in every regard. The characters aren't very compelling. The central conceit of the book - that there is a contagious disease of some sort that produces bizzare deformities seemingly unique to each individual -- a tail, a talking mouth in a neck-- is rather puerile. Everyone seems to take this state of affairs in stride, for reasons that go unexplained, and they're more worried about getting laid even if it means contracting the disease. But nothing much happens - the story crawls along and then peters out. The black and white artwork is rather dull. I can't think of anything to recommend this book, actually.

In general, I like graphic novels (as opposed to a republished comic book series) when they're done right. The combination of well-written story and well-drawn art can be vastly entertaining on multiple levels. This one is huge -- it's unpaged but it's got to be 350-400 pages -- but it makes little or no sense. About one-third of the way through, I began skimming, hoping to catch on to the storyline, but it never happened. The plot, which apparently has to do with a bunch of high school students, who engage in all the often risky behavior teenagers engage in, contracting some sort of strange disease (or something) that leads to peculiar facial growths, skin-shedding, appearance of tiny mouths on the throat, and other weirdness. Moreover, the drawing style is a heavy black-and-white that (usually) doesn't allow sufficient detail.

I expected much more based on all the good reviews out there.
The more I read the less I cared for the characters which should've been the opposite, then I just read through to see how it ends, and it was disappointing.

I just can't believe this book almost has a five star rating!!? I had to out it down less then half way threw and give up.... The book is a peace of trash! You mean to tell me that these kids think when a mouth is growing on someone's neack and talking that it's just a simple bug?? Stupied waste of time

I just finished Black Hole by Charles Burns. It was interesting. It is teen angst mixed with nightmare tripping into alienation that is manifested as a psychological wilderness of woods surrounding the awful suburb civilization. No one is happy except when they find love and that love is going to end sooner than later. There is also a phobic allegory dealing with body damaging STDs. Another piece of the alienation quilt. The art style guides the reader straight into the queasy mood of the nervous storytellers.

Because it is an older book, when you buy it these days you’ll probably buy second hand. My copy had little dog-ear bookmarks, either top or bottom, about every 5 pages. Annoying considering the heavy card stock it is printed on. The book also features penciled in pagination at the bottom. That mysteriously quits at page 304. So if that sounds familiar, I got your copy of the book.

I donated the book to the library.