Black Hole

Black Hole Charles Burns creates a horrific, thought-provoking, and surprisingly relatable tale with a palette of only two colors: desolate black and empty white. Throughout the graphic novel, psychedelic imagery captures the reader's attention.

His story line is somewhat nauseating, yet purely enticing. In Black Hole, experimental teenagers do what they do best: experiment. Let it be drugs, sex, or even just defying their parents. But unlike the real nineteen-seventies, these hormone-riddled kids are punished for their sexual deeds through the spread of a horrifying sexually transmitted disease, referred to as the "teen plague".

The teen plague evokes hideous effects on the carrier, ranging from appearance-changing skin rashes to the growth of extra limbs. These visual deformities cause the teenagers to become outcasts, causing those of harsher effects to even run away and hide from the world. They are monsters, and they are without hope.

The novel follows two adolescents, a sweet girl, Chris, and a shy boy, Keith. Their experiences, all by the root cause of the disease, are portrayed masterfully. Burns has a realistic sense of artwork and a firm grasp on how to properly tell a story.

The theme of the novel is evident; Burns portrays innocence as young and beautiful. The harsh world of high school gnaws at rumors and the loss of virginity, thus in turn making the tell-tale mutations appropriate. Nerds and geeks camp out in the forest, just like they have always done; the metaphorical forest, that is. Constantly the outcasts have been thrust into the shadows of unknown by those stronger than them. In this novel, they retaliate by indulging in their newfound freakdom. But in this story, there is no hiding from the mutations. Who gets them, gets them, and the only way to avoid them is abstinence.

But who's crazy enough to be abstinent?

Black Hole is a tale of puppy love, real love, fake love, and unrequited love. It is a story of loss and gain. It gives it's characters a dreary future, a hopeful future, or no future at all. But most of all it is Charles Burns' magnum opus, and a truly terrific graphic novel.

Recommended for those with iron stomachs, a love of the macabre, a seventies fetish, or just a big fan of comics in general. Either way, it can be sad that even the most skeptical will not be disappointed by Charles Burns' Black Hole.

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