Black Hole Graphic Novel Review

Title:	Black Hole
Contributors:	Charles Burns
Publisher:	Pantheon
Issue #:	1
Year:	1995
Pages:	368 Pages
Age Rating:	18 (Language, Gore, Nudity, Sex, Drug Use, Adult Themes)
Story Grade:	A+
Art Grade:	A+

Black Hole by Charles Burns is a dark, disturbing, revealing look at what savage creatures humans are and what it was like to be an outcast in High School during the 70s. And while the series is all of those colorful adjectives used above, it remains grounded by also being a touching and intimate story that shares the point of views of not only the infected teens, but the uninfected and the about-to-be infected.

In the suburbs of Seattle, in the 70s, a new plague has fallen upon the disenfranchised youth of America and it is sexually transmitted. This plague disfigures those that are infected. Some can hide their signs of the disease while others can't. What transpires in these pages is not the expected tale of the fight to cure the disease or to even understand the disease, but rather a journey into the world of alienation and redemption.

While this book explores the cruelty of kids, it also reflects deeply on our society as a whole and how we react to something like this disease. There are some curious similarities in this book to the initial reaction to the AIDS epidemic; fear, loathing, apathy, cruelty and even violence.

Charles Burns has written an absolute masterpiece in this book. His ability to tap into the psyche of high school kids of the 70s is masterful. What's even better than that is his ability to tell the story from various character's points of view. We get to see inside the heads of many of the characters and it is rarely pretty, but we feel compassion for many those characters as a result because we can identify with them, at least one of them.

The artwork is done in a high-contrast, black and white (literally). Let's just say it's safe to assume that India ink stocks rose during the production of this artwork because it is everywhere and gloriously so. The high-contrast design of the work in combination with the psychedelic nature of many of the pieces do well to build some anxiety in the reader as they read the pages and pages of text.

All in all I grade this book a solid A+. This is a must read for anyone interested in a study on our society as a whole, but rest assured that this series isn't for kids.

Until next time... Remember that if you look into the future you might find that the future is really fucked up.