Black Hole, the epic graphic novel by Charles Burns, orbits around the twin teenage mysteries of sex and drugs as the spiral arms of the Milky Way revolve around the black hole at the galaxy's center. Set in mid-1970s Seattle, Black Hole tells the story of adolescents struck by a mysterious, sexually-transmitted disease that changes them in unpredictable ways. Some break out in boils or bumps; one grows a second mouth on his chest; another sheds her skin, like a snake.
Black Hole opens with Keith, one of the main characters, passing out in Biology class while dissecting a frog. The visions that Keith experiences in these opening pages reverberate through the more than three hundred fifty pages of narrative. Describing his blackout, Keith says:
Black Hole opens with Keith, one of the main characters, passing out in Biology class while dissecting a frog. The visions that Keith experiences in these opening pages reverberate through the more than three hundred fifty pages of narrative. Describing his blackout, Keith says:
I was looking at a hole… a black hole and as I looked, the hole opened up… and I could feel myself falling forward, tumbling down into nothingness. For a while I was just floating… I was in this totally black place. It was kind of spacey but it felt nice… nice and safe.
Without the illustrations, this passage captures little of Black Hole's mood. On one page, a close-up of Keith's eyes takes the top third of the page. Below that, Burns places four narrow vertical panels: the frog, split open; a cut in the bottom of somebody's foot; a back, the skin split along the spine; a hand between two naked legs, covering genitals. In other words, four black holes. Keith's pupils look down, as though he too sees Charles Burns' illustrations.
Without the illustrations, this passage captures little of Black Hole's mood. On one page, a close-up of Keith's eyes takes the top third of the page. Below that, Burns places four narrow vertical panels: the frog, split open; a cut in the bottom of somebody's foot; a back, the skin split along the spine; a hand between two naked legs, covering genitals. In other words, four black holes. Keith's pupils look down, as though he too sees Charles Burns' illustrations.
On the facing page, the top two-thirds of the page is composed of a series of concentric rings, but also broken up into four vertical strips. The same four images appear in the vertical sections, but intercut with other images: a snake, bones, broken glass, marijuana rolled up into a joint and lit, and a gun, among others. On the bottom of this page, Keith's eyes again, his pupils rolled up, still looking at the four portents, which are now partially obscured by the other images for him as well as for the reader.
Black Hole's rigorous illustrations and equally tight story evoke an adolescent landscape where parental and social authority exist only at the periphery of his characters' lives. The mysterious disease acts as a metaphor for puberty, for the transition to adulthood, and for the other fears that grip these young adults; Frightened by the changes overcoming them, Keith and the other teenagers do not look for answers. Stoned, they drift through the woods, through houses whose occupants are away for vacation, through a world of fragments and of trash.
Black Hole's rigorous illustrations and equally tight story evoke an adolescent landscape where parental and social authority exist only at the periphery of his characters' lives. The mysterious disease acts as a metaphor for puberty, for the transition to adulthood, and for the other fears that grip these young adults; Frightened by the changes overcoming them, Keith and the other teenagers do not look for answers. Stoned, they drift through the woods, through houses whose occupants are away for vacation, through a world of fragments and of trash.
Though its characters may lack direction, Charles Burns always seems to know where he's headed - an astonishing feat, given that the book appeared in serial form over a decade. He conveys the lives and stories of his characters with gravity and empathy. Burns' art is tremendous, in individual panels but especially through the page layouts and motifs that present themselves throughout the work. The narration is gripping, which may propel the reader past the illustrations all too rapidly. The reader who slows down and allows himself or herself to drift for a while, like Black Hole's protagonists, will find even more to admire.
