Black Hole
by
Charles Burns
The
dedication says it all: "This book is dedicated to Dean, Mark,
J., Phil, Casey, Colleen, Vickie, Mike, Patty, Janet, Penny, Terri,
Doug, Paul, Jan, Tom, Scott, Kurt, Ann, Kim, Diane, Sally, Kathleen,
Mari, Libby, Jon, Jim, Pat and Pete. I never forgot you."
Here is a man deeply marked by his formative years.
Charles
Burns has been painstakingly producing weirdly beautiful
black and white comics since the late 1970s. By far the biggest
chunk of this
time --
just shy of a decade -- was spent on the single work we now have before
us: Black Hole. It was originally serialized in a
series of twelve comic books, begun by Kitchen Sink Press -- who went
out of business mid-way through the series -- and then completed by
Fantagraphics Books. Now, the entire series has been collected in
this
single hardcover volume by Pantheon Books, which is -- amazingly --
priced at less than half what you would have paid for the original
comic books.
In
a haunting and unforgettable way, Black Hole relates the experience of coming
of age amid the chaos and confusion of the drug addled early
1970s.
Burns brilliantly employs the graphic metaphor of physical deformities
and bodily mutations to visually represent the psychological upheavals
and emotional traumas that these teens undergo on their desperate
passage to adulthood. Few if any works in any medium have
better captured "what it's really like" growing up in
America.
While
the details of this tale refer specifically to the first half of the
1970s, the truths it bares can be universally applied. Ultimately,
growing up means being forced to
confront and come to terms with the animal organism
that every human being contains within, and then manage somehow to
coordinate this fleshy heritage with the intellectual constructs and
spiritual traditions of one's upbringing. For those lacking
trustworthy and knowledgeable guides to assist them in effecting this
difficult transition -- as were, evidently, the characters that
populate Black Hole -- growing up can all too easily become a
harrowing and, indeed, life threatening experience.
Perhaps comics is
the most capable medium for communicating experiences such as
these. If so, readers of Black
Hole will be grateful that Charles
Burns discovered comics at an early age and spent countless hours over
many years honing his skills. Burns is an artistic genius who,
through
applied, long-term, disciplined focus, has managed to channel what
could have remained simply a set of nostalgiac, obsessive
yearnings, into a great body
of work of
which this series is the fulfillment.
Those
interested in a more detailed decription of the work are advised to
read Andrew
Arnold's review at Time.com.
Hardcover • 368 pages • ISBN: 037542380X
retail price - $24.95
copacetic
price
- $22.00
prices and
availability
current as of 1 December 2006