Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
The Hive
From the creator of Black Hole ("The best graphic novel of the year." —Time; "Burns's masterwork." —The New York Times Book Review), the second part of a new epic masterpiece of graphic horror in brilliant, vivid color.
Much has happened since we last saw Doug, the Tintin-like hero from X'ed Out. Confessing his past to an unidentified woman, Doug struggles to recall the mys...more
Much has happened since we last saw Doug, the Tintin-like hero from X'ed Out. Confessing his past to an unidentified woman, Doug struggles to recall the mys...more
Hardcover, 56 pages
Published
October 9th 2012
by Pantheon
(first published September 12th 2012)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
954)
Usually when I’m on a trip out of town I buy a graphic novel or two to commemorate the event. This time was no different since I bought Charles Burns’ The Hive on my latest business trip to Cebu.
I bought it because I’ve heard interesting about it and it is second book of his current trilogy of work. I figured if it was dark mirror of the Tintin books then each volume would be a standalone story. I should have taken note of what the first book in the trilogy was.
I’ve read it and it has what one w...more
I bought it because I’ve heard interesting about it and it is second book of his current trilogy of work. I figured if it was dark mirror of the Tintin books then each volume would be a standalone story. I should have taken note of what the first book in the trilogy was.
I’ve read it and it has what one w...more
Mar 08, 2013
MJ Nicholls
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
graphic-novels,
merkins
The second instalment in the Burns trilogy contains more expletive-spitting bald green alien workers, worrying 23rd-floor breeding wards populated with pretty waifs, sexy sickly teeny relationship plots with cleverly crowbarred nudity and Patti Smith references, worrying fever-dream-flashback things with various alien squid-like creatures bursting through chests, extremely veiny moribund death-bed dads, something about romantic novels and kinky photographs, the return of the cash-strapped mini-s...more
view all 4 comments
The surreal dreamy-nightmare graphic novel, X’ed Out, is back, this time with the sequel, The Hive. Let me be clear, though: Charles Burns’ work is not ‘weird’ for the sake of being weird. It’s very intricate and well thought-out, weaving together these storylines that just so happen to be sorta fucked up. (Actually, maybe what’s weird is just how tremendous of a feat it is that this work --amidst all of the strange-- has a loud, strong, beating heart at its core.)
Here, we delve further into Dou...more
Here, we delve further into Dou...more
Charles Burns has really got quite a racket going with this series. Die-hard fans are powerless to resist his work, and for good reason. Whether its pastiche, legitimate story-telling, or that bizarro Lynchian quality, Burns' work is vastly appealing. But there is something excruciating about making your fan base wait so long (over a year) for new work. It is especially true for this series (X'ed Out first, and now this installment) because each work is less than 50 pages! I'll admit that the bo...more
Charles Burns resumes his surreal story of Doug, a performance artist with a troubled past and a head injury, whose story jumps from different parts of his life and another world seemingly at random. In the “real” world he begins a relationship with a new girl and tells her of his ex, Sarah, who made him wear his dead father’s clothes, drugged him, and took pictures of him while he slept. Meanwhile, Doug in the other world is working at a strange facility run by lizard people harvesting the red...more
Here we are back in the character Doug’s own personal take on Hell. Or maybe it’s purgatory? Or maybe Doug should stop popping so many of those unmarked pills.
In any case, Doug seems to be settling into this world, which exists somewhere between his dreams and his memories. He now has a menial job in a giant structure that resembles a beehive, but inside it is full of machinery and lizard people who are permanently pissed-off at everything and everyone. Doug is having trouble fitting in—he still...more
In any case, Doug seems to be settling into this world, which exists somewhere between his dreams and his memories. He now has a menial job in a giant structure that resembles a beehive, but inside it is full of machinery and lizard people who are permanently pissed-off at everything and everyone. Doug is having trouble fitting in—he still...more
Returning to the surreal universe first experienced in 2010's X'ed, Burns, creator of
Black Hole
and famed contributor to the legendary anthology series Raw, expertly reveals more of Doug's intriguing story in The Hive. As with the previous, the beautifully disturbing, non-linear tale leaps effortlessly between the real and unreal. Though in this installment, the lines further blur as elements from the bizarrely apocalyptic reality and the "normal" collide. Inspired equally by the works of Herg...more
I did not really like X'ed Out that much, was put off by the deliberately confusing bizarro nightmare aspects, outdoing Blackhole in strangeness. Here we have regular people in nightmare sequences AND aliens. Are these aliens a commentary on the human world, or are they just present in it as we all live now? However, I really started to get into the rhythm of this story, and will of course reread the first one in the light of what we experience here. Still bizarre, but approaching the level of g...more
Four and a half stars, and the weirdness continues unabated - it's like David Cronenberg directed an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. I'm still not sure how I feel about the structure of the thing, let alone the imagery, but I appreciate that Burns respects his readers. I'd say I'm still not sure if I "like" the series, but I tore through this volume and am now wondering when we'll get the conclusion.
Something I didn't properly appreciate when reading the first volume is just how intricate and...more
Something I didn't properly appreciate when reading the first volume is just how intricate and...more
Part two of Charles Burns' trilogy [SUGAR SKULL is next] further goes into the strange, surreal, dark mystery of just what is going on with the main character as he bounces back and forth between worlds. I'm not sure what the hell is going on and I like it. Like X'ED OUT, I just wish this was longer as now I have to wait to see what happens. Reading all three at once would be optimum. That said, even though I don't check out many of these kinds of graphic works, I really like Burns. Strange, unp...more
The follow-up volume to Charles Burns' X'ed Out is every bit as enigmatic as the first volume, but it's also every bit as intriguing, challenging, and rewarding. In these pages, we learn a great deal about our protagonist Doug, and the developing intersections between his creative ambitions and the bizarre and disturbing alternate universe where he has begun to spend time. Given that this is apparently not the last volume in the series, it makes sense that there are many unresolved plot points a...more
This is the second volume after X-Ed Out.
I'm not exactly what is going on in the story here.
And do you know what? It doesn't even matter.
Charles Burns is such an amazing artist and storyteller that if the odd ends of this story never tie together, I'd still say this is one of the best comic book series of all time.
Every panel is meticulous, perfect and beautiful in an oddly disturbing way. No one can immitate Burns, he is truly one of a kind.
Charles Burns just keeps on getting better. If you li...more
I'm not exactly what is going on in the story here.
And do you know what? It doesn't even matter.
Charles Burns is such an amazing artist and storyteller that if the odd ends of this story never tie together, I'd still say this is one of the best comic book series of all time.
Every panel is meticulous, perfect and beautiful in an oddly disturbing way. No one can immitate Burns, he is truly one of a kind.
Charles Burns just keeps on getting better. If you li...more
I like it when you get all meta on me, grrrl. I can't tell if I prefer this to "X'ed Out." They are very different. This illuminates the previous third? of the story, but yes feels solid as a stand alone piece, but yes does make it clear that "Sugar Skull" is going to have a ton of answers to the plenty of questions overtly, meta-ly, brought up, so it makes "The Hive" all the more tense to read, knowing you'll know what you want, just not now. Most importantly is the art is still stupendous. Fuc...more
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2056139.html[return][return]This is the second of a trilogy by Burns which started with X'ed Out, and leaps between three different storylines: Doug's memories of his life in our world, in particular his enigmatic girlfriend Sarah (who has a fascination with Louise Bourgeois); the adventures of Doug's alter ego Nitnit in the alternative insectoid world of The Hive; and the romance comics which are common to both worlds. It seems almost as if Burns is interrogating t...more
still not really sure what to think of this series. it's definitely darker and twistier than i normally can handle. this installment (2 of 3, as i understand it) begins to twist together the fragments we get in X'ed Out, but there's still plenty left open-ended. i'll leave it at that.
i'm intrigued to see how the rest of the trilogy plays out, more out of "where the hell is this going?" than anything else. but i'm not sure my head's in the right place for it at this point in time. we'll see.
i'm intrigued to see how the rest of the trilogy plays out, more out of "where the hell is this going?" than anything else. but i'm not sure my head's in the right place for it at this point in time. we'll see.
This is the second volume of what I believe is intended to be a trilogy of short graphic novels. What I wrote about the first installment remains true of this one as well:
"A short graphic novel, the first installment of a trilogy. One cannot fully judge the merits of this volume when the other two come out. In many places, it is an elliptical, dreamlike tease. If the future volumes do more to tie all of this together, then this might be the beginning of a brilliant graphic novel. If not, then I...more
"A short graphic novel, the first installment of a trilogy. One cannot fully judge the merits of this volume when the other two come out. In many places, it is an elliptical, dreamlike tease. If the future volumes do more to tie all of this together, then this might be the beginning of a brilliant graphic novel. If not, then I...more
Like a good horror film or the step-child of a David Lynch film, the second volume of the "Tintin trilogy" (not sure that it's the official name, but too many small tributes in the series not to call it that...) is quite intriguing, like all of Burns' oeuvre. It reminds me a bit of Black Hole and, while the internal logic is not completely apparent so far, what we've read so far is strong enough to make sure I'll be putting down my cash when the next volume (Sugar Skulls) comes out.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I've flipped through Burns before, and have spent quite a bit of time gazing at a big Burroughs print of his which a neighbor has in his living room, but this and X'ed Out are the first I've read entire. Powerful, disturbing stuff. And gorgeous. Whatever these installments end up adding up to is going to be some kind of twisted masterpiece of repressed memory, nightmare, and poisoned love.
More beautiful weirdness from Charles Burns. The art is so good and Burns seems to be as strong as ever in that facet of his game. It is a little too much of a tease to be releasing this story in such bite-size chunks (this is part two of a trilogy and it's a mere 56 pages), especially when the story is so surreal and shifty, but damn--it's so hard to resist. I'm glad to get lost in this Hive.
This is easily the trippiest graphic novel I've read this year. I think I'd have given it a higher rating if I'd read X'ed Out and understood the context of the story. The art is amazing, the physical quality of the book is amazing and satisfying for any bibliophile (love Pantheon production qualities). Check back- am going to borrow X'ed Out from a friend & may update my review following.
Uhm. This books was weird and creepy and it didn't have a straightforward plot. It was the reading equivalent of gazing into a surrealist painting. I'm not sure I full understand it or that I get everything and I'm OK with that. I'm OK with a book that asks more questions than it answers. Approach the book this way and it's quite an interesting read.
Awesome. I fell into the story immediately and read it cover to cover. Strange, other wordly, hint of vintage comic-like style. Loved the cliffhanger ending. Please sir, can I have some more?
I've never read this author before but love his narrative. Strong illustrations make you feel like a fly on the wall. Worth a look.
I've never read this author before but love his narrative. Strong illustrations make you feel like a fly on the wall. Worth a look.
Awaited this one as X'ed out was total narrative psychosis and I hoped for some more clues as to what's going on. There's just as much to be confused about and yet, I think it provided me what I needed.
Amazing illustration. Totally messed up. Loss. Pain. Failure. Aliens. Breeding. Relationships.
More please.
Amazing illustration. Totally messed up. Loss. Pain. Failure. Aliens. Breeding. Relationships.
More please.
The continuing story of Doug from X'ed Out. And somehow it turns even stranger in The Hive. Some of the story lines and details seems to have appeared before, just in a different way. There's the same eerie, surreal feeling to it all. Might be hard to figured out just what is going on, but does it matter?
The story begins to come together in a way that involves you much more than the first part of this trilogy. I thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of understanding what was happening and piecing together what had happened in the first book, and how it related to the hive. it is certainly a book you work for.
This follow-up to "X'ed Out" maintains the creep/ick/WTF factor and then some. Multiple re-reads may be required to grasp the nuance and timeline but this is no chore when smothered by Burns' abstract, Fun-House visuals.
The Hive does far more than X'ed Out did, mixing (with a nod to William Burroughs) romantic failures, imminent violence, dreamscape shitjobs, aliens, fetuses, drugs, romance comics, & more in a compelling dreaming/waking tragedy.
I bought this without realizing it was a continuation of an earlier book. Haven't read the first one, yet. Great imagery and pretty disturbing. I think I should hold off on commenting more until I read the other two parts of this.
As Brian would say, "I don't really understand what's going on." The art is still weird and cool, while the story keeps moving back and forth between a "normal" world and the "working in a bug hive world."
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
CHARLES BURNS grew up in Seattle in the 1970s. His work rose to prominence in Art Spiegelman's Raw magazine in the mid-1980s and took off from there, in an extraordinary range of comics and projects, from Iggy Pop album covers to the latest ad campaign for Altoids. In 1992 he designed the sets for Mark Morris's restaging of The Nutcracker (renamed The Hard Nut) at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He...more
More about Charles Burns...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
