<![CDATA[Black Hole]]>

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The first issues of Charles Burns's comics series Black Hole began appearing in 1995, and long before it was completed a decade later, readers and fellow artists were speaking of it in tones of awe and comparing it to recent classics of the form like Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan and Daniel Clowes's Ghost World. Burns is the sort of meticulous, uncompromising artist whom other artists speak of with envy and reverence, and we asked Ware and Clowes to comment on their admiration for Black Hole: "I think I probably learned the most about clarity, composition, and efficiency from looking at Charles's pages spread out on my drawing table than from anyone's; his was always at the level of lucidity of Nancy, but with this odd, metallic tinge to it that left you feeling very unsettled, especially if you were an aspiring cartoonist, because it was clear you'd never be half as good as he was. There's an almost metaphysical intensity to his pinprick-like inkline that catches you somewhere in the back of the throat, a paper-thin blade of a fine jeweler's saw tracing the outline of these thick, clay-like human figures that somehow seem to "move," but are also inevitably oddly frozen in eternal, awkward poses ... it's an unlikely combination of feelings, and it all adds up to something unmistakably his own. "I must have been one of the first customers to arrive at the comic shop when I heard the first issue of Black Hole was out 10 years ago, and my excitement didn't change over the years as he completed it. I don't think I've ever read anything that better captures the details, feelings, anxieties, smells, and cringing horror of my own teenage years better than Black Hole, and I'm 15 years younger than Charles is. Black Hole is so redolently affecting one almost has to put the book down for air every once in a while. By the book's end, one ends up feeling so deeply for the main character it's all one can do not to turn the book over and start reading again." --Chris Ware "Charles Burns is one of the greats of modern comics. His comics are beautiful on so many levels. Somehow he has managed to capture the essential electricity of comic-book pop-art iconography, dragging it from the clutches of Fine Art back to the service of his perfect, precise-but-elusive narratives in a way that is both universal in its instant appeal and deeply personal." --Dan Clowes Questions for Charles Burns Amazon.com: Cartoonists are about the only people today who are working like Dickens did: writing serials that appear piece-by-piece in public before the whole work is done. What's it like to work in public like that, and for as long as a project like this takes? Charles Burns: There were a number of reasons for serializing Black Hole. First of all, I wanted to put out a traditional comic book-- I'd never really worked in that comic pamphlet format before and liked the idea of developing a long story in installments. There's something very satisfying to me about a comic book as an object and I enjoyed using that format to slowly build my story. Serializing the story also allowed me to focus on shorter, more manageable portions; if I had to face creating a 368-page book all in one big lump, I don't know if I'd have the perseverance and energy to pull it off. Amazon.com: One thing that stuns me about this book is how consistent it is from start to finish. From the first frames to the last ones that you drew 10 years later, you held the same tone and style. It feels as though you had a complete vision for the book from the very beginning. Is that so? Or did things develop unexpectedly as you worked on it? Burns: I guess there's a consistency in Black Hole because of the way I work. I write and draw very slowly, always carefully examining every little detail to make sure it all fits together the way I want it to. When I started the story, I had it all charted out as far as the basic structure goes, but what made working on it interesting was finding new ways of telling the story that hadn't occurred to me. Amazon.com: Some of the very best of the recent graphic novels (I'm thinking of Ghost World and Blankets, along with Black Hole) have been about the lives of teenagers. Do you think there's something about the form that helps to tell those stories so well? Burns: That's an interesting question, but I don't know the answer. Perhaps it has more to do with the authors--the kind of people who stay indoors for hours on end in total solitude working away on their heartfelt stories... maybe that kind of reflection lends itself to being able to capture the intensity of adolescence. Amazon.com: In the time you've been working on Black Hole, graphic novels have leapt into the mainstream. (I think--I hope--we're finally seeing the last of those "They're not just for kids anymore!" reviews.) What did you imagine for this project when you started it? What's it been like to see your corner of the world enter the glare of the spotlight? Burns: When I started Black Hole I really just wanted to tell a long, well-written story. The themes and ideas that run throughout the book had been turning around in my head for years and I wanted to finally get them all out--put them down on paper once and for all. I've published a few other books and while they sold reasonably well, they didn't set the publishing world on fire. I was pretty sure I'd have some kind of an audience for Black Hole, but that was never a motivating factor in writing the book. And my corner of the world is still pretty dark. I guess I'll be stepping into the spotlight for a little while when the book comes out, but I imagine I'll slip back into my dark little studio when it all settles down again so I can settle back into work.

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3 12 false false Thu Aug 21 19:21:19 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 07 11:43:39 -0700 2008 How does his brain manufacture this shit??" which is kind of the ultimate for art in one way, isn't it? But I do wish this had been around when I myself was a bad teenager, because I'm sure it would've affe...more...]]> 3 5 false true Tue Jan 01 16:03:47 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 28 11:33:47 -0800 2008 Black Hole doesn't deviate from the genre standards. Pair of star-crossed lovers? Check. The Nerdy vs. the Cool? Check. Drugs, alcohol, and awkward sex? Check. Teen angst directed mostly at the parents who ruin their live...more...]]> 4 5 false false Thu Jun 21 01:16:06 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 21 01:34:51 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 09 12:33:54 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 09 12:35:06 -0700 2008
It's definitely true, that although I personally am a big fan of so-called "comic boo...more...]]> 5 2 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 31 09:08:14 -0700 2007 Mon Feb 04 12:53:04 -0800 2008
With some graphic novels, I've found...more...]]> 4 2 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Mon Aug 20 12:45:06 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 20 12:55:35 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Mar 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 19:16:47 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 22 14:27:48 -0700 2009
That's pretty unfair--but I half-expected to find this book falling down one of two critical paths: a) the literalization of body/sex angst would become outright silly or b) the body/sex ...more...]]> 4 2 false false Wed Apr 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 02 22:58:15 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 02 23:00:27 -0700 2008 Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, except with a slightly less amorphous (more morphous!) plot. I read it in a night, which was nice, and it made me feel like I was on acid a bunch of times, but overall I don't feel a hundred percent fulfilled ...more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Sep 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 11 21:37:20 -0700 2008 Sat Dec 20 14:59:56 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Fri May 16 14:44:44 -0700 2008 Fri May 16 14:44:52 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun May 04 10:24:43 -0700 2008 Sun May 04 10:38:14 -0700 2008
For starters, Burns gets a lot of the power for this book from his grotesque, clinical illustrations of the disease that affects the young population in thi...more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Mar 13 09:42:16 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 18 12:08:18 -0700 2008
but this story will probably be too disturbing for many people. A virus that gi...more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 14 08:41:47 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 15 04:54:12 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 02 23:54:57 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 03 16:10:11 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Feb 26 08:29:36 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 26 08:48:28 -0800 2008
Charles Burns creeped me out. In a good way. He has a really clean, tight style and his storytelling is very evenly paced. There are entire sequenc...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Jan 27 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat May 26 12:50:28 -0700 2007 Mon Jan 28 15:51:02 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Mar 13 07:20:28 -0700 2007 Wed Mar 28 13:07:12 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Jan 20 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 29 14:03:31 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 29 14:21:58 -0800 2009 Black Hole is set in 1970's Seattle, WA. The cast is a group of high school teens - most of whom just want to have sex, do drugs and other standard teen-time-wasters. However a mysterious and un-classified STD causes mutations among its victims (i.e. one character grows an extra mouth...more...]]> 3 0 false true Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun Dec 28 16:54:13 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 28 16:57:10 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 22 12:17:39 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 22 12:24:54 -0800 2008 more...]]>