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"Before you know it as the years go by, you're just like other people you have seen, with all those peculiar human ailments. Just another vehicle for temper and vanity and rashness and all the rest. Who wants it? Who needs it? These things occupy the place where a man's soul should be." -- Henderson the Rain King

Friday, May 19, 2006

Black Hole

"Black hole sun won't you come and wash away the rain..."

Book #24 on my list was Charles Burns' comic novel Black Hole.

Black Hole reads like a classic teen horror flick. Set in 1970's Seattle it follows several high school age kids, many of whom are deformed by a rampant STD that causes mutations...and then the murders start. I haven't read many comic novels, but I think Burns uses the medium well as his startling drawings really tell the dream-like story in a way that could never be done with words alone. It's creepy and mesmerizing and tough to put down. The book has already been reviewed eight ways to Sunday all over the internets, so I'll spare you any more of my ramblings. For more details I'd recommend checking out any of the following:

Salon Review
Baltimore City Paper article
Washington Post Review
Fantagraphics Charles Burns site
The Believer (Burns does most of the drawings)

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posted by Jamie at 1:18 AM