Black Hole is a graphic novel I had never heard of before it was handed to me by my friend Morgan. He said it had been all over the AV Club, which I trust beyond all things, and that it was weird but I should read it. It was, in fact, weird.
The story, told through the eyes of multiple high school students in narrative, flashback, and dreams, takes place in a 1970's alternate universe where a nameless disease (called only "the bug"), passed through bodily fluids, causes its victims to mutate. Some have barely noticeable or easily disguisable changes (a small mouth on their neck, the ability to shed skin, a tail), whereas some break out in boils or have a skull instead of a face. And then things get weird.
The story was actually rather hard to follow (owing in part to the fact that two of the main male characters look sort of similar and are called by both first and last names interchangeably) and because it jumps around from flashback to present, so it can be hard to tell what is happening and what is being remembered. The "bug" device, while at first seeming like just an allegory for AIDS or similar STD's, becomes much more the further in one reads. The bug isn't life threatening, and it manifests randomly...but it seems the popular kids all lead more or less normal lives with it, while the dorky kids are the ones that are most deformed and stay outcasts. Its a world where casual sex and random drug use have consequences, but don't seem to prevent anyone from doing them (much like high school). In fact, the risk (and even the result) seems to be attractive for some of the characters. As a less obvious, but no less blunt and apt allegory for puberty and adolescent changes, the grotesquery of Burns' world works incredibly well. While I'm not sure I liked it, I'm glad i read it. Zeke, here's looking at you.
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