Black Hole (comics)
Encyclopedia
Black Hole was a twelve-issue comic book
limited series
written and illustrated by Charles Burns
and published first by Kitchen Sink Press
and then Fantagraphics. It was released in collected form in 2005 by Pantheon Books
.
The story deals with the aftermath of a sexually transmitted disease which causes grotesque mutations in teenagers.
limited series
between 1995
and 2005
. The first four issues were released by Kitchen Sink Press
; after Kitchen Sink went out of business, Fantagraphics republished the first four issues and the remaining eight. A compiled hardcover volume
was released by Pantheon Books
in 2005.
This collected edition, however, lacks many pages that were included in the first publication- the ones that showed some characters' faces. These pages are considered by some critics to be essential.
, the comics follow a group of mostly middle class teenagers who, over the summer, contract a mysterious sexually transmitted disease
known as "the Bug" or "the teen plague", which causes them to develop bizarre unique physical mutations, turning them into social outcasts.
The story generally focuses on four central characters -- Chris, Rob, Keith and Eliza -- switching back and forth between their stories as they come in contact with and contract the disease. Apart from some introduction into the setting, the story starts off with Chris contracting the disease from Rob, a popular kid in school. Because of a failed attempt to warn her of his condition, Chris is not aware that Rob is infected until they are already having sex. Chris immediately feels she has been deceived and stops speaking to Rob for some time. Around the same time Keith contracts it from Eliza, a woman he meets while trying to buy drugs at a friends house. Although it is not made explicitly clear, Keith seems unaware that Eliza's mutation (a tail) is actually a disease that he can contract from her, although he never outwardly discusses the disease with Eliza, even after it has manifested within him.
Meanwhile, many other teens in the town have contracted the disease, and several of them seek seclusion from society due to the severity of their mutations and build an encampment in the woods outside of town. Chris and Rob eventually renew their friendship, which culminates with Chris running away from home to the encampment in the woods. Rob, however, continues to live with his parents and attends school, visiting Chris daily at the encampment. At the same time, Keith and Eliza seem to drift apart for a while. There is a central campfire at the encampment known as "the pit", and Chris avoids this location. Later, Rob disappears and Chris starts going to the pit, where she encounters Keith, who visits daily, bringing supplies to the other teens. Keith takes a liking to Chris and offers to let her stay at a tract house that he is watching while its owners are on vacation. Chris eventually invites some of the other teens that frequent the pit to stay at the tract house, which they proceed to destroy to Keith's detriment. Eventually Keith and Eliza rekindle their relationship and Chris discovers Rob's fate. This culminates in the remaining central characters leaving the tract house and the town itself.
Burns has said that the mutations can be read as a metaphor for adolescence, sexual awakening and the transition into adulthood.
The look of the comic is meant to evoke the feel and atmosphere of classic 70s teen horror films like The Last House on the Left
, Carrie and Halloween
.
has released soft (ISBN 978-0375714726) and hardcover (ISBN 037542380x) collected editions of the series.
for Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work. While Burns also won the 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006 Harvey Award as Best Inker for Black Hole. The series also won the 2006 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Anthology or Collection.
, the message board of the Comics Journal reported that Black Hole will be adapted to film by the French director Alexandre Aja
(Haute Tension
). In March 2006
, comics news site Newsarama
reported that Neil Gaiman
and Pulp Fiction
co-writer Roger Avary
would be adapting the screenplay, and in May 2006 Gaiman confirmed this in a Time
magazine interview.
In February 2008
, Variety
reported that the film will be produced by Paramount Pictures
and directed by Academy Award-nominee David Fincher
(Se7en
, Fight Club
, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
).
Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary officially left the production of the film, with reports that their script will not be used. It is unknown who will be taking over the writing process.
In August 2010, David Fincher also removed his name from production of the film in order to focus more attention on directing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
trilogy.
Director Rupert Sanders released an abbreviated live-action adaptation of Charles Burns’s STD-as-metaphor comic book series Black Hole on Sanders' website. It features actors Chris Marquette, Whitney Able
, Diane Gaeta, Noel Fisher, and Nate Mooney. but has been removed from //youtube.com/ due to explicit violence and nudity.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
written and illustrated by Charles Burns
Charles Burns (cartoonist)
Charles Burns is an American cartoonist, illustrator and film director.-Life:Burns is renowned for his meticulous, high-contrast and creepy artwork and stories. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, painter Susan Moore, and their two daughters Ava and Rae-Rae.His father was an oceanographer for...
and published first by Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen owned and operated Kitchen Sink Press until 1999. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in...
and then Fantagraphics. It was released in collected form in 2005 by Pantheon Books
Pantheon Books
Pantheon Books is an American imprint with editorial independence that is part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.The current editor-in-chief at Pantheon Books is Dan Frank.-Overview:...
.
The story deals with the aftermath of a sexually transmitted disease which causes grotesque mutations in teenagers.
Publication history
It was published as a 12-issue comic bookComic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
between 1995
1995 in comics
-January:*After Xavier: The Age of Apocalypse is launched. All X-titles change to different names for the next four months.* Thor marks his 400th appearance in Marvel Comics with issue #482....
and 2005
2005 in comics
- January :* January 3: Will Eisner, creator of The Spirit, dies at age 87.-April:*April 13:**DC Comics announces the discontinuation of its Humanoids and 2000 A.D. titles....
. The first four issues were released by Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen owned and operated Kitchen Sink Press until 1999. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in...
; after Kitchen Sink went out of business, Fantagraphics republished the first four issues and the remaining eight. A compiled hardcover volume
Trade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
was released by Pantheon Books
Pantheon Books
Pantheon Books is an American imprint with editorial independence that is part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.The current editor-in-chief at Pantheon Books is Dan Frank.-Overview:...
in 2005.
This collected edition, however, lacks many pages that were included in the first publication- the ones that showed some characters' faces. These pages are considered by some critics to be essential.
Plot
Set in the suburbs of Seattle during the mid-1970s1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
, the comics follow a group of mostly middle class teenagers who, over the summer, contract a mysterious sexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease , also known as a sexually transmitted infection or venereal disease , is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between humans by means of human sexual behavior, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex...
known as "the Bug" or "the teen plague", which causes them to develop bizarre unique physical mutations, turning them into social outcasts.
The story generally focuses on four central characters -- Chris, Rob, Keith and Eliza -- switching back and forth between their stories as they come in contact with and contract the disease. Apart from some introduction into the setting, the story starts off with Chris contracting the disease from Rob, a popular kid in school. Because of a failed attempt to warn her of his condition, Chris is not aware that Rob is infected until they are already having sex. Chris immediately feels she has been deceived and stops speaking to Rob for some time. Around the same time Keith contracts it from Eliza, a woman he meets while trying to buy drugs at a friends house. Although it is not made explicitly clear, Keith seems unaware that Eliza's mutation (a tail) is actually a disease that he can contract from her, although he never outwardly discusses the disease with Eliza, even after it has manifested within him.
Meanwhile, many other teens in the town have contracted the disease, and several of them seek seclusion from society due to the severity of their mutations and build an encampment in the woods outside of town. Chris and Rob eventually renew their friendship, which culminates with Chris running away from home to the encampment in the woods. Rob, however, continues to live with his parents and attends school, visiting Chris daily at the encampment. At the same time, Keith and Eliza seem to drift apart for a while. There is a central campfire at the encampment known as "the pit", and Chris avoids this location. Later, Rob disappears and Chris starts going to the pit, where she encounters Keith, who visits daily, bringing supplies to the other teens. Keith takes a liking to Chris and offers to let her stay at a tract house that he is watching while its owners are on vacation. Chris eventually invites some of the other teens that frequent the pit to stay at the tract house, which they proceed to destroy to Keith's detriment. Eventually Keith and Eliza rekindle their relationship and Chris discovers Rob's fate. This culminates in the remaining central characters leaving the tract house and the town itself.
Burns has said that the mutations can be read as a metaphor for adolescence, sexual awakening and the transition into adulthood.
The look of the comic is meant to evoke the feel and atmosphere of classic 70s teen horror films like The Last House on the Left
The Last House on the Left (1972 film)
The Last House on the Left is a 1972 horror film written and directed by Wes Craven and produced by Sean S. Cunningham.The story is inspired by the 1960 Swedish film The Virgin Spring, directed by Ingmar Bergman, which in turn is based on the 13th century Swedish ballad "Töres döttrar i Wänge"...
, Carrie and Halloween
Halloween (1978 film)
Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film directed, produced, and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut and the first installment in the Halloween franchise. The film is set in the fictional midwestern...
.
Collected editions
Pantheon BooksPantheon Books
Pantheon Books is an American imprint with editorial independence that is part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.The current editor-in-chief at Pantheon Books is Dan Frank.-Overview:...
has released soft (ISBN 978-0375714726) and hardcover (ISBN 037542380x) collected editions of the series.
Reception
Black hole won the 2006 Harvey AwardHarvey Award
The Harvey Awards, named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman and founded by Gary Groth, President of the publisher Fantagraphics, are given for achievement in comic books. The Harveys were created as part of a successor to the Kirby Awards which were discontinued after 1987.The Harvey Awards are...
for Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work. While Burns also won the 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006 Harvey Award as Best Inker for Black Hole. The series also won the 2006 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Anthology or Collection.
Film adaptation
In November 20052005 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
, the message board of the Comics Journal reported that Black Hole will be adapted to film by the French director Alexandre Aja
Alexandre Aja
Alexandre Aja is a French film director who rose to international stardom for his 2003 horror film Haute Tension .-Personal life:...
(Haute Tension
Haute Tension
Haute Tension is a 2003 French horror film that was later released in 2004 in the United Kingdom and 2005 in the United States and Canada. The film, directed by Alexandre Aja, stars Cécile de France, Maïwenn and Philippe Nahon....
). In March 2006
2006 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...
, comics news site Newsarama
Newsarama
Newsarama is an American website that publishes news, interviews and essays about the American comic book industry.-History:Newsarama began in Summer 1995 as a series of Internet forum postings on the Prodigy comic-book message boards by fan Mike Doran. In these short messages. Doran shared...
reported that Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
and Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
co-writer Roger Avary
Roger Avary
Roger Avary is a Canadian film and television producer, screenwriter, olive farmer and director in the American mass media industry. He was behind the screenplays of the films Silent Hill and Beowulf...
would be adapting the screenplay, and in May 2006 Gaiman confirmed this in a Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine interview.
In February 2008
2008 in film
This is a list of all major films made in 2008.-Highest-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2008...
, Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reported that the film will be produced by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
and directed by Academy Award-nominee David Fincher
David Fincher
David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...
(Se7en
Seven (film)
Seven is a 1995 American thriller film, which also contains horror and neo-noir elements, directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. It was distributed by New Line Cinema and stars Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, R...
, Fight Club
Fight Club (film)
Fight Club is a 1999 American film based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The film was directed by David Fincher and stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter. Norton plays the unnamed protagonist, an "everyman" who is discontented with his white-collar job...
, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (film)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008 American fantasy-drama film directed by David Fincher. The screenplay by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord is loosely based on the 1922 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald...
).
Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary officially left the production of the film, with reports that their script will not be used. It is unknown who will be taking over the writing process.
In August 2010, David Fincher also removed his name from production of the film in order to focus more attention on directing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an award-winning crime novel by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. It is the first book in the trilogy known as the "Millennium series"....
trilogy.
Director Rupert Sanders released an abbreviated live-action adaptation of Charles Burns’s STD-as-metaphor comic book series Black Hole on Sanders' website. It features actors Chris Marquette, Whitney Able
Whitney Able
Whitney Able is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane and Monsters. She has been featured in Maxim magazine.- Biography :Able has two brothers and is a fan of Led Zeppelin...
, Diane Gaeta, Noel Fisher, and Nate Mooney. but has been removed from //youtube.com/ due to explicit violence and nudity.
External links
- Official page on Pantheon's site
- Burns page on fantagraphics.com
- German version at Reprodukt