User Profile

And today's pick is Black Hole by Charles Burns. Originally published in twelve issues between 1995 and 2004. Initially by Kitchen Sink and subsequently by Fantagraphic books. This bind up edition that I will be flipping through is a somewhat worse for wear collected version published by Pantheon in 2008.

While not explicitly rated I would start off by flagging that this is by most estimations a fairly mature comic in the rating scale type of way. Content notes for sex, age gap, nudity, dissecting animals, swearing, smoking, body horror, violence and death.

The reason I initially picked this particular volume up was two fold. The first is because it's mentioned literally everywhere, so it's kind of hard to escape. Although I feel like I didn't really note what the book was actually supposed to be about, so I did still manage to go in largely ignorant. The second is because I've started tracking the original publication date of books I review and I wanted to fill out the 90s more.

While I don't always go this in depth about any particular volume - although I guess I always wish I did and feel like I could have gone yet further with this one. since this is such a widely discussed volume, I did end up consuming a lot of other people's reviews of Black Hole. Unlike some people who say they want to keep their opinion pure, I actually find this sort of post reading consumption can help bring more clarity to my own thoughts. Pulling out things from the depths of my brain through agreeing or disagreeing with others. I also happened to read this over a longish period of time (side note: I was surprised by the how many people said this was a fast read for them) when my life was even more topsy turvy then usual. Where did I hide my notes? I don't know... lol. That said, this strategy did kind of bite me in the butt because of the number of adult men who can't discuss sex and sexuality in any sort of reasonable way. So woo boy, would not necessarily recommend that anyone else emulate me in this matter.

Keywords that came to mind: white on black, coming of age, runaways, disease, and contrast.

Looking at the creative behind this work. This is the first title I've read by Charles Burns so let's get familiar.

Born in Washington D.C. in 1955, his family settled in Seattle in 1965. Notoriously influenced by Tintin from an early age (Sidenote: If you want to see my 2018 opinion of Herge watch my review of Peppy in The West by Herge one of these days I'll revisit that) in contrast Lambiek lists Japanese woodblock as Burns' most unusual influence.

Moving along to their adult student years, Burns worked on a campus magazine with both Lynda Barry and Matt Groening. The latter apparently named a character in the Simpsons after him? Charles' cartooning rose in notoriety when he was picked up by Art Spiegelman (of Mause fame) in RAW magazine. Since then, Burns' work has also been featured by MTV, Altoids and Coke among many many others.

Looking at the other books Burns has worked on. I was a bit surprised that he was the dude behind many covers I feel like I see everywhere... After finishing Black Hole I wasn't initially going to rush out and pick up another book of his to consume, but in writing out this review I wonder if I might try to read Final Cut (published in 2024) to get a better sense of his treatment of gender and sexuality both across his career and what he's up to in a modern context.

Looking at the art side of things, as is generally the case most people who don't like the writing tend to add the caveat that the art is very impressive. Sometimes this comes off as pretty cliche but it does ring pretty true in this case. A bit of a connoisseur of black and white comics books myself the dynamic and high contrasting pages did indeed tickle my brain. And might have inspired me to make a collage of some kind of all the different black and white styles that I've enjoyed over the years.

The largely white line on black background really emphasizes the other worldly nature, even as the character designs really felt incredibly grounded in an almost generic way. Practically speaking it was somewhat comforting that I was not the only person who had a difficult time telling some of these characters apart.

The page layouts were cut up into solid easy to tell units. The quality of frames shifting with the story as we moved forwards, backwards and every so often interdimensionally as it were. There's also a sense of shifting depth as things you feel should maybe be lighter are darker and vice versa.

Writing wise it definitely felt a bit all over the place. Riding by the seat of your pants over a decade sort of thing, Burns does not appear to be a carefully plotting sort of creator. And that's alright. Although as we delve a bit deeper I do feel like this sort of style is part of the reason it's so easy to rub off the sheen? But perhaps I am giving away my opinion too soon.

Apparently for Black Hole Burns was heavily influenced by romance comics. A type of comic that someone of Burns' gender was not really supposed to involve himself in and not a particularly popular or referenced type of comic at the time overall. So apparently another reason, alongside the art, that it stands apart for many people.

Sex and sexuality is obviously one of the central themes of Black Hole. Overall very heterosexual, although fairly balanced nudity between the two socially constructed cis binaries, which is a sadly an unusually high standard to hit. Burns' style seems to be about half way between hyper sexualized and completely de-sexualized and besides the body horror of it all felt fairly average and plausible. But of course there are some reviewers who found this mix of body horror and sexuality pretty gross, so your milage may vary.

Interestingly, despite the plot revolving around a sexually acquired infection, Black Hole is generally received as not being a moralizing story or parable. I would agree that this is the case and it mostly felt like a strength. This is not to say that characters have no emotions and don't express how things impact them in a positive or negative way. Just that the overarching perspective of the graphic novel is not taking sides and the shifting point of view creates a pretty wide perspective on the premise.

I would flag that besides some discussion of sexual violence, there is a scene where a teenage boy is seduced by an adult woman. In general my perception is that the heterosexual culture of so called north America generally still thinks this sort of thing is good and congratulates young men for being the victim of this sort of sexual violation. If you can't tell, I think this is a bad thing and part of a larger problem of toxic masculine bravado that tries to pretend guys are always tough and never hurt or vulnerable, etc. etc. Presented in Black Hole... while I can appreciate that it didn't feel particularly glorified, I wonder if there should have been more exploration of the toxicity of this sort of thing. Mulling over what my 2025 adult brain thinks might be a solution... Obviously I don't need a blinking florescent light shouting WRONG at the top of the page is necessary or ideal, but a bit more counter cultural nudging would go a long way I think.

In contrast, disability and chronic illness is interestingly both central and not at the same time. Obviously a std is what Black Hole is about. On the pros side I felt like Black Holes is much more deeply sympathetic and interested in people with non normative bodies. Although there still is a bit of hierarchy going on. That said, in many ways it also felt like a bit of a surface accessory metaphor. To be clear, a metaphor for teenage alienation not HIV. Burns has tried to make that abundantly clear. So the con to me was that it didn't feel like the creator had engaged with or reflected on the disabled experience for any great length of time or with any great effort. Something people still don't like to do very much, let alone in the 90s.

Looking at the teen alienation of it all overall I felt like it was successful and a more interesting take for something so well trodden. Because as someone who didn't have this kind of teenage experience this kind of thing is tempting to see as just a series of tired tropes.

The body horror and surrealist parts were probably among my favorite.

Looking at the gender of it all. In most ways it is pretty social construct cookie cutter. I mean we do start out with a teenage boy with a talking vagina in his neck, which seemed like something interesting might happen. But ultimately another bit of a surface thing that Burns doesn't really go anywhere with. Compared to other stuff I've read it felt like the female characters were a bit more fleshed out then I would have anticipated and from a modern perspective it did feel like these teenage boys were allowed to be a bit more vulnerable then I would have expected.

Place also played a decently important role to the overall vibe of Black Hole. It plays into people's ideas of the suburbs, and much like the characters, twists and shifts it.

Class felt minimized compared to other points of identity.

And as far as I could tell the race of our characters was all pretty lily white.

Wrapping things up. What can I say? It was very interesting to dig into Black Hole and I can appreciate how it stood apart for many readers. It was not a new personal favourite for me, which is also fair.

As I try to point out periodically there is no such thing as a must read and it's impossible for anything to be perfect. So if this doesn't sound like your cup of tea and you haven't already, feel free to move on. Or read it anyway and complain.

Time moves on and it's helpful to think of things in their historical context. But also hopefully when it comes to media things grow and progress. It would be really sad if the landmark works of yore aren't eventually surpassed honestly.

And today's pick is My Pancreas Broke But My Life Got Better written and illustrated by Nagata Kabi - translated to English by Jocelyne Allen. Originally published in 2022, the English version was published in late 2023 by Seven Seas Entertainment.

Technically the sixth installment in Kabi's diary series since My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness.

And while I do generally try and just review series in one or two videos and not get stuck making blow by blow accounts like this, each instalments continues to be fairly short/stand alone and so I continue to justify this to myself.

This manga is rated for older teens. Content notes obviously for tough medical crises stuff, also nudity, ed, harmful substance use, internal organs are turned into little cute characters, and sex.

Keywords that came to mind: pandemic, coping strategies, care, orange, and mental health.

The publisher's summary is "The latest diary manga from the Harvey Award-winning creator of My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness and My Wandering Warrior Existence.

In this new autobiographical manga following My Wandering Warrior Existence, Nagata Kabi has quit drinking in an attempt to get healthier–or she’s trying to, anyway. Her former struggles with alcohol led to pancreatitis and a serious hospitalization, and now she has no choice but to give up drinking. Follow the author as she details the quest to improve her health during a global pandemic."

Digging a bit deeper into the material, while covering different events there is a fair amount of overlap in themes with My Alcoholic Escape From Reality which was originally published in 2019. Although of course this time around we are in the heat of global covid mitigation efforts. Nagata is self aware of this second cycle through pancreatitis and highlights what they already know about the treatment process and how they really really really really really need to quit drinking this time around.

Reading through Kabi's work can be a bit of an emotional whirlwind and one hopes that they can find some stability. Although their current literary success does seem predicated on the chaos continuing... Such is life under capitalism I suppose.

I would have appreciated some more reflection on the Japanese health system as a whole, but it's not too surprising that didn't happen. Fish rarely question the water they are swimming in. after all.

The art continues to be extremely expressive and dynamic. I feel like we get more line detail then in some of the earlier comics. It did take me this long to realize that orange books are the hospital books and pink has been more focused on non medical self realizations; with a particular focus on relationships generally.

Looking at the writing side of things, Nagata's skills are really clear in the way they continue to deliver stories that feel relatable on a super human level. Highlight things that most people don't want to share about themselves and keep a certain dark humor about it all. An inside look at a level of self-sabotage that can be mystifying to some people. Not to me, but to some people.

Looking at the intersections I try to highlight in each of my reviews. We skip past race, sexuality, gender, place, and class to exclusively focus on disability. A very unusual state of things honestly.

And before we wrap up I feel like pointing out some other queer diary manga. So if you haven't already read I would recommend X Gender Volumes 1 & 2 by Asuka Miyazaki, The Girl That Can’t Get A Girlfriend by Mieri Hiranishi, and looking beyond manga we'll mention Gender Slices by Jey Pawlik because the style felt more similar then different.

To conclude, an interesting read. Obviously I've read these volumes pretty spread out; I wonder what it would be like to come to these in quick succession. Another interesting installment and a very solid three stars.

And today’s pick is Under The Banner of King Death by David Lester and Marcus Rediker with Paul M. Buhle. Published by Beacon Press in 2023.

The text is an adaption from Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age by Marcus Rediker – copywrite 2004.

Content notes for executions, the slave trade, whipping, guns, and sex.

Keywords that came to mind reading this volume were queer, anarchic, racial diversity, retirement, consensus, and illegitimate.

A collaborator on some titles I’ve discussed previously, including 1919 Winnipeg General Strike by Graphic History Collective and Direct Action Gets the Goods – Graphic History Collective you can check out my previous bio of David Lester in the latter review. Not to mention that I’ve also picking up Prophets Against Slavery Review and am reading it as we speak, which was another collab between Lester and Rediker.

Scrolling through Marcus Rediker’s website… He’s apparently a Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh who self describes as historian, writer, teacher and activist. He also apparently made the jump from Twitter to Blue Skies last month. Did that myself recently and would highly recommend.

And finally, I have read a number of comics edited by Paul M. Buhle. For better or worse I profiled him in my review of the apparent yawn fest that was Eugene V. Debs_ A Graphic Biography. But I would probably recommend picking up Ballad of an American_ A Graphic Biography of Paul Robeson by Sharon Rudahl instead if you are looking for more interesting examples of his other work.

Overall I really appreciated how expressive and kinetic the pages were. A really engrossing read that communicates a lot of history through very compelling storytelling.

A few lines that really stood out to me were “The ravaged body of the pirate is a key to understanding the real history of those who sailed under the banner of king death, the infamous black flag, the pirates jolly roger. Trapped in a deadly machine called the deep -sea sailing ship, sailors who turned pirate fought a furious battle for survival. Routinely maimed in the course of their work, bilked of their wages, fed rotten provisions, and beaten around the deck by captains with tyrannical powers, these seafaring men (and a few women) built a radically different life on a pirate ship… The alternative social order of the pirate ship was all the more impressive because it had been created by the (so called)”villains of all nations” workers of many races and ethnicities who, according to conventional wisdom, in their own day and in ours, were not supposed to cooperate. Any given pirate ship might have English, Irish, Greek, Dutch, French or Native American crew members. African and African American seamen played an especially prominent role as they freely and subversly sailed Caribbean and North American waters near the coastal slave plantations from which many of them had escaped.” I appreciate how Rediker is so effortlessly able to contextualize pirates in such a radically different way then we often see them. Not only in terms of class but also in terms of other marginalized identities.

That isn’t to say everything was sunshine and roses. That’s never how people living in community goes. But in a world (both then and now) that only sees violence as legitimate when carried out by the state, or at the very least against someone more marginalized then you… pirates are everything that capitalist empires don’t want us to learn from.

Overall my only real complaint is that I wanted more. But such is life I suppose. Fitting with the entire philosophical exercise of the thing, the narrative of the graphic novel doesn’t follow any great man of history narratives. Big names are highlighted alongside what might be seen as a more average experience. We see representation of many different kinds of relationships, some different kinds of gender presentation, and how consensus decision making works. We also see the pirates having fun, playing music, eating drinking and dancing.

Turning our focus to the artwork, it is of a style that can be a bit hit or miss for some. I appreciate how dynamic, expressive and varied it was. Balancing out the practical choice of going with a greyscale color scheme. The use of line was probably my favorite.

We also get a brief look into Lester’s process in the afterward by Paul Buhl “Lester… says that he sought to bring the reader ‘back in time’ offering his own version of artwork that ‘has more in common with the black and white etchings of Hogarth than with the color work of the art of the EC Piracy series’ watercolor, brushes, pencils, and pen – in some cases Lester takes inspiration from the famous pirate films by cutting up drawings and reassembling them to create a ‘kind of movement in slow motion’ giving the reader time to linger on the page. In previous graphic novels, Lester created scale models or clay structures when penciling drawings for the script. For this book he built a scale model of an eighteenth-century galleon, so as to draw the ship from any angle. Before each day of drawing he would study the model galleon’s progress to get a sense of how it must have been, spatially, to have ‘lived in that wooden world’.”

A tiny apology for the extended quotes but it was pretty interesting so here we are.

Looking at the different political aspects I want to highlight in every one of my reviews I feel like we have already touched on almost all of them with the exception of place. We certainly had a fairly strong sense of being at sea in general, but Lester (as illustrated by that quote) also spent a decent amount of effort building out the specifics of The Night Rambler.

Wrapping things up, while it will probably be off-putting to some I appreciated the mix of fact, speculation in the form of fictional story telling, and political analysis that make up this slim easy to read volume. I was impressed with just how much I got to chew on and would generally recommend. Five stars because I felt like I learned a lot and I was impressed with the format.