Black Hole<\/em> harkens back to Burns\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153teen plague\u00e2\u20ac\u009d strips, but this time Burns has dropped most of the sci-fi elements that filled his earlier work, keeping only the sexually-transmitted plague that causes strange and awful physical mutations to teens. The comic is a compelling, creepy look at the social interactions and sexual longings of the painful period of American life. The latest installment revolves around a conversation between a girl who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got the plague and the guy who infected her. The episode narrated by the infected girl, delves into a flashback of her experience with the plague, developing into a rumination on her status as sexual pariah. Taken as a metaphor for teenage pregnancy, HIV, STDs and every other sexual secret we keep, the concept of teen plague has grown increasingly effective as the series has gone on. Through the awkwardness of their dialogue, Burns conveys the fragility of these kids\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lives, illustrating the mixture of sexual longing and confusion that characterizes our high school years. Visually, the book is a treat, albeit a dark one. While burns has refined his art style, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not overly different from his past work. His page layouts are more imaginative, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably a function of drawing for the comic book page and not for the dimensions of a syndicated strip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My in-laws’ tradition (on my wife’s dad’s side) for the big family gathering on Christmas eve is that everyone draws the name of another family-member and buys a present for that person. This is probably totally normal to the rest of you, but it’s an alien concept to me because a) I’m Jewish, and b) … <\/p>\n
Continue reading “Classic Comics Criticism: Black Hole Son-In-Law”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[793,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-classic-comics-criticism","category-literature"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-18v","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4302,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/the-blood-club","url_meta":{"origin":4371,"position":0},"title":"The Blood Club","author":"Gil","date":"August 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"On Monday, I wrote that I was going to launch a recurring Thursday feature reprinting mean-spirited reviews I wrote for The Comics Journal back in 1998. It was going to be Klassik Komiks Kritikism, but my lawyers have informed me that title could be construed as a sign that I'm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Classic Comics Criticism"","block_context":{"text":"Classic Comics Criticism","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature\/classic-comics-criticism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4408,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/classic-comics-criticism-langridge-bharrier","url_meta":{"origin":4371,"position":1},"title":"Classic Comics Criticism: Langridge Barrier","author":"Gil","date":"August 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"In honor of the trade paperback release of the most entertaining all-ages comic I've read in forever, The Muppet Show: Meet the Muppets (as well as the 2nd ish of The Muppet Show: The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson), this week's Classic Comics Criticism celebrates Muppets writer\/artist Roger Langridge! This is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Classic Comics Criticism"","block_context":{"text":"Classic Comics Criticism","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature\/classic-comics-criticism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1934506850","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4329,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/classic-comics-criticism-catch-as-katchor-can","url_meta":{"origin":4371,"position":2},"title":"Classic Comics Criticism: Catch as Katchor Can","author":"Gil","date":"August 13, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"It's time for the first official installment of Classic Comics Criticism! By \"Classic,\" I mean this consists of the reviews I wrote for The Comics Journal back in 1998. Sure, it may sound like a cheap-ass way to make a new recurring feature, but I challenge you, dear reader, to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Classic Comics Criticism"","block_context":{"text":"Classic Comics Criticism","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature\/classic-comics-criticism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0140159975","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13568,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-376-calvin-reid","url_meta":{"origin":4371,"position":3},"title":"Episode 376 – Calvin Reid","author":"Gil","date":"June 17, 2020","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 376: Calvin Reid \"The biggest shift in comics right now is the explosion of independent publishing, the impact of Kickstarter on the ability of artists to not have to go through the superhero gatekeepers, the explosion of diversity in terms of creators and in genres, and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/calvincomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C533&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/calvincomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C533&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/calvincomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C533&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/calvincomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C533&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/calvincomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C533&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10449,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/comic-con-2017-pre-game","url_meta":{"origin":4371,"position":4},"title":"Comic-Con 2017 pre-game","author":"Gil","date":"July 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I won't be at the big Comic-Con International in San Diego this weekend, but if you're going, here's a list of podcasts I've done with some of this year's guests & attendees: Maria Alexander\u00a0\u2022\u00a0mp3 Derf Backderf\u00a0\u2022\u00a0mp3 Joyce Farmer\u00a0\u2022\u00a0mp3 Mary Fleener \u2022 mp3 Jeff Gomez\u00a0\u2022\u00a0mp3 Karen Green\u00a0\u2022\u00a0mp3 Peter Kuper\u00a0\u2022\u00a0mp3 Mimi Pond\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Classic Comics Criticism"","block_context":{"text":"Classic Comics Criticism","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature\/classic-comics-criticism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/cci_teaser_logo_2_52.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10433,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/readercon-pre-game","url_meta":{"origin":4371,"position":5},"title":"Readercon pre-game","author":"Gil","date":"July 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Getting ready for Readercon 2017? Then check out my podcasts with some of this year's guests: Samuel R. Delany\u00a0\u2022\u00a0mp3 John Clute 1\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0mp3 John Clute 2\u00a0\u2022\u00a0mp3 Liz Hand 1\u00a0\u2022\u00a0mp3 Liz Hand 2\u00a0(brief) \u2022\u00a0mp3 Michael Dirda 1\u00a0\u2022\u00a0mp3 Michael Dirda 2\u00a0\u2022\u00a0mp3 Michael Dirda 3\u00a0\u2022\u00a0mp3 Scott Edelman\u00a0\u2022\u00a0mp3 John Crowley\u00a0\u2022\u00a0mp3 Theodora Goss\u00a0\u2022\u00a0mp3 (I think she'll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Classic Comics Criticism"","block_context":{"text":"Classic Comics Criticism","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature\/classic-comics-criticism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/readercon.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4371"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4998,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4371\/revisions\/4998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0375714723\")
![\"burnstail\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/burnstail.jpg?resize=207%2C300\" "\\"burnstail\\"")
<\/a>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure glad I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go to high school with Charles Burns. Black Hole<\/em> harkens back to Burns\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153teen plague\u00e2\u20ac\u009d strips, but this time Burns has dropped most of the sci-fi elements that filled his earlier work, keeping only the sexually-transmitted plague that causes strange and awful physical mutations to teens. The comic is a compelling, creepy look at the social interactions and sexual longings of the painful period of American life. The latest installment revolves around a conversation between a girl who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got the plague and the guy who infected her. The episode narrated by the infected girl, delves into a flashback of her experience with the plague, developing into a rumination on her status as sexual pariah. Taken as a metaphor for teenage pregnancy, HIV, STDs and every other sexual secret we keep, the concept of teen plague has grown increasingly effective as the series has gone on. Through the awkwardness of their dialogue, Burns conveys the fragility of these kids\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lives, illustrating the mixture of sexual longing and confusion that characterizes our high school years. Visually, the book is a treat, albeit a dark one. While burns has refined his art style, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not overly different from his past work. His page layouts are more imaginative, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably a function of drawing for the comic book page and not for the dimensions of a syndicated strip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"