Black Hole is a twelve-issue comic book limited series written and illustrated by Charles Burns and published jointly by Kitchen Sink Press and Fantagraphics. Published between 1995 and 2005, the first four issues were released by Kitchen Sink Press before they went out of business, Fantagraphics took over. A compiled hardcover volume was released by Pantheon Books in 2005. The entire story is collected, but supplemental material shown on the covers and endpages of the individual issues are omitted.
The plot of the comic series follows a number of Seattle 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. In particular it follows four teenagers, Chris, Rob, Keith and Eliza, switching back and forth between their stories as they come in contact with and contract the disease.
The suggestion of a film adaptation of the series has been up in the air for a while. In November 2005, the Comics Journal message boards reported that the series would be adapted to film by French director Alexandre Aja (High Tension). In March 2006, comics news site Newsarama reported that Neil Gaiman and Pulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avary would be adapting the series, and Gaiman confirmed this in an interview with TIME Magazine in May of that year. In 2007, director Rupert Sanders released his own live-action short film adaptation of the series as part of his pitch for the project. In February 2008, it was announced that the film would be produced by Paramount and directed by David Fincher; Gaiman and Avary left the project eight months later, and it was reported that their script would not be used by Fincher. Fincher later abandoned the project in August 2010 to focus on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011). In March 2018, New Regency and Brad Pitt's production company Plan B acquired the rights to the film adaptation of the series, with Rick Famuyiwa (Dope) attached to write and direct.
Not to be confused with the webcomic written and illustrated by Doctor Glasgow.
Tropes associated with this work:
- Bittersweet Ending: Keith & Eliza leave Seattle to their own Earn Your Happy Ending, while Rob ends up murdered in the forest, leaving Chris alone and unsure about her future.
- Body Horror: What The Bug does to all of its victims. Some can hide it, others can't.
- Coming of Age Story: A weird example, certainly, but it's there.
- Deliberately Monochrome: A black and white comic.
- Fan Disservice: The sex scenes are often times cancelled out by the mutations.
- Freakiness Shame: Averted with Keith's positive reaction to Eliza's tail.
- Magical Realism: Sort of.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Eliza
- The '70s: When the comic takes place.
- Surreal Horror: While the overall plot makes sense, the imagery and dream sequences alone push it into this territory.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Eliza's "best sandwich in the world": bologna, lettuce, and Miracle Whip ("Never mayo") on white bread.
- Two Lines, No Waiting. The comic jumps from plot thread to plot thread multiple times.
- Wham Episode: Issue #8, "Lizard Queen," which ends with Rob being murdered.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Keith's mutation from the bug is unseen in later scenes in the comic, without any explanation given.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Of the emergence of AIDS in suburban seventies America.
