Best Selling Books by Charles Burns

“The best graphic novel of the year” (Time) tells the story of a strange plague devastating the lives of teenagers in mid-1970s suburban Seattle, revealing the horrifying nature of high school alienation—the savagery, the cruelty, the relentless anxiety, and the ennui. We learn from the outset that a strange plague has descended upon the area’s teenagers, transmitted by sexual contact. The disease is manifested in any number of ways—from the hideously grotesque to the subtle (and concealable)—but once you’ve got it, that’s it. There’s no turning back. As we inhabit the heads of several key characters—some kids who have it, some who don’t, some who are about to get it—what unfolds isn’t the expected battle to fight the plague, or bring heightened awareness to it , or even to treat it. What we become witness to instead is a fascinating and eerie portrait of the nature of high school alienation itself. And then the murders start. As hypnotically beautiful as it is horrifying, Black Hole transcends its genre by deftly exploring a specific American cultural moment in flux and the kids who are caught in it—back when it wasn’t exactly cool to be a hippie anymore, but Bowie was still just a little too weird. To say nothing of sprouting horns and molting your skin…

Through the Lens of a Master Cartoonist One Eye is a collection of paired photographs by Charles Burns that captures the strange undertones of a staggering range of objects and locales. From urban and pristine landscapes to flesh and food, the visual combinations are at the same time ambiguously uneasy and starkly coherent. Sandwiched together without room to breathe, the images are given distinctive symbiotic relationships. In some cases they initially appear as a single picture, while in others the shots are drastically dissimilar; regardless, the results are always complimentary. "Random Selection" juxtaposes the small orange square of a color selector card with an appropriately matched peeling sunburn. Random though they may be, Burns''s choices are clearly the product of his unique rationale, carefully arranged into revealing pairs. One Eye is his world digested through a lens, and evidence of the scope of his visual language. D+Q presents One Eye as part of its Petits Livres series: affordable art books dedicated to acknowledging the wide variety of talent within the comics community and beyond.

The beloved and award-winning author of BLACK HOLE''s haunting and visually arresting story of an artist''s obsessions, and the value and cost of pushing the boundaries of creativity As a child, Brian and his friend Jimmy would make sci-fi films in their yards, convincing their friends to star as victims of grisly murders, smearing lipstick on the "bodies" to simulate blood. Now a talented artist and aspiring filmmaker, Brian, along with Jimmy, Jimmy''s friend Tina, and Laurie—his reluctant muse—sets off to a remote cabin in the woods with an old 8 millimeter camera to make a true sci-fi horror movie, an homage to Brian''s favorite movie: Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But as Brian''s affections for Laurie go seemingly unreciprocated, Brian writes and draws himself into a fantasy where she is the girl of his dreams, his damsel in distress, and his savior wrapped into one. Rife with references to classic sci-fi and horror movies and filled with panels of stunning depictions of nature, film and the surreal, Burns blurs the line between Brian''s dreams and reality, imagination and perception. A master of the form at his finest, Final Cut is an astonishing look at what it means to truly express oneself through art.

A true graphic milestone: the epic trilogy that began with X''ed Out, continued in The Hive, and concluded in Sugar Skull—now in one volume. The long strange trip of Doug in all its mind-bending, heartbreaking totality. The fragments of the past collide with the reality of the present, nightmarish dreams evolve into an even more dreadful reality, and when you finally find out where all of this has been going, and what it means . . . it will make you go right back to the first page and read it all again with new eyes. Just like Doug. (With full-color illustrations throughout)

The long, strange trip that began in X''ed Out and continued in The Hive reaches its mind-bending, heartbreaking end. Doug is forced to deal with the lie he''s been telling himself since the beginning. In this concluding volume, nightmarish dreams evolve into an even more dreadful reality... (With full-color illustrations throughout.)

An early cult classic graphic novel from the author of the acclaimed Black Hole.

From the creator of Black Hole: the first volume of an epic masterpiece of graphic fiction in brilliant color. • “Tantalizing…a gorgeous head trip.” —New York Doug is having a strange night. A weird buzzing noise on the other side of the wall has woken him up, and there, across the room, next to a huge hole torn out of the bricks, sits his beloved cat, Inky. Who died years ago. But who’s nonetheless slinking out through the hole, beckoning Doug to follow. What’s going on? To say any more would spoil the freaky, Burnsian fun, especially because X’ed Out, unlike Black Hole, has not been previously serialized, and every unnervingly meticulous panel will be more tantalizing than the last . . . Drawing inspiration from such diverse influences as Hergé and William Burroughs, Charles Burns has given us a dazzling spectral fever-dream—and a comic-book masterpiece.

Doug is still in the netherworld. He''s working a cleaning job in the Hive''s stinking hallways, trying to ignore the screams, and reading romance comics to the breeders. But as the stories unravel on the page, frame by frame, mirrored memories plunge him back into his waking life. And that''s where the real nightmare is. In Burns''s trademark hard-edged style, The Hive is horrifying and completely absorbing: an incredible new installment from one of the most exciting artists in the comics world.

A collection of three horror comic strips describing a man who encounters imaginary beings.

Big Baby plays with his toys, find the monsters at the bottom of his neighbor''s new pool, finds a teen plague, and solves a mystery.

.html by Charles Burns A shadowy life spews forth from Harvey Award winning Charles Burns'' dark pen once again, filling the page with an angst-ridden story of survival in a self-created civilization. Left alone in the woods to fend for herself, Chris finds hunger overwhelming and the wait for her boyfriend Rob doubly trying. Newly deflowered Keith takes her away from the cold tent and into his house. Everyone wonders why he''s being so nice ... Black Hole is probably the best portrayal of the uncertainty and desire of teenagers ever. b&w, 32pg (9 of 13)

by Charles Burns Ten years in the making, Charles Burns'' magnum opus careens towards its inevitably apocalyptic conclusion, with only two issues remaining! This tenth issue is printed with the bleakest and blackest of ink to date: ripe with the stench of infection, the home that Keith''s been sitting all summer is now a safe house for kids with the bug. Meanwhile, his courtship of Chris having turned irrevocably black, Keith''s futility is palpable until he bumps into a (seemingly) well Eliza at the supermarket. And what of those tadpoles growing out of Keith''s ribs? The story of a mysterious plague that strikes mid-70s Seattle, only affecting teenagers. MATURE READERS b&w, 32pg

This cutting-edge comic is based upon concepts and characters found on the popular Freak Show album by the Residents available in record shops across the country. Each features story and art based on one of the songs. Included are: Herman and the Human Mole by Richard Sala, Wanda the Worm Woman by John Bolton, Jello Jack by Matt Howarth, Mickey the Mumbling Midget by Savage Pencil, Bouncing Benny the Bump by Pore No Graphics, Lillie by Dave McKean and Tex the Barker by Kyle Baker. This 80-page trade paperback includes both black-and-white and full-color art and features a full-color cover by Charles Burns.

Cartoons tell the story of El Borbah, a bizarre costumed detective who investigates a teenager''s disappearance, a suicide, a secret cult, and a missing girlfriend