Black Hole (Pantheon Graphic Library)

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 alienationthe savagery the cruelty the relentless anxiety and the ennui. We learn from the outset that a strange plague has descended upon the areas teenagers transmitted by sexual contact. The disease is manifested in any number of waysfrom the hideously grotesque to the subtle (and concealable)but once youve got it thats it. Theres no turning back. As we inhabit the heads of several key characterssome kids who have it some who dont some who are about to get itwhat unfolds isnt 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 itback when it wasnt 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