![]() What’s so interesting about X’ed Out is the way it builds upon aspects of Burns’s last graphic novel, Black Hole, and comes out of Hergé’s Tintin stories it’s as if Hergé did an adaption of Black Hole, not so much by reimagining the plot, but by turning its mood and iconography into a kind of psychological ‘adventure’ story. Since they were typed, I figured I’d post them here. What follows are notes I compiled while reading XO, rereading Burns's Black Hole + Tintin volumes, and writing the review many contain ideas that didn't make it into the review. I wanted to try to write a review that gave “the general reader” what she would expect, yet would offer an interpretation of the work - I wanted the review to be equal parts analytical argument and “buyer’s guide.” The format typically requires a focus on summary and evaluation, blending the modes of consumer guide and opinion piece. So past assumptions about who might be reading and what “the general reader” would know, for me at least, are no longer valid. ![]() But because the journal is now online, anyone interested in reading a review of X’ed Out might find mine through google. When The Journal was only a print publication, reviewers knew that readers, who had to go out of their way to purchase the magazine (in dank ‘n dirty “specialty shops”), would likely be knowledgeable about comics. Earlier this month, I sent in my first piece for The Comics Journal, a review of Charles Burns’s X’ed Out. ![]()
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