The Hive

The Hive continues Charles Burns's graphic novel trilogy that began with X'ed Out, following Doug, a man who moves between reality and a surreal dreamworld. The narrative alternates between Doug's past relationships and memories, and a bizarre alternate universe filled with deformed creatures and industrial landscapes. Doug's real life focuses on his connections with Sarah and Laurie, two women who shaped his younger years, while his dream sequences take place in a wasteland populated by mutated beings. Throughout the story, Burns maintains visual and thematic links between the two worlds through recurring symbols and parallel imagery. The artwork employs Burns's signature high-contrast black and white style, creating stark compositions that mirror the psychological intensity of the story. The visual elements draw from diverse influences including Tintin comics, body horror, and punk rock aesthetics. Through its parallel narratives, The Hive explores trauma, memory, and the ways people reconstruct their past experiences. The book builds a complex meditation on how personal history gets distorted through the lens of time and consciousness.

Readers report that The Hive continues the surreal, dream-like narrative style established in X'ed Out. Many note the book succeeds in building tension and unease through its parallel storylines and Burns' artwork. Likes: - Intricate panel layouts and visual symbolism - Connection between memory and trauma - Burns' detailed art style and color palette - Effective buildup of dread Dislikes: - Story moves slowly with few plot revelations - Middle part of trilogy leaves questions unanswered - Some found it too similar to X'ed Out - Dense symbolism can be confusing Ratings: Goodreads: 3.9/5 (2,100+ ratings) Amazon: 4.2/5 (68 ratings) Common reader comments mention the book feels incomplete on its own. As one Goodreads reviewer noted: "Like middle volumes often do, this one deepens the mystery without providing many answers." Multiple readers recommend reading the full trilogy rather than this volume alone.

Black Hole by Charles Burns A graphic novel about teenagers in 1970s Seattle who contract a mysterious sexually transmitted disease that causes physical mutations and social isolation.

Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron by Dan Clowes A surreal graphic novel that follows a man through a nightmarish landscape of cult members, deformed characters, and bizarre conspiracies.

Through The Woods by Emily Carroll A collection of horror comics that weaves folk tales and psychological terror through stories of disappearances and supernatural encounters.

Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann, Kerascoët A graphic novel that presents a dark fairy tale about tiny creatures surviving in a forest, revealing the brutal nature beneath their cute exterior.

Uzumaki by Junji Ito A manga that chronicles a town's descent into madness as its residents become obsessed with and transformed by spiral patterns.

🔸 The Hive is the second part of a trilogy that begins with X'ed Out and concludes with Sugar Skull, creating an interconnected narrative that moves between reality and surreal dreamscapes. 🔸 Charles Burns spent nearly a decade completing the trilogy, with The Hive being published in 2012, drawing inspiration from Tintin comics and William Burroughs' work. 🔸 The distinctive red and black color palette used throughout The Hive pays homage to European comics while creating a uniquely unsettling atmosphere. 🔸 Burns developed the character Doug's alternate persona "Nitnit" as an inverted version of Hergé's Tintin, both visually and thematically. 🔸 The book's intricate narrative structure mirrors the honeycomb pattern of an actual hive, with interconnected chambers of memory and dream sequences that readers must navigate.