Set Description:
Black Hole is one of independent comics' true masterpieces. It is part body horror, part coming-of-age story, part romance, part cultural critique, and entirely written and inked by the inimitable Charles Burns. The first four issues, plus 2nd printings of the first two, were published by Kitchen Sink Press. After that publisher's demise, the remaining books were released through Fantagraphics, along with reprints of #1-3. A comic-book-format art book companion, entitled Echo Echo, was also published, this time through famed comic and comic-art publisher Alvin Buenaventura's short-lived Pigeon Press.
Between the original limited series and the Pantheon Books collected edition, Black Hole has won an impressive list of awards. The title earned Burns the Harvey Award for Best Inker... seven times. The compilation also earned the a 2006 Harvey for "Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Works" and the Ignatz for "Outstanding Anthology or Collection" in the same year. The series has touched other media as well. The Silversun Pickups' successful 2012 alt rock song "The Pit" is an homage to Black Hole, and the graphic novel itself is the book given by Alexander to Maurice in the 2014 film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Efforts to adapt the series to film have, so far, stalled, despite attracting A-list attention. At one point, Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary were slated for a screenplay, but nothing came of it. David Fincher was on the project, then off, then on again, then finally off. In 2010, director Rupert Sanders (who would later direct Snow White and the Huntsman and Ghost in the Shell) created a short film intended as a proof-of-concept for a feature production, but that opportunity never arose. For now, the rights are held by Plan B, although there hasn't been any movement on it since 2018. Regardless, I feel it's pretty likely that at some point, someone will adapt this as either a film or Netflixesque series.
Returning to the comics themselves, this title is surprisingly hard to find in grade. The covers are thick, semi-gloss cardstock. Bindery tears at the corners are common, and the covers scuff easily. Not to mention that several issues are "black covers" in the true sense of the term. As indie books, print runs were never as high as mainstream titles. Comichron's report on orders through Diamond suggests something like 6000 copies ordered for the early issues, but the long delays between releases hurt interest; the last couple books in particular were below 5000.
Black Hole had licensed printings in other languages! I have graded sets for the German and Spanish editions. The Spanish republisher is the only foreign edition to reprint the book in the original 12-issue format. German publisher Reprodukt opted to condense the series into six books, each a double-sized volume reprinting two of the original issues. Black Hole was also published in Italian, where it was condensed even further, into three oversized books containing four issues apiece! Finally, there was a French publication about which I currently don't have a lot of information (and don't own copies). Unless CGC branches out into new encapsulation technology, there will never be a graded set for the French books because they were published in the traditional French bande desinee format -- which means they are hardcovers.
The collected edition was also published in a great many languages, including Polish, Portuguese, and Russian, although collecting foreign trades is outside of my interest in this series.
What's still missing here? Not much. Obviously, there are a few books where I'm still on the hunt for upgrades, especially the 2nd printing of #2 and the entire Spanish run. Additionally, Burns created a pamphlet-style book out of unused design sketches from the series, called Drawn from Memory, which I'd love to pick up.
Finally, before the first comics were printed by Kitchen Sink, Charles Burns privately printed one chapter of what would become Black Hole #1. That chapter, SSSSSSSS serves as sort of an ashcan. Very few copies were printed, and those were handed out by Burns personally. At least one has made it to the secondary market, but I missed its last sale by a couple of years, to my dismay. Hopefully, someday, it will be resold again, or another of the copies will surface and I'll be able to add it to this collection. |
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| Slot: |
Black Hole (Fantagraphics) 1 Third Printing |
| Item: |
Black Hole 1 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3760120001
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Owner Comments
After Fantagraphics bought Kitchen Sink Press out of bankruptcy, they continued publication of Black Hole and relatively quickly realized there was a demand for the early issues. Unlike the Kitchen Sink 2nd printings, these are pretty easy to identify, with the new Fantagraphics logo on the back covers. Also unlike the Kitchen Sink reprints, these aren't particularly difficult books. Although no reliable publication information exists, they were available from Fantagraphics for many, many years.
This is one of a group of books in this set that I purchased as slabs from an online seller who was submitting this series for grading at the same time I was filling in the bulk of the set from my own collection.
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| Slot: |
Black Hole (Fantagraphics) 2 Third Printing |
| Item: |
Black Hole 2 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3847395002
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| Slot: |
Black Hole (Fantagraphics) 3 Second Printing |
| Item: |
Black Hole 3 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3760120003
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Owner Comments
This is almost certainly the last of the Fantagraphics reprints of Kitchen Sink Press issues. Occasionally someone on the internet will describe the printing history of Black Hole in a way that suggests a Fantagraphics edition of #4 was produced. But there's no evidence such a book exists, just lazy copy-editing on the part of article writers.
This copy is from one a group of books I purchased as slabs from an online seller who was submitting copies from this series for grading at the same time I was filling in the bulk of the set from my own collection.
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| Slot: |
Black Hole (Fantagraphics) 5 |
| Item: |
Black Hole 5 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4448608001
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Owner Comments
Counting only the main series and not secondary material like Drawn From Memory, this was the last empty space I filled in with a graded copy. Ironically, its a copy from my original personal collection that I'd gone back and forth as to whether it met my condition standards for quite some time. Glad I finally pulled the trigger.
Comichron recorded 5750 ordered copies for this issue.
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| Slot: |
Black Hole (Fantagraphics) 5 Second Printing |
| Item: |
Black Hole 5 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3760120005
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Owner Comments
This is one of two oddities in the series. Black Hole #5 and #9 are the only two books originally published by Fantagraphics that went to a second printing. Why? I really have no idea. There's nothing special about these issues. There's nothing unusual about Diamond's reported ordering numbers. Was there some unusual demand? Did some percentage of the printed first edition copies fail quality control, warranting a reprint? I tried reaching out to Fantagraphics for information -- and to confirm that there are no second printings of #4, #6, or other issues lurking out there -- but never received a response. So it remains one of this series's little mysteries.
There is no reliable method to distinguish the two printings without opening up the book and looking at the indicia. But in any case, the second printing of #5 does not seem particularly scarce.
This is one of a group of books in this set that I purchased as slabs from an online seller who was submitting this series for grading at the same time I was filling in the bulk of the set from my own collection.
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| Slot: |
Black Hole (Fantagraphics) 6 |
| Item: |
Black Hole 6 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3847395003
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Owner Comments
This entire series has a problem in terms of production. These books have thick cardstock covers that abound with manufacturing issues. Folding the semi-gloss printed covers around the books invariably cracks the ink along the spine. Worse, the blades used at Fantagraphics's printer (and Kitchen Sink's before them, frankly) were rarely up to the task of cleanly slicing the heavy stock, so bindery tears at the top and bottom of the spines are common. But this issue seems to have gotten the worst of it. I've seen copy after copy where what started as a bindery tear (mostly at bottom, but sometimes at both ends) has propagated upward, effectively creating an "almost spine split" that extends through about three-quarters of the thickness of the cover stock. That isn't a problem unique to #6, but it's probably at its most pervasive here. I imagine that someone at the printer or at Fantagraphics finally noticed and took some action.
Comichron recorded 5302 ordered copies for this issue.
I'd love to have all these books in 9.8, but I'm just glad that I finally found a sound copy of this issue.
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| Slot: |
Black Hole (Fantagraphics) 7 |
| Item: |
Black Hole 7 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3760120008
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Owner Comments
Along with the covers to #1 and #2, the cover art to this issue has become an iconic representative image for the series. It gets included in interviews with Burns and critical analyses of the series. So perhaps it's only a little surprising that German republisher Reprodukt chose this cover for the first issue of the German-language publication of the series.
Comichron recorded 5255 ordered copies for this issue.
This is one of a group of books in this set that I purchased as slabs from an online seller who was submitting this series for grading at the same time I was filling in the bulk of the set from my own collection.
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| Slot: |
Black Hole (Fantagraphics) 8 |
| Item: |
Black Hole 8 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2138810007
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Owner Comments
Comichron recorded 5269 ordered copies for this issue.
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| Slot: |
Black Hole (Fantagraphics) 9 |
| Item: |
Black Hole 9 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3847395004
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Owner Comments
Comichron recorded 5148 ordered copies for this issue.
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| Slot: |
Black Hole (Fantagraphics) 9 Second Printing |
| Item: |
Black Hole 9 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3709501015
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Owner Comments
This is one of two oddities in the series. Black Hole #5 and #9 are the only two books originally published by Fantagraphics that went to a second printing. Why? I really have no idea. There's nothing special about these issues. There's nothing unusual about Diamond's reported ordering numbers. Was there some unusual demand? Did some percentage of the printed first edition copies fail quality control, warranting a reprint? I tried reaching out to Fantagraphics for information -- and to confirm that there are no second printings of #4, #6, or other issues lurking out there -- but never received a response. So it remains one of this series's little mysteries.
There is no reliable method to distinguish the two printings without opening up the book and looking at the indicia. Even taking that into account, this book (unlike the second printing of #5) is demonstrably rarer than its first printing equivalent. I suspect that is because of the extremely late release date. This printing was produced four years after the initial release of #9, and a full year after the release of #12 and the end of the series. In fact, the hardcover collected edition was released by Pantheon Press in October 2005, so this reprint even post-dates the availability of a compilation! I really have no idea why it exists.
I purchased this copy pre-slabbed from an online seller. At the time, I felt that I fairly aggressively overpaid, especially given the 9.6 grade as opposed to a 9.8 that is achievable for most of the run. At this point, with this copy still tied for top of census, I'm not at all sad about pulling the trigger on it. Along with the 2nd printing of #2, I think this is one of the hardest books in the set.
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| Slot: |
Black Hole (Fantagraphics) 10 |
| Item: |
Black Hole 10 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3847395005
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Owner Comments
Comichron recorded 4836 ordered copies for this issue.
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| Slot: |
Black Hole (Fantagraphics) 11 |
| Item: |
Black Hole 11 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3760120012
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Owner Comments
Comichron recorded 4240 ordered copies for this issue. Solely in terms of US domestic orders placed through Diamond Distribution, this is the rarest first-printing issue of Black Hole.
This is one of a group of books in this set that I purchased as slabs from an online seller who was submitting this series for grading at the same time I was filling in the bulk of the set from my own collection.
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| Slot: |
Black Hole (Fantagraphics) 12 |
| Item: |
Black Hole 12 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3847395006
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Owner Comments
Comichron recorded 4324 ordered copies for this issue.
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| Slot: |
Black Hole (Kitchen Sink) 1 |
| Item: |
Black Hole 1 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2138810003
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Owner Comments
This is where it all began. To be certain, Black Hole didn't arrive in the comics world entirely out of nowhere. Charles Burns had been publishing body horror rendered in striking black and white for many years at this point. The origins of the story here can probably be traced back to one of those earlier works, "Teen Plague", which appeared in Raw v2, #1.
As an aside, everyone should really consider owning a copy of Raw v2, #1. There's an awful lot of genius in that one set of pages.
But Black Hole wasn't a continuation of "Teen Plague". It was -- and is -- its own story, which would play out over the next decade of issue releases.
No reliable information appears to exist regarding the number of copies of this issue ordered through Diamond Distribution, or anywhere else. It's tempting to assume that it was similar to #2 (for which an order index is known) or #4 (for which a reasonable accurate count of domestic orders is known), but that's a pretty tall assumption for a #1 from an indie publisher. There's arguments to be had that the count might be considerably higher... or lower. Whatever the case, there are sufficient copies of this on the general market that I'm comfortable saying initial US orders were somewhere in the vicinity of 6000 copies.
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| Slot: |
Black Hole (Kitchen Sink) 2 |
| Item: |
Black Hole 2 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2138810004
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Owner Comments
The drowning woman cover for #2 is arguably more iconic than the cover for the first issue. It was certainly used widely to advertise the series. Both house publication Kitchen Sink Unplugged and retailer catalog Advance Comics opted to go with this artwork when dedicating their own cover space to this series.
Comichron reported an order index of 5.3 for this issue; currently, that value cannot be reliably "decoded" to the number of US domestic orders placed through Diamond Distribution, but somewhere around 5500-6000 copies is a reasonable education guess.
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