Skin Deep

By Charles Burns

Skin Deep by Charles BurnsCharles Burns made an indelible mark on the world of graphic novels with Black Hole. Set during the 1970s, the book is a dark and twisted horror tale about a virulent sexually transmitted disease and the devastating effect that it has on a group of teenagers. Burns creates a world which is a disturbing yet compelling mixture of Jeffrey Eugenides and HP Lovecraft, with a sensitive but honest portrayal of growing up and an eye for the grotesque.

Skin Deep is the third collection of Burns’ early work, first published in Raw the magazine set up by Art Maus Spiegelman. “Dog Days” sees Dog Boy – an all American boy with the heart of a dog – attempt to find love whilst “Burn Again” is a savage attack on travelling preachers and religious zealots. We end with a “A Marriage Made In Hell” in which a woman discovers that the phrase “He’s not the person I married” is horribly true.

There’s very much an air of the classic EC Comics of the 1950s not only through the stories (“A Marriage Made In Hell” in particular) but also because of the bold artwork of Burns. Powerful and monstrous, the twisted vision of a world in which the classic trappings of 50s Americana have been hijacked by the venal, the sick and the twisted. Needless to say, Burns really indulges his surrealistic bent presenting making us wallow in a place that is difficult to fathom yet impossible to leave.

It’s this skewed juxtaposition on life that makes this collection of Burns’ work so fascinating. His command of mood and ability to unnerve the reader makes these stories often disquieting but endlessly fascinating.

Skin Deep is published by Fantagraphics and is available from Play.com, Blackwells and all good book shops.

Review by Laurence Boyce