Review by Booklist Review
Concluding the saga begun in X'ed Out (2010) and continued in The Hive (2012), Burns delves ever more deeply into the dual existences of his young hero, Doug. We continue to follow him in his waking hours, where we learn more about his fixation on his ex-girlfriend Sarah and the tragedy that his obsession inexorably draws him toward. Meanwhile, Doug's recurring dream state, in which he's a worker alongside the monstrous denizens of a hive-like netherworld, grows more nightmarish; and the disturbing parallels with his waking life become even more pronounced, giving clues to the pivotal secret that he's been unable to face consciously. The deadpan clarity of Burns' moody yet sensual artwork only accentuates the underlying sense of dread that has permeated all three volumes. The drawn-out process of completing the trilogy has been cruel to Burns' fans, but at last now they can finally learn the answers to the mysteries of Doug's converging realities. However, newcomers, who can now devour the entire work at once, will likely have a more satisfying reading experience.--Flagg, Gordon Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Completing his trilogy that began in 2010 with X'ed Out and continued with The Hive in 2012, Burns brings the story of amnesiac Doug to a devastating conclusion. Only an artist of Burns' precision and vision could keep all the plates of this dimension and time hopping tale spinning so smoothly. In the first two volumes we met Doug, whose story jumps back and forth in between his relationship with a girl named Sarah and his future as a pill-popping loser. Along the way his avatar, Nit-Nit, has surreal adventures in a bleak parallel world full of disgustingly pitiful creatures. In the final volume, the horrors pile up as the many careful symbols that Burns has set up in the previous 128 pages-a pig fetus, a mask, a Polaroid, a pink blanket-manifest into a nightmarish existence that Doug can't escape from, whether it's the real world, in which Doug's attempts at a relationship are sabotaged by his break-up with Sarah, or his fantasy, in which we learn, in grotesque detail, just where those eggs seen on the cover of The Hive are coming from. Like Black Hole, this trilogy is a masterpiece of dread and wasted opportunity. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Only an artist as audacious as Burns would attempt a mashup of William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch and Tintin, the internationally beloved comic book adventurer; only a master storyteller would be able to carve a startlingly moving tale of love, loss, and regret out of that unlikely pairing. Completing the narrative Burns began in X'ed Out, here protagonist Doug is struggling with grief over the death of his father and haunted by a shattered romance. Doug's story is intercut with that of a man wandering an eerie, decaying wasteland filled with freaks and monsters, obsessed with the beautiful broodmare for a race of lizard people. Burns demands and rewards attentive reading, letting the novel unfold in a fractured chronology and employing patterns of repeated imagery and color to draw connections between the two narratives. He brings them together into something altogether new that blends bildungsroman with visceral horror to elucidate the mental state of his protagonist. While Burns has long been known for his ability to make readers squirm, this volume highlights his skill as a compassionate observer of human folly. Verdict Highly recommended, especially for horror fans unafraid of feeling a more nuanced range of emotions. [Five-city tour.]-Thomas L. Batten, Grafton, VA (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The third volume in a trilogy concludes a renowned graphic artist's hallucinatory descent into comic-book helland it doesn't end prettily.The size and format of the traditional comic book perfectly suits the darker vision of Burns, who's reinforced his reputation through work in magazines such as the New Yorker but lets his demons run wild here. Without ever resorting to a linear narrative, he concludes the story of Doug that began in X'ed Out (2010) and continued with The Hive (2012). Sober for more than a year, he suffers a massive relapse when he returns to his former punk-rock haunts and sees some people who would rather not see him. Yet his dream life and waking life aren't clearly delineated, for Doug or for the reader, and whatever state he's in, he fears, "[n]o matter what I do, I'll never get rid of that voice in my head." Framing and interweaving Doug's narrative is the even more nightmarish descent of the bandaged boy Johnny, like Alice down the rabbit hole, through a stack of skulls, a reunion with his cat and a deep sleep that finds him awakening to a nightmare that might be worse than his nightmare. Identities blur as plot points in both narratives involve romance comics, unexpected pregnancies and women as agents of healing for deeply bruised young men. But the art carries the weight here and rewards repeat viewings, as the text resists summary and paraphrase. Like a dream or a very bad acid trip, what often defies linear logic makes connections on a subliminal, surreal plane. A fittingly audacious finale to an artistically ambitious trilogy, one that pays homage to the comic books of old yet takes the art to another, weirder level. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
