sketchbook #14: Charles Burns

Carrying on from the theme of #13—sort of. (Actually, I’m posting things from the sketchbook totally out of order). As I recall, the story behind this one was that as Charles Burns was sketching it, he or somebody near him was talking about some European collector who has a legendary sketchbook, but asks every cartoonist who draws in it to do something that’s only a picture: “please—no words.”

Burns’ magnum opus is “Black Hole,” one of the most haunting graphic novels I’ve ever read. (At least it’s his magnum opus until his next book comes out.)