With Sugar Skull, Charles Burns' Last Look set of graphic novels is finished, though without ending. There is some significant closure, chiefly with an explanation for Doug's head wound and his breakup with Sarah. This third volume introduces the contemporary Doug who has been reminiscing in the earlier ones, well after the creation of his portal fantasy alter-ego, who is now identified as Johnny. Neither character is given satisfaction by the final pages, nor are they brought back together.

Discordians familiar with the Law of Fives know that the recurring "23" in these books could mean pretty much anything, but I suppose it is intended to reference the twenty-three human chromosome pairs, and thus generational descent. In Sugar Skull, we find Doug contemplating both ancestry (his father, never his occluded mother) and posterity. Or perhaps 23 is to indicate the twenty-third pair, and thus sexual difference. Johnny remains alienated at best from any female manifestations, despite his obsessive attraction to them.

I borrowed these books from the public library: X-ed Out first, and then The Hive and Sugar Skull together. Despite the fact that they were initially published over a four- or five-year span, I think it would be best to have all three volumes on hand when reading any of them. There are recurrent images and references that made me want to review the first book, especially its opening pages, as I finished reading the last.

Het derde deel van X’ed out rondt (bijna) alles af. (Al valt me op, nu ik de eerste twee delen herlees, hoe weinig er eigenlijk nog af te ronden valt. Alleen de hoofdwonde misschien …)
De trilogie een meesterwerk noemen, zoals na het eerste deel al wel eens werd gedaan, is overdreven. Burns haalt al zijn talenten uit de kast om een schriel, met overbekende elementen opgebouwd verhaal een paar verontrustende en onheilspellende kronkels te geven. De afgelikte lijnen – een ode aan Hergé (zeg het voort!) – en een uitstap naar een Burroughsiaans universum vol maden en misvormden moet dan maar voldoende zijn. Ruimschoots! En ook weer niet. Te veel zie je door die wanen de tienerfilm priemen. De vervorming is best verontrustend, soms akelig of misselijkmakend, maar vrijwel nooit onduidelijk of confronterend. De onrust springt niet over naar de lezer. En verwachten van de lezer dat die dan maar zelf de onrust tegemoet springt is helemaal te gek voor woorden … ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2378944.html

The last of the trilogy of weird graphic story books by Charles Burns which began with X'ed Out and continued with The Hive. I felt it a very satisfactory resolution to the story: I see I hoped after reading the second volume that the punchline would be something sufficiently disturbing to justify the emotional energy we have been asked to invest in the central character, and indeed it is. I was a little disappointed that the pltline involving the real-world characters reading comics slightly fell away, but we got plenty of both the real-world story and its parallel in the world of Doug's dreams/nightmares. I strongly recommend getting all three together; there's no need now to delay between each book! ( )