Ostensibly about teenagers in suburbia in the 70s and an outbreak of an STD which results in physical mutation/deformation - referred to only as 'the bug' - it mainly explores isolation and stigmatisation. Although it was engrossing, and visually it's fairly challenging, the conclusion left me feeling that the conceit was just too heavy handed. If it's intended as an allegory for AIDS, then reducing it to a physical embodiment to explore the fear and stigma is a little clumsy and unnecessary.
Usual themes appear, parents and authorities are peripheral, drugs, sex and relationships are focus, and the vacuum of high school (in itself a very American exploration). Heavy inks, detailed frames, and some playful use of the structure of teen horror schlok (perhaps even an updated gothic feel?), it is really in its abstract moments that the book hints at its wider insights. Interesting, but too close to the American psyche to translate fully . . .
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