Black gas is a fictional chemical featured in comic books published by Avatar Press. It was the central plot device behind the Blackgas comic book limited series in 2006, and in its sequel series, Blackgas 2.
Black gas was a chemical compound of unknown origin and definition. It was found in deposits that laid beneath tectonic fault lines that ran beneath Smoky Island in an area known as The Bulge. When a volcano erupted on Smoky Island, it eschewed high quantities of black gas, which settled over the surrounding community. Those exposed to it, were psychologically altered, giving in to their most primal and base murderous instincts. Their sole desire was to meet out violence in the most abhorrent and grotesque way possible.
After those infected on Smoky Island wiped themselves out of existence, a wind blew the black gas cloud over the mainline of the Eastern United States, infecting a city. of one million residents called Hope.