29 Feb / Blankets by Craig Thompson
If you missed last year’s Habibi by Craig Thompson, stop everything right this second and go order it immediately. I’ll wait … I promise, you’re going to thank me for that authoritative literary advice.
If Habibi is Thompson’s multi-culti masterpiece, then Blankets must be his Midwest magnum opus. That the book’s back cover touts three 2004 Harvey Awards (Best Artist, Best Graphic Album of Original Work, and Best Cartoonist) and two 2004 Eisner Awards (Best Graphic Album–New and Best Writer/Artist) shows I’m not far off …
To call Blankets a personal story is such understatement as to be unjust: the power of its raw honesty is of the wrenching, hurts-so-good variety. As young boys, Thompson shared a bed with his little brother Phil. “‘SHARED’ is the sugar-coated way of saying we were TRAPPED in the same bed, as we were children and had no say in the matter.” Phil’s a tough bedmate with his overactive imagination and his uncontrollable bladder. In spite of the expected sibling friction, Thompson confesses that he “was a pathetic older brother [who] neglected [his] protective role in dangerous situations.”
But then young Thompson’s got weighty problems of his own, especially at school where he’s constantly bullied by students and teachers alike. At home, the oversized babysitter is an abusive monster in too-tight jeans. Thompson’s only solace is in drawing, “where my brother accompanied behind the wheel … when we drew together, often collaborating on the same page, I felt connected to Phil.”
Thompson manages to survive adolescence, trying to negotiate his demanding fundamentalist Christian upbringing with his burgeoning maturity. One high school winter during a church camp ski trip, Thompson meets Raina, another searching soul, and they continue their hesitant acquaintance by mail: “her letter renewed my faith in the notion of making marks on paper.” He is enthralled: “Thus, I found my muse.” And so their mutual attachment grows and intensifies … literally taking on epic proportions. Young first love can’t be anything but, right? Thompson and Raina share one heck of an affair to remember …
The adult Thompson moves with both heartfelt wonder and overwhelming angst through long-ago memories. His swirling, ever-in-motion, instantly recognizable transporting style is an extraordinary visual experience – from looming fear to utter joy to resigned doubt to absolute peace, and so much more. Read and you shall believe …
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2003, 2011 (new edition)