Wednesday is Comic Day!

Writer: Craig Thompson Artist: Craig Thompson Publisher: Top Shelf Productions Price: $29.95

Follow up:

Blankets was released in 2003. It was very well reviewed and received a lot of acclaim and awards, including an Eisner, in 2004, for best Graphic Album. It soon became one of those books that one felt obligated to read if one were to be considered a serious reader of comic books. Although I'd heard of it and seen it in stores, it didn't really capture my attention until some nutcase tried to have it pulled from school libraries.

The story is autobiographical. It is an extremely candid look inside the author's life, revealing his troubled youth, his first love, childhood abuse, and religious dogma induced guilt. It's probably a story that could be told by millions of people - but millions of people do not have the artistic skills of Craig Thompson.

The book is a little intimidating, at first. It is 592 pages in length and is in black and white. The artwork is very inviting, though. Simple pencil and inks from a Winsor Newton brush. A loose cartoony style is used, but every character is unique and every emotion is clear.

The story is actually a fast read. Even taking the time to savor the art, I finished the book in a little over two hours. The story is told in past tense, bouncing back and forth from the author's childhood to his young adulthood. Every character has layers and depth. The first half of the book introduces us to Craig's brother, parents, teachers, and peers. The second half brings in Raina, his first love. Thompson takes the time to not only tell the story of his and Raina's interactions, but also fully fleshes out Raina's family, from her sad but devoted father to her depressed and addicted mother, to her two siblings with Down syndrome.

Thompson's handling of religion is gentle. He manages to simultaneously express how important his faith was to him while at the same time depicting the ways in which complicated his life and the shame it led him to carry.

Telling a story like this, graphically, was certainly a challenge - but Thompson clearly understood that visual depictions can say so much more and with greater subtlety than words. We can see Craig fall in love with Raina because she is drawn more and more attractive as his feelings grow.

Blankets deserves the acclaim it received and I recommend it.