Blankets by Craig Thompson
A graphic novel which my friend Vic recommended to me. If you’re not aware of or familiar with the graphic novel, you can oversimplify it and say it is a big, big comic book, but that vastly underestimates the growing new subgenre. While there are graphic novels of comic book super heroes (and are actually the contents of several comic books in a storyline compiled together), and there’s a lot to be said for comic book graphic novels in terms of plot and artwork, graphic novels cover the entire gamut of topics and emotions. In the place of the thousands of words in a regular novel are a storyline carried by dialogue and imagery.
That said, I enjoyed Blankets. It covers Craig’s growth from troubled childhood to adult as he attempts to figure out who he is and what he believes in. Craig pulls at your heart strings in descriptions of overbearing parents and a younger brother whose idolization of his older sibling went undervalued at the time, but just as quickly he captures perfectly the feelings of first love and self-discovery that leave you with a smile on your face.
As I read through the book, I attempted to pause and appreciate Craig’s artwork. Sure, he may have only written a few thousand words or less, but he painstakingly drew out hundreds of sketches that bring the words to life. His scenes flowed from one to the next, my mind practically stitched them into a movie. The intensity of the artwork closely matched the mood of the protagonist throughout. One thing I did find interesting, and I’m not sure if the artist/author intended it or it was subconscious: when he wrote about sadder times in his life, reflecting back on when he was down, his self-image was cruder, simpler, more harsh lines. When he moved to more cherished memories, his features became more detailed and alive, and his face seemed more pleasant, softer. Maybe the way we feel about memories affects how we remember them and ourselves in them.
Craig Thompson is a caring, thoughtful soul and he’s taken a great deal of effort to share a very personal story in words and art that readers can identify with. I definitely recommend it: 8 out of 10