I've been hearing great things about Blankets from friends and reviewers whose opinions I trust, calling Blankets a shoe-in for best graphic novel of the year. So I went in with somewhat high expectations, and Craig Thompson just broke my heart. Not because it wasn't every bit as good as I was told (it was), but because this is an autobiographical tale that doesn't pull any punches, and Thompson shows the harder side of life and love along with the magical elements of it, creating an uplifting and engaging journey that will affect the emotions of even the most jaded readers. It's too early to praise it as the best graphic novel of the year, but it's definitely going to be in the running, and certainly should be on every comic-book reader's "must read" list for 2003.
What grabbed my attention most about Blankets was the story of Craig Thompson's romance with Raina, but that is by no means the full extent of what Blankets is about. Thompson's story also covers such rich ground as faith and religion, family and growing up, not to mention an unflinchingly honest examination of a molestation incident that took place in his past and, rather than becoming a defining element of the story, is used to reinforce some of these other themes. Thompson's life is about as far from my own experiences as you can get, geographically and in terms of family, religion and history, but he tells it so well that it comes across as universal anyway.
Thompson's story starts out as a tale of two brothers, and then slowly changes into a story of one boy growing into a man and discovering himself. Certainly it's interesting to see how his religious upbringing affected him, and to see some of the strange thoughts (at least from this non-religious critic's point-of-view) that were put into his young head and stayed there for some time, but what really got me was the development of a relationship with Raina. Thompson accomplishes what only the best writer/artists can do with this kind of story, he made me fall in love with the girl so that I could experience it alongside the character.
What's impressive here is that Thompson doesn't just follow the magic, happy parts of the romance. While the feelings evoked by Blankets can be compared to something like, say, True Story Swear to God, the feel and approach is actually completely different. There's a sense of turning points here, as Thompson experiences not just a new kind of relationship, but a new location, a new type of family and a shifting of priorities along with his growing love for Raina in the two weeks he spends with her. He experiences the joys and difficulties of helping to raise a retarded sister, or the strained relations and conflicting emotions of living with divorced parents. In addition, we get to see the relationship of Craig and Raina from beginning to end, and Thompson is amazingly good at taking the reader along on that emotional roller coaster.
This is what the Texas vernacular refers to as a "big ol' book," weighing in at almost 600 pages, but it's such a compelling read that I couldn't put it down once I picked it up, and because Thompson uses some decompressed storytelling and dream imagery, the book reads much more quickly and smoothly than you'd expect. He covers a lot of ground, from childhood through adolescence through adulthood, but the book never feels self-indulgent or ponderous, as autobiographical comics can sometimes be. Thompson has a great eye for what to include and what to cut, and also knows when to tease information and let the reader pick up on it (such as his mostly off-screen story of the babysitter) and when to spend a lot of time and pages on something important (as with the night that Craig and Raina spend together).
Thompson's art style is familiar but unique, reminiscent at times of Andi Watson, Paul Pope and Scott Morse but never quite fitting an obvious mold of any one of them. His characters have the same exaggerated features that I've come to expect of Pope or Morse, and the same vast expressiveness despite simple and clean linework that I've come to expect from Watson. Most of all, it seems much cleaner and less dark than his work on Goodbye, Chunky Rice, which had a dark, inky quality, but it maintains the depth and detail that was to be found on that work. The snow, the patterns on the blanket or clothes, the posters on the wall or furniture in the rooms, all of it is detailed enough to bring the reader right to that place physically, just as the story brings the reader to it emotionally.
Honestly, I wasn't sure if I'd like Blankets as much as promised. I was not as enamored of Goodbye, Chunky Rice as many others were. Now, however, I think I'm going to have to revisit Chunky Rice, because Blankets was phenomenal, and it's hard to imagine someone reading it and walking away unaffected.
