Graphic Novel - Blankets

[chenanceou]

Blankets
by Craig Thompson

I read Blankets while on the second half of my New York stay. I had heard about it from a friend in San Francisco who loved it (If I remember correctly: "It's the best graphic novel I ever read."), but I had failed to find it. Apparently Craig Thompson changed publishers and, being in between publishers, Blankets was also in between editions. I'd ask anyway - whenever I entered a comic book store - Do you have Blankets? I expected to hear a no and wasn't too disappointed when the men behind the different counters complied - sometimes adding the it's in between editions story. Then I heard a yes. This particular yes came from Forbidden Planet - the East Village comic mecca. I do meander, but the point is Blankets came to me wrapped in high expectations and with its own hard to get appeal, so it had a lot to live up to. I read it standing up against various walls in New York while waiting and on various stools while eating. This should tell you two things: 1) it's long; 2) it's damn good.

Blankets panel by Craig Thompson

It's a coming of age story (which, scorched by the dullness of The Catcher in the Rye, I had learnt to detest) that stays with you because of its delicacy and beauty. Perhaps because there's so much of it in the story, but it reminded me of country snow. You know what I'm talking about? The soft snow, all clean and fresh that you aren't afraid to catch with the tip of your tongue. I'm not trying to be poetic, but to convey how reading it made me feel.

I know what it is like to be the unique/different/weird child (try not being a 'beach person' in Rio) and I know what it is like to not know how to go about doing what you want with your life. I also know what it was like to love somebody in a way that wasn't truly understood by the object of my affection.

Blankets made me remember being young, but with a melancholic nostalgia that's grateful that particular brand of pain has (hopefully) been left in the past.

I do go on, don't I? What matters is that you should give Blankets a try.

Blankets panel by Craig Thompson

Comments

[rusty_halo.livejournal.com]

Thank you again, so much, for lending your copy to me!

[chenanceou.livejournal.com]

Don't have to thank me :)