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Blankets (graphic novel)
Encyclopedia
Blankets is an autobiographical
graphic novel
by Craig Thompson
, published in 2003
by Top Shelf Productions
. As a coming-of-age autobiography, the book tells the story of Thompson's childhood in an Evangelical Christian
family, his first love, and his early adulthood. Thompson has said that the novel grew out of a simple idea: to describe what it feels like to sleep next to someone for the first time. In 2005, Time chose it as one of the 100 best English language, graphic novels ever written
.
Blankets chronicles the Craig Thompson's adolescence and young adulthood, his childhood relationship with his younger brother, and the conflicts he experiences regarding his Christianity and his first love. Though written chronologically, Thompson uses flashbacks as a literary and artistic device in order to parallel young adult experience with past childhood experience. Major themes of the work include: first love, child and adult sexuality, spirituality, sibling relationships, and coming of age.
Thompson begins by describing his relationship with his brother during their childhoods in Wisconsin. Though their relationship is marked by typical sibling conflict, they are also very close, and their rapport helps them deal with verbal and physical abuse from their overly religious parents, and sexual harassment and abuse from bullies at school. During his preteen years, Thompson finds himself a misfit because of his physical appearance and home life. Through his teen years, he continues to find it hard to fit in with his peers, but at a Bible camp one winter, he comes to associate with a group of teens he feels he will fit in with, which includes Raina, a beautiful and interesting girl who captivates him. The two become inseparable and arrange to spend two weeks together at Raina’s home in Michigan. He meets Raina’s family, consisting of her separated parents, her adopted siblings Ben and Laura, her biological sister, and her infant niece Sarah. Because Laura is mentally retarded and Sarah is often ignored by her own parents, Raina feels the responsibility to take care of the both of them. Although she is extremely close to Craig while he’s staying with her, she feels she can’t handle one more person dependent on her and breaks up with him soon after he leaves. He becomes upset but they stay best friends. After deciding that Raina does have too much to handle without a relationship, and calls her and breaks up with her. He then destroys everything Raina had ever given to him, and every memento of their relationship, except for the quilt she had made for him. He stores it and other possessions in the attic in the house, and moves out to start his own life elsewhere. Thompson comes to terms with his religion and spiritual identity while away from his family. He returns to his childhood home after several years, seemingly a different person. He rekindles his old familial relationships, and the bonds between the family become stronger. The story ends with his finding peace with those he loves and himself.
stated that Thompson's work "has set new bars for the medium not just in length, but breadth" and listed it as #1 in its annual Best Comix of the Year list. The book was called a "magnum opus" in the inaugural issue of (Cult)ure Magazine. As a result of Blankets, he rose quickly to the top ranks of American cartoonists in both popularity and critical esteem. Pulitzer Prize
-winning comic artist Art Spiegelman
sent him a long letter of praise for the work, and in mock-jealousy, Eddie Campbell
expressed a temptation to break Thompson's fingers.
Thompson said that he believes Blankets was a success because he was "reacting against all of the over-the-top, explosive action genre [in alternative comics, and] I also didn’t want to do anything cynical and nihilistic, which is the standard for a lot of alternative comics." Despite the praise heaped upon the book, it resulted in tension between Thompson and his parents for a couple of years after they read it.
In October 2006, a resident of Marshall, Missouri
, attempted to have Blankets and Fun Home
by Alison Bechdel
removed from the city's public library. Supporters of the books' removal characterized them as "pornography" and expressed concern that they would be read by children. Marshall Public Library Director Amy Crump defended the books as having been well-reviewed in "reputable, professional book review journals," and characterized the removal attempt as a step towards "the slippery slope of censorship
". On October 11, 2006, the library's board appointed a committee to create a materials selection policy, and removed Blankets and Fun Home from circulation until the new policy was approved. The committee "decided not to assign a prejudicial label or segregate [the books] by a prejudicial system", and presented a materials selection policy to the board. On March 14, 2007, the Marshall Public Library Board of Trustees voted to return both Blankets and Fun Home to the library's shelves.
Editions are available in English
, Catalan
, French
, Spanish
, German
, Danish
, Dutch
, Italian
, Czech
, Polish
, Slovenian, Greek
, Norwegian
and Portuguese
. Additionally, the English and Dutch versions were available in a limited-edition hardcover
volume and Polish was available with special cover jacket for those who preordered the book. There is also an accompanying soundtrack
, recorded by the Portland, Oregon
-based band, Tracker
. The French, Spanish and Italian editions all have different cover art. First Italian edition has a red spine, while subsequent editions have a blue one.
Autobiographical comics
Autobiographical comics are autobiography in the form of comic books or comic strips. The form first became popular in the underground comics movement and has since become more widespread...
graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
by Craig Thompson
Craig Thompson
Craig Matthew Thompson is a graphic novelist best known for his books Good-Bye, Chunky Rice , Blankets , Carnet de Voyage and Habibi . Thompson has received four Harvey Awards, two Eisner Awards, and two Ignatz Awards...
, published in 2003
2003 in comics
-January:* January 2: Kid Colt artist Jack Keller dies at age 80.- April :* Action Comics #800: Double-sized anniversary issue, "A Hero's Journey," by Joe Kelly, Pascual Ferry, and Duncan Rouleau...
by Top Shelf Productions
Top Shelf Productions
Top Shelf Productions is an American publishing company founded in 1997, owned and operated by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock and a small staff. The company is based in Marietta, Georgia, Portland, Oregon, and New York City, New York....
. As a coming-of-age autobiography, the book tells the story of Thompson's childhood in an Evangelical Christian
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
family, his first love, and his early adulthood. Thompson has said that the novel grew out of a simple idea: to describe what it feels like to sleep next to someone for the first time. In 2005, Time chose it as one of the 100 best English language, graphic novels ever written
TIME's List of the 100 Best Novels
Times List of the 100 Best Novels, is an unranked list of the 100 best novels—and 10 best graphic novels—published in the English language between 1923 and 2005. The list was compiled by Time critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo....
.
Publication history
In late 1999, Thompson began work on the graphic novel, which was published three and a half years later in 2003. Thompson produced the books as a way of coming out to his parents about no longer being a Christian.Main characters
- Craig Thompson- Craig is the main character, who is depicted from childhood to a young adulthood. Craig struggles with his Christianity, and with his belief that the Christianity that he has been surrounded with his whole life is not what he believes it should be. At a BaptistBaptistBaptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
Christian winter camp he meets a girl from a similar background named Raina who becomes his first love. - Phil - Craig's younger brother. Like Craig, he likes to draw, and the first portion of the story details their childhood together, though they later drift apart. Their adventures are also recalled at least once in each chapter throughout the book.
- Raina - Craig's first love, a fellow Christian whom Craig first meets at a church camp. Like Craig, her family is not well-off financially, and her parents' divorce causes her stress. She also takes care of her mentally disabled sister and brother. Although she believes in God, she does not believe as strongly as Craig does.
- Craig's parents - Craig's parents are strict, devoutly religious Christians who are not very tolerant of liberal Christianity.
- Raina's parents - Their divorce place a lot of stress on Raina because she has to keep the rest of the family united.
- Laura and Ben - Raina's adopted sister and brother.
- Julie and Dave- Raina's sister and brother in law.
- Sarah- Julie and Dave's daughter.
Synopsis
Thompson begins by describing his relationship with his brother during their childhoods in Wisconsin. Though their relationship is marked by typical sibling conflict, they are also very close, and their rapport helps them deal with verbal and physical abuse from their overly religious parents, and sexual harassment and abuse from bullies at school. During his preteen years, Thompson finds himself a misfit because of his physical appearance and home life. Through his teen years, he continues to find it hard to fit in with his peers, but at a Bible camp one winter, he comes to associate with a group of teens he feels he will fit in with, which includes Raina, a beautiful and interesting girl who captivates him. The two become inseparable and arrange to spend two weeks together at Raina’s home in Michigan. He meets Raina’s family, consisting of her separated parents, her adopted siblings Ben and Laura, her biological sister, and her infant niece Sarah. Because Laura is mentally retarded and Sarah is often ignored by her own parents, Raina feels the responsibility to take care of the both of them. Although she is extremely close to Craig while he’s staying with her, she feels she can’t handle one more person dependent on her and breaks up with him soon after he leaves. He becomes upset but they stay best friends. After deciding that Raina does have too much to handle without a relationship, and calls her and breaks up with her. He then destroys everything Raina had ever given to him, and every memento of their relationship, except for the quilt she had made for him. He stores it and other possessions in the attic in the house, and moves out to start his own life elsewhere. Thompson comes to terms with his religion and spiritual identity while away from his family. He returns to his childhood home after several years, seemingly a different person. He rekindles his old familial relationships, and the bonds between the family become stronger. The story ends with his finding peace with those he loves and himself.
Reception
Blankets received considerable attention in the comics and mainstream book press; it was extremely well received and eventually won numerous awards (see below). Most critics considered it a milestone in the progress of the American graphic novel, not only in length but also in visual grace and technique. Critics have further hailed it as one of the best graphic novels in recent years, claiming that the book will be remembered for its superb execution a decade after publication. The Bloomsbury Review called it "a superb example of the art of cartooning: the blending of word and picture to achieve an effect that neither is capable of without the other." TimeTime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
stated that Thompson's work "has set new bars for the medium not just in length, but breadth" and listed it as #1 in its annual Best Comix of the Year list. The book was called a "magnum opus" in the inaugural issue of (Cult)ure Magazine. As a result of Blankets, he rose quickly to the top ranks of American cartoonists in both popularity and critical esteem. Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning comic artist Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman is an American comics artist, editor, and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book memoir, Maus. His works are published with his name in lowercase: art spiegelman.-Biography:Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to Polish Jews...
sent him a long letter of praise for the work, and in mock-jealousy, Eddie Campbell
Eddie Campbell
Eddie Campbell is a Scottish comics artist and cartoonist who now lives in Australia. Probably best known as the illustrator and publisher of From Hell , Campbell is also the creator of the semi-autobiographical Alec stories collected in Alec: The Years Have Pants, and Bacchus , a wry adventure...
expressed a temptation to break Thompson's fingers.
Thompson said that he believes Blankets was a success because he was "reacting against all of the over-the-top, explosive action genre [in alternative comics, and] I also didn’t want to do anything cynical and nihilistic, which is the standard for a lot of alternative comics." Despite the praise heaped upon the book, it resulted in tension between Thompson and his parents for a couple of years after they read it.
In October 2006, a resident of Marshall, Missouri
Marshall, Missouri
Marshall is a city in Saline County, Missouri, United States. The population was 13,065 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Saline County,. The Marshall Micropolitan Statistical Area consists of Saline County. It is also home to Missouri Valley College...
, attempted to have Blankets and Fun Home
Fun Home
Fun Home is a 2006 graphic memoir by American writer Alison Bechdel, author of the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For. It chronicles the author's childhood and youth in rural Pennsylvania, USA, focusing on her complex relationship with her father...
by Alison Bechdel
Alison Bechdel
Alison Bechdel is an American cartoonist. Originally best known for the long-running comic strip Dykes To Watch Out For, in 2006 she became a best-selling and critically acclaimed author with her graphic memoir Fun Home.-Early life:...
removed from the city's public library. Supporters of the books' removal characterized them as "pornography" and expressed concern that they would be read by children. Marshall Public Library Director Amy Crump defended the books as having been well-reviewed in "reputable, professional book review journals," and characterized the removal attempt as a step towards "the slippery slope of censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
". On October 11, 2006, the library's board appointed a committee to create a materials selection policy, and removed Blankets and Fun Home from circulation until the new policy was approved. The committee "decided not to assign a prejudicial label or segregate [the books] by a prejudicial system", and presented a materials selection policy to the board. On March 14, 2007, the Marshall Public Library Board of Trustees voted to return both Blankets and Fun Home to the library's shelves.
Awards
- 2004 Harvey AwardHarvey AwardThe Harvey Awards, named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman and founded by Gary Groth, President of the publisher Fantagraphics, are given for achievement in comic books. The Harveys were created as part of a successor to the Kirby Awards which were discontinued after 1987.The Harvey Awards are...
for Best Artist - 2004 Harvey Award for Best Cartoonist
- 2004 Harvey Award for Best Graphic Album of Original Work
- 2004 Eisner AwardEisner AwardThe Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
for Best Graphic Album - 2004 Eisner Award for Best Writer/Artist
- 2004 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Artist
- 2004 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel or Collection
- 2005 Prix de la critiquePrix de la critiqueThe Prix de la critique is a prize awarded by the Association des Critiques et des journalistes de Bande Dessinée to the best comic album released for a year in France. Previously, from 1984 to 2003, it was called Prix Bloody Mary and awarded at the Angoulême International Comics Festival...
Editions
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
, Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
, Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, Slovenian, Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
and Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
. Additionally, the English and Dutch versions were available in a limited-edition hardcover
Hardcover
A hardcover, hardback or hardbound is a book bound with rigid protective covers...
volume and Polish was available with special cover jacket for those who preordered the book. There is also an accompanying soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
, recorded by the Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
-based band, Tracker
Tracker (band)
Tracker is an American indie rock ensemble from Portland, Oregon. The act was founded in 1998 by John Askew, a freelance audio engineer and writer for Tape Op magazine.-Background:...
. The French, Spanish and Italian editions all have different cover art. First Italian edition has a red spine, while subsequent editions have a blue one.
- Blankets (English paperback edition) ISBN 1-891830-43-0, Top Shelf ProductionsTop Shelf ProductionsTop Shelf Productions is an American publishing company founded in 1997, owned and operated by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock and a small staff. The company is based in Marietta, Georgia, Portland, Oregon, and New York City, New York....
- Blankets - Manteau de Neige (French edition) ISBN 2-203-39608-3, CastermanCastermanCasterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in comic books and children's literature. The company is based in Tournai, Belgium.Founded in 1780, Casterman was originally a printing company and publishing house...
, March 2004 - Blankets (Spanish edition) ISBN 84-95825-63-5, Astiberri Ediciones, April 2004
- Blankets (Catalan edition) ISBN 84-95825-67-8 Astiberri Ediciones, April 2004
- Blankets (German edition) ISBN 3-936068-96-8, Speed Comics, May 2004
- Een Deken Van Sneeuw (Dutch edition) ISBN 90-5492-119-6, Oog & BlikOog & BlikOog & Blik is an Amsterdam-based Dutch publisher of comics founded by Joost Swarte and Hansje Joustra in 1985.Oog & Blik offers books mostly for an adult audience...
, May 2004 - Blankets (Italian edition) ISBN 88-88063-97-8, Coconino PressCoconino PressCoconino Press is an Italian publisher of comic books, founded in 2000 in Bologna, Italy.They are notable for their translations of comic books from around the world, including the Americans Daniel Clowes, Jason Lutes and Adrian Tomine; Canadians Seth and Chester Brown; French cartoonists David B.,...
, November 2004 - Pod dekou (Czech edition) ISBN 80-7341-603-4, BB Art, November 2005
- Blankets. Pod śnieżną kołderką (Polish edition) ISBN 83-922963-7-0, Timof i Cisi Wspólnicy, December 2006
- Blankets (Greek edition) ISBN 9608945356, Εκδόσεις ΚΨΜ, March 2007
- Tepper (Norwegian edition) ISBN 978-82-429-3051-4 Egmont Serieforlaget AS, 2006
- Retalhos (Brazilian edition) ISBN 978-85-359-1448-1 Cia das Letras, 2009
- En dyne af sne (Danish edition) ISBN 978-87-90370-65-7 Forlaget Fahrenheit, 2008