{"id":28816,"date":"2023-10-26T18:19:11","date_gmt":"2023-10-26T18:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=28816"},"modified":"2023-10-26T18:19:11","modified_gmt":"2023-10-26T18:19:11","slug":"blankets-20th-anniversary-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/10\/26\/blankets-20th-anniversary-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"Blankets – 20th<\/sup> Anniversary Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Craig Thompson<\/strong> (faber)
\nISBN: 978-0-571-38784-7 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Perfect Story of Imperfect Humanity\u2026 10\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is one of those reviews where I try not to say too much about the story, because it\u2019s a sin and a form of theft to deprive readers of the joy of it unfolding just for them. <\/em><\/p>\n

When first released in July 2003, Blankets<\/strong> started slowly but soon achieved monumental fame and almost unanimous critical approval from comics\u2019 Great and Good and Fabled. If you have a favourite author or artist they probably loved this book – and rightly so.<\/p>\n

After taking 3\u00bd years to create, in 2004 Blankets<\/strong> scooped 3 Harvey Awards, 2 Eisners, 2 Ignatz Awards and – a year later – France\u2019s Prix de la Critique<\/em>. Translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Greek, German, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Czech, Polish, Korean, Hungarian, Slovenian, Estonian, Serbian and Greek, it was latterly published in 17 foreign editions (so far). It’s also winner of a YALSA Popular Paperback for Young Adult prize and is listed as one of Entertainment Weekly<\/strong>\u2019s Top Ten Graphic Novels of All Time. Portland band Tracker<\/strong> were so impressed that they recorded an entire soundtrack to accompany your inevitable reading and re-readings of the modern masterpiece.<\/p>\n

Divided into 8 chapters – \u2018Cubby Hole\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Stirring Furnace\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Blank Sheet\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Static\u2019<\/em>, \u2018I Don\u2019t Wanna Grow Up\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Teen Spirit\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Just Like Heaven\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Vanishing Cave\u2019<\/em>, and \u2018Foot Notes\u2019<\/em>, Blankets<\/strong> tells of the formative experiences, hopes and dreams of Craig<\/em> and younger brother Phil<\/em>, growing up in a devout, proudly intolerant Evangelical Baptist family in Wisconsin, primarily in the winters where snow whitewashes and transforms everything.<\/p>\n

A harsh life changes forever when Craig attends Christian Church Camp and meets Raina<\/em>. Her faith is being increasingly tested by the shock and shame of a parental divorce and being left to look after her two cognitively impaired adopted siblings Laura<\/em> and Ben<\/em> and an infant niece.<\/p>\n

Although devout and truly devoted to Jesus and Ministry, Craig\u2019s life shifts, altering forever when he\u2019s allowed to visit Raina\u2019s family in (relatively) faraway Michigan. There, friendship blossoms in the cold and dark, becoming irresistible first love\u2026<\/p>\n

Inspirationally and movingly addressing eternal issues of spirituality and control, child\/adult sexuality, sibling relationships and Becoming Independent, this celebratory edition also includes \u2018XX Years: Dreaming & Drawing\u2019<\/em>: a copious and revelatory look at the story\u2019s development, liberally supported by candid treats from Thompson\u2019s 100+ sketchbooks, used in mapping out his magnum opus. There\u2019s even a plug for his debut tome Good-bye Chunky Rice<\/strong>, and subsequent books Carnet de voyage<\/strong>, Habibi<\/strong>, Space Dumplins<\/strong> and Ginseng Roots<\/strong>. You should sample them too.<\/p>\n

\"\"For such a weighty tome, Blankets<\/strong> is a remarkably quick and easy read, with Thompson\u2019s imaginative and ingenious marriage of text and images carrying one along in the way only comics can. One of the most powerful and lovely tales of first love and faith lost, this book has lost none of its charm and seductive power over the decades. If you aren\u2019t slavishly addicted to skimpily-clad incel-fodder or punch-in-the-face comics and have held on to the slightest shreds of your innate humanity, this is that rarest of beasts – a perfect story in pictures.
\nEntire contents \u00a9 2023 Craig Thompson. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

Blankets 20th<\/sup> Anniversary Edition<\/strong> will be published on November 2nd<\/sup> 2023 and is available for pre-order now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Craig Thompson (faber) ISBN: 978-0-571-38784-7 (TPB\/Digital edition) Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Perfect Story of Imperfect Humanity\u2026 10\/10 This is one of those reviews where I try not to say too much about the story, because it\u2019s a sin and a form of theft to deprive readers of the joy of it unfolding just for … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Blankets – 20th<\/sup> Anniversary Edition”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[239,104,148,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drama","category-graphic-autobiography","category-romance","category-world-classics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7uM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28816"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28820,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28816\/revisions\/28820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}