What was the hottest comic book of 2003? Not League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, not X-Men and not even Harvey Pekars American Splendor. Its Craig Thompsons latest graphiillustrated novel, Blankets. Its the poignant autobiographical story of Thompsons first real relationship with Raina, a girl from Michigan he meets at a regional church camp. To give any more of a synopsis would spoil the story. Its not so much a story about Craig but it somehow relates to all of our first loves and our first losses.
Blankets has already gotten a ton of mainstream recognition such as Time.com, naming it the Best Comic of 2003 and The Library Journal naming it one of the "Best Books of 2003". Now its time to spread the love on over to the community of SuicideGirls.
Check out Top Shelfs website for Blankets.
Daniel Robert Epstein: When did you start Blankets?
Craig Thompson: It was right after I finished Goodbye Chunky Rice which was fall of 1999. That was when I started, brainstorming, doodling and sketching. It took me a whole year to write the book then I did detailed thumbnails before I even started tackling the final drawings. I started the actual drawing in fall of 2000. Then two years of that then six months of design work, production and scanning all the friggin pages.
DRE: When did you get it in to Top Shelf to be published?
CT: The beginning of 2003.
DRE: At what point did you think Hey its over 500 pages.?
CT: It helps that I did those detailed thumbnails before tackling the pages because I found out what I was getting into. When I was working on the writing I figured it would be 250 pages right away it became a 600 page stack. Then I even cut some stuff out.
DRE: Did you work closely with an editor?
CT: Not at all. At least with my publisher the setup is a lot more causal than the publishing industry. To some extent thats a perk but there was no editorial input. Even the spelling mistakes I caught myself with the help of a couple of friends.
DRE: What made you go from Goodbye Chunky Rice to Blankets?
CT: After working so long on Goodbye Chunky Rice I was sick of cutesy little cartoon animals and the real slick brush line I was using. So right away I knew I was going to break away from both of those conventions and have a loose expressive brush line and work with humans. Those were the first two motivations inspired by the frustrations with the other book.
DRE: Goodbye Chunky Rice was a story for just about any age. Blankets is almost a story that is self indulgent. Did you worry about that at all?
CT: I did. I was a reluctant autobiographer. Though I dont consider it autobiography, thats a bit presumptuous. Other cartoonists have done autobiography like of course Harvey Pekar who is really popular right now. I was never drawn to that genre of comics so I was reluctant. But there were certain story elements there that just fit together.
DRE: Were you surprised by how well its doing?
CT: Well Im definitely very happy with that. On several levels I was worried that readers wouldn't be able to identify with the story -- that it would be too personal and insular to be accessible, and in fact, the reaction's been quite the opposite. The themes seem universal!
DRE: How difficult is it to layer themes and concepts from your own life?
CT: There were conscious themes I began with about security and what we cling to for security whether thats relationships, religion or family. But a lot of the elements like religion I wasnt enthusiastic about revealing but it came out despite itself. I dont think at that point in my life I was ready to put all that out there and make it public especially in relation to my family but it came out accidentally. There were elements I foresaw but probably the more rewarding ones happened in spite of me.
DRE: How difficult was it to do this book?
CT: Depicting myself was really easy but anytime I did anyone else I knew whether they were family members or Raina and her family I was tiptoeing around. Especially when it came to drawing her brother with Down Syndrome. Those delicate details made me nervous about stepping on their toes.
DRE: How true is the whole book?
CT: I can think of maybe a couple creative indulgences I did for the narrative structure. In terms of my own life I edited a few details out that it doesnt feel true to me because I know what I cut out. For instance I have a sister and I took her out because it didnt figure into the book. Its not that whats there isnt true but I edited out so much that it changed.
DRE: When you said it was difficult to reveal the religious aspect of your life did you feel it was dangerous to let people know details like that?
CT: I dont think its dangerous in terms of general readers, my audience or our culture because its not that groundbreaking. But when it comes to my small world and my relationship with my parents and the fact that weve never been that communicative it was a big step.
DRE: Has your family seen the book?
CT: Yeah they have and they were pretty upset about it at first. I got to share a six hour car drive from Minneapolis to Milwaukee alone with my parents during which they just tore into me about the book. They were upset about a number of issues, not the least of which was the whole theme of abandoning Christianity. In the last month or two, though, they have been a lot more accepting and come to terms with it. I think its been good.
DRE: How did they do that?
CT: Theyre not going to give up the frustrations with the Christian element. They actually said the book bared witness for the devil.
DRE: What does that mean?
CT: That it is a propaganda tract for Satan.
DRE: Well it is a comic book.
CT: [laughs] Thats not going to change but some of the stuff like the depictions of themselves, of our family and the right to make our private lives public. Theyve had discussions with friends and family so theyve been more accepting of that. Like my right to make a book like this. I didnt grow up in an artistic family of any sort so they didnt understand why I would even tell a story like this. I was with my father and he said there were things that happened to him that he would never tell my mother. I said Why dont you talk about those things? He said because its between him and the lord. He doesnt understand the storytelling urge in general.
DRE: What did your brother Phil think of it?
CT: He loved it.
DRE: Whats he doing now?
CT: Hes a graphic designer in Minneapolis and he does some cartooning stuff at urbansub.com. But were both uneducated and making a living creatively so thats good.
DRE: How about Raina?
CT: I have no idea. I have had no contact with her at all. On the surface the book is based on this high school relationship but emotionally it was motivated by this girl I was involved with while I was working on the book. She lives far away so we had a long distance relationship. Over the course of me working on the book she moved out here and we ended up together.
DRE: Why this book now?
CT: Personally, because I'm growing up -- coming to terms with the changes and loss of time, awkward romantic cycles, longing... And in a broader context, Blankets is appropriate because of all the issues of fundamentalism - Christian and otherwise - being bandied about in our country these days.
DRE: At times the book gets a little surreal. Did it feel like that then or was it looking back that made that happen?
CT: I think those surreal moments still happen but definitely even more then. There seems to be something specific about adolescence that makes that happen. But I still have surreal experiences. Surreal/spiritual.
DRE: You say at the end of the book that youre not religious.
CT: Im not religious but it takes a long time for the upbringing to work its way out of your system. I still have a real active interest in all that stuff but in my own personal way.
DRE: If you have kids youll let them make their own choices about religion?
CT: Yeah definitely. I dont think I would bring them up with any particular religious belief. I have friends who once they have kids think they should have some faith so there is some kind of structure for them. But I think you can do just as well without any structure.
DRE: Did you read anything autobiography to make your book different?
CT: In the comics world I was really keen on Chester Browns book I Never Liked You. And believe it or not, Remembrance of Things Past [by Marcel Proust] was a huge influence. I dont know if it shows... perhaps in the mediation on the nature of memory...
DRE: It made me laugh out loud when you had yourself in high school and those tough kids called you a faggot but you just said, thanks guys. Does the book truly reflect who you are?
CT: Those scenes encapsulate the change in high school from being a persecuted nerdy kid to a sort of snotty, empowered "outcast". You know, punk rock! Part of having power over the persecution is mocking it. Oddly, I toned down some of my quirky elements in the telling of the story -- I used to dress more eccentric, but besides being an embarrassing documentation of the grunge influence, it would have distracted from the simplicity of the story. And I took out the skateboard ramp my brother and I had in the backyard and some of the fun quirky elements and some of the humor. I was a bit more rambunctious as a younger teenager, but by senior year I was getting moody and melodramatic. Typical.
DRE: Do you see revisiting this period in your life again?
CT: Not through my work. But I don't like to repeat myself with each project. I want each book to be its own entity, with its own sound and texture, like Beck albums! I'm not going to become an "autobiographical cartoonist" or anything. My next book, in fact, is an Arabian Night folktale of sorts. It takes place in a pseudo-Middle East and has plenty of fantastical and exotic elements. It's even a bit of a violent adventure story, which is as distanced as possible from Blankets.
DRE: What made you call Blankets an Illustrated Novel? Are you not fond of the term graphic novel?
CT: I dont like it. Its not that big of a deal because a lot of people have asked me about this and a lot of cartoonists get into arguments over it. I wasnt thinking too much but I just wanted to fiddle with peoples preconceptions of the form and it seems to work. Almost all the sales have been in bookstores and a lot of the people I am talking to have never read comics before in their life. I think it probably helped that I had this enigmatic subtitle on it.
DRE: Whats all the attention been like?
CT: Its great but it doesnt change things too much. It does give me some royalty money to get started on the next book which is a lot different than the situation I was in at the beginning of working on Blankets.
DRE: Why was 26 years old, the age to do Blankets?
CT: This feels like a perfect age. The mid-20s seemed to be the best time to reflect on something then move on. I definitely want to move on from myself as a writer and when youre younger you have to focus more on yourself. Hopefully 20 years from now I will be doing more broad work. The next project I want to do is something with a more social conscience.
DRE: What was the genesis of Goodbye Chunky Rice?
CT: That was motivated after I made the biggest move of my life moving from Wisconsin out to Portland Oregon. I had to leave behind a lot of friends and I was focusing a lot on that experience. It was a way of coping with moving.
DRE: Would you ever revisit them?
CT: I just did a stationary set for Dark Horse Comics which was a lot of fun. It was this sort of Japanese-esque type thing. I dont think I would go back to them narratively.
DRE: Do you have another job besides doing comics?
CT: Nope. Ive been working as an illustrator for five years. Ive had the luxury in the last couple of months of turning away projects. Thats the first time in my life that its been like this. Im not going to get cocky about it because I know its only going to be around half a year. I still have to take projects if they are really enticing.
DRE: What are you reading now?
CT: I just got Joe Saccos new book The Fixer. I bought Paul has a Summer Job.
DRE: Have you been to conventions lately?
CT: Yeah it was a crazy summer. It was actually less social than a lot of conventions because I had to focus a lot more on fans but it was fun. Past conventions have been more of a socializing with cartoonists like a cartoonists support group.
DRE: Have the big comic companies approached you much?
CT: Ive been given open invites to do different projects but I am definitely less likely to do that since Blankets was released. I was going to be the artist on the James Sturm Unstable Molecules book but the experience of trying to collaborate with a detailed script was too confining for me. I like flexibility and I like to tell my own stories.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Blankets has already gotten a ton of mainstream recognition such as Time.com, naming it the Best Comic of 2003 and The Library Journal naming it one of the "Best Books of 2003". Now its time to spread the love on over to the community of SuicideGirls.
Check out Top Shelfs website for Blankets.
Daniel Robert Epstein: When did you start Blankets?
Craig Thompson: It was right after I finished Goodbye Chunky Rice which was fall of 1999. That was when I started, brainstorming, doodling and sketching. It took me a whole year to write the book then I did detailed thumbnails before I even started tackling the final drawings. I started the actual drawing in fall of 2000. Then two years of that then six months of design work, production and scanning all the friggin pages.
DRE: When did you get it in to Top Shelf to be published?
CT: The beginning of 2003.
DRE: At what point did you think Hey its over 500 pages.?
CT: It helps that I did those detailed thumbnails before tackling the pages because I found out what I was getting into. When I was working on the writing I figured it would be 250 pages right away it became a 600 page stack. Then I even cut some stuff out.
DRE: Did you work closely with an editor?
CT: Not at all. At least with my publisher the setup is a lot more causal than the publishing industry. To some extent thats a perk but there was no editorial input. Even the spelling mistakes I caught myself with the help of a couple of friends.
DRE: What made you go from Goodbye Chunky Rice to Blankets?
CT: After working so long on Goodbye Chunky Rice I was sick of cutesy little cartoon animals and the real slick brush line I was using. So right away I knew I was going to break away from both of those conventions and have a loose expressive brush line and work with humans. Those were the first two motivations inspired by the frustrations with the other book.
DRE: Goodbye Chunky Rice was a story for just about any age. Blankets is almost a story that is self indulgent. Did you worry about that at all?
CT: I did. I was a reluctant autobiographer. Though I dont consider it autobiography, thats a bit presumptuous. Other cartoonists have done autobiography like of course Harvey Pekar who is really popular right now. I was never drawn to that genre of comics so I was reluctant. But there were certain story elements there that just fit together.
DRE: Were you surprised by how well its doing?
CT: Well Im definitely very happy with that. On several levels I was worried that readers wouldn't be able to identify with the story -- that it would be too personal and insular to be accessible, and in fact, the reaction's been quite the opposite. The themes seem universal!
DRE: How difficult is it to layer themes and concepts from your own life?
CT: There were conscious themes I began with about security and what we cling to for security whether thats relationships, religion or family. But a lot of the elements like religion I wasnt enthusiastic about revealing but it came out despite itself. I dont think at that point in my life I was ready to put all that out there and make it public especially in relation to my family but it came out accidentally. There were elements I foresaw but probably the more rewarding ones happened in spite of me.
DRE: How difficult was it to do this book?
CT: Depicting myself was really easy but anytime I did anyone else I knew whether they were family members or Raina and her family I was tiptoeing around. Especially when it came to drawing her brother with Down Syndrome. Those delicate details made me nervous about stepping on their toes.
DRE: How true is the whole book?
CT: I can think of maybe a couple creative indulgences I did for the narrative structure. In terms of my own life I edited a few details out that it doesnt feel true to me because I know what I cut out. For instance I have a sister and I took her out because it didnt figure into the book. Its not that whats there isnt true but I edited out so much that it changed.
DRE: When you said it was difficult to reveal the religious aspect of your life did you feel it was dangerous to let people know details like that?
CT: I dont think its dangerous in terms of general readers, my audience or our culture because its not that groundbreaking. But when it comes to my small world and my relationship with my parents and the fact that weve never been that communicative it was a big step.
DRE: Has your family seen the book?
CT: Yeah they have and they were pretty upset about it at first. I got to share a six hour car drive from Minneapolis to Milwaukee alone with my parents during which they just tore into me about the book. They were upset about a number of issues, not the least of which was the whole theme of abandoning Christianity. In the last month or two, though, they have been a lot more accepting and come to terms with it. I think its been good.
DRE: How did they do that?
CT: Theyre not going to give up the frustrations with the Christian element. They actually said the book bared witness for the devil.
DRE: What does that mean?
CT: That it is a propaganda tract for Satan.
DRE: Well it is a comic book.
CT: [laughs] Thats not going to change but some of the stuff like the depictions of themselves, of our family and the right to make our private lives public. Theyve had discussions with friends and family so theyve been more accepting of that. Like my right to make a book like this. I didnt grow up in an artistic family of any sort so they didnt understand why I would even tell a story like this. I was with my father and he said there were things that happened to him that he would never tell my mother. I said Why dont you talk about those things? He said because its between him and the lord. He doesnt understand the storytelling urge in general.
DRE: What did your brother Phil think of it?
CT: He loved it.
DRE: Whats he doing now?
CT: Hes a graphic designer in Minneapolis and he does some cartooning stuff at urbansub.com. But were both uneducated and making a living creatively so thats good.
DRE: How about Raina?
CT: I have no idea. I have had no contact with her at all. On the surface the book is based on this high school relationship but emotionally it was motivated by this girl I was involved with while I was working on the book. She lives far away so we had a long distance relationship. Over the course of me working on the book she moved out here and we ended up together.
DRE: Why this book now?
CT: Personally, because I'm growing up -- coming to terms with the changes and loss of time, awkward romantic cycles, longing... And in a broader context, Blankets is appropriate because of all the issues of fundamentalism - Christian and otherwise - being bandied about in our country these days.
DRE: At times the book gets a little surreal. Did it feel like that then or was it looking back that made that happen?
CT: I think those surreal moments still happen but definitely even more then. There seems to be something specific about adolescence that makes that happen. But I still have surreal experiences. Surreal/spiritual.
DRE: You say at the end of the book that youre not religious.
CT: Im not religious but it takes a long time for the upbringing to work its way out of your system. I still have a real active interest in all that stuff but in my own personal way.
DRE: If you have kids youll let them make their own choices about religion?
CT: Yeah definitely. I dont think I would bring them up with any particular religious belief. I have friends who once they have kids think they should have some faith so there is some kind of structure for them. But I think you can do just as well without any structure.
DRE: Did you read anything autobiography to make your book different?
CT: In the comics world I was really keen on Chester Browns book I Never Liked You. And believe it or not, Remembrance of Things Past [by Marcel Proust] was a huge influence. I dont know if it shows... perhaps in the mediation on the nature of memory...
DRE: It made me laugh out loud when you had yourself in high school and those tough kids called you a faggot but you just said, thanks guys. Does the book truly reflect who you are?
CT: Those scenes encapsulate the change in high school from being a persecuted nerdy kid to a sort of snotty, empowered "outcast". You know, punk rock! Part of having power over the persecution is mocking it. Oddly, I toned down some of my quirky elements in the telling of the story -- I used to dress more eccentric, but besides being an embarrassing documentation of the grunge influence, it would have distracted from the simplicity of the story. And I took out the skateboard ramp my brother and I had in the backyard and some of the fun quirky elements and some of the humor. I was a bit more rambunctious as a younger teenager, but by senior year I was getting moody and melodramatic. Typical.
DRE: Do you see revisiting this period in your life again?
CT: Not through my work. But I don't like to repeat myself with each project. I want each book to be its own entity, with its own sound and texture, like Beck albums! I'm not going to become an "autobiographical cartoonist" or anything. My next book, in fact, is an Arabian Night folktale of sorts. It takes place in a pseudo-Middle East and has plenty of fantastical and exotic elements. It's even a bit of a violent adventure story, which is as distanced as possible from Blankets.
DRE: What made you call Blankets an Illustrated Novel? Are you not fond of the term graphic novel?
CT: I dont like it. Its not that big of a deal because a lot of people have asked me about this and a lot of cartoonists get into arguments over it. I wasnt thinking too much but I just wanted to fiddle with peoples preconceptions of the form and it seems to work. Almost all the sales have been in bookstores and a lot of the people I am talking to have never read comics before in their life. I think it probably helped that I had this enigmatic subtitle on it.
DRE: Whats all the attention been like?
CT: Its great but it doesnt change things too much. It does give me some royalty money to get started on the next book which is a lot different than the situation I was in at the beginning of working on Blankets.
DRE: Why was 26 years old, the age to do Blankets?
CT: This feels like a perfect age. The mid-20s seemed to be the best time to reflect on something then move on. I definitely want to move on from myself as a writer and when youre younger you have to focus more on yourself. Hopefully 20 years from now I will be doing more broad work. The next project I want to do is something with a more social conscience.
DRE: What was the genesis of Goodbye Chunky Rice?
CT: That was motivated after I made the biggest move of my life moving from Wisconsin out to Portland Oregon. I had to leave behind a lot of friends and I was focusing a lot on that experience. It was a way of coping with moving.
DRE: Would you ever revisit them?
CT: I just did a stationary set for Dark Horse Comics which was a lot of fun. It was this sort of Japanese-esque type thing. I dont think I would go back to them narratively.
DRE: Do you have another job besides doing comics?
CT: Nope. Ive been working as an illustrator for five years. Ive had the luxury in the last couple of months of turning away projects. Thats the first time in my life that its been like this. Im not going to get cocky about it because I know its only going to be around half a year. I still have to take projects if they are really enticing.
DRE: What are you reading now?
CT: I just got Joe Saccos new book The Fixer. I bought Paul has a Summer Job.
DRE: Have you been to conventions lately?
CT: Yeah it was a crazy summer. It was actually less social than a lot of conventions because I had to focus a lot more on fans but it was fun. Past conventions have been more of a socializing with cartoonists like a cartoonists support group.
DRE: Have the big comic companies approached you much?
CT: Ive been given open invites to do different projects but I am definitely less likely to do that since Blankets was released. I was going to be the artist on the James Sturm Unstable Molecules book but the experience of trying to collaborate with a detailed script was too confining for me. I like flexibility and I like to tell my own stories.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 13 of 13 COMMENTS
memoorandom:
i loved this book, it reminded me so much of my first relationship in all its screwed up long-distance glory. probably one of the most engrossing and at the same time moving graphic novels i've ever read, if not THE most. craig thompson is such a talented storyteller. . . beautiful stuff.
oubliette:
God I love this book.