Craig Thompson slows things down

Craig Thompson is one of a number of comic artists whose recent work has helped change the perception of comics as an art form. He cultivates a gentle but emotionally resonant storytelling style that critics love and with which readers can empathize. The fact that most of his work is autobiographical to some extent makes his storytelling chopsand candoreven more impressive.The artist worked with Dark Horse Comics, the largest American independent publisher, for a brief period after moving to Oregon. He was always working on his own projects at the same time, though. He left the publisher before releasing his first major work. Thompson’s debut, Good-bye, Chunky Rice, was first published in 1999 and has gone through at least six printings. The 128-page story is slim compared to Thompson’s monumental later works, but still packs a punch. It also shows off Thompson’s real knack for illustration, and his skill at blending words and pictures (which he says starts in the very beginning of his planning stages).The charmingly named Chunky Rice is a talking turtle who decides to leave his home and his friends and move on to a new phase of his life. The story of his friends at home and the mysterious figures he meets on his sea voyage to a new life. Alan Moore, author of From Hell and Watchmen, called the book “an affecting meditation upon friendship, loneliness, and loss.”Blankets, which appeared in 2003, brought Thompson to mainstream attention, especially when it appeared on Time magazine’s 2005 list of the top 10 English language graphic novels from 1923 to 2005. The book is an autobiographical rumination on Thompson’s struggles with Christianity throughout his life, as well as a romantic relationship he starts with a girl from a Baptist winter camp. However, as is all too common with these kinds of stories, things don’t all end well. Thompson says that he believes Blankets resonated with readers because “I was reacting against all of the over-the-top, explosive action genreI guess alternative comics have been doing that, for a while. But I also didn’t want to do anything cynical and nihilistic, which is the standard for a lot of alternative comics.”Thompson’s third major work was Carnet de Voyage in 2004, a graphic travelogue and sketchbook that Thompson produced during a promotional tour for Blankets. His travels took him through France, Barcelona, the Alps, and Morocco, during which he also began research for his next graphic novel Habibi. This book is scheduled for publication in September of 2011, and is Thompson’s longest work672 pages. “Habibi” is an Arabic term for “my beloved,” and Thompson says that it will be both action-packed and romantic, with “a love story between a prostitute and a eunuch.”