Blankets: An Interrogation

The following interrogation has been declassified by the Central Intelligence Agency and made accessible to the public.

Report #nnnn337, Classification B24

September 5, 2012

Subject: “Blankets by Craig Thompson”

Staff Agent: Andrew Rhoades

[The subject is sitting in a rusty black chair facing away from me. We have taken the legs off of the seat because we thought it would be funny. The room is in complete darkness except for my awesome light-up-Sketchers that I recently acquired at a CIA surplus garage sale, and I am slowly walking towards the prisoner, case folder in hand. I grab the hanging lamp and aim the light directly at the chair.]

Well, Mr. “by Craig Thompson”, if that is your real name, it is time we had our little chat.

[The subject does not respond]

Let’s start from the beginning. [I flip the folder open and chuckle] Here are the facts: you tell a story about a young man named Craig that grows up in a poor, fundamentalist Christian family in rural Wisconsin, to later experience his first love and break from religion. Sounds pretty mediocre. But here’s the thing. [I edge closely to the chair and whisper] The whole thing is a autobiographical cartoon strip. You might want to think about losing some weight, not that I really care, but 500 pages? A comic book? That’s just crazy talk. [I spin the chair around so I can face him cover to face] I want you to look at some crime scene photos and tell me what you think.

You don’t fool me, Blankets – can I call you Blankets? – you don’t fool me, not with your surreal art style or your interior reflection on Craig Thompson's emotions, aspirations and fears. No, I’m not even fooled by the poetry style of your language that you infuse with dialogue and Bible excerpts. I could take any piece of narration and put it in a poetry format:

“I heard Raina’s breathing

and beneath that, her heart beating,

and beyond that, the gentle murmur of spirits in the room.

I could even hear the snow falling outside,

and the sounds wove into a rhythm of hushed orchestration,

spiraling me into slumber.”

This whole “multimedia style” you have going on, with your mixture of art, poetry, and memoir, it’s beautiful, but you give too much away about your master Craig Thompson; his honesty is brutal and intimate, like the secrets only a good friend would tell you. [I grab the book and shake it] But tell me about the plot! What even is going on?!

[I put the book back down and put on a Dodgers baseball cap.] Wow, Rhoades, you’ve taken this too far. Go take a coffee break. 

[I remove the cap] You bleeding heart cop, you'll never get him to talk. [I turn to the book] I’ll be back for you. 

[I put the cap back on] Sorry about that, Blankets. Would you like some water? No? Okay, now I want to help you- I can’t protect you from my partner all day. What I need is some information. What specifically happened to this “Craig” that even makes us care in the first place? Let’s pretend that I don’t know all about him from my thorough Wikipedia search, how he’s a 36-year-old graphic novelist that’s written 4 books and paid the bills by drawing cartoons for National Geographic Kids, OWL, and Nickelodeon while he wrote you. No, I want to know about his cartoon persona. C’mon, help me out here.

[The book coughs] Okay, I’ll tell you. It all starts out with Craig as a child and his relationship with his younger brother Phil as they share a bed. The two do not always get along, but they both embrace drawing as a form of escape and always end up snuggling in blankets in the bitter winter, even after they get separate beds.

As Phil and Craig get older and drift apart, Craig goes to a Christian camp, where he meets a girl named Raina, who is just as lonely to be there as he is. Camp ends, letters are exchanged, and Craig goes to live with Raina for a couple of weeks in the wintertime. Raina’s parents are in the middle of a divorce, so she is set to take care of her two mentally handicapped siblings. The two share a blanket at night that Raina made from her baby blanket, until morning, where Craig sneaks back into his room. The two fall deep into teenage love, where Craig starts to come to terms with his obsessions with God and Raina. Although the two become very close over the two weeks, the relationship does not hold up in the long distance. Craig moves away to go to art college, where he can reminisce with his younger brother about their early days and come to terms with his new lack of faith in God. 

He is able to look back on his childhood and be thankful that he was able to leave such a mark on a blank surface, like footprints in the snow.

Aah, another thing I noticed was the reoccurring motif of the blanket patterns throughout the book, even before Raina is introduced. I also enjoyed the parallels between Craig sharing a bed with his brother as a child and Craig sharing a bed with Raina as he slips into romantic insanity.  It all ties up the title image in a way that makes the whole book seem like a loving reflection on life, love, and growing up. 

What? Don’t you work for the CIA?

Oh don’t mind me; before I worked for the government, I was an English student. Now tell me, how do you fit in? Who are your accomplices?

I guess there isn’t a lack of autobiographical comics on the market, but I’m different. There’s a reason that The New York Times listed me as the #1 graphic novel of 2003 and that I received numerous awards throughout the year. 

[I take my cap off] 

New York Times? Those liberal Pinko Commies? Gross. Now who are your accomplices?

Marjane Satrapi’s novel “Persepolis”  and Raina Telgemeier’s webcomic “Smile” are also quite renowned in the comic world and exhibit a similar narrative style. You should check them out if you enjoyed reading me.

I did not. I only read obituaries and cookbooks. In fact, I think I’ve gotten all the information I can out of you. Farewell, Mr. by Craig Thompson. Good luck in Guantanamo.

//Out of character now, real thoughts and feelings:

I was afraid that this story was going to be one of those sappy teen love stories, but I was wrong. The book is so lovingly genuine that I can’t help but moved by it. So far, I've read it three times (it's a quick read) and each time I notice something different in the pictures, some little detail that comes to describe Craig in a way that makes me understand and root for him. The dialogue is almost unreal how amazing it is; it could make a very tight movie script if it was converted to the big screen, but even if it was, it would lose some of the power that the novel has. Its themes of faith, romance, and confusion of youth blend so well into the fabric of Blankets that it becomes an instant classic, the kind of art that can only exist in comic form. I personally have not been a fan of the genre in the past, but this story has changed my mind, and perhaps I will find myself seeking out more graphic novels in the future (not necessarily super hero books, but more stuff like this). I would recommend this book to everyone. Anyone who’s ever been stupidly in love or has experienced the well-intentioned cruelty of parents can find something to hold onto with Blankets. It’s the kind of book that you pass around to your friends because it drives you crazy to experience it alone. Blankets is the real deal; it’s funny, horrifying, thought-provoking, and just overall impressive. The art is wonderful, the prose poetic, and it has that special something that makes you want to go play in the snow and fall in love.