The Portland Oregon-based cartoonist and artist catapulted to national attention with his 2003 graphic novel, Blankets (from Top Shelf), which was named Time magazine’s graphic novel of the year for 2003. It tells the story of first love, sibling competition and camaraderie, and a heart-felt search for meaning through an adolescent reaction to a fundamentalist Christian upbringing. It sounds very clichéd, but the black-and-white-art presents this narrative in a fresh and innocent — if not incredible — way.
Craig Thompson’s upcoming opus, Habibi (My Beloved), due out in September 2011 from Parthenon / Random House in hefty clothbound hardcover, has been described as a tribute to Arabic calligraphy and an attempt to humanize Islamic culture through a love story between a prostitute and a eunuch.
Craig’s work to date includes Good-bye Chunky Rice (Top Shelf 1999/Parthenon2010), the mini -comics Bible Doodles (2000) and Doot,Doot Garden (2001), and a travelogue, Carnet de Voyage (Top Shelf 2004).
He also did art work for the Blankets CD (Top Shelf), featuring instrumental music by Tracker, and received a Grammy nomination in 2007 for the packaging for Menomena’s CD, Friend and Foe.
Conversation # 1 (Top Shelf).a small zine-type booklet created with James Kochalka has art and dialogue about life, the universe, and art depicted in a humorous off-hand way from 2 different artistic and philosophical viewpoints.
Also due from Top Shelf are new hardcover and softcover editions, with new cover art and resized to match Habibi, of Blanketsand Kissypoo Garden,a collection of short stories and comic poems including Bible Doodles and Doot Doot Garden.
Thompson discusses the characters in Blankets here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clJEuV9g6S8
