If you've ever been young or in love or young and in love at the same time (which I do not recommend,) I heartily endorse your purchasing Craig Thompson's new work, Blankets. It seemed like Mr. Thompson had disappeared after Good-Bye, Chunky Rice, but he was doing all sorts of scrub illustration work (Nickelodeon, MTV, Marvel, etc) while working on Blankets whenever he could. It manages to deftly avoid being twee and overly self-aware while detailing a long-distance relationship Craig had in his teens. Anyone that's ever listened to the other just breathe on the other end of the line for two or three minutes will completely understand what he's detailing for the reader. His voice is unique, going from harsh reality to beautiful moments of poetry without missing a beat, and his art is lucious. The way he depicts Raina makes you fall a little bit in love with her yourself, especially the moments with a single lighting source, where she's mysterious and somehow vulnerable at the same time. I also have no end of respect for Thompson's storytelling, which is never obscured by the occasional aside and flashback - he cuts to the heart of the matter despite spending ten or fifteen pages doing things that would annoy the crap out of me if his voice weren't so strong and clear, much more so than people like Tyler Page and his overly precious Stylish Vittles. Recommended, very very highly. You can order it straight from Top Shelf's site, which means they get a few more bucks to produce this sort of thing or pick it up at your local comics emporium. It's now a Star Catalog item through Diamond Distribution, so take no shit from them about ordering it.
