Blankets by Craig Thompson

After reading Craig Thompson’s Habib, where a little girl marries an older man (considered rape in most countries) I could see that he obviously connects with kids who are getting screwed, which is what this story is about. He and his brother live in the attic and share a bed, and if they make a sound, their abusive father will lock one of them in a closet. Don’t bother screaming that there are spiders in there or you’re afraid of the dark, because a guy who locks his kids in the closet won’t give a damn what they’re going through. If you wonder what motivates his parents to act like this, one word: RELIGION! Their parents are nutjob Christian fundamentalists, and they lay a massive guilt trip on the poor kid when he’s caught drawing a nude woman.

Because his parents are so strict, he doesn’t learn to make decisions. He gets beaten up at school by the older boys, then molested at home by a teenage boy who babysits for the family. The parents send him to some stupid Christian camp during the winter break (what kind of kid wants to spend his winter break at camp?) and he gets bullied there too. That is, until at age 16, when he meets a bunch of teenage misfits who flip the bird at authority. One of them, a girl named Raine, takes a liking to him, and that’s where the dynamic suddenly changes.

Raine’s family is even more messed up than Craig’s. She has two adopted siblings, both of whom are retarded, and the burden of caring for them falls on her. The parents are totally oblivious, and her older sister Julie is a narcissist. If that’s not annoying enough, she and her husband take their parenting duties lightly; they’re always looking for an excuse to dump their baby so they can party.

The title Blankets comes from the fact that he and his brother sleep in the same bed, until the parents decide to spend more money getting them their own. But in some ways, Craig is left in limbo. It takes him a long time to really think for himself, and perhaps Raine's family is the spur to leave home. Maybe he thinks that this is how he’ll end up if he stays. Being stuck taking care of his parents doesn’t sound fun, does it?

The drawings in this comic are extremely realistic, despite his use of sharp lines. It reminded me of El Greco’s paintings, with their gaunt, hollow-cheeked figures and depressed faces. The style works perfectly here. After all, Blankets is a depressing story about depressed people.