Blankets

Title: Blankets

Author: Craig Thompson

Category: Autobiographical Comic/Graphic Novel

This is definitely the best autobiographical comic I've read in recent history. It is Thompson's journey through adolescence growing up in the Midwest and raised by fundamentalist Christian parents. His development as an artist throughout the story represents his attempts at complimenting the reality he encounters and the one his faith has taught him. Don't be frightened by how long it is. A good graphic novel is necessarily long and the character and story development in this one are just perfect. I'm sure the fact that I read this right around the same time I read Plato's Republic for the first time has significantly impacted my positive opinion of it, as it is Thompson's own Allegory of the Cave. And if you haven't read Plato's Republic yet, you should go ahead and pick that up as well. More than anything it is remarkably honest and sincere and beautifully articulated.