Blankets: A Graphic Novel

Product Information

If you grew up in the 90s, chances are you’ll have heard of Akira Toriyama’s extraordinarily popular Dragon Ball Z. A legendary show that’s ubiquitous worldwide, Dragon Ball Z tells the epic story of Son Goku, an alien raised as a boy who grows up training to be a martial arts master. Goku is also on a quest to seek the Dragon Balls: seven magical orbs that, when gathered, hold the power to summon dragons that can grant wishes. His journey sees him crossing the land, forming unshakable friendships, getting into trouble — and spawning one of the most iconic manga and anime brands of all time. I thought the book was very thoughtful and handled a lot of things tastefully and beautifully when it would have been very easy to make the book hateful or angry or vengeful.

Spoiler alert: When they part, however, as most romances at sixteen conclude, Craig is still darkly intense in--as with his art, earlier--burning all the artifacts and letters Raina as shared with him. He imagines erasing, white-washing, the very painting he has made for Raina. All memories gone, is his goal. Except the blanket, thank goodness, which becomes the basis for the book, and his embrace of the lovely, sweeping patchwork quilt of storytelling that is his style. Thanks for the book, the reclamation of memory of love and spiritual passion.

Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror

It's not all about love here. This memoir also gives you a great feel for Wisconsin in winter (cold), sibling rivalry (lots of urine), a sexually abusive babysitter (disgusting) and religious fundamentalist parents (thank God I didn't have them).

The antics of this psychopathic criminal mastermind have never really vanished from pop culture discourse. But the Joker is enjoying a particularly strong resurgence lately as the titular focus of the the Oscar and Golden Globe-winning 2019 film Joker, starring the also Oscar and Golden Globe-winning Joaquin Phoenix.

Memoirs and Nonfiction

Heavily based on the author’s real-life experiences, Be Prepared tells the story of 9-year-old Vera, a Russian immigrant and daughter of divorced parents. Vera finds it awkward to fit in with the rich girls in her town, but thinks she’s found an opportunity to make new friends when she convinces her mother to send her to the one summer camp they can afford — a Russian camp, sponsored by their Orthodox church. Unfortunately for Vera, the summer camp turns out to be less ideal than she imagined: there’s no electricity, no plumbing, and the outhouses are the stuff of nightmares! Worst of all, the rest of the girls are older than her, and have no interest in poor Vera. Sleepy Depressive: Craig used dreaming as an early form of escapism from his abuse. He later turned to drawing instead. Looking for a thoughtful coming of age story? This is the one. The writing is deliberate and reflects a serious amount of caution, as if the events about which he writes are preserved with religious severity in Thompson's mind. This book is his testimony of how he philosophically arrived on the map as a young man. Update this section! On an earth-like world called Abode where two moons hang in the sky, humans must live alongside elves. These mysterious beings were descended from an advanced alien civilization called the High Ones. But by the time Elfquest begins, they’ve left their spacefaring ways far behind, splitting off into several, culturally distinct tribes.

You can’t always say that a family drama will leave your jaw on the floor — but this might be the exception. This intense, I-want-to-look-away-but-can’t-stop-reading story begins with a fourteen-year-old Small waking up after an operation to find his vocal chords have been removed, transformed him into a mute. On top of that, Small’s father has anger issues (among other far more worrying issues), and his mother is cruelly cold and closed off. Here’s a history lesson for you: Marvel Comics is the publisher of all Marvel stories. The Avengers movies and the mainstream Marvel comic books all take place within the Marvel Universe — the central Marvel storyline. However, under the Marvel Comics umbrella are various smaller imprints, with timelines and storylines that can differ from that of the Marvel Universe.

Superheroes

Years before #MeToo, Laurie Halse Anderson wrote Speak, a singularly powerful novel for young adults about date rape. At the center of the storm that engulfs Speak’s story is Melinda, a freshman who’s already an outcast because she called the cops on a party. But something else occurred that fateful night… something Melinda can’t think or speak about. Made even more powerful with Emily Caroll’s stark, haunting illustrations, Speak is a crucial staple in the YA canon. However, I have struggled to understand the whole disruptive part of the biblical quotations and religious experience, I presume of some extreme Protestant wing.... ( For us Europeans, it is a bit strange and to understand certain realities of the Church, not having here so many Protestant confessions and all their variations of church) Gender wasn’t easy for Maia when e was growing up. E didn’t feel like a girl, but also didn’t want to be a boy — but those were the only options… right? Does The Handmaid’s Tale need an introduction? Margaret Atwood’s towering tapestry of a dystopia in which women are subjugated in a patriarchal society has shaken people for 35 years — and it’s more relevant than ever today. If you’ve already read it a hundred times, we suggest turning to Renee Nault’s graphic novel for your hundred-and-one read-through. Her spare and affecting artwork — which leans beautifully on all the shades of red, from orange to rust — makes the story that much more visceral. Most of all, Nault’s interpretation of Atwood’s language is spectacular, living up to The Handmaid’s Tale’s lofty name and stamping it as a classic in the world of graphic novels. Hard-boiled noir meets vintage space opera in this wry French genre-bender, where maximalist art drenched in sunny yellows captures a cynical, dystopian world. For struggling PI John Difool, things could be better. He’s somehow come into possession of a mystical artifact called the Incal, and now his life seems perpetually at risk. Corrupt bureaucrats and cultic terrorists alike seem determined to get their hands on it — even if that means tossing Difool into a lake of acid.

This ambitious steampunk saga is as gruesome as it is gorgeous. Artist Sana Takeda lavishes her talent on lush, Mucha-inflected scenes of garnish, while writer Marjorie Liu — an epic fantasist worthy of Tolkien — weaves a spellbinding story of violence, sacrifice, and revenge. Set in a matriarchal, Asian-inspired world, Monstress centers on a teenager called Maika Halfwolf, whose body plays host to a monster: a tentacled beast who appears suddenly from the stump of Maika’s severed arm. Hair: Mullets are commonplace in scenes set in Craig's elementary years. He also mentions that mullets are popular in his rural town even into the 1990s. Another iconic manga that raised an entire generation, Naruto will introduce you to an unforgettable protagonist: a ninja-in-training… and the most trouble-making kid you’ll find around. But if there’s one thing Naruto is serious about, it’s this: he’s dead-set on becoming the greatest ninja in the world. So, sure, you might come for the awesome battle sequences and the gravity-defying displays of ninja powers. But you’re sure to stay for the incredible character development and powerful storylines that powered Naruto forward for 72 volumes with heart-stopping energy. Naruto is also very popular and accessible online, which makes it a great starter series for anyone who’s new to manga. As a child, I thought that life was the most horrible world anyone could ever live in, and that there HAD to be something better."This intensely personal memoir follows George and his family through one of the more shameful periods of American history — opening with the terrifying morning when his family is rushed from their house, and continuing on through the next few years as the Takeis struggle with their relationship to the country that imprisoned them after making it their home. They Called Us Enemy lays it all out with unflinching honesty, bringing an oft-overlooked moment of our past to light. One of the ladies in my Jugs & Capes group felt that the main problem was that Craig, who is about thirty-five, is just too young and inexperienced and self-absorbed to be writing a memoir. And maybe that’s true, maybe at thirty-five there really isn’t much more than that one intense romance, the enduring heartache of not having been a good enough big brother, the struggle with one’s faith. But much better books were built on much less, so I don’t think I can let it off the hook that easily. It’s not a bad book, certainly, and I’d definitely read more of Craig’s stuff later, but this one just didn’t dazzle me like I’d hoped it would. The artwork in Blankets is also a patchwork quilt of gorgeous, sweeping, romantic images of the natural world (snow, trees, weather), likening it to patterns in Raina’s dress and hair, open and free and spacious and lovely in contrast to the darker, more sinister patches of his oppressive house and Sunday school. There’s also an emblem or mark that weaves its way through the book, present whenever Craig recognizes something as sacred. At one point that essentially Calvinist-raised Craig even forgives himself enough for his transgressions to even share a halo with Raina. Through her, rather than earning Hell, he achieves the sacred with her for a brief time. Just like the Marvel Universe is the primary story universe of Marvel Comics, the DC Universe is the primary universe of DC Comics — where the canon stories of characters like Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman take place. All Star was a DC Comics imprint that ran from 2005-2008, with the goal of providing acclaimed writers and artists with the opportunity to reinterpret the stories of popular DC characters for a modern audience.