1001 COMICS MINI-SITE
Even with 960 pages, I couldn't squeeze all the material I had into my book 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die. This mini-site is designed to supplement that book with updates, additional information and links... but obviously you'll still need a copy of the book!
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Habibi
by Craig ThompsonOriginal publisher: Pantheon Books (USA)
First published: 2011
Reviewed by: Ariel Kahn
Genre:
Political Fable,
Religion
Thompson’s need was not to tell us all about the geographical or political Middle East, either of today or yesteryear, but to find a narrative body that would carry him through the next stage of his development as an artist. For me, many years ago, Greek mythology served a similar purpose; I had no special interest in the subject prior to that. I just needed an engine that came ready built with all its interconnecting parts in place, that enabled me to encase stories within other stories right from the kick-off. The theme that commands Thompson in this early phase of his oeuvre is LOVE. He has taken it from the childlike cute of Goodbye Chunky Rice through the ‘first love’ of Blankets. And now a big subject was required, something with epic potential, a grand romance, something bigger than the familiar and the everyday. He sought and found it in the idiom of the Arabian Nights, with its sultans and harems and slaves and eunuchs. But more than a single linear story, Thompson wanted to erect a colossal structure with a baroque encrustation of teeming narratives. To this end he uses the literature of the Middle East, in both subject, using the Qur’an the bible and Arabic poetry, and in form, through the rich calligraphic tradition of the literature. At this point you would have to ask: is this guy nuts? Where did he get the courage to take on all of that? - Eddie Campbell
Links:Craig Thompson
Habibi