Craig Thompson - Early Life

Craig Thompson's early life is covered in the graphic memoir "Blankets." Thompson was born in Traverse City, Michigan in 1975. He grew up with his two siblings in Marathon, Wisconsin.

His family believed in fundamentalist Christianity. It was because of this, that the only access to the arts that Craig had was the funnies page in the Sunday newspaper. In an interview with Michael Mechanic of MotherJones.com, Thompson stated that "They did censor all the media in the house. All the movies they'd watch first, and the television shows—it was very strict. Only Christian music was allowed, no secular music. But comic books were below the radar because they were children's entertainment, you know? They didn't even consider them. So I think that's why my brother and I were obsessed with comics; that was like our edgiest form of entertainment."It is because of his Christian upbringing that Thompson experiences severe guilt when he does things that all normal boys do.

Thompson specifically mentions that the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" were part of the comics he remembers reading in the 1980's. He also received free Spider-Man comics that were enclosed within a newspaper his grandmother would send him.

In High School, Thompson found himself more interested in cartoons and animation than comic book arts, however, he became disillusioned with this idea as time went on. It wasn't until he was offered to create a comic strip for his college's newspaper that Thompson discovered his love for comics as a medium of expression.




http://www.bookslut.com/features/2004_02_001502.php
http://www.motherjones.com/media/2011/09/craig-thompson-blankets-habibi-interview


Comment Link: A link to an article about Ninja Turtles 1980's being reprinted.