Doot Doot Garden: The Blog of Craig Thompson
nutritionial healing July 29th, 2009

This recent email from my friend Allison was too bizarre and well-worded not to share with the rest of you.
“Today I had a strange experience in a creepy used bookstore. I was walking past the sci-fi/fantasy section,
and from the piles of unsorted books on the floor, a familiar blue color caught my eye.

I jumped for joy at the thought of buying a discounted copy of Blankets, even though this copy was oddly shelved
with fantasy novels and tales of Wiccan overlords. I thought, “what a strange place to put …”
But when I opened the cover, I found the entire book printed upside down and backwards …

… with most of the panels shoved up into the margins, or buried in the gutter.
Even with this defect, the bookseller wanted $18 because it was the only graphic novel he had in the store.

I thought maybe it was a sign to support my current theory that the stars have turned upside down and backwards,
hence the madness of our modern world and the obvious fact that humans are bored and taking it out on one another.

I left the book in the store, but not before I re-shelved it next to Nutritional Healing.
Just as I am doing with the universe, I will return in a week to see if it has righted itself.”

Posted in Blankets, Friends, Misc | 28 Comments »
great lakes luxury cruise July 15th, 2009

Fresh home from my midwest excursion. BIG THANKS to the librarians that made it to the panel and are fueling support for
graphic novels in the literary world, not to mention fighting on the frontlines of public confusion over the medium.

I’m restless to dig into work on the final chapters of HABIBI. In the meantime, here’s some treats I excavated from the ol’ cubby hole at my
parents’ house. Above: Congressman Dave Obey and Tom Cruise (yes) presenting an award to 16 year old me for a national high school art
competition. Below: decaying childhood art (approx. age 9) and a photo of my brother Phil and I with matching bowl haircuts.

Posted in Blankets, Friends, Misc, Travel | 27 Comments »
i’m gonna be the man who’s havering to you July 2nd, 2009

On Monday, the sixth chapter of HABIBI saw completion. Each time I finish a chapter, I print and bind a set of photocopies for easy reference &
editing. And I tally the page count, which now reaches exactly 500! Already the stack of photocopies on flimsy paper is catching up with BLANKETS.

It’s an important mark in the book’s production. The end of the second act. On to the third and final act – the last three chapters -
and fortunately they’re all shorter than the bulky hundred page chapters that filled out the middle of the book.
I’ll be leaving on a trip on the fourth of July to visit family in Wisconsin and tinker with some rewrites on the book’s finale.
And as noted before, I’ll be in Chicago for the American Library Association’s annual conference giving a talk with Neil Gaiman and Terry Moore
about censorship in comics. “My These Novels Certainly Are … GRAPHIC!” Monday, July 13, 1:30 PM at McCormick Place.
Looking forward to your comments and updating you when I return!

Posted in Habibi | 47 Comments »