Eisner and Thompson - 3pts

    Blankets is a very impactful graphic novel about childhood and the realization of human suffering and the pursuit of happiness. It depicts perfectly the artist's strive for escapism from a world that falls far from a happy childhood and highlights the painful parts of life. It also expresses a struggle with god and how to get into heaven. In order to do so the main character has to avoid the things that make them happy, like drawing. He also feels that pursuing his own happiness makes god unhappy. His happiness in the end makes him unhappy. It's like he thinks his talent is a sin. The burden of growing up as a Christian with overbearing parents is apparent. The weight of believing in God and that humans are full of sin is clearly overwhelming on a young person's mind. Growing up with this torments him in a constant battle while growing up into his teenage years. Thompson uses drawings of his main characters naked and depicts shame and guilt explicitly to the audience. In a way that is entirely humane and relatable to the experiences of youth. He is incredibly good at depicting body language in his drawings. The relationship between him and Raina seems to be the other light in this darkness that surrounds the character. It is very healthy and pure even for how young they are.

  In comparison to Eisner, They both had a very interesting illustrative style. They characters are depicted in very thick and dark black line. They both explore a relationship between their protagonists and God. I especially on occasion they don't box in his panels. A good example of this is page 11 of Life on Another Planet. The panels are individually surrounded by trees to separate them. Also there is something creepy cool about the way the eyes of the characters are drawn in this graphic novel. 

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