Broken Frontier

In a strange way it’s a real shame that Craig Thompson really only releases very long form, epic graphic novels. Because when you put out 500 pages worth of story, with simply beautiful artwork and stories that stay with the reader long after the book is completed, it takes a long time to put them out.  In this case, Habibi came out over 7 years after his amazing and award-winning Blankets.  But simply put, it was worth every second of the wait.

A sprawling epic that takes place in deserts, palaces, oasis, and disturbing slums, Thompson fills every page with an amazing amount of research, love and beauty.  A deeply researched work that looks into a Muslim world that the rest of us rarely get to see (and ironically released in the same year as Frank Miller's diametrically opposed look at Islam), the world isn't always beautiful, but Thompson's portrayal of it is.  At first the tale feels like something set in the past, matching up with desert epics as perhaps the 1002nd (we’ll let the Looney Tunes gang keep their 1001st) Arabian Night.  It’s almost terrifying to learn that the tale is a modern one.  Thompson is serious with his tale, showing both beauty and horror.  He doesn’t sugarcoat things for his main characters either, every so often you will believe that the bad is finally gone and they can be happy, only for bad luck and the world at large to rear its ugly head once again.  

A love story that is haunting in how long it stays with you, Thompson pulls no punches in his portrayal.  You'll remember the disturbing scenes of violence and dismemberment as you will the undying love between the characters.

The highlight of the book is a chapter on alchemy that may be Thompson's best work ever.  And this isn’t just limited to his artwork.  Having a book so heavily invested in Islam and Arabic, Thompson also shows his skills in calligraphy.  With story chapters based around the letters of the Arabic alphabet, Thompson shows off his chops by having the letters as viable characters and incorporates their image into the design of each chapter.   Visually the book is nothing less than amazing.  Thompson’s storytelling is so invigorating, the beginning of the final chapter contains no artwork at all, and it doesn’t even matter.  You can feel the emotion of each action and every page.

Just like everything else he's ever done, Habibi is a book that deserves to be experienced by everyone. Easily the best graphic novel released this year, Habibi is honest, heartwarming and heartbreaking, amazingly beautiful and absolutely horrific, there isn't another book that was released this year that is even in Habibi's class.  There are very few creators out there who can make a river of raw sewage into a beautiful thing.  The real shame is that it will probably take another 5 years before we are gifted with another work of Craig Thompson.

Full list of the 2011 Broken Frontier Award winners