Carnet De Voyage [Paperback]

Before I purchased this book I expected it to be like his previous two graphic novels with an narrative storyline (Goodbye Chunky Rice, Blankets). Instead you get a diary collection of his journey in Europe as an artist. Though in the book he explains the purpose of his trip is to promote Blankets, and he did go through many interviews and photo shoots. But in this trip he brings the reader to a mature side of himself, whereas he shows his impression with other artists in Europe. With his skillful brushworks, Thompson is able to draw out little glimpses of culture and people of his visit. Overall I recommand this book to anyone that is interest in art or already an artist themselves. You'll find drawing in a sketchbook everyday is an illustration of your life, just like what Craig Thompson is able to share in this book.

Carnet de Voyage includes an introductory page in which Craig Thompson warns prospective readers that what follows really is a travel diary, not a follow-up to Blankets. If that's all you're expecting, you won't be disappointed. The book is beautifully and sensitively illustrated, and features a few genuinely touching moments. I particularly enjoyed the times when Thompson inserted a little cartoon companion into the narrative to comfort him when he was feeling alone and out of place. His accounts of culture shock in Morocco were also interesting and should open the eyes of anyone with excessively romantic views about the developing world.

Still, the book could have been better. Thompson hints at painful events and family problems at home without elaborating, and he also glosses over the Madrid train bombings in just a couple of pages. The book then ends abruptly when arthritis forces Thompson to cut back on his writing, and I think even he would agree that this aborted work isn't all he hoped it would be. But Carnet de Voyage certainly is still worth reading while you await Thompson's next real book. And you won't regret it if you allow this little travel diary to persuade you to plan a trip to Barcelona yourself.

Craig Thompson's epic 600 page graphic novel, BLANKETS is one of the most beautiful comics I've ever read. I was astounded at the breadth and depth of the book and wondered how someone in his mid twenties could have crafted such a massive achievement so early in his career.

With the publication of CARNET DE VOYAGE, I now understand a little bit more about Thompson's work habits... he is a nonstop drawing machine. But no... machine is wrong... there's nothing mechanical about his work. Art flows out of Thompson's brush pens with the organic fluidity of a true master. He may well be the greatest natural cartoonist of his generation... hell, even a handful of others.

CARNET DE VOYAGE wasn't even supposed to be a book. While traveling through France, Barcelona, the Alps and Morocco last Spring to promote BLANKETS, Thompson's omnipresent sketchbook suddenly became his next project. In his introduction, the typically self-effacing artist dismisses it as "a rather self-indulgent side project."

Yes, there's lots of self-indulgence, but no more than any other writer or artist's work is self indulgent. Smarting from a recent breakup, suffering from crippling rheumatoid arthritis exacerbated by nonstop signings, sketches and portraits of locals (many of whom demand money for the privilege of being models), Thompson's travelogue is filled with the kind of subjective experience that's only interesting to others if it's told well.

And in CARNET DE VOYAGE, it's told beautifully. Mixing his two styles, the cartoony whimsy of GOODBYE, CHUNKY RICE with the more naturalistic impressionism of BLANKETS, Thompson allows us to experience everything he does: The homesickness, the culture shock, the thrill of the new and the comfort of other people. His passion for beauty, be it architectural, arboreal, feline, culinary or (often) feminine is all delineated with an artistic embellishment that's more effective than any photograph could be.

That's the power of comics; They can be (in the right hands) surreal and realistic at the same time. Thompson is as much a master of capturing the empirical world as he is conveying his inner demons (and he's got a lot of `em... this boy is one tortured, sensitive artiste). He may dismiss CARNET DE VOYAGE as "not (his) next book," but it's the richest, most rewarding graphic novel I've read since... well, since BLANKETS.