![]() ![]() "Habibi" comes eight years after Thompson’s acclaimed autobiographical "Blankets," a nostalgic coming-of-age story about vulnerability and first love in an evangelical Christian environment. At times "Habibi" resembles an Orientalist pastiche stuffed with odalisques and eunuchs, but its scholarly reinterpretation of Abrahamic tales from the Koran turns this saga into a lush commentary on love and lust, wealth and want, religion and storytelling. ![]() When they are reunited at last, love blossoms despite the obstacles. ![]() That is one of the triumphs of Craig Thompson’s exquisite new graphic novel "Habibi." It tells the complex story of Dodola and Zam, two escaped child slaves, who are torn apart and undergo many transformations as they grow into new names and new bodies. Think of Bill Watterson’s grandest "Calvin and Hobbes" Sunday strips, or Harvey Pekar’s conversation-heavy "American Splendor." The addition of a third dimension of interplay between text and image broadens the possibilities for expression, despite-or perhaps because of-the fact that most readers have no idea what it means and must be guided in its interpretation. The interplay of two idioms on a single page, and the assumption of a reader familiar with both, creates certain tropes and effects that appear again and again. The balance between image and text is a delicate one for comic books. ![]()
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