One of the great unfinished graphic novel projects, Craig Thompson’s HABIBI, has been finished, he announced earlier this week. Thompson has been slaving away on this 600 page opus since BLANKETS was published to great acclaim in 2003. The subject matter is nothing less than Islam, and Thompson has promised to look at it the way he looked at Christianity in BLANKETS.
That isn’t going to be controversial at all.
Congrats, Craig! Hope you don’t have to join Molly Norris in the witness protection program.
Although the book is done, much work remains, Thompson writes:
There’s still plenty to keep me busy in the upcoming months. Edits / redraws / design / production / getting the book to press.
I’ll keep you all posted. Below, a basic cosmetic edit: fixing unclear reading order. Can’t wait to meet all of you on the promotional tours!
HABIBI will be published by Pantheon.
HOLY crap. I’m seriously in shock (and excited!)
I’m making room on my store shelves right now!
How exactly does he earn money to survive while spending 7 (!) years on a new graphic novel?
If I recall properly he’s a freelance graphic artist, and not a full time comic artist/writer. Hence the reason it probably took 7 years to complete. I’m really looking forward to this.
Congrats on finishing, Craig! You’ve been slaving away at this for a while; it must feel great to have the bulk of it done. Can’t wait to read it!
I’m completely making lots of guesses here, but I’d also think that a) Blankets (and all those Chunky Rice reprints) might have made him a good deal of money to live on (but then maybe not?) and b) moving over to Pantheon (and leaving Top Shelf) might have given him a actual book advance? Who knows, but a) I’m jealous he could take seven years to work on a comic! I know it will be amazing!
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