It's so charming, you'll puke.

I do think that Blankets goes beyond charming, but I hear what you are saying. The playful fluidity of Thompson's brushwork is pretty reminiscent of Watterson's stuff. Can't say I really noticed that before. Good catch.

I loved Blankets, though. Definitely one of the better GN reads I've had in a while. I dunno if it's a guy thing, or an age thing, but I just found a whole lot in this story I could relate to, even though I was never very much like Craig's character in the book. But he's really good at capturing those basic emotions we've all felt at one time or another. But where "Goodbye Chunky Rice" excels at just capturing one basic idea or emotion, "Blankets" just as a lot more breadth to it.

And all that 'coming of age', 'first love' stuff aside, much to my surprise I really dug the religious aspects of the book as well. My only apprehensions were towards the earlier chapters, with the 'cubby hole' and the hints of child molestation. I understand that these are real-life situations and all, but I guess I'm overly sensitive to certain subjects as they come off as "book critic bait" a lot of the time. But as "Blankets" progressed, I realized that all of that was necessary to explain why young Craig felt so detached from himself, why he felt like his was just sort of 'passing through' life, and why he was unable to see the earthly divinity that surrounded him. Which is exactly what made all the Raina/Goddess imagery work so well. She sort of connected him back to himself.

And unlike, say, "Jimmy Corrigan", I felt like all the groovy experimental stuff worked only to enhance the story or communicate some underlying theme, rather than for the sake of being quirky.

I dunno, I thought it was really ambitious. And better yet, I think he pulled it off, too.