(written by Terry MacNeil, on May 31, June 5-10, 2025)

As far as my movie taste goes – I would be most accurately described as a “gorehound”. And yes, “old school” movies with lots of gore (and/or characters being relentlessly terrorized by psychopaths) are among my most cherished films. BUT some of my OTHER most cherished movies – are romance films. And I say that, as someone who considers the VAST MAJORITY of romance movies to be absolutely awful and shitty.

After recently reading Kate Beaton’s graphic memoir Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, I concluded I find graphic memoirs more enjoyable to read than standard text only memoirs. Well, in the case of Craig Thompson’s graphic memoir Blankets – if it had been a text only autobiography, I highly doubt I would’ve ever read it (for instance, the book’s back cover made it sound like more than a few romance movies I’ve seen). However, if Ducks had been a text only memoir – I still would’ve made reading it a priority (because of what’s covered in the book). Anyway, after hearing Beaton’s high praise for another of Thompson’s graphic memoirs (the one titled Ginseng Roots: A Memoir), I figured I ought to give Blankets a chance – even though I couldn’t imagine a more lame title for your graphic memoir. And not even a subtitle?

After reading Blankets from cover-to-cover, my main takeaway – is that the book is a detailed testimony of the author’s PAIN. Well, not physical pain – I mean deep mental/emotional pain. Thompson had a HORRIBLE childhood – due to poverty, bullies, molestation, and religion. Specifically Christian. More specifically Evangelical Christian. And even more specifically Baptist. My family certainly weren’t Catholic fanatics, but when I was a teenager – I took Catholicism WAY too fucking seriously. So I can relate to Thompson in that way, even though he wasn’t Catholic (and he was WAY more obsessed with religion than I had been).

Something most romance movies can’t get right – is displays of affection that look/feel GENUINE between the actors and/or actresses. In the case of Blankets, we have a cartoonist whose drawings of the two lovers displaying affection – often moved me. I also loved it when “Raina” sings The Cure’s AWESOME song “Just Like Heaven” to Thompson. So it’s clear Thompson is looking back with longing. I kinda know that sentiment – though I’ve never had a lover. I just have a bad habit of looking back mournfully on my youth (which I wasted). There’s various reasons I became an anarchist – one is sadness over my past (as strange as that sounds).

Also, when a romance movie is of two lovers who have known each other from childhood, grow up together, then become romantically involved as adults – that’s possibly my favourite kind of storyline I love to see in a romance movie. Well, Blankets is of two lovers who are in high school when they first meet – and their romance is deeply moving, though tragic (one lover hopes for more from their romance than the other wants). I’ve been a recluse most of my life – so I pretty much only know women that I’ve known since my childhood. However, those women (as far as I can tell) are focused on their future – and I am only an acquaintance from their past. Clearly, I REALLY need to hit the dating websites WAY more often.

After reading Blankets, I was able to see the importance various blankets had in various stages of Thompson’s life – so NOW I say it’s the PERFECT title for his graphic memoir. Blankets is sad. But I hope Thompson will one day have a “cliched romance movie happy ending” – if he hasn’t already. I hope the same for his first lover, “Raina”. Fingers crossed! Ⓐ