{"id":3641,"date":"2012-01-05T10:57:44","date_gmt":"2012-01-05T16:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/?p=3641"},"modified":"2012-01-05T11:01:33","modified_gmt":"2012-01-05T17:01:33","slug":"the-book-pile-habibi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2012\/01\/05\/the-book-pile-habibi\/","title":{"rendered":"The Book Pile: Habibi"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I’ll just go ahead and say it: I think Craig Thompson’s Habibi<\/em> is one of the best — if not the <\/em>best — examples of graphic novels as a medium.<\/p>\n

It blurs the lines of time and place, it uses traditional comic book panels and many design elements to carry the story, and it ends in a way that is everything the book is about.<\/p>\n

Graphic Novels vs. Collections<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When I say graphic novel, I mean graphic novel<\/em>. The only comic books I have as bulky as Thompson’s 665-page Habibi<\/em> are the Daredevil Omnibuses, published by Marvel. Some people call those graphic novels, but they aren’t — they are collections.<\/p>\n

The comic book geek in me just has to clarify that.<\/p>\n

Habibi<\/em> was created to be read as one large work — not a collection of shorter releases.<\/p>\n

So What’s the Deal?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Habibi<\/em> is the story of two slaves in the Middle East: Dodola and Zam. Despite some harsh violence and tough times for the two that some people have found unsettling, there’s still a lot of magic in the book: the ways the two characters move through time — in and out of each others lives; the locations in the book, sometimes seeming like a fantasy world based on Middle Eastern design and lore — other times harkening to the construction of modern cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi; the way Thompson slings ink and designs panels and pages.<\/p>\n

It’s an awe-inspiring book to hold in one’s hands, and while there are times the scenes and story seem like a bit more of the same violence and trials, good writers often put their characters through hell. I won’t spoil the ending, but I was happy for the characters, and loved the last two-page spread ending the story.<\/p>\n

Brought a tear to me eye and a smile to my face.<\/p>\n

Is It Really the Best Example of the Medium?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I said Habibi <\/em>is one of the best — if not the <\/em>best — examples of a graphic novel. I say this for a variety of reasons.<\/p>\n

While there were some sections of dialogue that seemed forced, and even some scenes that seemed just a bit much, that happens (even in some of my favorite novels). As a whole, Habibi<\/em> combines story, writing, art, and design in ways few graphic novels do.<\/p>\n

It’s an ambitious book, and Thompson pulls it off.<\/p>\n

There are graphic novels I’ve read that I liked more than Habibi<\/em>, but none that are the shining example of the medium that Habibi<\/em> is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ll just go ahead and say it: I think Craig Thompson’s Habibi is one of the best — if not the best — examples of graphic novels as a medium. It blurs the lines of time and place, it uses traditional comic book panels and many design elements to carry the story, and it ends […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[22,26,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3641"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3641\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}