Craig Thompson's Blog

Happy New Year, Gang! Uncivilized Books just announced subscription deals for my new project, GINSENG ROOTS the series. Special treats (including limited edition prints, collectible box, free shipping) for early birds! Can’t wait to share this journey with you! <www.uncivilizedbooks.com>

GINSENG ROOTS! My next project! For the first time in my “career” I’ll be SERIALIZING as COMIC BOOKS – the form of the medium that imprinted itself on me and my little brother, Phil, as children. Bimonthly, 32 pages, debuting late spring 2019 from Uncivilized Books.

For a decade of our childhood, Phil and I toiled in Wisconsin farms. Weeding and harvesting GINSENG—an exotic medicinal herb that fetched huge profits in China—funded our youthful obsession with comic books. Comics in turn, allowed us to escape our rural, working class trappings.

Part memoir, part travelogue, part essay—all comic book—Ginseng Roots explores class divide, agriculture, holistic healing, the 300 year long trade relationship between China and North America, childhood labor, and the bond between two brothers. 

In Minneapolis this weekend for the AUTOPTIC FESTIVAL! Store event at MOON PALACE BOOKS (3032 Minnehaha Ave.) on Saturday the 18th, 1PM, moderated by Eric Lorberer of RAIN TAXI. And signing at Moon Palace’s booth in the Aria Center on Sunday the 19th, also at 1PM. Hope to see some of you there!

This coming weekend, I’ll be VANCAF comics art festival in Vancouver, BC, promoting the new edition of CARNET DE VOYAGE. Saturday, May 19th, signing from 2-4PM. Sunday, May 20th, spotlight panel 1:30-2:30, signing from 3-5PM. Eager for some overlap with my old friends, Brigitte Findakly and Lewis Trondheim, who both share pages in CARNET! Hope to see some of you there!

Drawn & Quarterly‘s new expanded edition of CARNET DE VOYAGE is in stores everywhere as of today. 32 new pages, larger hardcover format, new cover, back in print after a decade! In Portland, FLOATING WORLD COMICS will be hosting a release party / book signing / presentation: Saturday, April 28th, 5PM! Hope to see some locals there! In the meantime, thanks to all you readers, internationally, for supporting this humble travel diary!

After laying dormant for far too long, I’m touring again – this time to South Korea for the Bucheon International Comics Festival (their twentieth year!) July 19th-23rd, 2017, and a store event at Book By Book in Seoul on July 22nd, and plenty of promotion for the Open Books/Mimesis editions of my books. Hope to see some of you there!

BEDSTOCK is an important event for a crucial cause that I had the honor of participating in in a last-minute, lo-fi capacity. Help out those kids stuck in bed on #givingtuesday. BEDSTOCK

One last SPACE DUMPLINS event on the docket: Free Comic Book Day at the Federal Bar in North Hollywood, Saturday, May 7th. This is a fundraiser for LA Children’s Hospital, LA+USC Children’s Hospital, City of Hope Children’s Cancer Unit and Elizabeth’s Canvas organized by Blastoff Comics.

After that, I’m moving on from “all-ages” to work again on “serious”, “literary”, “adult” “graphic novels”.

In the meantime, the release valve for my silly, cartoony energies is a platform of spontaneous, collaborative animations cooked up with my little brother, Phil, called TRACTORBEAMS. Check out the soft launch at instagram and tractorbeams.tv.  (“TV”, not “.com”… couldn’t get that one.)

Fans of BLANKETS may recognize “Eyebrow Fairy”…

Thank you to everyone who made it to the events in France, Belgium, Germany, UK, Corsica, Italy, and Spain. Over 22 cities in 45 days. Promotional tour is complete; Now it’s time to push my baby from the nest and let it fly on its own. More importantly, time to get started on something new.

Thank you, too, for the piles of great fan art. Here’s a couple of samples: Leonardo D’Angeli (above) and Mar Mascaró (below). Oh, and at the very top, Veronica Carratello in Milan and Inigo from Bilbao.

Grazie to all the fans who made it to the Italian events, which wrapped last night in La Spezia.

See below, tour dates for this week in SPAIN.

12th of April, Tuesday: MADRID. 7 pm. Presentation/signing with Pedro Monje at Ciudadano Grant Bookshop, Miguel Servet 21

13th of April, Wednesday: BILBAO. 7 pm. Presentation/signing with Koldo Azpitarte at Joker Bookshop, Euskalduna, 7

14th of April, Thursday: BARCELONA. 7 pm. Talk with Pepe Gálvez at Gigamesh Bookshop, carrer de Bailèn, 8

15th of April, Friday: BARCELONA. 7 pm. Presentation/signing with David Fernández at Norma Cómics Bookshop, passeig Sant Joan, 9

Photo of Jannel, Anna, Chiara, Giulia (Emma not present?) my stage interviewers at the talk in Mantova at Sala Deli Stemmi (in cooperation with Festivalletteratura di Mantova).