ginseng

I'm reading Scott McCloud's book about comic writing and thinking a lot about telling stories visually. Which makes me think about Craig Thompson, and his beautiful story, Blankets, just released in traditional Chinese. The new preface (translation below):


“The closest that the rural Wisconsin town I grew up in got to China was the ginseng crops we exported — the principal agriculture of the region. During the years toiling in the fields, digging up the strangely humanoid ginseng roots, I dreamt of a day I could live as an artist rather than a farmhand. While drawing BLANKETS between 2000 and 2003, my main fear was that readers wouldn’t relate to this insular story of an isolated upbringing in the middle of America. Instead, the book has extended my boundaries — brought this awkward outcast a community across the world."