This cartoon is by Jeremy. Who is Jeremy? I really don’t know. Jeremy is just some guy I came across via GoodReads when he weighed in on Blankets:
Unless it comes with a device that magically produces a boundless supply of delicious cookies when I verbally specify into a tiny speaker what kind I want, I seriously doubt that I will ever read a better graphic novel than “Blankets”.
Does it help that I came of age during the ’80s with a fundamentalist Christian family in a small town? It certainly enhanced my enjoyment, but judging from the reviews I’ve seen here and elsewhere, a scant, detestable few have failed to find anything of value in Thompson’s wonderful story, regardless of their upbringing. That’s right: if you didn’t enjoy this book, I am angry at you, and I don’t like you very much. You have effectively negated any good deeds you may have performed in your life thanks to your failure to acknowledge this fine book as a masterpiece. Way to go, numbnuts.
I had intended to write a much nicer review than this but now I’m too angry because for the past ten minutes I’ve been imagining scenarios in which people tell me they found the book to be corny and sappy, whereupon I stab their eyes repeatedly with pointy rocks, screaming “ALLOW ME TO DESTROY THESE AS THEY CLEARLY HAVE DONE YOU NO GOOD! THIS IS A SERVICE TO YOU! PLEASE STOP SCREAMING! DON’T YOU LIKE HELP?!?!?”
Jeremy likes to post random bits of his Maine existence: curious garage sale finds; the forgotten frontiers of pop-culture; music, of course; and old comics scrawled in notebooks years ago, like the one posted above. And the ones posted here.
I think about Jeremy sometimes. He reminds me of many a first friend. He reminds me of teenage summer afternoons spent amusing ourselves with a regular rotation of iced coffees, taco bell, and camel lights. Creativity without target, unharnessed brain cycles spinning, spinning, spinning… and for what? Where are we now? What was that Jeremy…?
Work! It’s what there is!
Well then, here we are. I’m trying to make the best of it, and frankly it’s been going a lot better for me now that I’ve let some more of those unharnessed brain cycles do a little untargeted spinning. Jeremy, if you’re ever in town and need to use the john, stop by. And stick around if you can — the first beer’s on me. Life’s better with guys like you around.
