Ginseng Roots 1-6

From ages 10 to 20, Craig Thompson (author of Blankets) and his little brother Phil, toiled in Wisconsin farms weeding and harvesting ginseng. The medicinal herb fetched huge profits in China and funded Craig’s youthful obsession with comic books. Comics in turn, allowed him to escape his rural, working class trappings.For the first time in his career, Thompson is serializing his story. Part memoir, part travelogue, part essay—all comic book—Ginseng Roots is a sweeping narrative that unearths surprising connections between class divide, agriculture, holistic healing, the 300-year-long trade relationship between China and North America, childhood labor, and the bond between two brothers.