Craig Thompson defends 'Habibi's "Orientalism"

Craig Thompson has spoken out against critics of Habibi's apparent "Orientalism".

The Blankets cartoonist's long-awaited graphic novel has been criticised by some reviewers for its Orientalist use of the tropes and stereotypes of Arab and Islamic culture, particularly its depiction of women and slavery.

Thompson explained that the book was intended as a genre piece during an interview with Nadim Damluji of The Hooded Utilitarian.

"I don't want to repeat myself, but I keep saying that the book was a conscious mash up between the sacred medium of holy books like the Qur'an and the Bible and the trashy medium of comic books," said Thompson.

"And I was keeping in sight this sort of unpretentious, self-deprecating, lowbrow motivation of comics.

"As for the charge of Orientalism, I knew it was going to come up no matter what, so why not embrace it? More broadly, I've always liked genres that have a degree of exploitation to them, like horror films. They play on these really crass and appealing elements that also exist in 1,001 Nights or French Orientalist paintings.

"It was fun to think of Orientalism as a sensationalised genre like cowboys and Indians, which is a very poor representation of the reality of the American West, but fun to think of as a fantastical genre."

Thompson said that he "thought of [Orientalism] as a genre that would be fun to work in like Superheroes, Science Fiction or Noir".

Habibi is available now.