There are some things only comics can do. There are some things only comics memoirs can do. This issue of Ginseng Roots mixes the two into something even more singular and rare; it’s a truly exceptional reading experience, far and away the best issue of the series so far; it’s going to be very hard to beat given the content, which is sort of the point of the content; Craig Thompson is a very impressive cartoonist. Like, I don’t know how he pulled it off. I spent the entire issue waiting for him to leave the subject—the story of a Hmong kid who grew up parallel to Thompson as a Wisconsin ginseng farmer’s kid—and sticks with it.

The first few pages are setting up the Hmong from Thompson and his family’s perspective. It starts with a harvest season MacGuffin but Thompson spends enough time on it while building towards the main subject, it’s not really a MacGuffin. It’s just the quickest, most edifying way get to go. It’s never hurried (and doesn’t skip things—bringing up racism right away); Thompson’s really good at efficiently setting the ground situation, which is going to play in pretty soon in the juxtapose—but when he moves on to the kid’s story, which starts with the Hmong dad’s story being a Hmong teenager in Laos and the Vietnam War. I turned back a page to make sure, but while I don’t know how Thompson could maintain the intensity of the issue, his segue is observable and worth reading thrice. First, second to confirm, third to appreciate. It’s stunning start to finish. The best comics.

So we get Thompson telling this kid’s story as first person, but with him—Thompson in the comic—listening. Now, the story is an adult’s story, but it’s coming from the fifteen year-old comics version. And it’s about the dad. There are all these layers to it and then Thompson’s already an additional couple comics artifice things goin on (which refer back to previously established ground situation to create a particular reference and effect). It’s just incredible work.

The story comes up to the modern day (so past where we were initially hearing the story in the nineties or whatever when they’re fifteen), with Thompson not just taking the time to cover the Hmong in Wisconsin but also their involvement in the Vietnam War (and the CIA’s involvement in the Vietnam War). And he’s still got time for a sincere, aspirational twist. Thompson tells this story with appropriate reverence. Like I said, it might just be impossible to beat because the historical content is the historical content.

It’s even higher level stuff from Thompson than I was expecting and I’ve been expecting greater and greater things from Ginseng Roots.

It’s such a dark issue. How is it such a dark issue. I mean, it’s clear why it’s a dark issue—creator Craig Thompson juxtaposes the seed process of ginseng with he and his siblings going into high school, getting baptized, and suffering serious abuse, so there’s simultaneous this literal expansive life thing for the seed (and the kids) along with accompanying traumas.

Very dark. But bright and full of amusing moments. Also petrifying ones (Thompson says a lot about being raised by religious parents without saying much about religion).

The art is stunning from the first page, with these intricately composed pages, the “narrative” flowing from page to page as he describes the complicated, years long process of getting from ginseng seed to ginseng plant. In addition to the growing process, there’s also the accompanying work the farmer has to do to plant the seeds, which of course gets covered. There are also some nice textual asides, but it’s mostly a lesson on the seeds.

The issue’s also a lot more lyrical in structure than usual. Even with the long cycle for the seeds, Thompson doesn’t stick too much to the set timeline, sort of easing in and out of it, skipping ahead nine months in as many panels then slowing down to a halt and zooming in to inspect something going on either with the seed or he and his siblings. His parents get to be active (fretting over evil secularism or worse) in a few panels and it’s always part of the flow.

The sister gets a lot more to do than usual (though usually she’s not even present); here, she’s a full sidekick, complete with her own observational asides. But Thompson even distances himself (as a teen), zooming out to look at himself in comparison to his siblings. It’s not until after the home schooling decision Thompson really zooms back in on himself, but it’ll be a story for another issue (or maybe not). Because the story of the seed, and therefore the issue, is coming to a close. It’s incredibly successful and I guess not too bold a move given Ginseng Roots knows its audience; the end comes abruptly but the issue doesn’t feel abrupt. I keep waiting for some zinger as I read the last few pages, fingertips feeling the end near with every page turn, but no. Thompson just does the issue and ends it.

It’s maybe the best way to finish a heavy chapter in a serial.

So good.