Craig Thompson's Hat Tip to Tolkien

When I walk into graphic novelist Craig Thompson's Southeast Portland studio, he apologizes for the mess. He's serious, though it feels like a joke; I hadn't even known rooms could be this clean. Books are shelved and stacked neatly, no surface seems to have even a hint of dust. Particularly immaculate is his drafting table, from which he's recently cleared the last traces of Habibi, his latest book, and his first since 2004.