Ginseng Roots issue 8

Ginseng Roots issue 7 – A young Hmong boy sacrifices his childhood, his education, and his future dreams to help out in the family ginseng gardens. His father is torn between the traditional Hmong customs, shamanism, and his role as a Christian pastor in America. Spring brings unexpected death and mourning, but in fall the harvest must begin again. As markets change, a new generation struggles to continue the ginseng legacy. Profits have shifted to the retail side at the expense of the farmer’s hard labor. Another harvest cycle unearths ghosts in the soil, both ancestral and chemical.

For the first time in his career, Thompson is working in serial form, in a bimonthly comic book series. 

Part memoir, part travelogue, part essay, Ginseng Roots explores class divide, agriculture, holistic healing, the 300 year long trade relationship between China and North America, childhood labor, and the bond between two brothers. An author of world-class with titles as Blankets, Habibi, Space Dumplins.

Highly recommended@De Stripkever!