Asterios Polyp (Pantheon Graphic Library)

Having read thousands of comics, I can confidently say none quite compare to this masterful tale. No other comic I've ever encountered has told so poignant and relatable a story using the medium of comics to its fullest extent. I consider this novel a masterpiece of the medium. The artwork is stunning and beautifully helps the narrative, providing even deeper meaning to already meaningful moments. The art and the story are so intertwined, one does not exist without the other. Truly profound, great romance, just a fantastic story.

Everything about this graphic novel is fantastic. The use of color and line are both sparing and clever, and everything is drawn with great intention, echoing the fact that the two main characters are professors of architecture and sculpture. The story is told with a serious of flashbacks, and even minor visual details come back and recur later. This book really does create a new genre of literature; although the story would make an acceptable (if not slightly boring) plain-text novel about the eccentric life of an academic/intellectual, casting it as a graphic novel elevates it to something much, much more. So many elements of the story are enhanced by the use of drawing... it's hard to describe exactly how it happens, but somehow the fusion of text and art ends up being greater than the sum of the parts. I love the fact that both of the main characters are university professors -- there are plenty of jabs at academia, and as college faculty member myself, I resonated with Asterios's own (overly?) analytical experience with and approach to romance. Asterios's character flaws made me smile sometimes with shared humor, once or twice with schadenfreude, and a few times with grim recognition. Add to this layers of symbolism, double-meanings, karmic coincidences, and lovable side-characters, and overall this is a surprisingly brilliant book. Don't let the large (350) page count deter you -- with such sparse text, it goes very fast. Overall, this is the best "serious" (non-fantasy, non-scifi) fiction I have read in the past year, if not past 5 or 10 years. If you've never read a "serious" graphic novel before, definitely read this one as an example of the best of the genre. I originally read my local library's copy, but I bought myself one of my own just so I can return to it and reread it periodically in the future.

A delightful book. The artwork is unique and creative - not what I was expecting from Mazzuchelli's work with Daredevil and Batman. I really enjoyed this.

I'll go more into the story below, but, really, this book is about exploring the comics form in a way you too-rarely see. Main character Asterios is rigid in his beliefs and is often drawn as a mannequin made of cylinders and cubes and the like; his ex, who we meet through flashbacks, is raw emotion and is often drawn as fast sketchy lines in red. The idea of sequential panels is often put aside to tell a bigger whole on a page (of two-page spread). Color has meaning. The shape of a panel often tells a whole story. The layout of a page (or panel), often featuring a polyptychs of a sort (not a coincidence per the character's name, I assure you), explains everything a character is thinking or feeling, with the words adding yet another dimension. The MANNER in which the story is told, and in which it unfolds, could NOT be done in any other medium. There are a LOT of comics, especially graphic novels, out there which are simply sequential panels (City of Glass, to which this has been compared, is just that); Asterios Polyp is more than an exploration of a man who has the realization he's not quite the good man he thought he was; it's an exploration of the comic book form, telling a story in a variety of ways through art and page, often using the page as part of the art. Those are rare things and should be embraced. I read the 2-star reviews and it seems the people who wrote those were expecting a completely different comic book. Fine. Then go buy one. One person states she heard this was a "philosophical" book and is upset that it doesn't detail much about the philosophers mentioned in it. Um...that's not the story. Another person states he didn't like the cartoony style -- then why buy the book? The art is viewable right on the cover. Another states everything here is stereotypical. Sure, the life of a brilliant-full-of-himself-tho'-really-a-good-person architect who by fate loses all of his worldly possessions and accidentally happens upon an understanding of his life -- gosh, I've read that a THOUSAND times. Sigh. The journey of this full-of-himself man, Asterios, is begun through an event beyond his control, an act of god. He ends up doing some self-exploration, and we go along with him as he, or the narrator (his dead/unborn twin brother), shows us what kind of man he is/was. He's actually a well-meaning, albeit full-of-himself sort, the kind of which most of us have met. He's smug and happy to stay in his comfort zone so, as such, he is unable to even see where he goes wrong. He's not a bad guy; just no one had ever pointed out his flaws to him. The narrator is a haunting figure who helps Asterios realize he DOES have control over some aspects of his life -- not all of them, but some. Ultimately this book is about a person going through loss, love, loss and trying to control his life, but the ultimate lesson is that there are only certain things we can actually control. I should also add: this is a BEAUTIFUL cloth hardcover book, with an engraving of the main character on the front and back, and a thick, slick dustcover -- the kind of binding and work you RARELY see anymore. That alone makes this book worth owning.

An outstanding effort from David Mazzuchelli, artist on such memorable works as Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: Year One, the graphic adaptation of Paul Auster's City of Glass, and his late, lamented series, Rubber Blanket. Telling the compelling and provocative story of architect turned vagabond Asterios Polyp, Mazzuchelli's graphic novel delights and disturbs, as readers are treated to vignettes from Polyp's life, from the death of his twin, to his time as a professor of architecture, to his failed marriage, to his days as an auto mechanic. Mazzuchelli's quirky art (Polyp, for instance, looks like a cross between the Dick Tracy villains The Mole and The Brow), innovative page layouts, and creative inking and coloring enhance the intriguing story he has to tell, a story about how one man ultimately reconciles himself to the life he's lived. It's probably too early in his career to label this his magnum opus, but it certainly provides a daunting standard for future works.

Fantastic. Loads of subtle visual touches and art jokes. I laughed and cried which is pretty rare reading a graphic novel. This is a touching story that could only be done in an illustrated format. Wonderful use of the medium and brilliantly executed.

Ich habe diesen "Comic" für meine Freundin als Geschenk gekauft. Nachdem ich es schnell durchgelesen hatte, war ich mir nicht sicher, ob es ihr gefallen würde. Aber sie war begeistert davon. Die Geschichte ist packend und man möchte es in einem Stück durchlesen. Die Zeichnungen sind auch sehr gut, enthalten viel Symbolik. Alles in allem ein wirklich gelungener graphic novel.

A must read...

With clever storytelling, innovative and exciting artwork, intelligent and thought-provoking ideas, AP is one of the best books I've read in a long time. The ending is a real kicker. It's hard to believe that this is Mazzucchelli's first full-length work. Buy it now.

Um projeto cuidadosamente pensado e executado, Asterios Polyp é uma prova do que é possível alcançar em termos de linguagem em um romance gráfico. É simplesmente sensacional!!