Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli (ISBN:0307377326)

English (US)

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		Asterios Polyp
	
				(16 reviews)			
(128 Readers)

			David Mazzucchelli		
	
The triumphant return of one of comics’ greatest talents, with an engrossing story of one man’s search for love, meaning, sanity, and perfect...more
 The triumphant return of one of comics’ greatest talents, with an engrossing story of one man’s search for love, meaning, sanity, and perfect architectural proportions. An epic story long awaited, and well worth the wait. Meet Asterios Polyp: middle-aged, meagerly successful architect and teacher, aesthete and womanizer, whose life is wholly upended when his New York City apartment goes up in flames. In a tenacious daze, he leaves the city and relocates to a small town in the American heartland. But what is this “escape” really about? As the story unfolds, moving between the present and the past, we begin to understand this confounding yet fascinating character, and how he’s gotten to where he is. And isn’t. And we meet Hana: a sweet, smart, first-generation Japanese American artist with whom he had made a blissful life. But now she’s gone. Did Asterios do something to drive her away? What has happened to her? Is she even alive? All the questions will be answered, eventually.In the meantime, we are enthralled by Mazzucchelli’s extraordinarily imagined world of brilliantly conceived eccentrics, sharply observed social mores, and deftly depicted asides on everything from design theory to the nature of human perception.Asterios Polyp is David Mazzucchelli’s masterpiece: a great American graphic novel.   less

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Showing 10 of 16 reviews

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Masterpiece.

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Illustration is completely integral to text, to story.  More than just an illustrated novel, Mazzucchelli shows us all how it's done-- or should be done.

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Incredibly well thought through and drawn.

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
I identify with both the main character and his gf.

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							Mark
						
							few weeks ago						
Fair warning: my review will be colored by how happy I am to see David Mazzucchelli return to making comics. He was one of my fanboy heroes back in the (gulp) 80s, and  "Rubber Blanket" and "City of Glass" were two of the very few comics I thought fully lived up to the potential of the medium. This return is FANTASTIC, easily as good as I had hoped it would be. He is...more
 Fair warning: my review will be colored by how happy I am to see David Mazzucchelli return to making comics. He was one of my fanboy heroes back in the (gulp) 80s, and  "Rubber Blanket" and "City of Glass" were two of the very few comics I thought fully lived up to the potential of the medium. This return is FANTASTIC, easily as good as I had hoped it would be. He is absolutely one of the most visually inventive comics creators out there, and certainly one of the few who handles "alternative" comics material without turning it into a snorefest. My only (very small) gripe is that at its core, the plot is a kind of Woody Allen rehash. But this book is 1000% better than the average comic, and built from page after page of extremely well-crafted, beautiful work. Man, it's good to have him back!   hide

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							John
						
							few weeks ago						
An absolutely brilliant little comedy of remarriage that works on so many levels. It could easily be a companion to the comics textbooks of McCloud or Wolk, as there is a tremendous inventiveness in the division of space, the pacing, the coloring, and the fracturing of the narrative. It also has subtextual references to the Odyssey throughout, and metatextual examinations of art through an...more
 An absolutely brilliant little comedy of remarriage that works on so many levels. It could easily be a companion to the comics textbooks of McCloud or Wolk, as there is a tremendous inventiveness in the division of space, the pacing, the coloring, and the fracturing of the narrative. It also has subtextual references to the Odyssey throughout, and metatextual examinations of art through an artistic medium. All claims of heaviness and significance aside, this is primarily a colorful funny quest with ample romance and deeply wrought characters.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Especially for readers of a certain age, namely 50+, this graphic novel pushes the right buttons. The characters might be hard for many of us to relate to, but the story still comes through. 

Although the graphics lack the typical heavy inking and bright colors of a comic book, they are enhanced by techniques that really convey the emotional content of the cell. The artist does a good job of...more
 Especially for readers of a certain age, namely 50+, this graphic novel pushes the right buttons. The characters might be hard for many of us to relate to, but the story still comes through. 

Although the graphics lack the typical heavy inking and bright colors of a comic book, they are enhanced by techniques that really convey the emotional content of the cell. The artist does a good job of creating a graphic "vocabulary" for this novel that helps build continuity throughout.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
It was great to read an indie book (non-Vertigo, Marvel, etc...), and even better to read something that was made for the graphic novel instead of a series of comics.

This book was truly amazing when compared with other graphic novels I've read recently.  It has a bit of a Will Eisner feel as far as the ilustration goes, but the characters are much more multi-dimensional and unpredictable, the...more
 It was great to read an indie book (non-Vertigo, Marvel, etc...), and even better to read something that was made for the graphic novel instead of a series of comics.

This book was truly amazing when compared with other graphic novels I've read recently.  It has a bit of a Will Eisner feel as far as the ilustration goes, but the characters are much more multi-dimensional and unpredictable, the storytelling is vague in a cool David Lynch kind of way, and the pace of the book is innovative.

The story is highly cerebral and plays with deception and emotion (of both the characters and the reader).  Much of the book happens in nightmare sequences, and near the end I'm not sure what is real and what is dream.   hide

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							Bill
						
							few weeks ago						
I've seen some great graphic novels in my time but this is one of the very best.  Your head will swim from the way the author moves back and forth through time, the past mingling with the present.  Keep an eye on this author because you'll want to remember his name.

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							Maureen
						
							few weeks ago						
I need to read this again and again to really look at what Mazzuchelli is doing because I know that there is a lot going on and a lot I missed as I focused on the narrative and text more than the images. He is doing some metaphysical stuff with art I think. I'll get back to you as soon as I re-examine this and discuss it with others. Very, very interesting graphic novel if you really understand...more
 I need to read this again and again to really look at what Mazzuchelli is doing because I know that there is a lot going on and a lot I missed as I focused on the narrative and text more than the images. He is doing some metaphysical stuff with art I think. I'll get back to you as soon as I re-examine this and discuss it with others. Very, very interesting graphic novel if you really understand and appreciate the comics medium.   hide

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