Book of the Month
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Size: pages
Price: 29.95
About a month ago, the comic book pros and fans started uttering this strange pair of words with a mixture of awe, reverence, and glee. Blogs and Twitter posts alike began repeating something that sounded like an infection you might get at one of the souvlaki places in my neighborhood. You might even have come across these two strange sounding world.
Asterios Polyp.
The perpetrator of this immediate masterpiece was none other than David Mazzucchelli. If you were to ask most of the folks reading comics these days if they knew that name, you’d get a resounding, “Yes! ” followed by some praise. If you were to then press the issue, and ask what he’s known for, you’d hear a lot of Batman: Year One, and precious little else. Of course, that particular book came out more than 20 years ago. I am among those who would answer in such a way. I couldn’t name a thing he’s done other than that. I do know that he’s taught cartooning, and doesn’t do interviews. I know that, and that many consider him a genius, presumably for books most of us haven’t read. Before you think you’ve missed out on too much, Asterios Polyp is considered Mazzucchelli’s first graphic novel.
So when Asterios Polyp hit, seemingly out of nowhere, it created a buzz I haven’t seen in a long time. I quickly decided that I didn’t want to know anything about the book until I got my hands on it. Luckily most of the comments I read about it were extremely vague, and by the time I cracked it open, I really didn’t know a thing. What I did know is that people were tossing around some mighty big praise for this book, and once you start hearing all of that, you can carry a lot of baggage into a reading experience, and it will mess with your pure reception of the work due to all that expectational baggage. “It was mind blowing! ” “It’s a game changer! ” “Graphic Novel of the year! ” “You won’t be able to stop reading it! ” And so on and so forth. I was a bit worried, and didn’t know what to expect, but I know I didn’t want to read any sort of abstract treatises or metaphysical experimentation. It turns out, that wasn’t what it was at all.
In short, Asterios Polyp is about a man named, as it turns out, Asterios Polyp. He’s an architect who is very famous and respected throughout the world of architecture, but has never actually had one of his designs made into a real building. The story is told in a disjointed time frame, and we flash to various points in the past and present as we learn about the course of Asterios’ personal life and career. That’s really about it. It’s not all that complicated or abstract. It’s a story that wouldn’t ever be made into a movie. Well maybe a small movie; something with Patricia Clarkson and Bill Macy that only plays in theaters in 4 cities. The point is, the basic premise is incredibly mundane. Other than some surreal dream sequences, the whole thing is straightforward, and takes place in our world.
Most of the book takes place following Asterios and learning more about him, faults and all. He’s certainly not a “hero” figure in the book, and is a deeply flawed human, despite being incredibly smart and educated, he’s kind of a jerk. For me, the most engaging part of this book was the character himself who, quite frankly, reminds me of the worst parts of myself. There are certainly times in my life when I’m too smart for my own good, or at least think I am. For a portion of the story, Asterios is constantly competing with everyone around him to be the smartest guy in the room, and it gets away from him, where he just ends up mean. I take it as a comment on the insular nature of some academia, especially since he’s been teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design and the School of Visual Arts for a while. He is balanced by Hana, the love interest, who is also academic artist, but displays a lot more humanity and vulnerability than Asterios, and grounds his character quite a bit, calling it out when he’s being an asshole and exposing that his attitude can be hurtful.
So what’s the big deal? That’s not nearly as easy a question to answer. Reading this, I think the big deal is really much more about the “how” than the “what”. As you travel through the world of the book, you find yourself noticing the styles and designs changing frequently, and that leads you to think about why Mazzucchelli is making the choices he is. I would presume that an artist as capable and thoughtful as Mazzucchelli is making choices for a reason. For example, all of Asterios’ dialog is framed in a rectangular word balloon, as opposed to Hana’s more rounded balloons. In fact, as far as I can tell, every character has their own style of dialog lettering as one more way to indicate what sort of a character they are. The color palette is another constantly shifting aspect of the book; sometimes down to individual panels on a page. Other sections are entirely monochromatic. The only constant through the book is the purple color, which is used on every page. Layouts vary from very standard panels to to more dynamic esoteric pages, depending on what’s needed in the scene. While the character models are consistent throughout, the drawings can vary greatly. At times, they’re extremely neat, with clean, simple lines, and other times, the designs shift completely. In one scene about a fight between Asterios and Hana, she becomes a red sketchy, crosshatched life-drawing, where he is composed of visible geometric blocks all in blue, to show the battle of heart vs. head going on. There are more visual tactics going on in this book than in almost anything I’ve ever read, and experience of reading Asterios Polyp is constantly reading these visual signals and cues, and trying to decide how to decipher them, from literal to abstract. The design of the book indicates incredible thoughtfulness, and in the end, really adds personality and soul, when done badly it might just seem like overly clever gimmickry.
In the end, Asterios Polyp really does live up to the hype, and you can expect to hear this book get nominated for a lot of awards in the coming year. I want to say that it might not be for everyone, but in truth, I feel as if there’s value in reading this book for any comic book reader interested in the malleability of the medium of comics, and what they can really do. If you’ve made it all the way through the concepts discussed in this review, the chances are, you will get something out of this book, and I have a feeling that what you get out of Asterios Polyp is going to vary greatly from person to person, and what sorts of things you’re interested in. The great thing about it is that it’s a deep well to dig from, and the book has much to offer. I suspect re-readings will continue to give more as well, which is good, because Asterios Polyp is going to be around for a long time, spoken of the same breath as many of the gold standard graphic novels out there. However, it exists as a singularly unique reading experience in which I highly recommend you partake. You’ll certainly learn something about the art of the comic book, but there’s also a very human, very relatable story in these pages.
Josh Flanagan
Seriously, why did he draw his head like that? I don’t know!
josh@ifanboy.com
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The guys from 11 O’clock comics did a really good review of this book which made me go out there and track it down straight away. As mentioned in your article this book is a game changer, a realisation that comics can be more than just a narrative placed in a visual medium but that the way you lay out pages and the non-linear way that the story is told is possibly a story that can only be told as a comic. This is the book that embodies Scott McClouds "Understanding Comics", and by that I mean that you experience this book between the words, the images, the pages in general. Your mind, the mind of the reader is just as important as the story being told on the page.
Book of the YEAR!
Pretty sensational stuff, finished last week. Very well written piece Josh.
This is a really amazing book. We have fairly complete annotations for any who are interested in learning a little more. http://stumpnotes.blogspot.com/
Read this at a Barnes and Noble last week; love about 99.9% what was in it. It’s definitely a masterpeice by Mazzucchelli in terms of the art he did more then the story. Just loved how different each chapter of the book was and the designs only got more unqiue as the book went on.
But I have to stress this and I mean it in no bad light. The ending was very dark and depressing for my tastes. I won’t say what happens to anyone who hasn’t read it, but hopefully you guys know what I’m talking about. It’s the final two page spread that literally made me say ‘oh shit’ at the store when reading this. I think Mazz went a bit too far with that ending and yes he does hint at it through out the book…..but it’s really a dark joke to end on a fantastic story.
No lie, I found that ending romantic and hopeful.
Be careful with the spoilers please. I want people to be able to read and enjoy the book.
This also reminds me of Josh’s article about loving comics for being comics and not fodder for film adaptations. You could capture some of this in animation (imagine Chuck Jones), but ultimately, even more than with Watchmen, Asterios Polyp is definitively a comic book. Every aspect of the design is integral to the work. The word balloons aren’t simply compromises for the lack of audio. Those are storytelling elements. No hyperbole, it’s a masterpiece.
@josh: I’m not gonna spoil it, I’m trying to dance around it as much as possible.
I’m just gonna state (like a final post on the subject) that the ending didn’t make me hate the book. It’s just a big swerve that I didn’t see coming in the 300+ pages I read beforehand.
I think his head is shaped like that because it’s as symmetrical a profile as you can get while still having an austere snoz.
i called it! really great book. unfortunately, i’m still waiting on my order to come in.
This is a fantastic book. I’m really excited to see it getting some love on the site. I’m definitely purchasing my copy (I read a library copy) with the extra Instocktrades discount.
To those who think they may have got spoiled by ending talk:
It’s all up to interpretation.
Personally I thought the ending was happy, and the "thing" that has people saying it wasn’t was to show a certain absurdity in a type of worldview.
I LOVE Mazzucchelli and he seriously killed it on this.
Great review; I’m looking forward to when I’ll have a chance to pick this up.
This is a no-brainer and should be read and enjoyed multiple times throughout your lifetime.
Something else that Mazzuccheli did that is fantastic is his run on Daredevil with Frank Miller called "Born Again." It’s my favoritest DD story of all time.
Seriously, book of the year. If you’re looking for a book that keeps on giving with mulitple reads, this is it. I can’t wait to give this book another go around in a bit!
This along with Parker are highlights of the year. I have not seen either since I read them because they are constantly out on loan to all of my friends and coworkers. Hopefuly they can lure these people into viewing comics in a different light.
The story got better and better as we learned more about Asterios and Hana and thought it ended abruptly (and very unexpectedly). Overall the story was very moving, but this book’s strength is the art and design, it took me while to finish this book due to its perfect color pallete, character design, and layout, from cover to cover it can’t be topped in terms of aesthitics. Hell, even the cover jacket was awesome. I got some other books I need to read but so far this is book of the year for me.
Also Josh, I’ll be the dick that says, uh….daredevil:born again.
I was also not a fan of the ending.
Personally it’s a touch call between this and Parker for BOTY.
I think Parker is better by a very narrow margin.
By ‘touch’ I mean ‘tough’. Sorry folks
Damn, i need to read this now. I read the adapted ‘City of Glass’ recently and that was awsome. i’m pretty sure Mazzucchelli had sumthin to do with that.
I talked with Cooke at Fanexpo and even he said he preferred Polyp to Parker 🙂 He didn’t realize they came out at the same time and kind of (jokingly) wished that he’d pushed Parker back a few weeks to get out of the Polyp limelight and obvious comparisons a bit.
Couldn’t find a copy at Dragon*Con, but Amazon appears to have it in stock. I need to grab this and Parker.
@Paul – I can’t take anything you say seriously with that winking avatar you have.
I cut the hell out of my monthly pull-list, mostly so I could justify/afford Cooke’s Hunter and Asterios Polyp. I’m still waiting for a month or so to let the savings build up before I splurge on both of them, but these back-to-back Book of the Month features have reinvigorated my excitement for both.
Can somebody send a copy of this to the woman who wrote that Farenheit 451 article trashing comics? I doubt it’d do anything to change her mind, but it’s worth a try. Isn’t it? (Yes, I know it’s futile.)
I was planning on reading the first chapter of this when I picked it up last month, and then setting it down to write my masters thesis (oddly enough, on comics). Three hours later, I was still reading it, thesis be damned. This is a book that will stay with me. Awesome, beautiful, well structured. It did things with the page that we’re only starting to see in America (see, Benoit Peeter’s "Four Conceptions of the Page") or haven’t seen since Eisner, really. This is a book that will stay with me. There is a certain filmic quality to the book, but it would defy being adapted, I think.
A nice note was the New York Times review of this, which was glowing, as well as declaring it the best New York story to come out in two decades.
Great review. This book is incredible. I find new things on every read (or thumb) through. Even trying to explain it to multiple people I’ve found more in the story than I originally felt was there. The message seems to be as deep and nuanced as the aesthetics. I love it.
this looks so cool. the artwork looks amazing. i cant wait to try to find it!!
I think the ones calling "game changer" on this are those of us trying to make comics. I rushed through the last pages, dying to pick up my sketchbook and explore the new crevice where my brain had been torn. I found this utterly illuminating and inspiring.
This makes me sound cheap, but is Instocktrades.com not doing the 40-45% discount on the book of the month? I was hoping to pick this gem for that discounted price, but so far there’s no update on their site.
They’re currently out of stock and Diamond is backordered on this book everywhere from what I understand.
A truely fantastic book. The first comic that has lead me to feel like I’m not sure if I "get" everything that is happening. I can’t wait to re-read it all. The page that Josh highlights (the fight between Asterios and Hana) blew me away. That scene is emotional and amazing and the artwork is just beyond anything I’ve ever seen in cartooning. This is a book I will recommend to all my college profs that were even a little interested in comics.
I’m not sure how I felt about the ending. I think it fit perfectly but I think I can find hope and romance in it now that Paul brings it up. It’s oddly peaceful.
@josh~ Thanks for the update. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for a copy and snatch it up.
I’ve heard such great things about this book. I’m definitly gonna have to look into getting it.
Yes Ron’s recommendation got me on this. It was fantastic. The visuals were so advanced at points that it was annoying to try and figure out why he was using them. The wacky bits were really good, but it annoyed me that I couldn’t get the meaning of them right off. I’ll have to read it again. Parker was good, but this is miles better. I’m going to let a lot of people borrow this. The book was made entirely from recycled paper, which was obviously a good touch. Amd the ending killed me.
so far: 2009 is the year of the graphic novel! so much great stuff has come out this year. it’ll be tough to decide the book of the year.
Just finished Polyp and it’s a masterpiece of comic storytelling. While i wasn’t blown away by the story itself, you can’t argue with the art and design. truly jawdropping
when is the booksplode coming out?
Later.
All the people who’ve been enjoying Asterios Polyp should check out Mazzucchelli’s earlier masterpiece City of Glass his adaptation of the Auster novella.
Good review, Josh. Certainly wants me to seek it out.
I read this last night in one sitting, and at the end I felt like crying. Not just because of the emotional content, but because I felt that I had just experienced something that was damn near perfection. This book has a great story, but never forgets that it is Art. I don’t know about any other artists that read the book, but I definitely felt like putting my art supplies on ebay. Talk about raising the bloody bar, sheesh. I could talk about this book for days, and I am so grateful that it exists.
Can i be the lone dissenter? I think AP is a really fascinating book, it’s long in a way comics usually don’t get to be and certainly Mr. Mazzuccelli has masterful eye for design but I have to say I found the art a little frustrating. he has this reductionist approach reminds me a lot of Chris Ware after the Jimmy Corrigan stuff. I get that these are experiments in cartooning theory but I guess knowing what an amazing illustrator Mr. Mazzuccelli has proven to be in the past, it’s kind of like when a great writer just improvises, you feel a little like you’re left expecting a little more. Also, I feel like there are a lot of Acme Novelty Library touches and while it’s unfair to say that anyone who adds a "AND . . ." or "STILL" to their text is copying but I feel like on the same token people are very quick to point out when another artist like Greg Land is ‘swiping’ from another artist. I feel it indicates that while Mr. Mazzuccelli is definitely a strong storyteller he does at times struggle with is own direction. Most of all while the narrative at the heart of AP is really strong, there are some problems that seem a little difficult to reconcile. The two Asterios (not his twin but the early A in flashback and the later A on the road) seem disconnected and while I admire the DIY spirit of learning to put together a car engine in an afternoon my larger objection is that the roll up your sleeves attitude of the second Asterios bears no resemblance to the petulant ‘theoretical architect’. I also get it that we are observing a man who is undergoing a transformation but I think particularly with this kind of story to see A and C and not show the inbetween is in attentive, do you see what I mean? I feel like, being critical of this book, people accuse you of being churlish or not getting it, I’m a graphic designer and an illustrator, I spent several years studying art theory, I did not feel like this book was over my head, I do however believe that if we are going to mature as a medium we have to be critical as well as welcoming of work that is sophisticated and reaches for more. When I hear people say that he has raised the bar or changed the game, I really struggle. I feel like if you’re really going to raise the bar, show me something I haven’t seen, I feel like this is just an execution of tropes I’ve seen elsewhere (although very solidly executed). To make a movie metaphor, It’s a lot like a Tarantino film, dazzlingly executed for sure, but built on the backs of a lot of work that has come before and at times a little too charmed with its own precociousness. Get what I’m saying?
@JackFoster- I think you’re kind of going out of your way a little bit here. It’s certainly not required that you like a book and certainly nothing should be beyond critical analysis, however I think the Greg Land analogy is not apt. There’s a difference between using a convention, and drawing over existing photos. I too am a graphic designer and illustator, and when I speak of raising the bar, I felt like this as a whole package was wonderful, and something to which I would aspire. Also, I think if you’re looking for something completely new, you’re going to be disappointed. Even Chris Ware’s stuff is preceded by Winsor Mckay’s, and so on. You gotta build on what came before, so what is new? I feel that if you put enough of your own content and style into your work, it’s something new. I see your point about the A to C, but I didn’t feel we needed to see the entirety of B, but again that’s just me and I can see why you’d want to see more of the catalyst for his transformation,if the catalyst wasn’t indeed the lightning bolt epiphany. Sorry if I came off effusive and used a bit of cliche language, I just really dug it.
I urge anyone who loves this book to listen to the 11 o’clock podcast where they go in depth on this book . This podcast, and this podcast ALONE made me buy this book. It is very hard to put into context how one feels about a work like this, but I would say it as surprising, strangely uplifting whilst also being disheartening at the same time. I read this book whilst listening to the 500 days of summer soundtrack and I would have to say it fits perfectly as you have rises and falls and miscommunication and relisation. This mein fruends is a turely great work of art.
@g0ofgnewt – We, um, also did a podcast on it.
@Paul – How do you think I feel? I went to all the trouble to write the review, and it had NOTHING to do with it…
Was this published anywhere? I mean publicly?
I just wanted to say I love this book and try to push it on anyone who reads.