false 4070095 1 <b>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. <br></b><br>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? <br><br>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.<br><br>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.<br><i><br>Asterios Polyp</i> is David Mazzucchelli’s masterpiece: a great American graphic novel. 4117200 7 7 2009 Asterios Polyp total:437|5:200|4:171|3:60|2:5|1:1| 437 1875 762 132 4 6 false false Fri Jul 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 10:05:17 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 18:49:26 -0700 2009 Asterios Polyp is a daunting experience. Or maybe not so much the reading, which can be accomplished easily enough, but the being able to speak sensibly about it afterward. I feel kind of like how I did after finishing 2666, only not quite so out of my depth. Like Bolaño, Mazzucchelli's work...more...]]> 4 4 false false Wed Jul 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 20:27:07 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 20:19:36 -0700 2009 Asterios Polyp is quite a thing. A book that uses formalism in a way that is pleasing to the eye, buoyed by a story and characters pleasing to the mind (though I guess the art pleases both). Mazzucchelli has populated this book with a varied cast: narcissistic (and often insuf...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Oct 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 04:24:54 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 04:25:59 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Oct 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 18:07:15 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 18:26:31 -0700 2009
The story is about a fifty-year-old architect Asterios Polyp who starts a self-discovery journey. Asterios Polyp is arrogant, irritable and an ar...more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Oct 09 13:32:02 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 09 13:44:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Oct 08 13:10:52 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 08 14:48:04 -0700 2009
Mazzucchelli is so on top of his game here, his technique something to truly marvel at -- and, unfortunately for me, it's also the thing that stood in the way of me being able to connect with any of the characters in an emotional way.
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Mazzucchelli (yes, the same dude who drew Batman back in the day....more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Aug 23 15:56:59 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 15:59:19 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 19:15:54 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 19:16:26 -0700 2009
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It's a fairly simple story when boiled down to its basics. A man, our hero Asterios...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 09 13:05:45 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 09 13:13:10 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Oct 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 16 09:59:41 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 12:07:39 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Sep 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 05:08:31 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 08:20:08 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jul 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 14:18:36 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 07:44:14 -0700 2009
In a scene-by-scene context, Mazzucchelli continues to be a master of c...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Oct 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 03 16:00:12 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 04 11:44:08 -0700 2009 more...]]>