![]() In the example below, Asterios Polyp is drawn in a flat, modernist style, reminiscent of his utilitarian approach to design as well as his sharp, unwavering – and often pig-headed – decisiveness. In certain instances, characters are drawn in a variety of styles, each one a representation of their own worldview. The book’s narrator, Asterios’ dead-at-birth twin brother, puts the question to us verbally, while Mazzucchelli the cartoonist presents the possibilities visually. Suffice it to say that Mazzucchelli takes a character who is, at first glance, a smug, self-absorbed ass, and slowly reveals depths to his character which make you at least pause to reconsider your initial impressions.Īlong the way, you’re asked to consider just how possible it is for people to change their outlook on not just another person but the world in general. Its eponymous “hero” is buffeted about by fate, taken for a turn on Fortune’s wheel, tested like Job, and ultimately found – ah, but that would be telling. A bravura piece of formalist comics storytelling, Asterios Polyp is nevertheless a story rich in heart. ![]() If writing about music is like dancing about architecture, what is writing about a comic about an architect? A damned difficult business, if that book is David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp. ![]()
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