Asterios Polyp (Pantheon Graphic Library) Hardcover – July 7, 2009

I always thought that the Eisner award for best letterer was ridiculous. I mean who in the world cares about the lettering. The 2009 award went to David Mazzucchelli and this is the first time I have ever seen lettering that actually impressed me with each character getting a different style to reflect their personalities. In a sense the lettering is symbolic of just how much thought and effort was put into his book. Oh, and Mazzucchelli also won best writer/artist and best new graphic album AND three Harvey awards but who's counting. Mazzucchelli is one of those few artists like Jack Kirby and Keith Giffen who can do it all and excel at everything. Drawing, Inking, Writing, Plotting, Lettering; did he also do the binding? This is an amazing achievement and fully deserving of the accolades it received.The story opens at THE big turning point in the life of Asterios Polyp on the day of his fiftieth birthday. After the existence he knew literally burns to the ground he embarks on a quest to find a new life and indeed there is a dramatic transformation from the old Asterios, whom we are introduced to throughout the book in flashbacks, and his current humbled self. Previously Asterios had been an architect of some renown who never got a single one of his designs ever built. Despite his lack of tangible success Asterios is filled with a self confidence exceeding his achievements and supports himself as a brutal design instructor who has no qualms about giving the most blunt criticism possible to his hapless students. When Asterios begins dating Hana, a Japanese/German art student, he gives her the attention and spotlight she desperately craves but his own inflated ego and self absorption drives a ruinous wedge between them. The relationship between Asterios and Hana is the centerpiece of the story but after the fire Asterios embarks on a lonely journey that sees him working as an auto mechanic and living in a much more urbane setting than the cosmopolitan world of art and architecture he enjoyed in the past.I LOVED this book. It is so thoughtful and so genuine. It is clear that David Mazzucchelli wrote and drew this with a tremendous amount of care and sincerity. Everything and I mean everything from the dialogue to the style of art to the colors used to the naming of characters and of course even to the lettering is well thought out. It has a somewhat retro feel to it as if it were produced in the 1950's with very basic designs and only a handful of colors including a few shades of purple, blue, red and yellow and zero shading. Most frames stick with at most three colors on a white background. Like the lettering the colors are used to reflect the personality of characters and will even change based on their emotions. Again, I cannot stress enough just how much detail went into every aspect of the book.You'll feel like you know the characters because Mazzucchelli gives them such dimensional depth. I read this book cover to cover to my wife and she was riveted. This was one of those books I couldn't wait to finish and once it was done I was sad that it was over. There is also a sub plot about his twin brother Ignazio who died at childbirth. In fact the story is told by Ignazio and is infused with a ton of deep thoughts and philosophy about the world and design, the nature of being and the exploration of the road not traveled including the alternative world where Asterios dies and Ignazio lives. This book immediately makes it near the top of the list of graphic novels I have ever read and I HIGHLY recommend it. Seriously, buy it immediately.

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.

This is a very good book, I'm enjoying it!?

It's such a beautiful book, the drawings, the story ... everything is so well done and created ...it's inovative and smart ...... just loved it, it took me ages to end it ... because i wanted to make the amazing experience of read and "taste" it last as long as i could, now that i've end it ... i already miss it ... ;)It's a must haveRui from Portugal

I really like the art styles in the story, and how the story was presented. I wasn't greatly interested in the story. Just not my type of thing.Edit: I used this book as a reference to examine, compare and contrast muiltple times in university so 10/10.

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.

To call it a comic is very limited. To call it a novel too. Takes the best of both and combines it with great inspiration to give us this book.

One of the best, without a doubt. Buy it!