Asterios Polyp - David Mazzucchelli

I first saw 'Asterios Polyp' in a haze at a friend's friend's place. I took to adjusting the cover mindlessly and put it down without a read. It seemed heavy and I was more interested in Moore's 'Promethea' series on display in the shelves, which too I did not read. Anyhow, this is what I got, or rather chose as a belated birthday gift.

It took me two sittings to swallow the novel; will probably take me a few iterations to digest it. It was quite engrossing. It was truly graphic in the sense that the visuals were equally responsible for portraying the story as were the words used. Mazzucchelli deserves a thumping pat on the back for pulling it off by himself. 'Asterios Polyp' is an experience that he takes us through. It is more than a story; it is more than just art. One is left free to roam in his pages and understand the references that he leaves around. Reading this book was interactive and I think that is the real beauty of it. The plot was a little weak but then those weaknesses were easily overlooked in favour of the exceptional design.

The story is of a successful architect whom we meet on a rather unfortunate day of his. He has turned fifty and his house catches fire as a lightning crashes into his building. The narration takes turns to tell of his life thence and his life until. His past is narrated by his twin brother who died at birth and who dominates his thoughts. From the very beginning the reader is presented with a lot of contradictory aspects of Asterios' nature. Asterios leaves his messy apartment with three tokens of his past and leaves on a greyhound bus to a place as far as the money in his wallet could take him, Apogee. Here he takes up work as a car mechanic and lives with his employer's family. In the background his past life and troubled but happy marriage are slowly brought to light. We see Asterios gradually lose his hubris and reform himself into a much more agreeable person over this "Odyssey" that he undertakes.

I really liked reading 'Asterios Polyp'. I have not diverged much from Moore in the graphic novel world but this one was quite worth it. I will return to the point of movie like experience that Mazzucchelli takes you through. His work is very fluent and has a depth that can be uncovered in parts; specially the references to the Greek tragedies. Mazzucchelli has written another graphic novel but I am thinking that I would go for one of his more hailed works next. 'Batman : Year One' with Frank Miller.