Asterios Polyp - I can't leave it alone doctor!

A cracked record I may be but this brave soul surely deserves a mention. He's attempted to unpick as much of the book as he has the strength for and given the world study notes for the inevitable time it makes its way onto the English A Level syllabus. How's this for an example:
Page 6, Panel 1. This is Asterios Polyp. The name, Asterios, is probably derivative of the word “asterism.” An asterism is a pattern of stars seen in Earth's sky that is not a constellation (such as Ursa Major). Their mostly simple shapes and few stars make these patterns easy to identify (which Asterios Polyp likes), and thus particularly useful to those just learning to orient themselves when viewing the night sky. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterism_(astronomy))

Hat's off sir.

Presuming On His Senses! Asterios Polyp

Asterios Polyp comes with a certain amount of baggage: That it took so long to complete (a decade) and that David Mazzucchelli's small output as an artist has seen some of the finest books in our shop (Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: Year One, City of Glass). The word anticipation could not be used any more heavily. Unfortunatly with great anticipation comes great expectation. So what do I think of it? Ughhh! Writing something about this book is proving to be an agonizing process. It's such a vast, complex book, rich in themes and ideas and there is so much to talk about that I don't even know where to start. Fortunately it's receiving such wonderful reviews from professional opinion-makers I can drop in some handy links and strongly urge you to take a look at them. Here Mazzucchelli employs the abstract to show strangers making a connection.

   

Here's a nice example of Mazzucchelli conveying an intellectual debate whilst enforcing one of the themes that developes between Asterios and his wife.

   

In any medium, the writer/artist/filmmakers job is to find ways of externalizing their characters motivations whilst telling a compelling enough story. At the same time we hope for some insight into life - not necessarily trying to answer life's eternal riddles (that way pretentiousness lays), but to at least address them. Oh and maybe some attempt to push the boundaries of the chosen medium. Asterios Polyp is all these things. It displays the considerable talent of a creator at the height of his powers. I found it to be a stunning piece of work. Will Mazzucchelli produce another piece of work? Has he anything left to say, such is the depth of this graphic novel? I haven't used the term masterpiece before but I'm willing to make the exception here.

Asterios Polyp

If you're still a little unsold on the idea of taking a look at Asterios Polyp, or if you've already bought a read a copy and would like to know more background about the book, there's an excellent article on the Publishers Weekly website. David Mazzucchelli has kept a dignified distance from publicising Asterios Polyp but there's an interview with Dan Frank and Chip Kidd who were involved in the publishing process.

Get in the know...

Presuming On His Senses! 2009 Review

It's been very a good year for graphic novels with showings from big names such as Alan Moore (1910), Neil Gaiman (Batman: Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader?), Grant Morrison (Batman & Robin), Joe Sacco (Footnotes In Gaza), Robert Crumb (The Book of Genesis). Then there were the creators who were jostling for space in their wake such as Jeff Lemire (Essex County, The Nobody, Sweet Tooth). None more deserving than Emmanuel Guibert who followed up last year's excellent The Professor's Daughter and Alan's War (as well as co-creating the all-ages space pirate series Sardine) with the critically and commercially successful The Photographer.

All good reading. Personally my picks of the year would be lead by Asterios Polyp (Pantheon) from the masterful David Mazzucchelli, The Lagoon (Fantagraphics) by Lilli Carre and Power Up (Image) by Doug Tennapel (click on each title for my previous blog entries about these books). Easily making the list is also Miss Don't Touch Me (published by NBM) by Hubert & Kerascoet who have worked on the Dungeon series. A murder mystery tale set in the 1930's it tells the story of a young lady looking to find the killer of her sister, a trail which leads to a luxury house for call-girls with a side business in S&M dungeons. The art is fabulously expressive, reminiscent of Christophe Blaine and the writing is tight and thoroughly engaging. It's gloriously adult without wallowing in titillation.


And finally if you wish to nourish your mind as well as your spleen my list of favorites from 2009 includes Logicomix (published by Bloombury) written by Apostolos Dowiadis & Christos H. Papadimitriou and with art by Alecos Papadatos & Annie Di Donna. Simple, charming artwork highlights the clarity with which the creators convey the life and work of philosopher, mathematician and logician Bertrand Russell. It's everything you would have wanted a school text book to be by contextualizing and entertaining whilst educating. The book jacket proudly displays it's acclaim from the likes of the Sunday Times, the Guardian, the Independent and the Financial Times.



More please for 2010. SLS

Presuming on his Senses! That Was The Month That Was July

Who could deny that it's been a fantastic July in the world of sequential art? Things may be doom and gloom in the Marvel and DC universes what with the dead rising and villains in charge but the quality of output should be leaving a smile on the readers face.

Blackest Night has already been awarded recognition on our blog for drawing a dramatically dark curtain over the universe but it's worth mentioning again because it is shaping up to be a good event. Yes, it's a little Green Lantern-centric at the moment but it's proving to be a great jumping on point to the DC universe - as the past is literally brought back to life, old continuity clashes with the now.

Whilst DC set about setting up pins, Marvel is sowing the seeds of the fight back against the Norman Osborn reign. Nick Fury is mobilising a new Howling Commando unit in Secret Warriors, one of the stronger comics in the stable and the fugitive storyline in Invincible Iron Man has been doing so well it recently picked up the Eisner award for best ongoing series.

To top it all, both houses have gone all arty-farty with the release of Wednesday Comics and the immenant Marvel's Strange Tales. Fans of the likes of Paul Pope and Jason have an excuse to look at super-heroes and super-hero regulars get some exposure to the likes of Dash Shaw and Kyle Baker. Those familiar with both sides of the coin can get really excited. More happy faces.

In terms of graphic novels we've been graced by the release of an instant classic - that's Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli if you're new to this blog. Also worth mentioning is Parker, Darwyn Cooke's brilliant adaptation of an old-fashioned (i.e. non-PC, so brace yourself) crime/revenge thriller novel. And Tales Designed to Thrizzle by Michael Kuppeman expertly serves up abstract humour - often attempted but rarely a successfully as it is here.

So there you are: reasons to be cheerful. Invite a friend.

As for this week, our designated Exciting Release of the Week award goes to Gigantic Robot by Tom Gould, £13.

Swoon Now! Lint by Chris Ware

Whatever became of those beastly boys who teased and threw snowballs at Rusty Brown as a child granting him another excuse to retreat into his own obsessions? With the momentous release of Acme Novelty Library #20 (Drawn & Quarterly) Chris Ware performs an autopsy on one such character, Jordan Lint, spreading his heart, muscles and veins onto the page to be analysed. The storytelling is typically conveyed with Ware's detached eye but the scope of the book is far more ambitious than before. As with recent releases from other masters of the form such as David Mazzuchelli and Daniel Clowes, Ware uses a seemingly ordinary man's unspectacular life to explore some major themes. In this case religion, sex, parenthood, commerce and identity are balanced around the story of a man struggling to reconcile a duality in his nature. Lint's life is presented from birth to death and Ware lingers less on the mundane as he has done before instead taking us through the passing of larger passages of time whilst still pausing to appreciate the detail. It's an achievement as delicate as his precise line work and while he continues to find beauty in tight design, this time Ware also allows a looser approach with pages of experimentation and panels that depart from his usual style (inviting a commentary on comics reading that draws yet another comparison with Asterios Polyp and Wilson). Stylistically there is so much to discuss and I suggest this review as a starting point.

 

As ever though, Chris Ware is selecting a character to channel themes of nihilism, abandonment and loneliness. And as ever I am left wondering what this extraordinary book leaves me with. A warning perhaps?

Eisner Awards 2010: Summer reading list

The Eisner Awards for 2010 were announced a week ago now but in case you missed them here are the highlights (the links take you to our previous comments on these books): The Walking Dead (Image) beat off Fables, Irredeemable, 20th Century Boys and Unwritten to claim the Best Ongoing Series title. Chew (Image) received Best New Series and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Marvel) was named both Best Limited Series and Best Publication for Kids. Beasts of Burden (Dark Horse) was voted Best Publication for Teens as well as picking up an art award, Scott Pilgrim (Oni) for Best Humour Publication and Popgun (Image) Best Anthology.

Best Reality-Based Work went to A Drifting Life (D&Q), Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter (IDW) was named Best Adaptation and Asterios Polyp (Pantheon) was awarded Best Graphic Album. For a complete list of awards including all the nominations and all the links you could possibly need to follow up, check The Comics Reporter link here.