Asterios Polyp.  David Mazzucchelli (writer/artist).  Fiction.  Comics/Graphic Novels.

I am an idiot.  Why you ask?  Because I was not in favor of Adam buying this book.  You see, it’s thirty bucks and he’s trying to save up for a short film that he’s doing in September.  And so I was very naggy about the whole thing when he talked about how much he wanted to splurge and buy it.  Of course I never bothered to look it up.  If I had I could have saved us all a lot of naggy bitching.  Hell, I would have bought it myself and saved him the trouble.

HELLO GORGEOUS!

SOOOO worth the thirty bucks.  When I think of the other worthless things I’ve wasted thirty dollars on…oh the horror.   I have a secret Mr. Mazzucchelli…I would have paid $50…maybe even $75.  It’s stunning – the perfect blend of form and function…of art and content.

You want to see a little taste of what I’m raving about?  Here ya go:

That’s not enough?  Okay, check out the Vulture Blog’s eight page excerpt.

I feel like just dispensing with the actual “review”, but for record’s sake, let’s do it.

The Good: Mazzucchelli’s use of color, use of panel, use of white space.  His pacing and storytelling abilities – my god!  His perfect cartooning.  The heartbreaking tale of Asterios Polyp and the writing that blends seamlessly with the art…sometimes becoming the art.  A tale that flies in the face of simple and easy ideas like “karma” but also has a light of hope and redemption for our hero.  There’s a reason some pieces of literature get called “masterpieces” and there’s a reason we don’t throw that term around all willy nilly.  Asterios Polyp is a masterpiece.

The Bad: Nothing.  I mean really, I can’t think of anything negative.  I read this book in one sitting, spending most of a long afternoon totally engrossed.  And I have to say, I can’t wait to go back and read it again.  I know there are still literally dozens of hidden treasures that I missed on first reading that will reveal themselves to me in each new chance I get to sit with it.   It’s a book I will enjoy my entire life.  Unfortunately it belongs to Adam.  Damnit.  If we had room for two copies on our shelves I’d get my own copy…just in case.

I mean look at this!  Illustrating different people (in a relationship no less) in not only different colors, but with completely different styles and they talk with different text.  It’s brilliant and important.

The Ugly: The word ugly and this book should never be used in the same sentence.  Ever.

5.0 Stars