Asterios Polyp

Asterios Polyp is amazing, David Mazzucchelli really knocked it out of the park with this in my opinion. Really great read, I was first introduced it to via my illustration teacher who thought that I'd enjoy the color schemes and was very taken with it right off the bat. It is a gem of a graphic novel, this is probably one of the most visually appealing comics I've seen. Asterios Polyp follows the life of the main character, of the same name, and his struggles with going through life. It deals with his relationships with various women in his life-- his first wife, being the center of one of the book's longest arcs. It also deals with Asterios' relationship with himself, and the brother he never had-- a twin named Ignacio who died in the womb, but he still holds to dearly. Every detail about him, from how he’s drawn, to how he views the world, to what he says is so void of any emotion and logical that I find it very difficult to relate to him, and tired of his dialogue very quickly. His treatment of other people is also very logical and shrewd, and his whole character just irritates me. His wife, on the other hand, I was very sympathetic toward. I like how the artist differentiated Asterios and his wife with sharp lines, angles and blocks of color and then spheres, curves and shading. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone interested in getting into graphic novels.