Asterios Polyp



""What if reality (as perceived) were simply an extension of the self? Wouldn't this color the way each individual experiences the world? As one who doesn't exist, I'm entitled to ask these questions.""

A comic that defies simple explanation. Asterios Polyp combines philosophy, psychology, and design theory into an expertly crafted story. Critically praised David Mazzuchelli's magnum opus. Asterios Polyp is an ambitious work of Meta Fiction a decade in the making.

The story is about a man named Asterios Polyp. He is pompous, egocentric, and condescending yet manages to be intensely likable. Asterois is a renowned architect, despite the fact that none of his designs have ever been built. As he turns half a century Asterios's apartment is struck by lightning and burned to the ground. He decides to go on a fateful journey in which he abandons every thing and becomes a auto mechanic in the small town of Apogee. Through out this the book flashes back to various points of his now defunct marriage with Hana. And also fantasy scenes with his dead twin Ignazio, and a few scenes narrated by him also.

The artistic aspect of the book is one of its most unique aspects. The style and artwork are not only used to tell the story but are facet of the story itself. Each of the characters dialogue is written in it own way. And the book will regularly switch art styles to convey its messages.

This work cannot be completely understood in one reading, or for that matter in twenty.


 * Anachronic Order: The fashbacks to Asterios's marriage are non-chronological.
 * An Aesop: Multiple and Frequent
 * Beta Couple: Stiff and Ursula.
 * Break the Haughty
 * Chekhov's Armoury: So many you'll need to reread it to get them all.
 * Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: The Ending
 * Death by Childbirth: Asterios twin brother Ignazio. And just for added discomfort he is also the narrator.
 * Insistent Terminology: Our protagonist can be a bit of a jerk about this.
 * It Was a Gift:
 * It's All About Me: Asterios just barely avoids falling into this all the time.
 * It's Not Porn, It's Art: One scene where Asterios is seen screwing one of his students. And also Hana had this happen to her a few times.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold
 * Malaproper: Asterios's boss Stiff.
 * Memento MacGuffin: Asterios's pocket knife and father's lighter.
 * Mind Screw: The fantasy scenes when Ignazio and Asterios talk seem deliberately put there to screw with the reader.
 * Odd Couple: Frequently.
 * Separated at Birth: His dead twin Ignazio. Not that it stops them from meeting or anything.
 * Shout-Out: Frequently does with the Odyssey.
 * Shrinking Violet: Hana, in many ways.
 * Shrinking Violet: Hana, in many ways.