From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. For decades, Mazzucchelli has been a master without a masterpiece. Now he has one. His long-awaited graphic novel is a huge, knotty marvel, the comics equivalent of a Pynchon or Gaddis novel, and radically different from anything he’s done before. Asterios Polyp, its arrogant, prickly protagonist, is an award-winning architect who’s never built an actual building, and a pedant in the midst of a spiritual crisis. After the structure of his own life falls apart, he runs away to try to rebuild it into something new. There are fascinating digressions on aesthetic philosophy, as well as some very broad satire, but the core of the book is Mazzucchelli’s odyssey of style—every major character in the book is associated with a specific drawing style and visual motifs, and the design, color scheme and formal techniques of every page change to reinforce whatever’s happening in the story. Although Mazzucchelli stacks the deck—few characters besides Polyp and his inamorata, the impossibly good-hearted sculptor Hana, are more than caricatures—the book’s bravado and mastery make it riveting even when it’s frustrating, and provide a powerful example of how comics use visual information to illustrate complex, interconnected topics. Easily one of the best books of 2009 already. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
“It’s as if John Updike had discovered a bag of art supplies and LSD. Elegant, deceptively simple line work and nearly subliminal color symbolism make everything go down like candy. The narrative comes back to earth for a profoundly satisfying climax, but you’ll want to keep turning pages–all the way back to the beginning, for another read.”
- Entertainment Weekly

“We can all stop reading comics now, because David Mazzucchelli’s crafted the ultimate comic book statement. Just take everything on your reading pile right now and chuck it out. Asterios Polyp is the new standard bearer. Mazzucchelli has somehow managed to jam just about everything great about comics into 340 pages of humanity, soul-searching, graphic design, philosophy and humor.” -Newsarama

“One of the smartest and most rewarding graphic novels of the year to date.” - Pop Matters

“It’s a remarkable, bravura achievement – funny, harrowing and thought-provoking.” - San Francisco Chronicle

“One of the greatest comics of all time.” – Comic Book Resources

“Mazzucchelli’s masterwork is by no means an easy read…but it is a transcendent one.” – Austin Chronicle

“A sprawling work about the life and loves of a middle-aged, philandering architect who loses everything in a fire. The coming release has been compared to the idiosyncratic work of Thomas Pynchon.” – Wall Street Journal

“A dazzling expertly constructed entertainment…that is a satirical comedy of remarriage, a treatise on aesthetics and design and ontology, late life Künstlerroman, a Novel of Ideas with two capital letters…”
- New York Times Book Review

“Finally, after a decade of silence, Mazzucchelli has returned with his own graphic novel, Asterios Polyp: sprawling, trippy, moving, and a hell of a lot of fun.Almost without realizing it, we slowly begin rooting for Asterios, and hard. A serial overthinker, he lives much of his life in his own head. So Mazzucchelli takes us there, repeatedly, with perfect clarity – it’s as if John Updike had discovered a bag of art supplies and LSD. Elegant, deceptively simple line work and nearly subliminal color symbolism make everything go down like candy. The narrative comes back to earth for a profoundly satisfying climax, but you’ll want to keep turning pages – all the way back to the beginning, for another read.” ~Entertainment Weekly


“Even by the standards of the graphic novel, this cosmic epic pushes the creative envelope.With previous credits including superheroes for Marvel Comics and the transformation of Paul Auster’s City of Glass into a graphic novel (2004), Mazzucchelli returns with a title that suggests a mid-period Pink Floyd song and an illustrated narrative that is every bit as mind-blowing. In this graphic novel of fate, chance and shooting stars, Polyp insists that “I am the hero of my own story,” yet the art provides plenty of evidence to the contrary. A visual and even philosophical stunner.”~ Kirkus

“The simplicity of that facile summary, along with the deceptively cartoony drawing style Mazzucchelli has adopted for the work, makes it easy to miss its genuine accomplishment. The sparseness of his illustration gives necessary clarity to his complex storytelling, which employs intricate and imaginative panel arrangements and a constantly shifting chronology.meticulously constructed.It’s a testimony to Mazzucchelli’s skills that by the end of Polyp’s odyssey, the arrogant academic has been rendered a tragic and sympathetic figure deserving of the tale’s (possibly) happy ending.” – Gordon Flagg, Booklist

“For decades, Mazzucchelli has been a master without a masterpiece. Now he has one. His long-awaited graphic novel is a huge, knotty marvel, the comics equivalent of a Pynchon or Gaddis novel, and radically different from anything he’s done before. There are fascinating digressions on aesthetic philosophy, as well as some very broad satire, but the core of the book is Mazzucchelli’s odyssey of style-every major character in the book is associated with a specific drawing style and visual motifs, and the design, color scheme and formal techniques of every page change to reinforce whatever’s happening in the story. Although Mazzucchelli stacks the deck-few characters besides Polyp and his inamorata, the impossibly good-hearted sculptor Hana, are more than caricatures-the book’s bravado and mastery make it riveting even when it’s frustrating, and provide a powerful example of how comics use visual information to illustrate complex, interconnected topics. Easily one of the best books of 2009 already.” – Publishers Weekly

About the Author
David Mazzucchelli has been making comics his whole life. Known chiefly for his collaborations – with Frank Miller on seminal Batman and Daredevil stories, and with Paul Karasik on an adaptation of Paul Auster’s novel, City of Glass – he began publishing his own stories in 1991 in his anthology magazine, Rubber Blanket. Since then his short comics have been published in books and magazines around the world. Asterios Polyp is his first graphic novel.

Customer Reviews

=We knew he was good…but wow!=
If you’ve followed the work of David Mazzucchelli then you already know the man possesses far greater gifts than just being an artist. His work on Daredevil defined his hand and his self-published Rubber Blanket defined his passion.

In Asterios Polyp he defines his genuis.

When I’d heard he was going to “redefine the graphic novel” I immediately thought it was press release pretension. But you know, everyone deserves credit for trying. What Mazzucchelli does is makes it look like he’s not trying. It flows seamlessly from color to line, to form and shape and before you know it you’re really reading words and pictures in a very unique way; yet still familiar.

Anyone who loved Rubber Blanket and Paul Auster’s City of Glass will want this book. Anyone who likes smart literature who wants a new challenge for themselves to mix words and pictures will learn to appreciate what comics can be.

This is just another step in the right direction for the medium as well as the man. I hope David Mazzucchelli continues to practice in the medium he makes us appreciate so much.

=s=

Words fail
I waited for this book in the same fashion that I waited for Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day, and Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore, and as with both of those books, not only was I *not* disappointed, I was amazed that these men not only raised the bar, but cleared it, with room to spare.

In the case of Asterios Polyp, I am glad to say that the wait is over, and Mazzucchelli has delivered not just the masterpiece we all knew he had in him, but probably the graphic novel we will still be talking about ten years from now, in the same way we talk about Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen. Groundbreaking, emotional, inventive, sly, thought-provoking: Mazzucchelli has opened a door and shown us a room we never knew was in this house before. Bravo. I will have to buy a second copy soon as I have already loaned out the one I bought to my best friend.

Impressive
I’m a relatively new follower of the graphic novel literary genre, so perhaps a somewhat inexpert reviewer. I haven’t followed David Mazzucchelli’s work over the years or anything, but someone recommended this to me and I picked it up. And “Wow” is the right word for it. This GN takes you through the entire range of emotional responses that a really great text novel does. It’s extremely engaging, and there’s something, some little detail at least, that delights on just about every page. I also had the sense reading it that I need to read it again more closely, the way one should read such serious literature. Because there are deep literary resonances here. I heartily recommend it.