'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. In the meantime, we are enthralled by Mazzucchelli’s extraordinarily imagined world of brilliantly conceived eccentrics, sharply observed social mores, and deftly depicted asides on everything from design theory to the nature of human perception.Īsterios Polyp is David Mazzucchelli’s masterpiece: a great American graphic novel. Did Asterios do something to drive her away? What has happened to her? Is she even alive? All the questions will be answered, eventually.

And we meet Hana: a sweet, smart, first-generation Japanese American artist with whom he had made a blissful life. But what is this “escape” really about?Īs the story unfolds, moving between the present and the past, we begin to understand this confounding yet fascinating character, and how he’s gotten to where he is. In a tenacious daze, he leaves the city and relocates to a small town in the American heartland. Meet Asterios Polyp: middle-aged, meagerly successful architect and teacher, aesthete and womanizer, whose life is wholly upended when his New York City apartment goes up in flames.

An epic story long awaited, and well worth the wait. The triumphant return of one of comics’ greatest talents, with an engrossing story of one man’s search for love, meaning, sanity, and perfect architectural proportions.

Asterios polyp graphic novel