This past Tuesday we finished the graphic novel Asterios Polyp, and similar to Watchmen, we were all kind of confused by the ending. Many interesting debates stirred the class that led to theories that most of us would have never thought of. Some students were annoyed with the ending, were Asterios asks existential questions through out the text, but they… Read more →
Tag: Asterios Polyp
Watching Asterios
The two major graphic novels that we’ve read this semester are Watchmen and Asterios Polyp (I’m not counting What It Is because we used it more as a tool for fostering creativity than a novel to analyze). While both of these novels are amazing in their own right, only one of them was written as though the author has a grasp on human nature. I am… Read more →
Asterios Polyp: Better in Theory Than in Practice
Throughout my reading of Asterios Polyp, I was struck by the occasionally overwhelming level of content and stimulus included by Mazzucchelli on each page. The multitude of characters (all bearing names and nicknames with potential symbolic meaning) go about their lives (often in completely different settings from page to page [including dream-worlds and imaginary depictions of their perspectives]), being occasionally… Read more →
Asterios Polyps, Simultaneity, and Subjective Readings of Comics
Because they are bound codexes or digital texts instead of a moving picture, like a film, TV show, or video game cut scene, comics have almost unlimited rereading potential for almost unlimited meanings. For the most part, reading a comic again introduces new nuances and details ranging from the mundane (seeing the 10th Doctor in the background of a Buffy Season Eight panel) to the important (all the twins in Asterios’… Read more →
Asterios Polyp, Or How The Ending Made Me Angry
Despite what the title of this reflection may say, I do not hate Asterios Polyp overall. I found the art style and the themes interesting, got a kick out of the references to Greek/Roman mythology and the duality themes, and I found nearly all of the characters interesting to follow (despite the rather little development they undergo as characters; only Asterios… Read more →
Down To The Letter
Having the opportunity to take part in the creation of a comic has really opened my eyes to the attention-to-detail that creating (and reading) comic texts requires. In traditional texts, every detail can be considered important, down to what beverage the character chooses to have with their breakfast. If the detail was included, the author obviously thought it was important… Read more →
Hidden Aspects of Asterios Polyp
Everyone besides Asterios and Ignacio had normal, human shaped heads. It could be debated that Mazzucchelli didn’t want the reader to get them mixed up with other characters. However, I see their heads as half of a circle. Putting Asterios’ and Ignacio’s head together would produce a full circle, which represents their connection. Since Ignacio does not exist physically, one half… Read more →
More Than A Hue
Asterios Polyp is all about style, but one of its most effectual techniques for me is its use of color. The colors chosen, as well as the shades and intensity chosen within the color, show a lot of thought put into them by the artist (and writer), David Mazzucchelli. The book uses blue, purple, yellow and red, plus the white… Read more →
Color, Yin-and-Yang, and the Metapicture
this post contains spoilers Asterios Polyp, more than any of the other graphic novel’s we have read so far, uses an abstract way of showing emotions and feelings of separation and closeness that is not simply through facial emotions or text. One such way is Mazzucchelli’s use of color. Instead of using black for panel borders, text, and outlines of… Read more →