Week 11 - Comics as Contemporary Literature
After reading, and thoroughly enjoying, such stories like Box Office Poison and the first issue of Bone in class, I decided to read Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli. I never heard of this story and had no idea what to expect from it. But right off the bat, this was a story that did not disappoint me. The visual style is so beautiful and immersive that you can't take your eyes away from the pages.
At its core its a pretty human story but given that its a visual medium, it has the freedom to express itself and go beyond the ordinary. The introduction to our protagonist has a lot of creative visual metaphors/sequences to show what kind of person he is/ the life he had before watching his apartment burn up. Expressive colors and shapes fill every page as contemplative text supports each image (as if I'm receiving a lecture of some kind). The way the book uses is color is pretty interesting. Asterios' flashbacks are in pink and blue while present day sequences are yellow and purple.
This story seems to ditch the traditional comic panel approach and channels the same elements you would find in a Will Eisner graphic novel. No order of the panels, drawings right on the page. The possibilities of what could happen on the very next page were endless.
Another thing I thought was interesting about this book is the way it displays the speech bubbles of certain characters. Asterios' speech bubbles are all in squares and rectangles while everyone else's bubbles are circular/bubbly. There are many possible reasons as to why this could be done. Maybe it's because Asterios is a very intelligent man, given his profession, and the book wants to highlight how sharp/keen of a person he is compared to everyone else. Maybe its simply to let the audience know that he is the center of it all and that this is his story.
While admittedly I didn't care for the story a whole lot (it was too existential for me to take it all in), Mazzucchelli has shown an immense amount of craftsmanship in this novel. I'm intrigued to see what other stories he's done and if it's just as visually appealing as this one.
At its core its a pretty human story but given that its a visual medium, it has the freedom to express itself and go beyond the ordinary. The introduction to our protagonist has a lot of creative visual metaphors/sequences to show what kind of person he is/ the life he had before watching his apartment burn up. Expressive colors and shapes fill every page as contemplative text supports each image (as if I'm receiving a lecture of some kind). The way the book uses is color is pretty interesting. Asterios' flashbacks are in pink and blue while present day sequences are yellow and purple.
This story seems to ditch the traditional comic panel approach and channels the same elements you would find in a Will Eisner graphic novel. No order of the panels, drawings right on the page. The possibilities of what could happen on the very next page were endless.
Another thing I thought was interesting about this book is the way it displays the speech bubbles of certain characters. Asterios' speech bubbles are all in squares and rectangles while everyone else's bubbles are circular/bubbly. There are many possible reasons as to why this could be done. Maybe it's because Asterios is a very intelligent man, given his profession, and the book wants to highlight how sharp/keen of a person he is compared to everyone else. Maybe its simply to let the audience know that he is the center of it all and that this is his story.
While admittedly I didn't care for the story a whole lot (it was too existential for me to take it all in), Mazzucchelli has shown an immense amount of craftsmanship in this novel. I'm intrigued to see what other stories he's done and if it's just as visually appealing as this one.
Comments
Post a Comment