Graphic Novels You Would Like If You Weren't Too Chicken To Read Them - Asterios Polyp/Wilson/Lint (Part One)

Perhaps coincidentally, three of the most lauded graphic novels of the past couple of years have been one-off character studies of somewhat maladjusted men: David Mazzuchelli’s ‘Asterios Polyp’, Daniel Clowes’ ‘Wilson’, and Chris Ware’s ‘Lint’. Maybe graphic novel writers and readers are best suited to dealing with these types of people… I’m not going to judge (lest I implicate myself)… but each of these authors does seem to have a pretty good understanding of what it means to be something of a misanthrope. And going down this route does appear to gain the medium more respect than capes and power fantasies have ever done, partly because it allows the personal styles of the creators to shine through, thus showing that the medium has far more to say about the human condition than many believe.



Mazzuchelli’s ‘Asterios Polyp’ is the most self-consciously literary of the three (the author notes claim that Mazzuchelli has been making comics for years, but this is his first graphic novel), and takes as its subject an architect-slash-professor-slash-author. Polyp is, to put it bluntly, a pompous ass; at one point his long-suffering wife, herself a brilliant artist, exasperatedly asks him if he thinks she is stupid because he seems to always assume that what she says is wrong. Polyp’s story is interrupted at points to allow him to pontificate on his theories of architecture and duality, much of which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but they are presented in such creative ways that you wish you knew what he was talking about. Unsurprisingly, the thrust of the story is how Polyp learns to curb his arrogance and recognise the importance of others; however, there is no lightbulb-goes-off-in-the-head moment, and Polyp’s journey takes some unconventional routes, involving dream sequences with figures from Greek mythology, radical Communism-spouting country punk bands, and a big-bosomed astrology expert who calls herself ‘a goddess’. Mazzuchelli’s visuals themselves are pretty simple and clean – where the complexity comes from is the way he alters his figures and arranges his symbols so as to develop meaning (abstract though that meaning may be). Yes it all sounds very arty, but it also pokes fun at its own arty-ness, and it’s a bit of a pleasant surprise from an artist who, rightly or wrongly, is still best known for his collaborations with Frank Miller on ‘Batman: Year One’ and ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ (both of which are excellent by the way). Most people who have taken a college or university arts course at some point in their lives would get a kick out of this.

That’s it for the moment; I’ll cover off ‘Wilson’ and ‘Lint’ another time, hopefully later this week.

Image copyright Pantheon Press.