Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound.
Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
Promo copy:
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. An epic story long awaited, and well worth the wait.
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. In a tenacious daze, he leaves the city and relocates to a small town in the American heartland. But what is this “escape” really about?
As 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. And isn’t. And we meet Hana: a sweet, smart, first-generation Japanese American artist with whom he had made a blissful life. But now she’s gone. Did Asterios do something to drive her away? What has happened to her? Is she even alive? All the questions will be answered, eventually.
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.
Asterios Polyp is David Mazzucchelli’s masterpiece: a great American graphic novel.
Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic
Promo copy:
Watched any great books lately? Now you can. The most celebrated graphic novel of all time that broke the conventional mold continues to break new ground. WATCHMEN illustrator Dave Gibbons oversees this digital version of the graphic novel that adds limited motion, voice and sound to the book’s strikingly drawn panels. All 12 chapters of the story are here, nearly 5 hours spanning everything from the mysterious demise of the Comedian to the crisscrossed destinies of loosely allied superheroes to their fateful impact on the world. Be in the know. Be watching. With Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic.
My review from the latest Nexus Graphica:
Overseen by artist and co-creator Dave Gibbons and voiced by Tom Stechschulte, this two-disc oddity offers the limited motion digital version of the classic graphic novel. Though the packaging claims "the entire Watchmen graphic novel comes to life," the set includes only the graphic narrative. It lacks the essential prose sections from the original book. Only for the hardcore fan, the 325 minute adaption adds some niceties such as Rorschach’s ever-changing mask and light effects associated with Dr. Manhattan. As with other adaptations of Alan Moore’s work, his name does not appear.
Promo copy:
The Comics Journal #295 is chock full of all the comicky goodness that you’ve come to expect from our fine publication! Check it out:
* Sean T. Collins interviews writer Brian K. Vaughan about Y the Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways, Pride of Baghdad, how a career in comics led him to writing for the hit television series Lost, and much, much more.
* Paul Karasik presents a conversation with Italian cartoonist Gipi, who talks about Garage Band, Notes for a War Story, the Ignatz books and how he narrowly avoided a life of crime.
* Rob Clough offers us a chat with humor cartoonist John Kerschbaum, covering everything from The Wiggly Reader to Pete & Pussy to why he couldn’t figure out why his first editors hated him so much.
* Michael Dean examines the page rates paid by the Best American Comics anthology series.
* Noah Berlatsky digs into the comic-book closet and finds out what’s hiding back there.
* R.C. Harvey examines the life of Flash Gordon/Rip Kirby creator Alex Raymond.
* Our comics section this issue: Charles A. Voight’s short-lived newspaper strip The Theorist, in its entirety.