Asteros Polyp

New York: Pantheon Books. Near Fine with no dust jacket. 2009. First Edition; Fourth Printing. Hardcover. Slight rub to spine tail. Faintest marring to the surface of the paper belly band.; This veteran cartoonist's first graphic novel is Asterios Polyp's "...search for love, meaning, sanity, and perfect architectural proportions." It's his life presented in graphic fashion. The design and illustration reinforce and enhance, but never overwhelm the story that stands on its own as well-wrought fiction. Asterios Polyp is a middle-aged, barely successful architect, teacher, aesthete, and womanizer, whose New York City life falls apart. He moves to a small town where we follow the flowchart of his life, with side trips into philosophy, morality, religion, his identical twin Aristophanes who died at birth, and his self-examination. It's a deceptively simple story, a challenging read at times, and has a powerful ending. Author and illustrator David Mazzucchelli's comics have been published internationally in books, periodicals, and his magazine Rubber Blanket, he has collaborated with Frank Miller on Batman and Daredevil stories, and collaborated with Paul Karasik in his adaptation of the Paul Auster's novel, City of Glass. All design, lettering, and illustration are by the author. Unpaginated, but 344 pages. Bound in wide, fine, half buckram cloth with uncovered, gray boards, title and author on the spine. The title is also printed on the polychrome illustrated, stiff, paper belly band around the book, which also depicts the cigarette-smoking central character. The illustrated pastedowns and endpapers are blue in the front and red in the back. This is a colorful, keen observation of a life by a master cartoonist who's truly an author. A clean, sharp copy in at least Near Fine condition.; Pantheon Graphic Library; Color Illustrations; Small 4to 9" - 11" tall; 344 pages .