Asterios Polyp (6 points)

I thought Asterios Polyp was pretty good. I think something that stood out to me was the way Mazzacchelli made each character really distinct through color, shape design, and typography. Like Asterios defining color is blue, his shape design is angular, and his speech bubbles are cornered; Hana’s defining color is pink, her shape design is rounded, and her speech bubbles are rounded. These choses fit their personalities as Asterios is a very tidy, organized, dualistic, self centered, know it all, while Hana is a shy, sensitive, spineless optimist. It made sense the author made these distinctions this way as it made it clear which times Asterios’ and Hana’s reality were separate, together, or even conjoined. He would accentuate these differences as well to show their disconnect from each other like when they fight after visiting Kalvin’s the composer’s house. It is like style overtakes them as they become more separate and their realities become more out of sync. Hana becomes purely defined by sculptural form through value and hatching in pink, while Asterios becomes constructive 3d forms in line in blue. In the end when Asterios drives to Hana’s house, their conversation becomes more intertwined and less dualistic as they wear complimentary green and red and their speech bubbles visually start to intertwine with each other, until they both say “rest in peace.” Another aspect I thought was interesting was how many things are called back to, like you find out in the beginning the video tapes that scatter Asterios’ room are actually of him and Hana, not some random porn. Also the meteor that strikes Hana and Asterios is referenced early by Spotty Drizzle. I also like the Orpheus and Eurydice section where it’s Asterios with a T square convincing Willy to allow him take Hana out of hell or the theater. I liked it because I think this was how Asterios saw the situation, and ultimately his lack of trust and putting down the people Hana worked with caused her to disappear as Eurydice did, just like Orpheus when he turns back to see if Eurydice is there.