[Week 11] Contemporary Comics

For this week, I re-read the comic, Asterios Polyp. 

I've read this comic before, but it's been a long time so I chose to re-read it because I remembered enjoying it.
Some of my favorite aspects of this comic is the fact that when it goes into the sections where Asterios starts thinking of past situations or stuff in his mind, the style subtly changes. Asterios is always represented in articulated, mathematical shapes that are easily broken down and methodical, while people like Hana are represented with artistic, crosshatching and soft artistic shading. It's great for determining early on what kind of a person Asterios is.

So the other thing I appreciate about this comic is how it can really just show you how to deal with people in real life that are like Asterios, because trust me, there's a lot of them. Seeing a character like him sort of get 'dealt' with and served a bit of 'shut up and listen' pie is intensely satisfying, even in comic form. The internal conflict that always follows behind Asterios is also fun to read, with his dead twin.

Overall I think it's a pretty easily digestible "smart" comic that most people can enjoy, even with Asterios' constant babble about himself for the first big chunk of the comic. People I think can really enjoy his relationships and the way he manages to crawl his way out of a really shit situation, and somehow make it work.