Week 11: Auteurship

First of all I have to say I loved the illustrations in Asterios Polyp and the cleaver way the artist made the type tell the story. It was little details like having the speech bubble shapes different for each character, based on their personality. For example when the main character was walking through the subway station past a guy with a guitar. You could clearly tell he was singing because he had lines with the words written as notes. Or a little later in the story when at one point Still says "Hey Babe" to his wife and his speech bubble is a heart.

Another thing about this graphic novel that I thought was really great and shows the authors voice is that whenever there was a flashback or a pause in the main story where we were getting told important background information, the illustrations would change. Sometimes color and sometimes style. This really helped me as a reader to understand the story with it jumping all over the place. And it was nice that the author didn't have to say he was taking you back or giving you a brief history of a character we understood by the way the illustrations looked at the time. This method of changing the style the characters where draw in could also help us know what type of emotions were being felt at the time. It was also used a lot when a room full of people we being drawn. I think because we didn't need to concentrate on those other people so it wasn't necessary to make them as detailed at the main characters.

Similar to Karen Russel with her very descriptive similes, David Mazzuchell is also very descriptive but with his drawing. For example in part of the story the main character is remembering driving with his girlfriend while she knits. In order to get us to see that visual David drew a knitted scarf acting as a rode with dots marking destination and even a car driving on it. This is a fantastic visual without him having to say much other then she was knitting in the car.

Thinking about the tone of the piece I would say it was serious all the way until the end. The whole time it's such a serious story about this poor professor who has lost his love and has nothing and it seems a little sad and depressing. By the time you reach the end you are feeling a little better because he has gone back to his love and she seems to want him back and then it is almost funny in the end how it is all tied back to the stranger in the diner by having them hit by an asteroid.

This whole time I was reading this story it felt strange which kept me wondering what was going to happen. I felt connected with this couple and looked forward to flashbacks to learn more of their story. It really felt like a story with in a story, which kept my interest and made me want to read to the end. It also helped that the visuals and typography were beautiful and descriptive and really added the story.