[[quoteright:318:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/asterios-polyp1_3085.jpg]]

->''"What if reality (as perceived) were simply an extension of the self? Wouldn't this color the way each individual experiences the world? As one who doesn't exist, I'm entitled to ask these questions."''

A 2009 graphic novel that defies simple explanation, ''Asterios Polyp'' combines philosophy, psychology, and design theory into an expertly crafted story. Critically praised as David Mazzuchelli's ''magnum opus,'' ''Asterios Polyp'' is an ambitious work of MetaFiction a decade in the making.

The story is about a man named Asterios Polyp. He is pompous, egocentric, and condescending yet manages to be intensely likable. Asterois is a renowned architect, despite the fact that none of his designs have ever been built. As he turns half a century Asterios's apartment is struck by lightning and burned to the ground. He decides to go on a fateful journey in which he abandons every thing and becomes a auto mechanic in the small town of Apogee. Through out this the book [[AnachronicOrder flashes back to various points]] of his now defunct marriage with Hana. And also fantasy scenes with his [[DeathbyChildBirth dead twin Ignazio]], and a few scenes narrated by him also.

The artistic aspect of the book is one of its most unique aspects. The style and artwork are not only used to tell the story, but are facets of the story itself. Each character's dialogue is written in its own way, and the book will regularly switch art styles to convey its messages.

This work cannot be completely understood in one reading, or for that matter in twenty.
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!!This comic provides examples of:
* AnachronicOrder: The flashbacks to Asterios's marriage are non-chronological.
%%* AnAesop: Multiple and Frequent
* ArtStyleClash: One of the book's stylistic themes is how Asterios' rigid, blue-line architect way of seeing the world would clash with his artist wife's fluid, etched view of the world. This was visually and tonally represented by having their art styles "split" when they fought, and meld into more beautiful combined art when they loved and understood each other.
%%* BetaCouple: Stiff and Ursula.
* BreakTheHaughty: It's shown that in the past Asterios was quite pompous and self-important towards the people around him. His experience eventually tempered him into becoming a more humble and down-to-earth person as shown in his interactions with the working-class Stiff and Ursula.
%%* ChekhovsArmoury: So many you'll need to reread it to get them all.
%%* DeathByChildbirth: Asterios' twin brother Ignazio. And just for added discomfort he is also the narrator.
* EyeScream: [[spoiler:Asterios loses an eye after getting glassed by a drunk near the end of the story]].
* FatalFlaw: Aside from his arrogance, Asterios is ''obsessed'' with duology - to the point he literally ''cannot'' think of things outside of patterns of two. He even keeps a security camera running in his house 24/7, so that he and Hana will always have "doubles" copying their every move in a TV screen.
%%* InsistentTerminology: Our protagonist can be a bit of a jerk about this.
%%* ItWasAGift:
%%* ItsAllAboutMe: Asterios just barely avoids falling into this all the time.
%%* ItsNotPornItsArt: One scene where Asterios is seen screwing one of his students. And also Hana had this happen to her a few times.
%%* JerkWithAHeartOfGold
%%* {{Malaproper}}: Asterios's boss Stiff.
* MeaningfulName: The names of the twins may refer to the story's first and last scenes -- "Ignazio" means "fiery" in Italian, while the Greek name "Asterios" [[spoiler:is pretty close to "asteroeidís" (asteroid)]]. Another interpretation is that the names aren't individually meaningful, but [[PropheticName predict]] the ending when combined ([[spoiler:ignazio aster(ios) = "fiery star"]]).
%%* MementoMacGuffin: Asterios's pocket knife and father's lighter.
* MindScrew: The fantasy scenes when Ignazio and Asterios talk seem deliberately put there to screw with the reader.
* MixedMetaphor: Asterios points it out when Hana uses the phrase "drowned out by someone barrelling over him."
* NobodyPoops: Deliberately averted in one memorable sequence, where Asterios reflects on his past intimate moments with Hana. Instead of just remembering all of their romantic moments, though, his memories include her cleaning her ears out with cue-tips, vomiting, flossing her teeth and (yes) sitting on the toilet. It's a meditation on how, when you make the decision to share your life with someone else, you share ''everything'' -- including the seamy stuff.
%%* OddCouple: Frequently.
* PosthumousCharacter: Despite having never lived to begin with, Ignazio narrates the story and frequently messes with Asterios in his dreams.
* SeparatedAtBirth: His dead twin Ignazio. Not that it stops them from meeting or anything.
* SuddenDownerEnding: [[spoiler:The story ends with Asterios trekking all the way to Minnesota to Hana where they reminisce and share a moment together before an asteroid crashes into her house]].
%%* ShoutOut: Frequently does with the Odyssey.
%%* ShrinkingViolet: Hana, in many ways.

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