GRAPHIC LP's
I listen to crap-tons of music.
I also read crap-tons of comic books.
--Both of these things make the world a better place.--
I also have quite a lovely social life (just so you know), BUT:
Once a week I need to escape my house and job, sit at my local coffee shop and listen to a full album while reading a graphic novel or trade paperback.
I then write little tumblr posts describing how and why the album and the comic fit together.
There is a reasoning behind every choice, which I'll explain in these posts.
Regardless, I would like to discuss the underlying themes of both works. This will maybe lead me to understand each of them in a deeper level. Maybe. Maybe not. I dunno.
Holy fuck that sounded pretentious.
Regardless, the results of my experiment will be updated here whenever I have the time.
(Foul language brought to you courtesy of my upbringing)
“I made a mistake in my life today
Everything I love gets lost in drawers
I want to start over, I want to be winning
Way out of sync from the beginning”
-Slow Show (The National, BOXER)
“Oh you wouldn’t want an angel watching over
surprise, surprise they wouldn’t wannna watch
another uninnocent, elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults”
-Mistaken For Strangers (by The National, BOXER)
“Asterios Polyp” is about many things, but it is mostly about how we understand reality. In essence, Mazzucchelli argues that the way we perceive ourselves changes how we perceive reality.
The narrator doesn’t exist but in the mind of the main character, Asterios Polyp, who keeps trying to run away from this “other half”: his dead twin brother.
Asterios might or might not be aware that his brother is narrating his story, but that is inconsequential. Asterios, as an architect of impossible things, believes that he is missing a half, and so has decided to leave his life behind in order to become something, or someone, different.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
“You know I dreamed about you for 29 years before I saw you.” -Matt Berninger
(Don’t you just feel your heart melt a little when you hear him sing?)
Now go buy yourself a copy of this fucking album. It will do good things for you. I mean, not like make you breakfast or do your laundry or anything, but it will do things that are good for your soul.
EXPERIMENT 1:
ASTERIOS POLYP by David Mazzucchelli + BOXER(+B-sides and EXTRAS) by The National
If I had to describe Asterios Polyp succinctly, it would be more or less like this:
“Asterios is an incredibly clever man. He is so fucking clever, in fact, that he tries to (somewhat sucessfully) run away from himself. An intricate analysis of how we perceive reality ensues.”
Now, if I had to describe how I feel every time I listen to all of Boxer, it would be like this:
“I need a nice suit and a manly drink to go with my ennui.”
This week I’ll read Asterios Polyp while listening to Boxer to see how they match up.
