Two New Must-Reads: A "Quick-Hits" Review

I've just completed two new graphic novels, Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli and Bayou Volume 1 by Jeremy Love. The former is about a professor of architecture who must move beyond his binary ways of thinking to become a whole person, which means reconnecting with the common folk and with his former lover. The latter is being described as a Southern fairy tale.



Both are great reads that are garnering great reviews, and they're both titles that I highly recommend. Asterios Polyp is for mature audiences and is intellectually heady, while high schoolers and onwards should enjoy Bayou, which started out (and continues) as a web comic through DC's Zuda line.

Bayou has won several Glyph awards for excellence in comics among black creators, and Asterios Polyp is a sure award-winner in the making. While I loved Bayou and will read subsequent volumes of the story as they are released in trade form (though I may not follow the strip in its web comic form at zudacomics.com), Asterios Polyp may just be one the best graphic novels ever published.