Multimodal Narrative

One thing that stood out to me while reading Asterios Polyp was the way it was executed. It didn't feel like a comic book, and it didn't feel like a book. The way Asterios Polyp told it's story was unique to me. While, I have seen similar styles of graphic novels, they were never integrated to this extent. While reading it, randomly at times I would stop reading and just read by looking at the pictures. I feel like even without words, the story can be told, and succeeded in telling itself visually. That said, I wouldn't recommend the words to be omitted as they only add to the story, the same goes to the illustrations. The illustrations, while they are done masterfully, aren't required to understand the story. Granted at times, they are the only thing to look at, thus being the only way to 'read' the tale of Asterios Polyp. Reading this felt like a fresh breath of air opposed to reading a story through a white page with black text.