City of Glass

City of Glass is the highly praised comic adaptation of Paul Auster's "film-noir inflected" novel. It was adapted by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli (famous for, among many things, his work on Batman: Year One), and is considered one of the "100 most important comics of the century." Having read another one of Auster's novels (Brooklyn Follies), I expected heavy and complex themes, but when paired with remarkable artwork just as meaningful as the text itself, the novel is taken to a whole other level! I can understand why City of Glass is so highly praised, but to be honest, I'm still trying to truly understand everything in the comic! I loved everything about this comic - the story, the art, the themes - and will definitely be reading the New York Trilogy as soon as I can. In an effort to understand more about City of Glass, I did some research online and found that there are plenty of papers about the novel (and therefore to an extent the comic) to keep one occupied for weeks. There were two analyzations of the title that I found particularly interesting. The first described City of Glass as alluding to the sheet of glass that is a "modernist skyscraper," minimalism at its best. The other explanation (from a paper written by William G. Little) echoes the ideas that the elder Peter Stillman believes, that New York is a scene of "cultural decay," a plethora of shattered people and things, and therefore a "city of glass." The cover features one of the most interesting panels from the entire comic. Quinn stands waiting for the train carrying the elder Stillman to arrive, and his face seems to be repeated over and over. A simple character drawing is to the right of him, and pops up often throughout the book. The type and color scheme are fairly simple, and written within one central column. I thought the back cover was also very interesting, as it seemed to be divided into panels, and displayed Quinn (the protagonist) walking across them. The narrative jumps from panel to panel.
The artwork of Mazzucchelli adds another dimension to the story, and is able to portray emotion and mood very effectively despite often being highly abstract. A good example of this, and also one of my favorite scenes, was the "speech" given by the young Peter Stillman. A tic-tac-toe game, an inkwell and an acoustic guitar are only a few of the things from which Peter's word balloons come from. I thought this worked very well considering the Peter's mysterious nature and use of words that did not make sense. In some way, it really added to his character by making him seem even more removed from reality. There are so many more panels that I could talk about, because each was unique. Another set I enjoyed were the ones spelling out "tower of babel" in Quinn's notebook. I also really liked the full page panel with the detailed realistic map of New York, featuring Quinn walking on top of it. I think Mazzucchelli really captured the essence of Auster's work in his depiction, in fact, I think he even managed to elevate it!
Quinn is the character that I felt I got to know the most about, and felt so much sympathy for. You can't help but feel his loneliness radiate off of the page. I also found the elder Peter Stillman fascinating, though not much is told about him beyond his visions and what he had done to his son. It left me wondering what his ultimate goal was before he killed himself. I enjoyed the character of Paul Auster as well, especially because it made the book seem even more like a metafiction. He played a more prominent role that I thought he would. But who is the overall narrarator? That is what really got me in the end!
I only just read City of Glass today, but I feel like I should read it again...and again.