SVA Archives

First Look: David Mazzucchelli Collection

David Mazzucchlli, Phobia collection (Coconino Press, 2004).

June 17, 2013

First Look: David Mazzucchelli Collection

A small (but in part, rare) sample of the printed work of comic book artist David Mazzucchelli is the latest addition to our Design Study Collection.

Photo of a book cover; Cartoon drawing of an older man smoking against a white background; Title text is white with overlapping pink and blue panels

Detail from the cover of Asterios Polyp, (Pantheon, 2009).

Following his stint as artist for Frank Miller’s immensely popular Batman: Year One, and his more off-the-wall Rubber Blanket series, Mazzucchelli sprung to the front of the field with a fluid, dynamic graphic novel. Asterios Polyp tells the story of an architecture professor, and navigates the difficulties that arise from his materialist approach to the world through shifting graphic styles. It was an immediate hit when it was put out by Pantheon two years ago. Recommended reading.

In 2009, Comics Journal posted a conversation about the work between Mazzucchelli and Dash Shaw, who is well-known in the comics world for his ambitious work Bottomless Belly Button, and, incidentally, was Mazzucchelli’s student here at SVA.

Some details from other parts of the collection:

White, orange and teal illustration of a man drawing a map from a projection on the wall.

Detail from the cover of Discovering America (Coconino Press, 2001).

Simple drawing of a person in black pants and a yellow jacket with a large white X over their face, surrounded by a fossil, compass, pencil, globe, scissors.

Detail from the cover of La Geometrie de L’Obsession, (Cornélius, 1997).

Photo of Three colorful magazines arranged on a table

Rubber Blanket, nos. 1-3 1991-1993.

Photo of a Stack of books on a table; top reads La Soif and shows a yellow man sticking his tongue out to catch white droplets against a teal background

The stack of Mazzucchelli books, including La Soif, (Cornélius, 1997).

This post also appears on our Picturebox blog.