The metaphorical quality of 9/11 can be invoked by stories that may not specifically refer to the day’s events. An example is arguably provided by one of the
best-reviewed graphic novels of the past ten years, David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios
Polyp (2009). The improbably named Polyp is a tenured professor of architecture
with strong opinions about art, design, and urban living. For most of the story he
struggles to impose his mechanistic and binary view of the world on students, colleagues,
and lovers. He learns to regret his dogmatism when he falls in love with a
more intuitive colleague, whom he marries and subsequently pushes away. From the
standpoint of 9/11 and comics, what is noteworthy is the way the novel both begins
and ends with violence that comes as a bolt from the blue. The underlying message,
which practically screams “9/11,” both as a shared experience and as a powerful
cultural narrative, is that the protagonist—and by implication the reader—needs
to get his act together right now, before the world falls to pieces.