A new weekly feature where we wax poetic on our beloved backlist, both here and on Instagram.
BERLIN by Jason Lutes can be an intimidating read: The collected edition has the dimensions and heft of a phone book (remember those?), and the 550+ pages of story are dense with detail and loaded with incident: The plot follows dozens of fictitious characters and historical figures over the course of five pivotal years, as the Weimar Republic inexorably falls apart and the Nazis rise to take over Germany. There’s a lot of there, there!
But seriously, don’t you dare let BERLIN’s weightiness stop you from picking up this amazing graphic novel. It might come as a surprise, but Lutes has crafted a remarkably accessible narrative; this is traditional storytelling on a grand scale and a story that anyone can and should enjoy. His meticulous, clear line artwork (inspired by Hergé) makes the rich story flow seamlessly across the many pages, and his engaging characters give the reader an immersive, on-the-ground viewpoint of a period of history that is sadly, shockingly relevant to our own tumultuous moment (it’s totally wild to think that Lutes began working on this book in the 1990s!). BERLIN is full to the brim with wild emotions and deep thoughts, weaving together an intimate story of a queer love triangle, a detailed portrait of the life of one of the world’s great cities, and a terrifying warning of the rise of authoritarianism in the midst of vibrant yet dysfunctional democracy.
No doubt about it, BERLIN is a heavy read, in more ways than one… But this timeless (and hauntingly timely) historical graphic novel is also a must-read, and an absolute page-turner to boot. Don’t miss this one.
Grab it while it’s 20% OFF this week, only on drawnanadquarterly.com