Berlin Book Two: City of Smoke (Bk. 2) (Paperback)

by Jason Lutes (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Berlin Book One:

“A comic of impressive scope, taking place in Weimar Berlin and touching on the issues of politics, aesthestics and technology in that cultural ground zero.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“[Berlin] will be the longest, most sophisticated work of historical fiction in the medium. Lutes has a natural, clean, European drawing style, much like Hergé’s Tintin . . . This book has the density of the best novels.” —Time

Product Description

The second installment of the epic historical trilogy

 

The second volume of Jason Lutes’s historical epic finds the people of Weimar Berlin searching for answers after the lethal May Day demonstration of 1929. Tension builds along with the dividing wall between communists and nationalists, Jews and Gentiles, as the dawn of the Second World War draws closer. Meanwhile, the nightlife of Berlin heats up as many attempt to distract themselves from the political upheavals within the city. The American jazz band Cocoa Kids arrives and quickly becomes a fixture. The lives of the characters within Lutes’s epic weave together to create a seamless portrait of this transitory city. Marthe Muller follows her lover Kurt Severing as he interviews participants in the May Day demonstration, but she moonlights in the city’s lesbian nightlife.Severing acts as a window through which the political shifts within the city and its participants can be seen. As with Berlin Book One: City

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Product Details Paperback: 200 pages Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly (August 19, 2008) Language: English ISBN-10: 1897299532 ISBN-13: 978-1897299531 Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.5 x 0.7 inches Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #48,674 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books) Popular in this category: (What's this?) #8 in  Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Publishers > Drawn and Quarterly

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	81% buy the item featured on this page: Berlin Book Two: City of Smoke (Bk. 2) 4.7 out of 5 stars (3) $13.57
	10% buy Berlin: City of Stones: Book One (Part 1) 4.5 out of 5 stars (13) $13.57
	3% buy The Burma Chronicles 4.6 out of 5 stars (5) $13.57
	3% buy Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea 4.4 out of 5 stars (40) $23.95

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews 5 star:  (2) 4 star:  (1) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 4 of 4 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars It's getting better, September 17, 2008 By  H. D. Bennett (Northern CA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    In Berlin, City of Smoke, Jason Lutes picks up where the first book, City of Stones, left off - after the events of May 1929. The storytelling has improved, both in terms of the narrative and the actual art itself. It's a bit more cohesive and streamlined - the work of a master at his craft, honing his skills even further. Not that the first book wasn't good .. far from it! It's just that this one's better. The character art work has gotten noticeably better - characters are more consistent and fluid in their movements and especially in their facial expressions. It's always great to see an artist at the top of their game - in any field - and this second edition of the Berlin trilogy is Lutes' best work so far. I won't give away anything from the story itself but will say it gets more interesting and a little easier to follow. This is a fascinating piece of work, both with the historical content and in the story itself. Lutes' has much to say about the many facets of the human condition and does it in a such a finessed way .. he doesn't hit you over the head with anything, he lets the story come first and weaves in the "sub messages" lightly, just like a writer of good prose would do. Like the best comic storytelling, it's an easy first read that rewards repeated reading. Highly recommended - at the price listed on Amazon, this is a steal. And a gorgeously depicted Josephine Baker even makes an appearance .. what more do you want? 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Things fall apart, September 15, 2008 By  Kerry Walters (Lewisburg, PA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)       I've eagerly awaited the appearance of Jason Lute second volume of Berlin. Now that it's appeared, I realize that it was well worth waiting for. But it also seems to me that there's a bit of a decline in the meticulous craftsmanship that characterized the first volume. The story line continues in expected ways from an historical perspective, but in quite unexpected ways from the perspective of the characters. The most searing change is in the relationship between Kurt Severing, the increasingly disillusioned pacifist, leftist, and political journalist, and his young love Marthe Muller, whom he introduces to the cultural life of Berlin. What happens to Marthe and Kurt seems to parallel what's happening to the Weimar Republic in general: things fall apart. Much of City of Smoke follows the breakdown of the Republic: the increasing violence between fascists and communists, the virulence of anti-Semitism, the suppression of intellectuals. Jazz, lesbianism, homosexuality, and a general sense of fin de siecle are some of the themes that Lutes explores. Two shortcomings, while not at all fatal to Lutes' project, make the second volume of Berlin less wonderful than the first. At times, in order to add some historical detail to his story, Lutes becomes overly didactic (especially pp. 120-124). A weightier problem is the occasional sloppiness with which the panels are drawn. The artistry in Berlin, City of Stones was breathtaking. Here, occasionally, it seems cartoonish--for example, Lutes draws conventionally cartoonish clouds of anger above characters' heads instead of letting the anger showing on their faces tell the story (see, for instance, bottom panel on p. 173). In other places, the drawing lacks perspective and strikes one as preliminary sketches that were never completed (see, for example, the panels on p. 35). Still, Jason Lutes' is creating a masterwork with his Berlin saga, and I now await the third volume as eagerly as I did the second. 5.0 out of 5 stars As Berlin Splinters Nazism is Alive and Well!, July 14, 2009 By  Richard C. Geschke "In search of History!!" (Bristol, Ct) - See all my reviews Jason Lutes takes us on a wild and seemingly dreamlike story of Berlin going mad. The development of the characters of Marthe Muller and Kurt Severing goes on a severe roller coaster ride as is indicative of the political times in this Prussian Capital. The development of the various subplots, with the Communists and the Jewish family, play out a rather chaotic display of emotions and political thought. Also Lutes introduces American Negros into the cabaret lifestyle which ran rampant in the Pre-Nazi Berlin. Jazz, liquor and cocaine along with a decadent Teutonic advent guard populace were common mainstays in the "City built on a Marsh". The Author develops a flowing and quick prose along with a grand black and white depiction of a Berlin heading into the abyss of Nazism. Although this graphic novel is fiction, the very basis is historically accurate. Mr. Lutes is to be commended! Six Stars!! No Problem!!!		Ad feedback   Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly (August 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1897299532
• ISBN-13: 978-1897299531
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #48,674 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #8 in

  Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Publishers > Drawn and Quarterly

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's getting better, September 17, 2008

By	H. D. Bennett (Northern CA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In Berlin, City of Smoke, Jason Lutes picks up where the first book, City of Stones, left off - after the events of May 1929. The storytelling has improved, both in terms of the narrative and the actual art itself. It's a bit more cohesive and streamlined - the work of a master at his craft, honing his skills even further. Not that the first book wasn't good .. far from it! It's just that this one's better.

The character art work has gotten noticeably better - characters are more consistent and fluid in their movements and especially in their facial expressions. It's always great to see an artist at the top of their game - in any field - and this second edition of the Berlin trilogy is Lutes' best work so far.

I won't give away anything from the story itself but will say it gets more interesting and a little easier to follow. This is a fascinating piece of work, both with the historical content and in the story itself. Lutes' has much to say about the many facets of the human condition and does it in a such a finessed way .. he doesn't hit you over the head with anything, he lets the story come first and weaves in the "sub messages" lightly, just like a writer of good prose would do.

Like the best comic storytelling, it's an easy first read that rewards repeated reading. Highly recommended - at the price listed on Amazon, this is a steal. And a gorgeously depicted Josephine Baker even makes an appearance .. what more do you want?

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Things fall apart, September 15, 2008

By	Kerry Walters (Lewisburg, PA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I've eagerly awaited the appearance of Jason Lute second volume of Berlin. Now that it's appeared, I realize that it was well worth waiting for. But it also seems to me that there's a bit of a decline in the meticulous craftsmanship that characterized the first volume.

The story line continues in expected ways from an historical perspective, but in quite unexpected ways from the perspective of the characters. The most searing change is in the relationship between Kurt Severing, the increasingly disillusioned pacifist, leftist, and political journalist, and his young love Marthe Muller, whom he introduces to the cultural life of Berlin.

What happens to Marthe and Kurt seems to parallel what's happening to the Weimar Republic in general: things fall apart. Much of City of Smoke follows the breakdown of the Republic: the increasing violence between fascists and communists, the virulence of anti-Semitism, the suppression of intellectuals. Jazz, lesbianism, homosexuality, and a general sense of fin de siecle are some of the themes that Lutes explores.

Two shortcomings, while not at all fatal to Lutes' project, make the second volume of Berlin less wonderful than the first. At times, in order to add some historical detail to his story, Lutes becomes overly didactic (especially pp. 120-124). A weightier problem is the occasional sloppiness with which the panels are drawn. The artistry in Berlin, City of Stones was breathtaking. Here, occasionally, it seems cartoonish--for example, Lutes draws conventionally cartoonish clouds of anger above characters' heads instead of letting the anger showing on their faces tell the story (see, for instance, bottom panel on p. 173). In other places, the drawing lacks perspective and strikes one as preliminary sketches that were never completed (see, for example, the panels on p. 35).

Still, Jason Lutes' is creating a masterwork with his Berlin saga, and I now await the third volume as eagerly as I did the second.

5.0 out of 5 stars As Berlin Splinters Nazism is Alive and Well!, July 14, 2009

By	Richard C. Geschke "In search of History!!" (Bristol, Ct) - See all my reviews

Jason Lutes takes us on a wild and seemingly dreamlike story of Berlin going mad. The development of the characters of Marthe Muller and Kurt Severing goes on a severe roller coaster ride as is indicative of the political times in this Prussian Capital.
The development of the various subplots, with the Communists and the Jewish family, play out a rather chaotic display of emotions and political thought. Also Lutes introduces American Negros into the cabaret lifestyle which ran rampant in the Pre-Nazi Berlin. Jazz, liquor and cocaine along with a decadent Teutonic advent guard populace were common mainstays in the "City built on a Marsh".
The Author develops a flowing and quick prose along with a grand black and white depiction of a Berlin heading into the abyss of Nazism. Although this graphic novel is fiction, the very basis is historically accurate. Mr. Lutes is to be commended! Six Stars!! No Problem!!!