Customer Reviews

Berlin: City of Stones: Book One (Part 1)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jason Lutes has given himself a formidable task: Not only is he seeking to chronicle a hazily-understood period of German history for his American audience...the latter years of the Weimer Republic, when the nascent Democratic experiment was being torn asunder by the Communists on the Left and the National Socialists from the Right...but he is also doing it slowly, methodically, rather than in the slam-bang style most common to comic books. What one might have expected to be an event-driven adventure story is actually a series of thoughtful human interest pieces.

Each chapter unfolds gracefully, linking easily with the next, although each one stands well on its own, without having to rely too heavily on the others in order to be comprehended. The art style isn't "cartoony" by any means...Lutes is a shrewd observer of the human form, and his figures reflect his keen eye. He's also a tireless researcher, and you can rest assured that when he draws an automobile, or a cocktail dress, or a phonograph player, it's appropriate to the time and place. Artistic drama is heightened by his clever use of inking; indeed, his employment of sheer black compares favorably to that of Milton Caniff, although in more subtle ways. It's worth noting that Lutes seems to prefer dealing in strict black and white; there are no zip-a-tone grays here.

But what makes "BERLIN: BOOK ONE" so compelling is the writing. Lutes has created a handful of characters whom we follow chapter after chapter; sometimes, their lives intersect, but in other instances they never meet with one another. Some are Bolsheviks, some are Nazis, some are just survivors in the rapidly shrinking middle. They are all fascinating, and the drama, the humor, and the uncertainty of their fictional lives against the very real historical backdrop of their era gives "BERLIN" its true power.

This is the first volume of what Lutes promises will be a three book saga. One can only admire his audacity, and marvel at the success he has achieved so far.

The Weimar presents a set of profound issues for an artist or historian to grapple with. Lutes has done a more than admirable job beginning a graphic narrative that does justice to the myriad issues the period dileneates for contemporray readers. He has a point of view, an ability to transmit nuance, complication and contradiction, some compelling characters, a drawing style that to my eye pays some homage to Masereel while taking a more realist turn and big ambitions. The problem here is that we only have 1/3 (now some new chapters have been produced) of a much larger work. It's hard to judge just how successful this project will be with only one third of the story arc completed. I for one appreciate anyone who grapples with the set of questions Lutes is engaged with here and think he's off to a fascinating start but it is kind of like judging an entire play by its first act. We can get swept up in the action in the first act, but at the first intermission we can only hold out hope the rest of the play rewards the promise we just had take a hold of us. It could be a classic or a disapointment. I eagerly await the answer to that.

This is a graphic novel for people who like to think -- a complexly connected set of stories that move together in productive, thoughtful ways. Lutes takes full advantage of his spare, generous style of drawing in the creation of this graphic novel ... once you read it, you'll be dying for the next one to come out. It's historically and psychologically rich; a tremendous addition to this growing genre.

The first in a project trilogy, Lutes' fictional attempt to recreate the confusing period of the tail-end of the Weimar Republic in Germany rambles and doubles back just a bit to much to satisfy. In trying to show how inter-war Germany was pulled to extremes by the Communists and National Socialists (Nazis), he creates a handful of characters and follows them from September 1928 to the violent May day clashes of 1929-with occasional flashbacks to World War I and the months following the armistice. The two main characters are journalist Kurt Severing and art student Marthe Muller, who meet on a train en route to Berlin (yes, they do eventually fall into bed together). Through his savvy and intelligent eyes, and her newcomer's naiveté, Lutes presents the political scene, one where the middle is disappearing, and every citizen is forced to pick a side. Ultimately, however, the book is far too ephemeral to work as a history lesson, and the relationships presented aren't compelling enough in and of themselves.

As for the artwork, Lutes' style is what might be called "European" in that it's all clean black and white inks that bring to mind Hérge. Architecture, automobiles, and wardrobes are all skillfully executed, however Lutes has difficulties with faces. Many of the characters' faces are either oddly formed and proportioned, or are too similar to one another. Still, the publisher has to be commended for the beautifully designed and produced book.

I picked up "Berlin: City of Stones" and immediately fell in love with it. The art is outstanding and the human interest is unsurpassed. Even minor characters who have but a few frames seem to have Tolstoy-novel vividness to them. For instance:

1) A traffic director whose intestinal constipation makes him see the vehicles he's directing as loathsome insects.

2) A physically vigorous fifty-ish newspaper distributor who likes making fun of the Nazis.

3). A schoolteacher who faces down her dochstoss-spouting student by telling her pupils that November, 1918, was a good month for the German people, as it was the month that brought democracy.

The book is full of these, along with major characters you'll care deeply about. The end - involving a single mother's vision of her now-estranged husband - very moving.

I can't wait for the second installment of a story of individuals in this politically ablaze city. Mr. Lutes, please hurry!

I love Berlin - there is something about the people, the pulse and rhythm of life in that city more than any other that speaks to me. Therefore I had to read Jason Lutes' triology of the city, set in the waning days of the Weimar Republic.

In the winter of 1928 and spring of 1929, Berlin found itself still suffering from the war and increasingly divided between fascists and socialists. Historically, Lutes is dead-on: the bohemian days of the early 20's are gone, replaced with economic depression and a sense of desparation as the Weimar Republic began to implode. With this backdrop, Kurt Severing, a journalist and Marthe Muller, a young art student find themselves caught up crises both personal and part of the larger upheval of the times.

Yet what really pulled me in wasn't so much the plot around Kurt and Marthe, but the broad cast of minor characters who pop in and out of the story. In this, Lutes does the city - and its inhabitants - justice enriching the story as Berliners wrestle with a haunting sense of loss from the war while facing their own small frustrations and the larger dissatisfaction with the political and social status quo. Added to this rich narrative tapistry is Lutes' clean drawing style, that for me, captured the spirit of that time and place.

My enthusiasm about the book is certainly influenced by my fondness for the place and my professional interest in the time period. With that said, one could do much worse for a graphic novel in terms of art, story and attention to historical detail. Recommended.

Lutes makes history human. He shows it doesn't just happen to people - people do it themselves. 1920s Germany comes alive, and Lutes shows politics wasn't something separate, left to politicians: it was life & death to everyday people. Lutes' Communists & fascists are real, and we feel their motivations. The love affair brought a lump to my throat. City of Stones is proof that education and emotion don't have to be separate.

Finally, as a student of socialist history, I can vouch for Lutes' accuracy. The fascist street gangs with their wealthy backers, the communist cooperatives, rising anti-semitism set against revolutionary fervour - it's all there, drawn in beautiful, spare lines.

This book is totally incredible. I consumed it in 2 late night sittings. The detail of each picture is so intricate, and the character portraits are fabulous.

The novel follows several different people through their daily lives in 1928-1929 Berlin. Although I'm a history buff, I do not know much about the period, however prior knowledge is not necessary to become completely engrossed.
The ending is stunning, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next of the Berlin books.

This is a must-read for fans of graphic novels!

If drawings, animation and other graphic froms of expression make you think "For kids" then don't bother. You're missing out though.

Adult cartoons (not Fritz) are a great blend of media...you can tell a cinemtatic story that would never get produced as a film, and lend a type of visual detail to a tale that is hard to create in books. Jason Lute is great at picking up these details, and for those of us who grew up reading comics, we recognize a master at work.

Give Lutes a lot of credit -- he's done his homework with this project. His cityscapes are impeccable; he packs a lot of historical detail into these stories in a creditably unobtrusive manner; he manages to make ordinary Germans of different walks of life come alive; and he captures -- to an extent I would've thought impossible in a graphic novel -- the nascent combustability of Weimar Germany. This is an especially difficult trick to pull off, since much of the conflict was ideological rather than, say, structural.

He gives relatively short schrift to the middle classes and the sort of folks who would've been aligned with the Catholic Center Party, but this is really just nit-picking. It's totally fair, at this level of generality, to dissolve the conflict into one between the Nazis and the Communists. And while he humanizes and renders sympathetically the Communist characters (which he does not do for the Nazi ones), he nonetheless manages I think not to whitewash too much their flaws.