Berlin (comics)

Infobox comic book title
title = Berlin: City of Stones


caption = Cover of "Berlin: City of Stones" (Book One)
schedule = Irregular
limited =Y
publisher = Black Eye Productions, Drawn and Quarterly
date = April 1996 - present
issues = 24 (planned)
Historical = y
main_char_team =
writers = Jason Lutes
artists = Jason Lutes
pencillers =
inkers =
colorists =
TPB = City of Stones
ISBN = 1-896597-29-7
TPB1 = City of Smoke
ISBN1 = 978-1-897299-53-1
subcat = Drawn and Quarterly
sort = PAGENAME

"Berlin" is the title of a comic book series created by Jason Lutes and published by Black Eye Productions and then Drawn and Quarterly. Planned as a series of 24 magazines, it describes life in Berlin from 1928 to 1933, during the decline of the Weimar Republic.

Plot

Book One

The first eight issues were compiled into a book titled "Berlin: City of Stones", published in 2000. It starts with Marthe Müller, an art student, arriving in Berlin. One story arc details the start of her life in Berlin, focusing on her relationship to journalist Kurt Severing. A second story line describes a working class family which breaks up due to differing political views, the mother eventually joining the communists with their daughters, while the father takes their son to the Nazis. The book ends with the massacre of 1 May 1929, the International Workers Day (known in German as "Blutmai").

Book Two

Issues 9–16 have been compiled in "Berlin" book two: "City of Smoke", published in 2008. [ [http://www.newsarama.com/comics/100801-Berlin2.html Back to the City - Jason Lutes on Berlin 2] , Newsarama, October 1, 2008] In the second volume, the relationship between Marthe and Kurt disintigrates, partly due to the influence of Kurt's former lover Margarethe. Marthe develops a relationship with fellow art student Anna. A major subplot involves a group of African-American jazz musicians who perform at a Berlin nightclub. The volume concludes with the electoral victory of the Nazi Party in September 1930.

Collected editions

The series has been collected into trade paperback:

*"Berlin: City of Stones" (collects "Berlin" #1-8, Drawn and Quarterly, 1 June 2000, ISBN 1-896597-29-7)
*"Berlin: City of Smoke" (collects "Berlin" #9-16, Drawn and Quarterly, 19 August 2008, ISBN 978-1-897299-53-1)

Notes

References

*gcdb series|id=7336|title="Berlin"
*comicbookdb|type=title|id=3586|title="Berlin"

External links

* [http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/shopCatalogLong.php?item=a3e55169a67e85 Drawn and Quarterly (publisher) book info page]
* [http://www.popmatters.com/comics/berlin-city-of-stones.shtml Berlin: City of Stones, Book One, PopMatters Comic Book Review ]
* [http://www.cityofsound.com/blog/2002/03/berlin_city_of_.html City of Sound Book Review]
* [http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/blog/2008_01_01_archive.php City of Smoke info]