This Week's Special Reads: Berlin, Book One

I was first properly introduced to graphic novels by my professor, Marcus Boon, at York University. The class was a painful second year English course with about 60-80 students in it. But the reading list was incomparable: On the Road, Adaptation, Ghost World, Maus II, Sex and the City, Trainspotting, Blood and Guts in High School, White Noise... it goes on. I also took an introduction to Comics and Cartoons with Jonathan Warren - one of the best professors I've ever had.

Anyway, that leads me to Berlin, book one: City of Stones by Jason Lutes. This is an ambitious, thoroughly researched historical fiction project in the form of a graphic novel. Lutes is creating a trilogy about Weimar Germany during Hitler's rise to power (it begins in 1928). Book Two comes out tomorrow! This is compelling reading about art and representation (with lots of violence, drama, drugs and sex), which I'm incorporating into research about images and documentary.... so I'm looking for anyone with expertise in comics for recommendations and insights.

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On a related note, Marcus Boon edited this book, which I find hilarious. It's real, folks!