Paddy

Beautiful, captivating, succinct - and yet surprisingly deep, Liebestrasse pulls at the heartstrings and then claws at them. Set in the twilight years of the vibrant Weimar Republic as the shadow of fascism begins to rise and take root, it is a tale told with great sensitivity with regards the experiences of Gay men - all too often overlooked when discussions of Nazi Germany's brutal "cleansing" programs take place. The art is quite beautiful and compliments the story perfectly - being rich and vibrant, it leaps off the page and pulls you in to Philip and Samuel's world as if you too were one of their friends. The attention to detail alone is admirable, being wholly authentic to the period. While this particular story is a fictionalised account, the two main characters are based upon several drawings it's Artist Tim Fish made of photos of a couple [one American, one German] that he saw during a visit to the The Theresienstadt. I personally feel that copies of this and Art Spiegelman's "MAUS" should be required reading in every school - "MAUS" won The Pulitzer Prize, and "Liebestrasse" was nominated by GLAAD for their Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book. It may a swift read, but for those interested in the experiences of same-sex couples during WWii it is a must-read. By its end it will leave you quietly contemplating what so many endured and suffered, and yet so few survived. Its ending resonates loudly and emotionally like a tolled bell. Long may such stories resonate. Highly recommended