Berlin

Set in the waning years of the Weimar Republic, Berlin is a sweeping, meticulously researched graphic novel series from French publisher Seuil that chronicles the lives of ordinary citizens—from journalists and artists to prostitutes and ex-soldiers—as the city hurtles toward the rise of Nazism. Launched in 2002 and continuing to the present, the series is most closely associated with its creator, Jason Lutes, whose dense, black-and-white linework and novelistic pacing bring a forgotten era to vivid, human-scaled life. Though only one issue has been released, its ambition and historical depth have made it a landmark of mature, literary comics.