Strange Skies Over East Berlin is a very different Cold War spy thriller that blends science fiction to tell a character-focused story. When an American spy embedded in East Berlin witnesses a fantastic light ripping across the sky, he's tasked with discovering what it is. Is it a Soviet weapon? Is it extraterrestrial? What he does find is enough to make him reassess his life choices head-on.

Lies and deception are part and parcel for spies, but they rarely have to face the toll of what they do. When confronting the source of the light, the spy is forced to acknowledge the lies of his past. Strange Skies Over East Berlin dives deep into this theme, exploring the damage and guilt.

Lisandro Estherren is an excellent fit for this story, visualising East Berlin as cold and unwelcoming. His watercolour washes give everything a grimy texture without being excessive and contribute to the tone. When the comic shifts into science fiction there's an element of claustrophobia, with darkness enveloping many of the panels.

Colourist Patricio Delpeche adds to the atmosphere with a muted colour palette. Dark blues, greys, and yellows wash over Estherren's art and do a lot to set the tone and tell the story.

Strange Skies Over East Berlin is a terrific genre-bending read. It has the moody and atmospheric tones that you'd expect from a spy thriller, while the science fiction elements introduce a unique way to tell a character-centric story. If you're looking for something new in your spy stories then you've got to read this.

On a night in 1973, a mysterious man is trying to help a group of people escape over the Berlin wall. His plan ins thwarted, however, when a huge light appears in the sky.
Later, this same man is sent to infiltrate a secret bunker, only to learn what the light brought with it - a creature from another world that brings with it the worst thing it could ever give to someone like this man: the gift of crystal clear truth.

I really, really wanted to like this graphic novel more than I actually did. It touched on a number of themes I really enjoy in fiction: truth and lies, surveillance and (false) freedom, justice and mercy, idealism and disillusionment, identity and its loss. It featured a morally grey protagonist, and a setting that I tend to enjoy seeing in media. It drew subtle parallels between characters that could have been very poignant and thought-provoking. It had most of the elements that should have made me love it.

And yet somehow, it read like a summary of itself. The pacing was too fast to evoke either the poignancy or the quiet horror of which it should have been capable; the art, while evocative and well suited to the story, never felt quite atmospheric enough to capture the suspense and sense of inevitable dread that never quite manifested.

For a story that relies so much on the protagonist's sense of himself (or lack thereof) and his lies, I never felt that I knew Herring well enough to care what became of him. This may very well have been partially deliberate, as Herring might not quite know himself--but in such a short piece of fiction, it contributed to the overall sense that it could have been much more effective than it really was.

This had the potential to be a delightfully eerie, harrowing read with a striking message. It could have been an excellent example of a story about aliens that isn't really about aliens at all (but about alienation, certainly). Instead, the result is somewhat bland--not because the elements aren't there, but because the pacing and brevity of the story make it seem far too superficial.

I received an electronic copy of this book for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the author, BOOM! Studios and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Not really sure what to make of this. The story, purportedly about spies, espionage and the web of lies woven by those in the biz, is interrupted by an alien creature that has indefinable powers. Lots of spectacular explosions, death scenes and so on, but we never learn what was going on with the alien, where it came from, what it wanted... and it's not really clear what happens to the spies either. So narration and story sadly lacking - the artwork is good, but this is not enough to make me want to follow up on the next parts of this series.

This wasn't nearly as good as I'd hoped it would be. It was all rather boring. It's about an alien that crashlands in East Berlin in 1973 and is caught by the Stasi, the East German secret police. The alien can bring your worst fears to the foreground as it takes you over and that's where this became mindnumbingly boring. There's no buildup to this relationship the main character screwed up so there's no payoff. We see he's a person doing awful things as a spy and not much more. Some people seem to like the art but I found it scratchy and ill-defined.

"A chilling and intense thriller about an American spy who encounters a terrifying inhuman threat at the heart of the Cold War.

East Berlin, 1973. Herring, a disillusioned American spy, has spent the entire Cold War infiltrating the inner circles of East German intelligence for a cause he barely believes in anymore. He’s seen everything and done anything his government asked, but his latest mission pits the brilliant, embittered operative against an enemy force so vast it could obliterate all of humanity.

The Space Race had greater consequences than even the Soviets could have guessed, and when they sent the first human ever to the stars, something not quite human followed them back. When a mysterious alien probe lands outside East Berlin and into Soviet control, the Americans send their top spy in to investigate. But as Herring gets ever closer to the truth at the heart of the conspiracy, he may find that the power he so desperately seeks is too dangerous for anyone to control or contain.

Writer Jeff Loveness (Judas) and artist Lisandro Estherren (Redneck) present a chilling and intense thriller about a terrifying inhuman threat at the heart of the Cold War - and the one American spy who can save the world...if he can save himself first."

Because aliens and the Cold War go hand in hand!

I am not sure what to say about this graphic novel, as I look back on it and can't think of any memorable moment. I didn't like the characters, the world, the plot. Everything just kinda happened. There were a lot of backstories told about hard times, but nothing that drew me in. The story was confusing. I.... What did I just read?

The artwork in this novel had a lot of character to it. I really enjoyed looking at almost every single page, yet it could be confusing and that aided in my lack of enjoyment of the plot. I also think that the word bubbles and type were not the best choice and brought me out of the novel because of how jarring they were.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

'Strange Skies Over East Berlin' solid enough story but lovely artwork. Another two or three issues to flesh some of it out would probably have worked well. It didn't quite feel rushed but it left a lot unexplored.

“Strange Skies Over East Berlin” by Jeff Loveness, illustrated by Lisandro Estherren, is a graphic novel set in the early 1970s in Berlin, at the height of the Cold War between the West and the USSR. We are introduced to an American spy, Herring, who has infiltrated the Stasi, the East German secret police. Something from outer space has landed (or crashed?) in the Soviet sector, it is Herring’s job to find out what it was. Confronted by his enemy as well as the alien, Herring has difficult choices to make upon which his survival (and that of the world) depends. Will he be unmasked as a spy? Will he get back to the West? Will the Soviets use the alien to win the Cold War?

You have several different story clichés here, all mashed together. We start with the world-weary spy, questioned his role and wondering how much longer he can deceive those around him before his time runs out. We have the secret enemy fortress with a terrible weapon that can change the tide of the war. And then we have a creature loose in a locked base, hunting the humans one by one.

And that is my main issue with this novel – by putting together all of these storylines in such a short book, there is no depth to the story. I would have liked to have seen more of the Berlin spy game, or a look behind the scenes at the Soviets trapping and trying to study the creature, or even an extended hunt throughout the locked research facility. I think that the concept is interesting, the art is well done, but the story feels rushed and shortened.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from BOOM! Studios via NetGalley. Thank you!

One of the last American spies in East Berlin is tasked with finding out what was the cause of the bright flash of light that everyone saw, but few can explain. Undercover, he infiltrates a secret base where Russians have contained something that can only be described as first contact. But spy and spy-catcher both face this new threat that seems determined to lay bare all their secrets. Jeff Loveness writes a taught spy thriller that questions the assumptions of both East and West made during the Cold War, the lies and the deception that underpin the power struggle between two superpowers. But in his strange tale, Loveness asks whether mercy is in fact the answer to all the lies we tell ourselves. Lisandro Esstherren provides beautifully painted images, both sparse and haunting. I look forward to rereading this strange comic.

This was a bit disappointing, as I only started to get into it with chapter 3 only to be confused at the end.

This was a mix of a spy story with alien interaction during the cold war, about identities and the lives of spies who after so many years forget their true identities, but it was very lackluster, and I felt that the author worked harder on the pretty words than properly building the story and setting up the series, as I assume this this the 1st volume in an upcoming series. It wasn't brilliant, but also wasn't bad.

I thank Netgalley and BOOM! studios for the digital ARC.

I recently signed up for a Net Galley account so I could request and review ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) of upcoming books. I immediately put in a few dozen requests, and this graphic novel was one of the first approvals I received.

The premise is this: in 1973, a UFO crashes in the German countryside east of Berlin and is recovered by the Russian. The Americans send their top spy in the area to find out the nature of their discovery.


While the story did include an alien, the theme focused on the lies told by each human who encountered the alien - particularly the American spy and his Russian counterpart - and how those lies affect the true nature of who each one is.  The book walks a fine line between being an alien story and being a spy story. I appreciate that approach, but think it would have been a better book if it had prioritized one or the other.

I gave Strange Skies Over East Berlin four stars on Goodread. It has a strong theme that it really pounded home, but at times the artwork made it hard to follow what was happening  to which character as the alien invaded the minds of more and more humans.

I loved it! Strange Skies Over East Berlin is an excellent genre-bending thriller. It has it all. A great tale of espionage and the supernatural. Gorgeous art. Unsettling and memorable moments. Highly recommended.

The publisher blurb says that it is chilling and intense, but I just found it frustrating.

A mysterious alien crash lands in East Berlin, and the local spy tries to figure out what it all is.

And what it is all is is your worse fears, and regrets.

And, well, I'm sure there is more to it than that, but that is the main point, and it seems to take forever to get to it.

The art is good, dark, and intense, and did I mention dark? The characters are not all that eveolved, and I don't really care about any of them, to be honest.

So, a good spy vs alien story, but not a great one.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

"Strange Skies Over East Berlin" is an interesting graphic novel. Good artwork and a solid story throughout.

This is definitely a strange one, and I find myself a little ambivalent about it.

On the one hand, I felt like the story was was trying too hard to be cerebral and ended up just being slippery. The art style was also not as appealing to me as I was hoping from the cover. On the other hand, the story does breathe the desperation and despair of its characters with a quality that I ultimately found touching and the panel designs were definitely visually striking with a lot of interest.

I think this title will have a lot of appeal for fans of horror and the darker variety of boutique graphic novels.

That beautiful, beautiful cover! After that, things got heavy-handed and weren’t exactly what I hoped for, was thinking more realistic spy thriller, not an alien inserted into the story as the only way for characters to see humanity in each other. The art was very cool though.

Spies and aliens in Cold War Berlin?

That’s basically what made me request the ARC for this GN.

The premise was very interesting, 1973 in East Berlin, a hot-spot of spies from both sides of the Cold War. Some of these spies so deep undercover that they themselves don’t remember who they really are. Into this keg of powder crashes an alien.

This is where the tropes start. Spies distrust each other and everyone else. Aliens are bad and drive the humans crazy. We never get to know why the alien crashed here on Earth, nor how it can and why it would draw out the secrets from a human’s mind.

It feels like two different stories, forced together; or one story where a large part of the plot is missing.

The story doesn’t contain any fresh elements to the tropes mentioned. The artwork is okay-ish, but nothing outstanding. There is nothing new here but the setting.

I never read graphic novels. I chose to read this one because of the historical context and it sounded interesting. The subject wasn't about the Berlin Wall and it focused more on hidden pasts. I enjoyed reading this, but it just wasn't for me. The artwork looked good but the story didn't leave anything meaningful after all was said and done.

A (Very Slow) Thinker, Not An Actioner

Despite some of the blurbs, this is not a spy thriller in the conventional sense. Our hero, Herring, is a "disillusioned", (aren't they always), spy and he has been sent into Soviet East Berlin to investigate the nature of an alien craft that has landed there. But there is no spycraft or cat and mouse or any of that. Once our hero has been established and set in motion we find ourselves with him in a claustrophobic underground bunker. It's just him, his conscience, the alien, some Soviet soldier dragon fodder, and hidden and suppressed truths and traumas that come back to haunt and terrorize.

As you might expect, the book is a mix of coherent thoughts and insights on one hand, and meta-garble and mumbo-jumbo on the other. Because that's how books like this work. The book follows a theme and variation style. The theme is lies versus truth and how we lose our grip on both. That theme is revisited over and over, in our hero's memories, the memories of those trapped with him, flashbacks, and moments of calm reflection. It seems that the alien can draw true memories out of those it encounters, so our hero must repeatedly confront truth, and the truth of his various lies. And that's about it.

It can get monologuish and angsty, but there's just enough clarity or point, from time to time, to keep the reader going. The art is dark and muddy, and since Herring's actual look changes from panel to panel it's often hard to tell who is who. That is not especially helpful, and just makes the often confusing narrative and dialogue that much more confusing.

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)