Strange Skies Over East Berlin

This is marvellous. Strange Skies Over East Berlin is an exceedingly delightful genre mash-up. It is Harry Palmer meets The Thing. Weirdly, it reminds of Robocop in that almost perfectly does what it sets out to do. It is not the best comic ever written, but this is a book I think that I’ll probably end up reading again and again. There is something comforting about reading a story that cranks up the tension. The stakes are high, and I relished that battle of words between characters trying to outwit each other under terrible pressure.

Set in the cold war, our hero Herring must find out what the Russians know about an object that has fallen from space. It all goes downhill from there.

The art here is fantastic, Lessandro Estherren work as the lead artist shows a mastery of storytelling that intelligent and engaging. Patricio Depleche’s colouring is particularly notable for the moody atmosphere it establishes. I read this in one sitting, eagerly turning the pages as the story zips along at a quick pace.

This could have been much messier and hokier. It could have been b-movie style shlock. Loveness’s script manages to pull together different genres and hang the tale on characters who you want to survive. The dialogue had me on tenterhooks, and one-liners made me grin.

I could wax lyrical about the characters, art, and, story for several more pages, but I did a podcast explaining why I enjoyed this book so much (See Through Panel episode 10). My recommendation is that you read it. One of my books of the year. Despite being provided with an ARC from NetGalley, I’ll be purchasing a hardcopy to keep.

"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!