When we speak of comics, most of us would immediately think of comic nations like France and Japan. However, Germany is definitely a country not to be ignored when we are talking about the development of Graphic novels in the past decades. Barbara Yelin, Matthias Lehmann, Reinhard Kleist, Nora Krug, Birgit Weyhe and many other German graphic novel authors have built up a broad readership outside the German-speaking world. Most important of all, German graphic novels have successfully retained its identity and makes no compromises in terms of content.
A good example is Matthias Lehmann’s latest work PARALLEL. With 450 pages PARALLEL is liked no other comics that we usually find on the market. In a simple and classy black and white style Matthias Lehmann tells the story of Karl Kling, a gay man trying his best to live a “normal” life in post-war Germany. What “normal” here means, is quite naturally finding a decent job, marrying a decent lady, having kids etc. etc. A slight deviation would mean a miserable outcome, like the protagonist in the story. Would Karl ever have the chance to live the true life he desires? Would he be able to come to terms with the world?
