June 23, 2018

This fall, the third and final volume of Jason Lutes’s epic Berlin trilogy is being released (through Drawn and Quarterly). It is a big accomplishment and rightly deserves some hearty congratulations. To celebrate, Jason’s coworker and fellow CCS teacher Luke Howard ′13 pulled together a super secret project where over of Jason’s peers and students drew their own version of more than the first 6 chapters of Berlin. Keep an eye out online—lots of contributors (159!) have been posting their work, which is especially interesting when they include the original page.

Page by Aaron Cockle ′08, creator of Annotated and Word and Voice

Pulling together a PDF of scans of all the pages so that the contributors, spread far and wide, could see the result, Luke wrote a heart-felt introduction.

Page by Dean Sudarsky ′16

LOVINGLY CRAFTED – A CELEBRATION OF JASON LUTES AND HIS IMPACT

Written by Luke Howard ′13, creator of Talk Dirty to Me (AdHouse Books, 2016)

Page by Michelle Ollie, CCS President

Somewhere there’s a house outside of San Francisco, and in that house is a pimple-faced, teenage boy. It’s the early 1980s and he’s using his dog-eared copy of the Dungeon Master’s Guide to lead his friends into yet another adventure. He has lovingly crafted it just for them. He stayed up half the night getting everything just so. He sacrificed his own need for sleep in the interest of providing them with the best adventure he could. Unspeakable dangers await these adventurers – not everyone will make it out alive. The risk is worth the reward, though. the excitement of seeing what Jason Lutes has placed just around the next corner is enough to entice even the wisest of Clerics. And so, onward they travel…

Page by Angela Boyle ′16, curator of Awesome ‘Possum

It’s 1991 and Jason is finishing up his final exams at the Rhode Island School of Design. In just a few short days he’ll be graduating. And what should be done with his life now? The next adventure is just ahead. It’s 1996 and Jason decides to follow up his critically acclaimed Jar of Fools with a sprawling epic about the years in Germany leading up to World War II. It’s 2006 and Jason and Becca welcome their daughter Clem into the world. Clem goes on to produce her own amazing comics—they put Jason’s graduate students to shame. It’s 2007 in a tiny train town in Vermont. Jason is giving his very first lecture at The Center for Cartoon Studies to a room full of anxious and expectant students. It’s 2009 and Clem has a new baby brother named Max—Max goes on to become an expert brewer of “foot beer” and a scholar on all things Star Wars. It’s 2016 and Jason is watching proudly as the 10th CCS graduating class crosses the stage to receive their diplomas. It’s 2017 and Jason and Becca are exchanging vows on a perfectly cloudless summer day. It’s 2017 and Jason is celebrating his 50th birthday in style by putting the finishing touches on the last chapter of Berlin before sending it off to his publisher, 20-some years after its inception. A night of dancing with students, friends, Becca, Clem, and Max feels like the perfect way to express how good it is to finally be done.

Page by Jan Burger ′12

It’s 2017 and some of Jason’s past students have decided that an interesting way to honor one of their favorite teachers and the completion of his exceptional 500-plus pages of Berlin would be to draw their own versions of some of those pages. Maybe a good handful of students, alumni, and friends could participate. Maybe they’ll even manage to recreate the first 24 pages, if they’re lucky…

Page by Sandra Bartholomew ′17, creator of Begin Again

It’s 2018 and a shocking 159 people have submitted pages to the project. Between October and April, Jason’s students and friends have somehow successfully recreated more than the first 6 chapters of Berlin.

Page by Sophie Yanow ′16 (and CCS Fellow ′14/15), creator of What Is a Glacier? (Retrofit Comics, 2016)

We present Jason with this monolithic homage as an expression of our admiration and our gratitude. And we want him to know something. We want him to know how proud we are of the work he’s done with Berlin and that we stand inspired by a true master of cartooning. We want him to know how much he has reached into and effected each and every one of our lives. That every hour of time he has given us, every hour that he has knowingly taken away from his own work, has had an immeasurable impact on our own. The countless times he has stayed up half the night getting everything just so. How he has lovingly crafted things just for us. It has always been in the interest of providing us with the best adventures imaginable. And so, with his help, onward we travel…

Page by Chris Wright, creator of Black Lung (Fantagraphics)

It’s 2018. What should be done with his life now? The next adventure is just ahead. We can’t wait to see what Jason has waiting for us around the corner. We suspect not everyone will make it out alive.

Page by Kelly Swann ′16

With all the love and gratitude we can possibly summon,

Your students, colleagues, and friends

Page by Iris Yan ′13

Page by Bailey Sharp ′11,  co-art editor at The Lifted Brow

Page by Reilly Hadden ′15, creator of Astral Birth Canal

Page by Iona Fox ′15

Currently on display at The Center for Cartoon Studies Schulz Library.