When Astrid tells Stuart she would like to photograph him alone (and loans him her black scarf) they kiss for the first time. A friendship is formed, despite the language barriers, and soon Astrid is taking their pictures, posing them on a truck with their instruments, and her mother is making them English tea, mashed potatoes and peas. Klaus (who goes on to have a long relationship with the Beatles and career as an artist and musician, designing the cover for the Revolver album and playing in various bands, including the Plastic Ono Band) wants to show them an album cover he has designed. She and Klaus visit the the Kaiserkeller many times before working up the courage to talk to the band. Arne Bellstorf has created a graphic novel that is visually and emotionally compelling and (I'd imagine) very evocative of the time and place.Ĭool and reserved, a standout for her style and looks, Astrid is clearly drawn to Stuart from the first time she sees him. That said, I don't think you need to know anything about Kirchherr, Sutcliffe or the Beatles to enjoy and appreciate this glimpse into what it was like to be young and creative in the early 1960s when society was on the verge of major changes. Of course I wanted to read a graphic novel about the fifth Beatle. I remember being transfixed by the brief passage in the book about the Beatles' time in Hamburg, their transformative friendship with Astrid Kirchherr and Stuart Sutcliffe's early demise. I remember laying on the beach in the summer of 1982 reading Phillip Norman's SHOUT! The Beatles in Their Generation.

Beatlemania the musical and the movie version of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band had come out. I went through my Beatles period when I was in junior high in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Baby's in Black by German graphic novelist Arne Bellstorf is yet another amazing book from FirstSecond that caught my attention right away.

Baby's in Black by Arne Bellstorf