Book Review - Petrograd by Philip Gelatti, Art by Tyler Crook

Synopsis:  Introducing the untold tale of the international conspiracy behind the murder of Gregorii Rasputin! Set during the height of the first World War, the tale follows a reluctant British spy stationed in the heart of the Russian empire as he is handed the most difficult assignment of his career: orchestrate the death of the mad monk, the Tsarina's most trusted adviser and the surrogate ruler of the nation. The mission will take our hero from the slums of the working class into the opulent houses of the super rich... he'll have to negotiate dangerous ties with the secret police, navigate the halls of power, and come to terms with own revolutionary leanings, all while simply trying to survive!

Review:  Petrograd is, as its synopsis so aptly puts it, a graphic novel about the plot to kill Rasputin.  Set in WWI Russia, the tale is told through the eyes of an English spy, Cleary, who is caught between duty to country and his own shifting convictions.

Rasputin is a fascinating character, partly because Americans like to pretend they could never understand him - he must just be a Russian thing.  Except, he's not.  Rasputin plays his victims like any other grifter - giving them the false hope they need to move along and that he needs them to have so he can profit - in power and in riches (and both are important).  He has a fascinating legend woven around him because he was seemingly impossible to kill - many attempts were made on his life and yet he always survived like some mysterious fakir floating above a bed of nails for centuries.

As I mentioned, Americans like to think that his appeal is inscrutable and locked into the uniqueness of the Russian psyche, the times, the context.  I find this interesting because there are so very many examples of American Rasputins - their control and power may be different, but they've been able to hypnotize the nation over and over again.  Don't believe me?  Take a moment and ponder Huey P. Long, Pat Robertson, or any of the other grifters we've seen capture the nation throughout our history.  Ultimately, it's not about the Russian psyche, but rather the human psyche, and this is beautifully illustrated in this book.

Panels from Petrograd

Petrograd examines the before, during, and after of Rasputin's murder and its ultimate impact on Russia's place in the world.  The Romanov world of St. Petersburg begins to morph into Petrograd as Russians rise up to overthrow their monarchy and establish a new, if differently organized, one.  The book successfully contrasts romanticism and reality - from the romanticism of a holy man in an ages long monarchy surrounded by beautiful things to the romanticism of a people's revolution to overthrow that monarchy and create a new world where everyone could have beautiful things.  Reality, of course, is lots of death and this is even before Lenin comes back to impose his own views upon his new nation.  There is the romanticism of freedom and the reality of governing.  The romanticism of planning to kill an ultimate evil and the actual ugliness associated with it.

Well-written, grounded in historical research and primary documents. Petrograd takes a well-known story and re-tells it as if it were a spy thriller, but not a James Bond spy thriller - more a John le Carre spy thriller where everything is all cynicism and shades of gray.  The art is gorgeous, rendered in sepia tones, although to be honest this bored me after awhile.  I would've liked to see more color and more play between sepia-toned memory, gray reality, and the Faberge egg colors of Russian romanticism.  All told a graphic novel worth reading - that the edition itself is also gorgeous is a bonus feature for a book I would've read had it been covered in cardboard and written in crayon.

Publishing Information:  Oni Press - August 2011

FTC Disclosure:  Copy received from the publisher for review

Rating:  ☆☆☆☆

Reading Challenge:  European Reading Challenge, Mount TBR Challenge, War Through the Generations Reading Challenge