Bosnian Flat Dog

Swedish cartoonists Anderson and Sjunnesson straddle the line between reality and surreality with this tale of their trip to an alternative comics convention in the Balkans. The journey leads to one strange occurrence after another, starting with a pelting by ice cream grenades. From there the corpse of Josip Tito (stored in a freezer), a super-soldier program and the eponymous canine creatures all figure in a story that trades in strange and loaded images to express life during constant conflict. The story is supposedly based on some true events, but it's all told through a dreamy haze. The cartoonists combine their art styles to create cloudy black and white images, continuing the feeling that these events are happening inside the mind as much as in reality. An interlude drawn in a much simpler style attempts to explain the story, but as far as this book is concerned, processing the world through imagination is far richer and more interesting. Anderson and Sjunnesson manage to keep the odd story going with their tight and fluid plotting, which says that in Bosnia the absurd is what is real. (Nov.)