The Excavation

An unnamed man takes his girlfriend to meet the parents, only to find he’s been away so long the house has become a spooky archeological site. Delving deeper, the two get lost in a fragmented, Freudian world where everything—houses, people, memory—is in the process of being chopped up and stitched back together. Told in a series of rough, woodcut-style full-page illustrations framed by jittery border art, the story follows a claustrophobic dream logic of disjointed time, detachable penises, and shadowy authority figures. As one character puts it, “When you get to a certain point, suddenly everything turns around, like it’s inside out or something.” An alternative cartoonist from Sweden, Andersson is old-school underground, drawing trauma-eyed blockheads engrossed in disturbing, surreal activities. This jaunt through the seedy back streets of the unconscious isn’t for everyone, but lovers of Eraserhead-style hypnagogia will be in their comfort zone. (Jan.)