Drawn in a slashing pen-and-ink style with raw crosshatching and heavy blacks, the author’s visual approach adds to the intense, claustrophobic feel of the graphic novel, while its surreal verisimilitude recalls cult films like Eraserhead and The Forbidden Zone.
A total dreamscape nightmare of a story. It was extremely surreal, and I feel like it really captures the mood of a truly strange dream. It even maintains dream logic in some illogical way.
I had so much fun reading this, and honestly could just keep going indefinitely. I love dark humour, gore and imaginary wastelands, and this has a perfect amount of both. So happy there are more comics rom Andersson to discover.
A macabre acid trip of a graphic novel, made up of disjointed horror stories revolving around the same few characters and illustrated with thick, black-and-white woodcut images. An impressive work on the whole, I just wish there was some semblance of a plot to follow!
Wow! The artwork had a very 90s feel about it, but some of the "stories" reminded me quite alarmingly of dreams I've had. I believe the artist also drew heavily from his own dreams in creating these vignettes. I don't know what that says about him (or me), but all in all, I was quite impressed.
Jag fastnade för Max Anderssons seriegärning redan på 90-talet med hans geniala album, Pixy, som frammanar en hel värld av svart absurdism och surrealism. Utgrävningen, som är Anderssons senaste seriealster, är en tjock bok, fylld med helsidesrutor i hans klassiska tecknarstil. Personligen känner jag mig ofta kluven till greppet med att konsekvent bara använda helsidesrutor, även det finns ett flertal exempel på hur det kan göras riktigt bra, eftersom jag saknar sidans komposition av rutsekvenser som seriemediumet vanligtvis nyttjar. I Utgrävningen fungerar greppet väl, men jag tror fortfarande att användningen är en bidragande del till varför detta inte når upp till fem stjärnor för mig.
En annan orsak är den vilda ohämmade surrealismen i berättelsen. I Pixy genererar Andersson en konsekvent (om än surrealistisk, mörk och absurd) värld som suger in läsaren och övertygar hen om sin egen mytiska existens. Utgrävningen å andra sidan tycks mig vara mer som en fantastisk (mar)drömsekvens, som förvisso erbjuder en sorts fiktionsvärld, men som liksom drömmar i allmänhet inte känns stabil. Givetvis behöver den heller inte vara det; om den vore det, skulle det vara en väldigt annorlunda bok (och inte nödvändigtvis bättre). Men skuggan av Pixy är onekligen lång.
Oavsett, så är Utgrävningen något som jag rekommenderar varmt, inte bara till Andersson-fans utan även till andra som inte räds det mörka, det absurda, det surrealistiska i de narrativa konstarterna.
Psychedelická magořina. Pokud vám tenhle popis zní dobře, tak jste na správné adrese. Jinak zase klidně pokračujte v cestě. Autor se ani ne tak inspiroval ve snech jako spíš tu ony sny prostě překresluje. Ať už dávají smysl nebo ne. Většinou spíš ne. Přičtěte si kresbu, která je velmi specifická (čti ošklivá) a vcelku líná (vždy jeden obrázek na stránku, takže práce s panely nulová) a máte tu kousek, který by neznalého čtenáře odradil hned na první dobrou. Pokud tedy tohle není čtenářův šálek čaje, tehdy ho vlastně i ta kresba spíš potěší. Další Anderssonovy kousky jsou v pořadí, tak snad budou vypointovanější než Vykopávka.
Mohlo by se vám líbit, pokud: - vás bavily věci jako Thomas Ott nebo Salad fingers a přežijete, že tu neexistují výraznější příběhy nebo pointy
Spíš vás zklame, pokud: - nemáte akutní potřebu číst něčí sny - nejste moc na komiksové pokusy
Very strange graphic novel. Comparable to the f**ed up hallucinatory absurdity of Canadian cartoonist Marc Bell. While Bell's artwork, at least, has an absurd effect "The Excavation" with a mainly morbid, disconcerting atmosphere, somehow maintains a transfixing narrative throughout. This might have something to do with how, amidst all the distortion and confusion, classic and effective cartooning techniques are employed. By the end, you find yourself not quite sure what you just read, but you know you kept at it enthusiastically.
Max Andersson's The Excavation is a vivid array of crude and nightmarish body horror stories that feels like an acid trip from start to finish. The stories are all grotesque and evoke a sense of dream logic that makes for a very disorientating read. Andersson's artwork heavy pen-and-inks evoke a similar aesthetic to that of woodcuts to great effect. The main downside to this book is that most of the stories aren't really memorable. The artwork, however, will be the main reason to consider revisiting this book.
Presumably written edited, published, and prominently displayed in a local library by ADULTS, (probably in an attempt to attract teen readers) the book definitely catches attention by bright covers and striking black and white graphics. But….. YUK, gross. The only real appeal might be to people with the mind of a four-year-old potty mouth type. Includes depictions and text that is mostly about excrement and cut and mutilated body parts.
Jag uppskattade verkligen tecknar tilen och hur Max Andersson visualiserat det olika scenariumen.
Inte min typ av humor, och för min del blev det även ett stort minus poäng av att boken innehöll ett transfobiskt uttalande. Där en kvinna har en fin häck, men så fort underlivet syndes blev det skräck o faro för programledaren.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Not rating because it wasn't my kind of thing, but that doesn't make it bad. I'm sufficiently not-into this type of graphic work that I can't fairly evaluate. Someone recommended it, and I like excavations [note: this is not really about excavation], so I tried it without adequate research. My fault, not the book's.
The early parts of this book were first published in Andersson's comic book series Death and Candy, and at least one other outlet (not sure which). What he's done here is to take that earlier work, and use only one panel per page. (In the original presentation, four panels comprised a page.) This is the kind of dreamlike meandering narrative that I've come to expect from Andersson, and I enjoy his style of storytelling quite a bit.
Look I know you're proud of the flyers you drew for the harsh noise show in Keith's basement but you can't just staple them all in a row and call that a comic book. I mean, I guess you can, but it won't be a very good one
This is like if you watched too much Salad Fingers and tried to make it into a dark comedy mixed with soft core porn. Definitely not for me. I picked it up randomly through the library and I’m full of regret.