The Cardboard Valise by Ben Katchor comes beautifully packaged with its own cardboard handles. When unfolded, the book itself resembles a valise.

Inside is the story of an island chain of nations, popular with tourists. The main island is known for its ruins of a giant complex of restrooms. Imagine if all that was left of California's tourist industry were the remains of its Caltrans built rest stop toilets.

The story opens with a man taking a trip to this remote island and having more of an experience than he expected. Through his journey it is revealed how much this island is an artifice put on to please the misconceptions of the tourists.

There's not much in the way of a linear plot. It's more a collection of comic strip vignettes that provide commentary on the tourist trade in third world nations. ( )

The Cardboard Valise by Ben Katchor is bizarre and very funny, while being a scathing commentary on the obsessions, priorities and carelessness of our modern world. It's a surreal, or maybe all too real, travelogue to imagined places like Tensint Island, the home of ancient restroom ruins that have become a popular tourist attraction. Emile Delilah, a xenophile, is our main tour guide, although there are others.

Thanks to his (Katchor's) imagination, there are laughs and twisted recognition on every page. Some reference works we encounter along the way: The Marrowbone Backseat Bible of Contraceptive Techniques, The Marrowbone Directory of Commonly Dialed Wrong Numbers, The Marrowbone Desk Reference To Nauseating Food Combinations. Whole philosophies are built on everyday objects like orthopedic shoes. He spotlights fixations on the importance of urban detritus that we take for granted and probably don't even notice anymore. At the end the reader may realize we're surrounded by mystery and absurdity and odd, accepted choices, and that much of it is very amusing if we pay enough attention.

While this is definitely not my favorite work by Ben Katchor, it is not without a certain charm. However, even more so than his well-known Julius Knipl character, this meandering set of comic strips concerning Tensint Island and Fluxion City seems to lack much of a unifying force, and the best strips are ultimately weighed down by many strips that are simply strange and (at best) mildly amusing. Katchor remains a genuine original, dedicated to a very individual vision of modern American life, but his technique has produced more interesting results in earlier volumes. ( )