GIVE IT UP!

Widely published illustrator and comic-strip artist Kuper does more than merely provide pictures for nine of Kafka's narratives. He edits the text sharply, and concentrates various descriptions into his singular scratchboard drawings. The result is unevensome pieces nicely capture Kafka's cityscapes in angular designs reminiscent of ``The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.'' Others update the time and place, an idea that works particularly well in ``The Trees,'' a striking tale of indifference to the homeless, with menacing images of police brutality. The project, on the whole, seems a bit hastily conceived; each story begins with a powerful splash page that defies conventional graphic panel design, but then the stories often peter out, with images less and less fully imagined. Hand-lettering would also have improved the visual impact of these black and white texts. Nevertheless, a worthy companion volume to R. Crumb's recent Introducing Kafka.