Frank: La Cuerda del Laúd

Frank

by Jim Woodring

Los anteriores volúmenes del personaje fueron recibidos con entusiasmo en nuestro país (Mejor Novela Gráfica en 2011 y segunda Mejor Novela Gráfica en 2012 para EL PAÍS). Pero FRANK se ha convertido poco a poco en un fenómeno que ya no abarca solo los tebeos, también coquetea con las bellas artes (exposiciones cada vez más frecuentes en distintos países), la literatura (aparición en listas anuales de numerosas revistas literarias y medios generalistas y premios como el Genius of Literature de The Stranger), el cine de animación (Visions Of Frank) y el documental (The Lobster And The Liver), la música (colaboraciones con artistas como Bill Frisell o Mika) y hasta la juguetería (las figuras diseñadas por Woodring alcanzan hoy precios de vértigo entre los coleccionistas). Convertido en algo parecido a un clásico en vida, Jim Woodring está entregando en los últimos tiempos lo mejor y más personal de su producción. Mientras esperamos la que será su novela gráfica definitiva, FRAN ?cuya aparición coincidirá en nuestro país con la edición norteamericana?, este volumen concluye la publicación de las historias cortas del icónico y amoral personaje. Junto a muchas de sus narraciones clásicas (Frank en el río, Pupshaw, Gentlemanhog) y de más de sesenta páginas no publicadas en Estados Unidos, el libro presenta un apéndice que incluye una entrevista en exclusiva para esta edición, una bibliografía completa y un catálogo detallado de todos los juguetes inspirados en el personaje. Loor a Jim Woodring. Vuelve Frank.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy

256 pages, Rústica

First published November 1, 2005

About the author

Jim Woodring was born in Los Angeles in 1952 and enjoyed a childhood made lively by an assortment of mental an psychological quirks including paroniria, paranoia, paracusia, apparitions, hallucinations and other species of psychological and neurological malfunction among the snakes and tarantulas of the San Gabriel mountains.

He eventually grew up to bean inquisitive bearlike man who has enjoyed three exciting careers: garbage collector, merry-go-round-operator and cartoonist. A self-taught artist, his first published works documented the disorienting hell of his salad days in an “illustrated autojournal” called Jim. This work was published by Fantagraphics Books and collected in The Book of Jim in 1992.

He is best known for his wordless comics series depicting the follies of his character Frank, a generic cartoon anthropomorph whose adventures careen wildly from sweet to appalling. A decade’s worth of these stories was collected in The Frank Book in 2004. The 2010 Frank story Weathercraft won The Stranger’s Genius Award and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for that year. The most recent Frank book, Congress of the Animals, was released in 2011.

Woodring is also known for his anecdotal charcoal drawings (a selection which was gathered in Seeing Things in 2005), and the sculptures, vinyl figures, fabrics and gallery installations that have been made from his designs. His multimedia collaborations with the musician Bill Frisell won them a United States Artists Fellowship in 2006. He lives in Seattle with his family and residual phenomena.

-Walter Foxglove

Reviews

[Digi M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought a collection that put together four of these frank books. It was published in Japanese, but as here is no writing or words, it was fine for me to read.

The imagination in these stories is great, improbable events, dangerous enemies, cruelty, love and anger. The first few stories had me confused, but it was as if the more I read, the more I was drawn into their world, and I stopped trying to understand what was happening, and just accepted it as reality.

Some of the stories are cruel, particularly the handling of Manhog.

I'd be interested to read an interpretation of this universe, and then go through these books again.

[Victor GLl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tercer libro de Frank editado por Fulgencio pimentel.
El libro se compone de historietas mudas sobre el mundo de Frank, un personaje difícilmente descriptible. El dibujo de Woodring es muy bueno y lisérgico, un buen refrigerio para esta maldita vida moderna.

[Daniel Garduño Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

So very, very strange--but very cool.