Frank

Frank

by Jim Woodring

Calling Woodring's "Frank" stories "his richest and most universal work", World Art magazine cites Woodring as an "original Surrealist". The wordless Frank stories are based on dream logic, so they're easy to understand, but difficult to explain.

Frank is a curious, innocent, anthropomorphized creature who lives in a world of mosque-like buildings amidst flying spirits and various animals and demons. Frank's nemesis is Manhog, the piggish incarnation of every horrible human trait.

Frank's world is composed of dozens of stories as powerful as any fairy tale, with clear allegories, gentle allusions and a meticulously crafted internal logic. Woodring's brilliant use of color makes this a beautiful children's book with a thoughtful look into the questions, enigmas and essential mysteries of life.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy, Comix, Humor

108 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1995

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

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow!

What a strange and delightful mix of cute and creepy. Welcome to a colorful, freaky and bizarre acid-trip!

Frank, the weird purple and white critter who's the star of the book is a puzzle. He's depicted as something of a naïf who bumbles through life, yet he has no qualms about decapitating a friendly smiling fish.

I got a big kick out of his nemesis, a grotesque yet pitiable creature called the "Manhog."



Probably not for everyone, but I'm looking forward to spending more time in Frank's world.

[Nate D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jim Woodring's Frank carves out one of the most singularly focused and unique dreamscapes in comics. This volume collects the earliest works from the mid-90s, including the original, "Frank in the River". The early sensibility is perhaps less refined than it later became, but even so somehow emerged fully formed as itself at all points. Whimsy, wisdom, and menace, not only in balance but as inextricable parts of eachother.

[jared Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woodring is not afraid to go to those dark places that most of us fear to tread. Perfect for that acidhead on your xmas list!

[J Poolner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frank, and Jim Woodring in general, had been at the periphery of my senses for decades—at others' houses on their bookshelves, for example, or a random person out in the world wearing a Pupshaw or Pushpaw tee-shirt. They probably appeared a bit closer to my awareness after having read "Understanding Comics" where I think Frank was used as an example in a couple of places.

But while I never really registered Frank, or Jim Woodring, my subconscious did. Because when I first picked up a Frank comic book, one of many anthologized in this series, I was immediately tuned into these characters and landscapes, like I'd been there before. The images intrinsically cause that deja-vu feeling anyway. The real shocker, the "this is one-step-beyond genius and madness" moment for me came when the first story I read, and then any subsequent, started going south on Frank. The journeys Frank takes opened up whole new avenues in both my consciousness, and my appreciation for the skills it took to imagine and then draw this. And an amazingly clear narrative in a surreal landscape using no words?

This is the good stuff, be careful with it.

[Gijs Grob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jim Woodring is one of the great masters of comic art, combining extraordinary draftsmanship with exquisite wordless story telling. This volume contains stories both painted in full color, as well rendered in gorgeously shaded ink drawings. Frank's world is strange, mysterious, surreal, trippy and cruel, and never ceases to amaze. Apart from the title hero, the stories star e.g. the equally stupid and cruel Manhog, the devilish Whim, and the house-shaped dog Pupshaw.

[Cody · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really hard book to review because it's so unique. It's mysterious and funny without being completely frustrating. Virtually wordless, the artwork draws you in but doesn't tell you what to think. Everyone should read this book to see what comics are capable of.

[Al McCarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genius.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's like Krazy Kat on bad acid. The stories are utterly bizarre, lack any true dialogue, and yet aren't alienating. You get the sense that there is a symbolic order to Woodring's creepy, fantastic world. There are morals to these stories, and a definite anti-capitalist bent. It's a book I can see myself returning to in the future, finding new layers of weirdness and depth.

[Katrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insanity!

[Zero Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Welcome to the wonderful and weird world of Frank. Mostly in mime and beautifully illustrated, this is comic books as art.

[Mills College Library]

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