Poochytown

Frank

by Jim Woodring

When Pupshaw and Pushpaw depart for the orgiastic delights of Poochytown, the forlorn Frank is thrown by a twist of fate into an unlikely friendship, propelling him down a long road of escapades and trials that ends in one of the most shocking acts ever depicted in the Frank canon.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Surreal, The United States Of America, Fiction, Comics Manga

100 pages, Hardcover

First published July 3, 2018

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

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another wordless comics novel from Jim Woodring, who created Frank, Fran, The Congress of Animals and other works that explore a surrealistic/psychedelic world he calls The Unificator. This one features Frank, who makes music/art on a kind saxophone which produces wild designs. Frank goes in search of a couple lost pets. He makes friends with a Manhog, and they share the weirdness together. This one seems to take off on a tangent or alternate aspect of something Woodring developed in Congress of the Animals.

Why read this and other bizarreness from Woodring? Because this is classic alt-comix from a master cartoonist. Because if you have to ask why then you already don't get that's the wrong question. What's the vibe? Well, this is not offensive or too scary. It's a touch of humorous and baffling. The feel is in part Golden Age comics, part grotesque take. Never just silly fun, because there is a bit of strange in it. But I would never pass up a look at any new work of Woodring, even if I can't claim to fully "understand" it. He opens my mind.

Here's a Comics Journal review with some images from it:

http://www.tcj.com/reviews/poochytown/

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

A giant floating amoeba emerges from a magic tuba and sucks up Frank’s furniture-like dogs. Naturally that means Frank becomes mates with PigMan and goes on a road trip with him!

This Jim Woodring character, eh - will the man ever come up with anything remotely original!? It’s always the same old derivative fluff over and over! I kid of course, old Jim is nothing if not unique in his consistently bizarre, hallucinatory silent Unifactor stories. As visionary as they are though, Poochytown didn’t really do much for me.

Nothing that happened impressed me. The amoeba/tuba thing felt incidental and pointless, as did the crazy horse that did a number on Frank, and Frank/PigMan’s friendship wasn’t very fun. Zanier stuff has happened in previous books and Woodring doesn’t top those here. The road trip was very imaginatively rendered though with a stick and a steering wheel on the end planted into the ground that somehow moves the scenery?!

The art is as skilful and intricate as ever but hardly anything of the story was interesting to read – Poochytown is Poochydull! If you’ve never read any Jim Woodring before, I recommend starting with the much better Weathercraft instead.

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine addition to the Frank series, but nothing game-changing. I wouldn't mind seeing Woodring branch off into a new series at this point.

Certainly a fine place to start for any Woodring newbie! He's a master cartoonist, so many of these panels are wonderful.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is really no one who compares with Jim Woodring. I've loved his strange, psychedelic, surreal world for years now, and this latest gem is fantastic. In fact, it might be my favorite yet, due to its particularly eye-popping intricacies. There's less disturbing aspects to this new tale compared to past ventures, with more of an emphasis on the mind-blowing hallucinatory aspects of the adventures of the anthropomorphic Frank. I'd love to give copies of this to everyone I know, just to see them react to the baffling and beautiful world of The Unifactor.

[Hamish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hope that I was not the only Jim Woodring fan who, upon hearing the name of his new book, was secretly hoping that it would be about a certain rockin' dog who was Rastafied by about 10% or so. While sadly this is not the case, I'm still happy to report that this is another Woodringian journey through the fantastic and bizarre and that, as usual, I'm at something of a loss to describe it. It begins where Fran ended (and where Congress of the Animals began), but promptly veers in different directions (Quacky's discarded box no longer contains a croquet set). These directions contain the surrealness and incomparable imagination you'd expect from one of Uncle Jim's books. Granted it doesn't break new ground (in comparison to his prior work) or contain quite the emotional heft of Weathercraft, but certainly it's a happy addition to the works of one of the most singular artists working today.

P.S. Jeff Bridges wrote one of the jacket blurbs at his Jeff Bridges-est.

P.P.S. I didn't even know this was out until two days ago when I saw it in the window of my favorite comic shop. I happily ran in and snatched it up. The check-out guy informed me it had come out that day and he had just sold another copy. I shuddered to think of the cavalcade of weirdos and social maladepts (of which I am one) lining up to buy the new Jim Woodring book on release day.

Note: Frank died on the way back to his home planet.

Edit: I just learn that Uncle Jim didn't just reprint those first six pages from Congress of the Animals in Poochytown. No, he redrew them, "line for line." Truly a man committed to his craft.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poochytown takes an unexpected route through Jim Woodring's fabulous Unifactor, starting with the exact same incident that introduced 2011's Congress of the Animals, but taking the narrative in a completely different direction from that point forward. No wonder this newer volume is sub-titled "Discontinuing Congress of the Animals and Fran" (the latter being an intermediary volume that was published in 2013).

As ever, protagonist Frank's adventures are wordless and hallucinatory, but this time around there is no companion character (the role fulfilled by Fran in the earlier volumes) to restrain Frank's worst impulses. So we get a full helping of random destruction, cruelty, and indifference, since Frank is ever-ready to abandon those who have aided him. On the other hand, Frank is continuously curious and always ready to explore, and if he learns absolutely nothing from his new experiences, then he's only an anthropomorphic stand-in for humanity.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been a fan of Woodring since his Frank day’s (1990s). He is considered by many to be a genius of the underground scene and this book certainly is no departure from his earlier work. I suppose that’s both a compliment in the sense that he has a consistent artistic vision but also there’s part of me that would like him to go in new directions. He’s a masterful illustrator and skilled at creating wordless stories but since they verge on psychedelic it’s often a challenging task to follow the story. But truthfully, that’s not Woodring’s issue it’s mine. I probably need to slow down or even do a reread. My soundtrack was some nu metal from Korn.

[Ghada · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am prepared to believe that Jim Woodrings is some kind of supra-being bestowed with creative superpowers. Every single work he produces is a marvel. Poochytown is no exeption. It is both weird and strangely familiar, as if it was always meant to be. I've been waiting for this graphic novel since it was announced and it truly lived up to my expectations.

[Jeff Buddle · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do you want from me? I am a mere mortal. Here Jim Woodring manufactures a word of his own, with a logic all it's own. Poor Frank just has to live here. I don't understand it. I don't want to. Remarkable.

[Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely my kind of thing. Exquisitely detailed surrealism.

[Frida Bedolla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hermosos, maravillosos dibujos para contar historias con poca o nula profundidad jaja se vale y se valora pero yo siempre espero un poquito más.

[Sara]

Lo más cerca que he estado de un viaje de ácidos

[Kevin Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wordless story in a world that often times is surreal and psychedelic. The drawings are amazingly creative. The story itself is an adventure you can follow, but seems to me to also be a metaphor open to interpretation. A truly unique experience.

[Hugo B. Hugo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frank finds a stritch (a modified saxophone), out which comes out a 4-dimensional substance that floats in the air and serves as a kind of psychological funhouse. He tries to enter it and ends up travelling through different dimensions in search of his two lost pets. He befriends a weird character, Manhog, literally a man-pig, and together they experience a weird morphing of their environment.

[Mark Schlatter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure if a plot summary would be any help here --- it's the usual Woodring surrealism with emotional heft. I will say that there's a twelve page sequence in the middle that's one of the funniest things I've read in a while and an absolute testament to Woodring's cartooning skills.

[Michael Jantz · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Thomas Pynchon worked in exquisite line drawings.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasantly inscrutable, and an interesting 'alternate timeline' stemming from an earlier volume. Woodring always delivers the weird and the beautiful in equal measure.

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I find "Poochytown" to be the weaker portion of the "Frank" stories that make up the eventual collection "One Beautiful Spring Day" (following "Congress of the Animals" and "Fran"), there is still plenty to admire here. "Poochytown" follows Frank in search of Pupshaw and Pushpaw, composing music on his odd little saxophone, and a budding friendship with Manhog. Each of the narratives are spliced together seamlessly with the simultaneously bizarre and nostalgic sensibilities that Woodring so capably cultivates throughout.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever been to Poochytown? I have, and finally I am glad to say that Woodring does a pretty good job illustrating what it would look like. I say his job was good because I never know what strange things Frank will do. Sometimes I think he should explore a strange door in an unfamiliar home or eat something he finds on the ground. But most times, he defies expectation and just does whatever he will. It's unnerving the way he does things I don't want. And it's all I can do to just watch contentedly while Woodring pulls the strings and does the unexpected.

[Renato Doho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Primeira obra de Woodring no Brasil traz seu personagem Frank numa viagem delirante (sem falas) por um universo onírico fascinante.

As imagens são lisérgicas e os caminhos da narrativa fazem com que os personagens mudem suas atitudes de acordo com o que acontece com eles ou ao redor deles. Há violência, bizarrices, sugestões eróticas, terror e muita imaginação.

Como obra nesse estilo ela termina como começa, numa volta a "normalidade". É uma boa introdução ao trabalho do autor.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I once heard this was the last Frank/Unifactor book. It's probably the biggest story told within the Frank Universe (in terms of the weirdest and most ambitious) but it just returns back to the status quo. I wish Pigman would have gotten a break and it'd be some sort of cosmic progressive evolution, but alas.

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poochytown has more of all the stuff I love about the Frank comics. I laughed out loud.

But if I hadn't already known Frank, I don't think Poochytown would have won me over. The art doesn't quite meet the earlier books' standard of insane perfectionism, and although it's plenty weird and funny, it doesn't usually rise to the eerily prophetic sensation I associate with Frank.

[Moon Captain · Rating 5 out of 5]

ahhh I wish I had all his books for keeps because they intertwine and I like to reread with the new context added but I'm a cheapskate and I just grab them from the library whenever I can. Reading Frank comics feels like a reset on my brain. Love to get a story put in my mind without words or even motion, just sequential art.

[Josh Dykes · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to tell you exactly what happens in any given Frank story, but that's part of the fun. These books will all make you think and this is one of my favorites solely due to the prominence that Pupshaw and Pushpaw play in the story.

All of these books are 5 star in my opinion and I recommend reading the physical versions if you can.

[Morpheus Lunae · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's still good, of course, but by now I do have somewhat of an idea about the Unifactor and Woodring's progress. And I have to agree that this book is a bit derivative and straightforward when compared to the ones before. I hope the new one will be a bit better again.

[Zachary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bizarre, surreal, dreamlike and lucid. Jim Woodring's Poochytown is all these things and more, if you're looking for a well draw head trip, you owe it to yourself to check this one out.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stories are weird and what you think you need and don’t need may be way off base. This is as imaginative as a journey can be.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful addition to his series of nonverbal narratives.

[Óscar Brox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Son 5 estrellas, pero podrían ser 10, 15, 20, 500...

[Andrew Metadrouid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frank & fiends are at it again in this bizarre and surreal wordless romp through the amazing weirdness of Jim Woodring's twisted imagination