Customer Reviews

Frank Vol. 1

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These books (since this review will show up under Frank vol. 1 and Frank vol. 2) are amazing. Wordless stories drawn in all different styles, always beautiful. The comparison to Krazy Kat is certainly apropos. These stories usually involve just a few key characters playing off each other in each story in different and fascinating ways every time. Manhog, the loser; Jerry Chicken, the mercant; Pupshaw, the "godling" (Frank's pet -- "god" is obviously related to "dog" in this case); and Frank, "our hero" who isn't always moral. In the black and white stories, the backgrounds are drawn in a woodcut style, and the color stories are painted with a beauty that can be compared to (I wish I knew more about this stuff) Dali and such. FRANK is completely different from anything you'll ever read, and it's quite possible (as another reviewer says) that it is the only comic from Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly, or anybody to show any real vision. Certainly it's the only one today to use original characters, doing interesting, cartoony doings and still be amazing art. Chris Ware is brilliant but seems capable only of one set of emotions; besides "Ghost World," Daniel Clowes really isn't that great; and I hate R. Crumb except for his very early greeting-card and sketchbook stuff, which amounts to just well-made funny comics (which were all over the place in the fourties, and aren't really that special except that no one is really doing them anymore).

Anyway, these books are wonderful. I give them four stars because I like better the current ongoing FRANK comic magazines from Fantagraphics (five so far, 12 or so pages each). They further simplify the characters and environment to the essence. And they have more PUPSHAW! I can't tell you how much I love Pupshaw and Pushpaw. I would buy an 800-page book if Pupshaw and Pushpaw were on every page.

Anyway, get these books because no one else today is doing work this brilliant.

Vibrant, stunning, disturbingly familiar and yet shockingly new...this is our boy Frank from our beloved living treasure, Jim Woodring. Buy them all and read them all. Sweet dreams.

Jim Woodring's wordless Frank stories are parables from Somewhere Else. "I'm just the secratary here," says Jim, who claims that he doesn't make up these stories, that they somehow pop into his mind whole without any effort on his part. Beautifully drawn and endlessly fascinating, this book is something rare and special.