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jsjammersmith's review
5.0
There is a state of pure potential and it is the world and mind of Jim Woodring. His character Frank, and sometimes Manhog, exist in a universe in which literally anything is possible. Someone might go for a walk and discover a well that offers eternal reward or else draws one inside to a world where worms and leeches made of designs that would put Ottoman tailors to shame crawl up into our bodies and twist them into new forms. Jim Woodring in this book crafts stories in which no words are spoken, yet by the end of every one there is no doubt the reader has been told a story which has never existed before.
The Frank Book is a boon to comics artists, writers, and critics, because it offers something that simply doesn't exist anywhere else. It offers fans of comics a new opportunity to observe how comics as a medium can operate. It introduces a character who in his own way is timeless and can serve as a substitute for the reader who may be unwilling or unable to truly comprehend the universe in which Jim Woodring creates. And most importantly of all The Frank Book is an adventure, because no matter where or how far Frank travels from his home, the reader is assured that by the end of the story, Frank might have been turned inside out by some sort of polka-dotted worm-leach, and he might have been deceived by Manhog to give up his skull, and he might even have been invited by the dead to a party in which no one attends, but nevertheless by the final panel Frank will have come home.
The Frank Book is a boon to comics artists, writers, and critics, because it offers something that simply doesn't exist anywhere else. It offers fans of comics a new opportunity to observe how comics as a medium can operate. It introduces a character who in his own way is timeless and can serve as a substitute for the reader who may be unwilling or unable to truly comprehend the universe in which Jim Woodring creates. And most importantly of all The Frank Book is an adventure, because no matter where or how far Frank travels from his home, the reader is assured that by the end of the story, Frank might have been turned inside out by some sort of polka-dotted worm-leach, and he might have been deceived by Manhog to give up his skull, and he might even have been invited by the dead to a party in which no one attends, but nevertheless by the final panel Frank will have come home.
hypops's review
3.0
Frank comics are best in small doses. I’d even say that Jim Woodring’s best Frank strips can be found in his covers, individual panels, and one-off paintings and drawings.
When I first encountered Frank strips back in the ‘90s, they were unlike anything I’d read. But now that I’ve spent years digging deeper and deeper into comics’ many nooks and crannies, Frank seems disappointingly conventional. It’s a strip that follows the same structure and logic as old newspaper strips (Krazy Kat, Little Nemo, etc) with just a dash of 70’s-era underground psychedelia.
In other words, I respect Woodring’s craft, but Frank doesn’t do much for me.
When I first encountered Frank strips back in the ‘90s, they were unlike anything I’d read. But now that I’ve spent years digging deeper and deeper into comics’ many nooks and crannies, Frank seems disappointingly conventional. It’s a strip that follows the same structure and logic as old newspaper strips (Krazy Kat, Little Nemo, etc) with just a dash of 70’s-era underground psychedelia.
In other words, I respect Woodring’s craft, but Frank doesn’t do much for me.
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