- Hardcover: 344 pages
- Publisher: Fantagraphics Books; illustrated edition edition (July 7 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1560975342
- ISBN-13: 978-1560975342
- Product Dimensions: 29 x 22.1 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 1.6 Kg
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #489,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Are the Frank stories fables, allegories, or dreams? Is Frank a cat, a dog, or something in between? Is Jim Woodring an above-average cartoonist with a steady supply of magic mushrooms, or a genius? The reader of The Frank Book will be left with these questions and more upon finishing this lavish, wondrous 350-page coffee table book. But, while reading--or rather, perusing--these wordless tales, which have been collected from publications ranging from Heavy Metal magazine to The Millennium Whole Earth Catalogue, some things do become clear. For instance, Woodring must be an artist with a direct line to his subconscious; how else to explain the dreamlike intensity of these tales, which communicate through symbols and archetypes? And, as filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola observes in his introduction, even at their most oblique the Frank adventures carry with them "a subtle sense of resolution, letting us now that in Woodring's world the equation has been thoroughly worked out and presented, and that the results are worth understanding."
But The Frank Book can be enjoyed purely on visual terms as well. The high-quality paper stock enhances the Seattle artist's dazzling use of colour, and his black-and-white work is as marvelous to behold in its own way. On a level of pure imagination, it is hard to think of any creatures as fully formed yet bizarre as those populating this work--oddities like the geometrical Jerry Chickens, the mischief-making, moon-faced Whim, and Frank's toaster-shaped companion Pupshaw. To open the book is to step into a universe as thoroughly realized and magical as Oz. (Although The Frank Book, with its occasional scenes of brutality, may not be suitable for children.) As Coppola notes, "The Frank Book is one man's puzzling gift to a puzzling world. It brings a hidden world to light and lets us examine it minutely." As with Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan, The Frank Book deserves a place not just on the comic lover's shelf but in the collection of anyone with an appreciation for brilliant visual storytelling. --Shawn Conner
From Publishers Weekly
Woodring, a modern master of hallucinatory cartoon fables, specializes in comics that look normal but aren't. Woodring's hallmarks are inventive, often bizarre creatures who inhabit otherworldly landscapes and dreamlike narratives. This book's hero, Frank, is a catlike anthropomorph who lives in a surreal, exotic world. Woodring uses cartoon grammar brilliantly: within a single panel, he captures the round, loose style of classic animated cartoons and conjures the best of early Disney, while simultaneously acting as master engraver, with a quality of line work and elegant shading reminiscent of Gustave Dore. Many of the stories are in b&w, but when color appears, the palette is a cheerful kaleidoscope. For director Coppola, Woodring's work is magical and "maliciously oblique." While innocent Frank is principally defined by his curiosity, he isn't without guile. The mostly wordless vignettes chronicling his misadventures are actually meditations on friendship, fear, consequence and cruelty, with a mixture of pathos, humor and gore that is often disquieting. His escapades also include a recurring parade of characters: Pushpaw, Frank's faithful pet; the repulsive Manhog, perennially unlucky liege of Whim (a sinister figure with a devilish barbed tail); Faux Pa and Real Pa; and the Jerry Chickens, geometrically shaped fowl who play cards. Woodring's talent is finally captured in a definitive collection that lives up to his genius. The production and design make it an outstanding gift for enthusiasts, and it assembles all the Frank material since the 1991 debut, including covers, illustrations, trading cards and ephemera for the completist.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
FRANK is such a strange creation that I hardly know how to describe it. Read the first page
Front Cover | Table of Contents | Excerpt
FRANK is such a strange creation that I hardly know how to describe it. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A masterpiece,
By Dr. Slump (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Frank Book, The (Hardcover)
Jim Woodring is easily one of the greatest artists working in comics today. His drawings are absolutely stunning, and he has a totally unique way of telling stories. This book collects all of the brilliant Frank stories, which represent his finest work. It's the single comic that I reread more than any other. The world he creates around Frank is mind-blowingly surreal, but has its own kind of logic. This is a must-have book.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A small correction to the review from Publisher's Review,
By "thejivajazzkid" (Austin, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Frank Book, The (Hardcover)
Pushpaw is not the name of Frank's pet/familiar. The milkbox-shaped companion and protector of Frank is Pupshaw. Pushpaw is the slightly larger, heart-shaped. undomesticated critter that is Pupshaw's romantic interest.A simple and minor mistake to be sure, but I love these comics with all my heart mind and jiva, which will occassionally drive me to pedantry. In any case, no home is complete without FRANK! Buy two, so you can keep one in your car. Or three, so your desk at work won't lack.
5.0 out of 5 stars
My new favorite comic,
By "walnut142" (Stuyvesant NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Frank Book, The (Hardcover)
I was just recently pulled from the dregs of mainstream superhero comics in the last 2 years. It was a slow and painful operation, but eventaully my eyes were opened to how stupid they really are. So, of course, i got into indy comics, where the art is not only categorically better but the stories are...god, don't even get me started. We're not talking about me or indy comics in general here. We're talking about the remarkable Jim Woodring's FRANK. Woodring is a master artist who pulls tricks out of his hat that no one's ever even thought of before; his inventive use of pressure on his pen to create the effects of light and dark, not mention every texture imaginable, is absolutely astonishing. Every panel of every page looks so finished you'd think there was an assembly line working on this. Nope; it's just Woodring. If his original black and white pages weren't enough, his full-painted comics and covers convey a measure of patience and diligence unheard of even in most fine art. His expressive characters are all wonderful to look at, because nothing like any of them has ever been seen before. Now, Woodring's art could be praised so many times in so many different ways that Amazon would collapse, but his stories deserve just as much recognition. Every issue is breathtakingly creative, and the plots are completely oringinal. Somehow, despite the fact that they're all silent, a connection is made with the characters on a deep, intense level. Frank, curious and innocent (but not noble), Pupshaw, dependent and loyal, Whim, vindictive and conniving, and every other character within are perfectly fleshed out. Woodring is subtly and bombastically brilliant; you barely even notice that the book is silent or that you're reading about a cat-ferret-beaver. Thing. Frank is a generic anthropomorph, resembling a lot of things but being none of them. FRANK is as surreal as any Dali piece, and in some ways, on par with them in sheer originality and quality. the stories are bizzare, fluid, funny, disturbing, unsettling, lively and like nothing i've ever seen before. Collected in this handsome hardcover volume (which means no more scrabbling for individual issues), Frank is a dream-come-true in so many ways. The book the favorite of all the comics i own, because it cannot be called similar to anything else. Thank god for Jim Woodring; the comics world will be barren and lonely without him.
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