Frank (comics)
Encyclopedia
Frank is a cartoon
character
created by American
cartoonist
Jim Woodring
. He is a bipedal, bucktoothed animal
of uncertain species with a short tail, described by Woodring as a "generic anthropomorph
". When shown in color, his fur is purple. He has appeared primarily in a number of comic book
stories and graphic novel
s, and also some animation
.
s), and are usually done in a distinctive black-and-white
, pen-and-ink
style, but are sometimes rendered in bright colors in paint, and occasionally computer colors. They follow Frank's adventures in an unusual world called "The Unifactor", which is at once idyllic and full of grotesque dangers. Some of the stories are about violent slapstick
conflicts with the unscrupulous Manhog (a creature who is literally part man and part hog, typified and described by Woodring as "a lamentable father figure
") or the Satan
-like Whim; in others, Frank encounters a strange object, place, or creature, and tries to determine the rules governing its behavior; a few more meditative stories simply follow Frank through his daily routine as explores the countryside and observes various happenings. Except for the occasional introduction of new characters – many of which, such as Frank's loyal pet
Pupshaw, became regulars – there has been no overall continuity
or chronology; both Frank and Manhog have been apparently killed several times, although they always return in the next story good as new. On several occasions we have seen other, very Frank-like creatures, suggesting that we may not be following the same Frank through these stories. One creature strongly resembles Frank but travels on all fours and has long whiskers; this creature typically has sinister intent and appears in a strip entitled "Frank's Faux Pa
," giving rise to the idea that it is an agent of Whim passing as Frank's father and attempting to lead him astray.
Woodring has described Frank's character as "naive but not innocent", and Frank does possess a childlike wonderment mixed with a capacity for sometimes astonishing cruelty
. His demi-godling associate/pet, Pupshaw – a creature shaped like a house and sporting a striped tail – has occasionally exhibited godlike powers and her better judgment often saves Frank after he's gotten himself into trouble, but she also has a mischievous streak and, goaded on by her boyfriend Pushpaw, sometimes gets into serious trouble herself. In times of great stress
Pupshaw has been known to birth
a litter
of smaller Pupshaw pups from her mouth, which she can then command to attack. Pupshaw has uttered the closest thing to dialogue
in the strip, by growling "LLLLLL..."
The characters of the Frank stories are generally morally ambiguous (even Manhog has his good side), but Whim is a genuinely evil
character. He is generally depicted as a tall, reed-thin figure with a large, ever-grinning, mask
like head, though he occasionally takes other forms. Whim has a palace
filled with creepy gadgets, where he entices various characters to experiment with awesome forces, often leading to their death
or disfigurement
. Frank has been drawn into Whim's schemes several times, generally escaping long-term ill through Pupshaw's protection. Whim forces Manhog to work in a dank dungeon
, and also has a lackey called Lucky who is a human-ish creature with a very, very long face.
Other inhabitants of the Frank universe include a group of geometrically-shaped
wiseguy chicken
s called the Jerry Chickens, as well as many large, brightly colored, multi-eyed predators and various siren
-like female
creatures Frank has been smitten with. Also frequently appearing are the flying, spinning, top-like, and colorful Jiva
s, soul-creatures that are neither vapor
ous nor altogether benevolent.
Woodring has written that many of Frank's attributes are inferred from feedback from his readers, such as "that he is 11 years old, covered with short, dense fur like a mole
's, that he is innocent but not noble, and that he is mortal and must some day die."
Though the stories are often described as "dreamlike
", Woodring has said that they are his most consciously and deliberately created work. The characters of the Frank stories are rarely name
d within the stories themselves, but Woodring usually reveals their names in his responses to reader letters, in interview
s, and elsewhere. A relatively full listing of the characters of the Frank world are given in The Frank Book, along with brief, somewhat confounding descriptions of their personalities and background
s.
Shape
s play an important role in Frank's world—the reader will quickly notice how some shapes recur and often signify some kind of special rank or power. Eye
s are also a ubiquitous presence.
In 2003 Woodring told The Comics Journal
that comics just weren't lucrative enough to continue and he'd probably said all he needed to with the Frank stories. In that year The Frank Book was published, compiling all of the published material to date and concluding the unfinished "Frank's High Horse" storyline. However, in 2005 a new comic, The Lute String was published, and later Woodring's first full-length graphic novels were released, featuring the Frank characters: Weathercraft in 2010, followed by Congress of the Animals in 2011.
#4, and the first comic story featuring the character appeared in the Kitchen Sink Press
-published comics anthology
Hyena in 1990. Frank was a regular feature in the Tantalizing Stories
series by Woodring and Mark Martin
, and dominated that comic's inaugural special issue, Tantalizing Stories Presents Frank in the River. When Tantalizing Stories ended Frank became a recurring feature in Jim Volume II; in 1996 he got his own self-titled comic series which ran for four issues. A long Frank story titled Frank's Real Pa also appeared in 1994's The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog and was later released as a comic book. Two book collections of the Frank stories were released in 1994 and 1997. In 2003 The Frank Book collected nearly all of the previously published Frank stories as well as the conclusion of "Frank's High Horse", a serialized story that had been left unfinished at the end of the Frank comic book. In 2005 a standalone, limited-release comic The Lute String was released, and beginning in 2010 two full-length graphic novels featuring Frank were published.
put out four issues of Woodring's series Frank. All but the first issue included one color story. The ending to "Frank's High Horse"—the first two installments of which appeared in the last two issues of Frank—was only published when Fantagraphics put out the deluxe The Frank Book in 2003 (it was later included in The Portable Frank as well).
world Woodring calls the Unifactor.
Frank:A bipedal, bucktoothed animal of uncertain species with a short tail, described by Woodring as a "generic anthropomorph
" and "naive but not innocent", "completely naive, capable of sinning by virtue of not knowing what he's really about." The character design is reminiscent those of old American animated shorts from the 1920s and 1930s, such as from Fleischer Studios
. Usually he appears in black and white, but when he appears in color his fur is purple.
Manhog:An "unholy hybrid of human ambivalence". Woodring says he sympathizes with Manhog: "He is very much at a disadvantage because of his looks and his weak character. He’d be good if he could, and when given a chance, he is good. But he has no discipline, no grit, no ability to select a better path and stick with it." Earlier, however, Woodring had said he was "completely craven, incapable of a good act."
Whim:Perpetually smiling, devil
ish character who inhabits a body with a moon-shaped head, "the spirit of politics". When the body is destroyed, it turns out that Whim is actually a "tiny, malicious worm" that is able to crawl inside others (including Frank) and has the power of transformation. According to Woodring, "[h]e’s a conniver, a user. His body can be smashed, but he always gets a new one. Much in the same way that politicians are more or less interchangeable. They surrender their individuality to be part of that hideous game."
The Jerry Chickens:Mischievous chicken
-like characters, each a different geometric shape
Pupshaw:A female canine
-like "godling" companion whom Frank bought from one of the Jerry Chickens in an early story. Faithful protector to Frank.
Pushpaw:Male counterpart to Pupshaw.
success, they have attracted an avid cult following
and have been extensively merchandised as t-shirts, action figure
s and other things. Many alternative
cartoonists (Dave Cooper
, for example) have cited the Frank stories as an inspiration
, and mainstream comic book creator
s have also expressed their admiration, with Alan Moore
including an image of Frank as part of an alternate universe
in the pages of his superhero
series 1963
. Various artists have created short Frank animation
s based on Woodring's original tales, nine of which were collected on the 2007 DVD release, Visions of Frank: Short Films by Japan's Most Audacious Animators.
Woodring has won multiple Harvey Awards for his Frank stories, including the Best Single Issue or Story award for "Frank in the River
" in 1993. In 1999 The Comics Journal
ranked the Frank stories #55 in its list of the 100 best comics of the century.
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
character
Character (arts)
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
created by American
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
Jim Woodring
Jim Woodring
Jim Woodring is a Seattle-based cartoonist, comic book author, artist and toy designer. He also produces fine art works in a variety of other media, including painting and charcoal....
. He is a bipedal, bucktoothed animal
Animal
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
of uncertain species with a short tail, described by Woodring as a "generic anthropomorph
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
". When shown in color, his fur is purple. He has appeared primarily in a number of comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
stories and graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
s, and also some animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
.
Description
The Frank stories are almost entirely wordless (words very occasionally appear on signs or in other places, but the characters themselves never speak and there are very few sound effectSound effect
For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...
s), and are usually done in a distinctive black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
, pen-and-ink
Dip pen
A dip pen or nib pen usually consists of a metal nib with capillary channels like those of fountain pen nibs, mounted on a handle or holder, often made of wood. Other materials can be used for the holder, including bone, metal and plastic, while some pens are made entirely of glass...
style, but are sometimes rendered in bright colors in paint, and occasionally computer colors. They follow Frank's adventures in an unusual world called "The Unifactor", which is at once idyllic and full of grotesque dangers. Some of the stories are about violent slapstick
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
conflicts with the unscrupulous Manhog (a creature who is literally part man and part hog, typified and described by Woodring as "a lamentable father figure
Father Figure
"Father Figure" is the U.S. number-one song written and performed by George Michael and released on Columbia Records in 1988 as the third single from the album Faith.-History:...
") or the Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
-like Whim; in others, Frank encounters a strange object, place, or creature, and tries to determine the rules governing its behavior; a few more meditative stories simply follow Frank through his daily routine as explores the countryside and observes various happenings. Except for the occasional introduction of new characters – many of which, such as Frank's loyal pet
Pet
A pet is a household animal kept for companionship and a person's enjoyment, as opposed to wild animals or to livestock, laboratory animals, working animals or sport animals, which are kept for economic or productive reasons. The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful...
Pupshaw, became regulars – there has been no overall continuity
Continuity (fiction)
In fiction, continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer over some period of time...
or chronology; both Frank and Manhog have been apparently killed several times, although they always return in the next story good as new. On several occasions we have seen other, very Frank-like creatures, suggesting that we may not be following the same Frank through these stories. One creature strongly resembles Frank but travels on all fours and has long whiskers; this creature typically has sinister intent and appears in a strip entitled "Frank's Faux Pa
Faux pas
A faux pas is a violation of accepted social norms . Faux pas vary widely from culture to culture, and what is considered good manners in one culture can be considered a faux pas in another...
," giving rise to the idea that it is an agent of Whim passing as Frank's father and attempting to lead him astray.
Woodring has described Frank's character as "naive but not innocent", and Frank does possess a childlike wonderment mixed with a capacity for sometimes astonishing cruelty
Cruelty
Cruelty can be described as indifference to suffering, and even positive pleasure in inflicting it. If this is supported by a legal or social framework, then receives the name of perversion. Sadism can also be related to this form of action or concept....
. His demi-godling associate/pet, Pupshaw – a creature shaped like a house and sporting a striped tail – has occasionally exhibited godlike powers and her better judgment often saves Frank after he's gotten himself into trouble, but she also has a mischievous streak and, goaded on by her boyfriend Pushpaw, sometimes gets into serious trouble herself. In times of great stress
Stress (medicine)
Stress is a term in psychology and biology, borrowed from physics and engineering and first used in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance...
Pupshaw has been known to birth
Birth
Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring. The offspring is brought forth from the mother. The time of human birth is defined as the time at which the fetus comes out of the mother's womb into the world...
a litter
Litter (animal)
A litter is the offspring at one birth of animals from the same mother and usually from one set of parents. The word is most often used for the offspring of mammals, but can be used for any animal that gives birth to multiple young. In comparison, a group of eggs and the offspring that hatch from...
of smaller Pupshaw pups from her mouth, which she can then command to attack. Pupshaw has uttered the closest thing to dialogue
Dialogue
Dialogue is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people....
in the strip, by growling "LLLLLL..."
The characters of the Frank stories are generally morally ambiguous (even Manhog has his good side), but Whim is a genuinely evil
Evil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...
character. He is generally depicted as a tall, reed-thin figure with a large, ever-grinning, mask
Mask
A mask is an article normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance or entertainment. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes...
like head, though he occasionally takes other forms. Whim has a palace
Palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word itself is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills in Rome. In many parts of Europe, the...
filled with creepy gadgets, where he entices various characters to experiment with awesome forces, often leading to their death
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
or disfigurement
Disfigurement
Disfigurement is the state of having one's appearance deeply and persistently harmed medically, as from a disease, birth defect, or wound.Disfigurement, whether caused by a benign or malignant condition, often leads to severe psychosocial problems such as negative body image; depression;...
. Frank has been drawn into Whim's schemes several times, generally escaping long-term ill through Pupshaw's protection. Whim forces Manhog to work in a dank dungeon
Dungeon
A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period...
, and also has a lackey called Lucky who is a human-ish creature with a very, very long face.
Other inhabitants of the Frank universe include a group of geometrically-shaped
Geometry
Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....
wiseguy chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
s called the Jerry Chickens, as well as many large, brightly colored, multi-eyed predators and various siren
Siren
In Greek mythology, the Sirens were three dangerous mermaid like creatures, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Roman poets placed them on an island called Sirenum scopuli...
-like female
Female
Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...
creatures Frank has been smitten with. Also frequently appearing are the flying, spinning, top-like, and colorful Jiva
Jiva
In Hinduism and Jainism, a jiva is a living being, or more specifically, the immortal essence of a living organism which survives physical death. It has a very similar usage to atma, but whereas atma refers to "the cosmic self", jiva is used to denote an individual 'living entity' or 'living...
s, soul-creatures that are neither vapor
Vapor
A vapor or vapour is a substance in the gas phase at a temperature lower than its critical point....
ous nor altogether benevolent.
Woodring has written that many of Frank's attributes are inferred from feedback from his readers, such as "that he is 11 years old, covered with short, dense fur like a mole
Mole (animal)
Moles are small cylindrical mammals adapted to a subterranean lifestyle. They have velvety fur; tiny or invisible ears and eyes; and short, powerful limbs with large paws oriented for digging. The term is especially and most properly used for the true moles, those of the Talpidae family in the...
's, that he is innocent but not noble, and that he is mortal and must some day die."
Though the stories are often described as "dreamlike
Dream art
Dream art is any form of art directly based on material from dreams, or which employs dream-like imagery.-History:References to dreams in art are as old as literature itself: the story of Gilgamesh, the Bible, and the Iliad all describe dreams of major characters and the meanings thereof...
", Woodring has said that they are his most consciously and deliberately created work. The characters of the Frank stories are rarely name
Name
A name is a word or term used for identification. Names can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. A personal name identifies a specific unique and identifiable individual person, and may or may not include a middle name...
d within the stories themselves, but Woodring usually reveals their names in his responses to reader letters, in interview
Interview
An interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...
s, and elsewhere. A relatively full listing of the characters of the Frank world are given in The Frank Book, along with brief, somewhat confounding descriptions of their personalities and background
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
s.
Shape
Shape
The shape of an object located in some space is a geometrical description of the part of that space occupied by the object, as determined by its external boundary – abstracting from location and orientation in space, size, and other properties such as colour, content, and material...
s play an important role in Frank's world—the reader will quickly notice how some shapes recur and often signify some kind of special rank or power. Eye
Eye
Eyes are organs that detect light and convert it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons. The simplest photoreceptors in conscious vision connect light to movement...
s are also a ubiquitous presence.
In 2003 Woodring told The Comics Journal
The Comics Journal
The Comics Journal, often abbreviated TCJ, is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels...
that comics just weren't lucrative enough to continue and he'd probably said all he needed to with the Frank stories. In that year The Frank Book was published, compiling all of the published material to date and concluding the unfinished "Frank's High Horse" storyline. However, in 2005 a new comic, The Lute String was published, and later Woodring's first full-length graphic novels were released, featuring the Frank characters: Weathercraft in 2010, followed by Congress of the Animals in 2011.
Publishing history
The first published drawing of Frank was the cover of JimJim (comics)
Jim is a comic book series by Jim Woodring. Begun in 1980 as a self-published zine, it was picked up by Fantagraphics Books in 1986 after Woodring was introduced to Gary Groth by Gil Kane. The publisher released four magazine-sized, black and white issues starting in September, 1987...
#4, and the first comic story featuring the character appeared in the Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen owned and operated Kitchen Sink Press until 1999. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in...
-published comics anthology
Comics anthology
Comics anthologies collect works in the medium of comics that are too short for standalone publication.- U.S. :- UK :British comics have a long tradition publishing comics anthologies, often weekly...
Hyena in 1990. Frank was a regular feature in the Tantalizing Stories
Tantalizing Stories
Tantalizing Stories was a comic book series by Mark Martin and Jim Woodring published by Tundra Publishing. The contents of each black and white issue were divided between the two cartoonists and featured a variety of comic short stories, illustrations and text pieces...
series by Woodring and Mark Martin
Mark Martin (cartoonist)
Mark Martin is an American cartoonist known for lighthearted humor and satire.-Career:Martin's first major work in the 1980s was Gnatrat, a parody of Batman, featuring a rat who dresses as a gnat to fight crime...
, and dominated that comic's inaugural special issue, Tantalizing Stories Presents Frank in the River. When Tantalizing Stories ended Frank became a recurring feature in Jim Volume II; in 1996 he got his own self-titled comic series which ran for four issues. A long Frank story titled Frank's Real Pa also appeared in 1994's The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog and was later released as a comic book. Two book collections of the Frank stories were released in 1994 and 1997. In 2003 The Frank Book collected nearly all of the previously published Frank stories as well as the conclusion of "Frank's High Horse", a serialized story that had been left unfinished at the end of the Frank comic book. In 2005 a standalone, limited-release comic The Lute String was released, and beginning in 2010 two full-length graphic novels featuring Frank were published.
Frank series
From 1996 until 2001, FantagraphicsFantagraphics Books
Fantagraphics Books is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, magazines, graphic novels, and the adult-oriented Eros Comix imprint...
put out four issues of Woodring's series Frank. All but the first issue included one color story. The ending to "Frank's High Horse"—the first two installments of which appeared in the last two issues of Frank—was only published when Fantagraphics put out the deluxe The Frank Book in 2003 (it was later included in The Portable Frank as well).
| Issues of Frank | |||
| # | Date | Stories | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sept 1996 |
|
|
| 2 | Dec 1997 |
|
|
| 3 | March 2000 |
|
|
| 4 | Feb 2001 |
|
|
| Frank Graphic Novels | |||
| Title | Date | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Weathercraft | June 2010 | ||
| Congress of the Animals | June 2011 | ||
Characters
The stories involving these characters occur in the surrealSurrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
world Woodring calls the Unifactor.
Frank:A bipedal, bucktoothed animal of uncertain species with a short tail, described by Woodring as a "generic anthropomorph
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
" and "naive but not innocent", "completely naive, capable of sinning by virtue of not knowing what he's really about." The character design is reminiscent those of old American animated shorts from the 1920s and 1930s, such as from Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios, Inc., was an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City, New York...
. Usually he appears in black and white, but when he appears in color his fur is purple.
Manhog:An "unholy hybrid of human ambivalence". Woodring says he sympathizes with Manhog: "He is very much at a disadvantage because of his looks and his weak character. He’d be good if he could, and when given a chance, he is good. But he has no discipline, no grit, no ability to select a better path and stick with it." Earlier, however, Woodring had said he was "completely craven, incapable of a good act."
Whim:Perpetually smiling, devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
ish character who inhabits a body with a moon-shaped head, "the spirit of politics". When the body is destroyed, it turns out that Whim is actually a "tiny, malicious worm" that is able to crawl inside others (including Frank) and has the power of transformation. According to Woodring, "[h]e’s a conniver, a user. His body can be smashed, but he always gets a new one. Much in the same way that politicians are more or less interchangeable. They surrender their individuality to be part of that hideous game."
The Jerry Chickens:Mischievous chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
-like characters, each a different geometric shape
Pupshaw:A female canine
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
-like "godling" companion whom Frank bought from one of the Jerry Chickens in an early story. Faithful protector to Frank.
Pushpaw:Male counterpart to Pupshaw.
Influence and recognition
While the Frank stories have never been a mainstreamMainstream
Mainstream is, generally, the common current thought of the majority. However, the mainstream is far from cohesive; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct....
success, they have attracted an avid cult following
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
and have been extensively merchandised as t-shirts, action figure
Action figure
An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...
s and other things. Many alternative
Alternative comics
Alternative comics defines a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to "mainstream" superhero comics which in the past have dominated the US comic book industry...
cartoonists (Dave Cooper
Dave Cooper
David Charles Cooper is a cartoonist, commercial illustrator and a graphic designer who lives in Ottawa, Canada. In addition to comics, Cooper has worked extensively as a designer, producer, and creator in the field of animation...
, for example) have cited the Frank stories as an inspiration
Artistic inspiration
Inspiration refers to an unconscious burst of creativity in a literary, musical, or other artistic endeavour. Literally, the word means "breathed upon," and it has its origins in both Hellenism and Hebraism. The Greeks believed that inspiration came from the muses, as well as the gods Apollo and...
, and mainstream comic book creator
Comic book creator
A comic book creator is someone who creates a comic book or graphic novel.The production of a comic book by one of the major comic book companies in the U.S...
s have also expressed their admiration, with Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
including an image of Frank as part of an alternate universe
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
in the pages of his superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
series 1963
1963 (comic book)
1963 is an American six-issue comic book limited series written by Alan Moore in 1993, with art by his frequent collaborators Steve Bissette, John Totleben, and Rick Veitch; other contributors included Dave Gibbons, Don Simpson, and Jim Valentino, and published by Image Comics.The six issues hark...
. Various artists have created short Frank animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
s based on Woodring's original tales, nine of which were collected on the 2007 DVD release, Visions of Frank: Short Films by Japan's Most Audacious Animators.
Woodring has won multiple Harvey Awards for his Frank stories, including the Best Single Issue or Story award for "Frank in the River
Frank in the River
Frank in the River is a 24-page comic story by Jim Woodring.Like all Frank stories, Frank in the River is virtually wordless and the story is conveyed entirely in pantomime.-Publication history:...
" in 1993. In 1999 The Comics Journal
The Comics Journal
The Comics Journal, often abbreviated TCJ, is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels...
ranked the Frank stories #55 in its list of the 100 best comics of the century.
Foreign editions
| Translations | ||||
| Language | Title | Publisher | Year | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... |
Frank | l'Association L'Association L'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter... |
1998 | |
| Frank, Tome 1 | 2001-07-13 | |||
| Frank, Tome 2 | 2006-09-11 | |||
| Frank's Real Pa: Suivi de Frank et la corde de luth | 2007-01-20 | |||
| Japanese Japanese language is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an... |
Pupshaw and Pushpaw | Press Pop | 2004 | |
| The Lute String リュートの弦 |
Presspop Gallery | 2005 | ||
| The Frank color stories | 2006 | |||
| Weathercraft Weathercraft Weathercraft is a 2010 graphic novel by American artist Jim Woodring featuring his best-known characters Frank and Manhog. It is Woodring's first graphic novel-length work, and like all the other works in Frank's world of the Unifactor, the story unfolds entirely in pictures, with no dialogue,... |
||||
| Dutch Dutch language Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second... |
Weersomstandigheden | De Bezige Bij | 2009-11 | |
| Norwegian Norwegian language Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language... |
Værverk | Jippi Forlag | 2009-11 | |
| French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... |
Weathercraft | l'Association L'Association L'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter... |
2010-01-09 | |
| Italian Italian language Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia... |
Weathercraft | Coconino Press | 2010-07 | |
| Congress of the Animals Congress of the Animals Congress of the Animals is a graphic novel by American artist Jim Woodring published on June 8, 2011. The book is Woodring's second book-length comic set in his fictional world, the Unifactor, and the first to star his most famous character, Frank.... |
||||
| French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... |
Frank et le congrès des bêtes | l'Association L'Association L'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter... |
2011-04-29 | |
External links
- jimwoodring.com
- Detourning the Dream Factory – an essay on Frank cited by Woodring as "the single best piece of writing" about his character