Jim is a 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...

 series by 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....

. Begun in 1980 as a self-published zine

Zine

A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....

, it was picked up by Fantagraphics Books

Fantagraphics Books

Fantagraphics Books is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, magazines, graphic novels, and the adult-oriented Eros Comix imprint...

 in 1986 after Woodring was introduced to Gary Groth

Gary Groth

Gary Groth is an American comic book editor, publisher and critic. He is editor-in-chief of The Comics Journal and a co-founder of Fantagraphics Books.-Early life:...

 by Gil Kane

Gil Kane

Eli Katz who worked under the name Gil Kane and in one instance Scott Edward, was a comic book artist whose career spanned the 1940s to 1990s and every major comics company and character.Kane co-created the modern-day versions of the superheroes Green Lantern and the Atom for DC Comics, and...

. The publisher released four magazine-sized, black and white issues starting in September, 1987. A comic book-sized continuation, Jim Volume II, with much color, began publication in 1993 and ran for six issues until 1996.

Jim, which Woodring described as an "autojournal", contained comics on a variety of subjects, many based on dreams, as well as surreal

Surrealism

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....

 drawings and free-form text which resembled Jimantha automatic writing

Automatic writing

Automatic writing or psychography is writing which the writer states to be produced from a subconscious and/or spiritual source without conscious awareness of the content.-History:...

. Besides dreams, the work drew on Woodring's childhood experiences, hallucination

Hallucination

A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...

s, past alcoholism

Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

, and Hindu

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

 beliefs. It also included stories of recurring Woodring characters such as Pulque (the embodiment of drunkenness

Drunkenness

Alcohol intoxication is a physiological state that occurs when a person has a high level of ethanol in his or her blood....

), boyhood friends Chip and Monk, and, in Volume II, his signature creation Frank

Frank (comics)

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...

.

Most of the contents of the first Fantagraphics

Fantagraphics Books

Fantagraphics Books is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, magazines, graphic novels, and the adult-oriented Eros Comix imprint...

 series were reprinted in the book collection The Book of Jim

The Book of Jim

-Sources:*Woodring, Jim. The Book of Jim. Fantagraphics Books, 1993. ISBN 1-56097-091-X*Groth, Gary. with Gary Groth from the Comics Journal #164 Jim Woodring interview], page 54-87. The Comics Journal #164. Fantagraphics Books, December 1993....

(ISBN 1-141-29836-8).

The title JIM appears in all-caps in the indicia

Indicia (publishing)

Indicia is the plural of the Latin word indicium, meaning distinguishing marks.In magazine publishing, indicia refers to a piece of text traditionally appearing on the first recto page after the cover, which usually contains the official name of the publication, its publication date, information...

of all issues.

Vol. II

1. (Dec. 1993)
   • Manhog Beyond the Face (color)
   • Quarry Story
     Retelling of a dream in which Woodring was the central character but, unlike in his earlier dream comics, the main character was not drawn in Woodring's likeness.
2. (April 1994)
   • untitled Frank story (color)
   • untitled
   • untitled Pulque story (color)
   • untitled Big Red story
3. (July 1994)
   • untitled
   • Authorized Only (digital color)
   • The Reform of the Apple
4. (Dec. 1994, printed Nov. 1994)
   • Frank and the Toy without Pity
   • untitled Frank story (color)
   • Frank in the Cave of his Ancestors
5. (May 1995)
   • Dive Deep
   • Peeker (color)
   • The Stairs
   • Frank and the Sugar of Vengeance
   • Echo (inside back cover)
6. (May 1996, printed April 1996)
   • Obviously Not
   • untitled Chip and Monk story
   • Boyfriend of the Weather