by Jim Woodring

F A N T A G R A P H I C S B O O K S
 Ted Blackman
Francis Coppola
John Dorman
Michael Dowers
Kevin Eastman
Gary Groth
Mrs. Lahr
Mark Landman
Mark Martin
Eric Reynolds
Howard Rheingold
Kim Thompson

Fantagraphics Books, 7563 Lake City Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115. • Edited and designed by Jim Woodring. Production by Paul
Baresh and Dale Yarger. Production manager: Kim Thompson. Associate publisher: Eric Reynolds. Published by Gary Groth and
Kim Thompson. • All contents copyright © 2003, 2011 Jim Woodring. This edition copyright © 2003, 2011 Fantagraphics Books.
The stories in this volume originally appeared in BUZZ, Dramatis Personae, FRANK, Heavy Metal, Hyena, JIM, Measles, The
Millennium Whole Earth Catalog, Pictopia, PULSE!, Snake Eyes, The Stranger, and Tantalizing Stories between 1991 and 2001. All rights
reserved. Permission to quote or reproduce material for reviews or notices must by obtained from the author or publisher. • Third
Fantagraphics Books edition: July, 2011. • ISBN: 978-1-60699-513-6 (previous edition: 978-1-56097-534-2). • Visit the Fantagraphics
Books website at www.fantagraphics.com; visit Jim Woodring’s website at www.jimwoodring.com • Printed in Hong Kong.
 INTRODUCTION……5
FRANK IN THE RIVER……9
FRANK in the house of the dead……33
FRANK acquires Pupshaw……41
FRANK’S FAUX PA……49
FRANK’S REAL PA……59
BLISS……107
FRANK IN THE WILDERNESS……113
FRANK IN THE MOOD……116
FRANK’S FISH……117
FRANK and the yams of iniquitity……120
FRANK visits the palace of horrors……123
FRANK AND THE TRUTH ABOUT PLENITUDE……129
WHAT TO DO……138
FRANK IN THE RUSE GARDEN……139
FRANK and the appalling perfidy of Manhog……147
FRANK in the cave of his ancestors……155
FRANK as a tool of conscience in the hands of Whim……160
MANHOG BEYOND THE FACE……161
AUTHORIZED ONLY……171
PUSHPAW……175
ASK THE SEA……193
PUPSHAW……202
FRANK and the toy without pity……204
GENTLEMANHOG……215
HI-RISE HOPPER……234
FRANK and the sugar of vengeance……239
FRANK obeys the rule of five……242
FRANK and how it got there……247
FRANK and why it’s good to be clever……251
FRANKINCENSE……256
PEEKER……257
SPRANK……262
FRANK and the blessing of reverse containment……266
FRANK’S FEAST……270
FRANK and the mystery of the instrument ……271
FRANK and the way of all flesh……272
FRANK’S HIGH HORSE……273
APPENDIX……323
 Introduction
by Francis Ford Coppola

FRANK is such a strange creation that I hardly know

how to describe it. Wordless, timeless, placeless, full of
unprecedented characters and experiences, it exists on its
own bizarre terms. It offers vivid tableaus of tenderness
and bloodshed, cruelty and sacrifice, love and betrayal,
terror and bliss; and it offers them wrapped like candies
from another planet.

The artist has always used his or her inner “stuff”, the very
substance of the soul, mixing it with the subject’s own
essence and deriving droplets of imagery from this
alchemy. Jim Woodring has taken the time and trouble to
master the cartoonist’s craft in order to express his vision
of the universe in a way that any person in any culture can
absorb. It is difficult to imagine these tales being told as
well in any other medium. As for exactly what it is they are
saying, that is something readers will have to discover on
their own. The events that unfold in these stories are nearly
impossible to explain; yet on some level we understand
them.

The ancient myths and folk tales of all cultures which have
been preserved for so many centuries have meaning for us
today because the fantastic elements in them are rooted in
immutable reality. The Frank stories belong to this class of
literature. As with the enduring heroic allegories, the ulti-
mate significance of Frank’s bewildering adventures often
seems maliciously oblique; and yet we feel a subtle sense
of resolution, letting us know that in Woodring’s world the
equation has been thoroughly worked out and presented,
and that the results are worth understanding.

THE FRANK BOOK is one man’s puzzling gift to a puz-

zling world. It brings a hidden world to light and lets us
examine it minutely. You may proceed with caution or not,
as you like.
 For
T h e Te r r i b l e M a d a m e W,
with eternal love.
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Cover, JIM, vol. 2, #1

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Cover, JIM, vol. 2, #4

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Cover, FRANK, #3

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Cover, FRANK, #2

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Cover, JIM, vol. 2, #5

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Back cover, JIM, vol. 2, #4

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Back cover, FRANK collection, vol. 2

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Cover, FRANK’S REAL PA

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Cover, FRANK, #1

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Back cover, MEASLES, #2

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A q u e o u s H u m o r, an unused cover painting.

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That Sweet, Sad Music

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The Little Red Schoolhouse

Squeaker in the Wo o d s

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 The Countero f f e r i n g

To u c h - M e - N o t Bookplate

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Worse Than Useless

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Frank Amok This is the way the world looks to Whim, which goes a long way towards explaining his lousy behavior. You or I
would see Frank weeping in empathy as he pulls a thorn from the side of an expiring demon. Overleaf: Glendale

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Originally published as a set of cards in
FRANK PUPSHAW
1997 by Michael Dowers and Brownfield Like Neptune, Frank enjoys the riches of the Frank’s testy little bowser-box has the
Press. They have been edited for space here. deep. His world works and rewards him celestial stature of a demigod; yet she serves
vigorously, and Frank learns nothing, ever. him muttishly. Her small squeaks are the
Why should he? In his world there is no collisions of stars, but when her bowl is empty
pattern, no law; only the incessant conver- and her stomach growls, the depth of her
sational cross-currents of nature and commitment to the trilobular chuck-buster
abstraction. Frank is innocent but not noble. is revealed; she never lifts a paw against
What he is really looking for is a good scare. her master. Pupshaw conceals in her brightness
He knows that the blow never falls. Frank has a dark concern; she knows that if Frank were to
many bodies, all identical. come to harm her life would be without
purpose.

MANHOG WHIM JIVAS

This sin-bloated bladder that crawls on four Whim is what you might call a political Jivas are conditioned souls. Temporarily
limbs would like nothing better than to get creature. He’s just another bad idea that confined to the liberating prison of radial
away from everyone and everything forever. found a paripatetic form and took on a life of symmetry, they writhe joyously in the
Luckily for us, he is forced into having all its own. In addition to collapsing the welkin, drawn to the bliss of the eternal
sorts of exciting, horrible adventures. material affairs of his neighbors, Whim is a interval. But while their subtle bodies are
Manhog has been drowned, ground, filled practitioner of reciprocal brain-looting and is nuzzling the absolute, the multicolored
with parasites, scraped to a nub, stabbed, the inventor of the Whim-Grinder and the skins are available to Frank and his friends
stuffed, scared and driven away so many Looty. Naturally all his friends are brain- for riding or target practice. Jivas are
times that it’s a miracle he sticks around. looted prisoners of his cavern home. Better to independent; they are slow to notice and
Perhaps he couldn’t leave if he tried. be his servant. Whim exists in three forms: interact with Frank and his associates, but
biscuit, metal and liquid. when they do the results can be appalling.

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 THE JERRY CHICKENS A PA PUSHPAW
The numerous Jerry Chickens demonstrate This is either the Faux Pa or the Real Pa; He was just passin’ through until he caught
through their complex social maneuvers that they are physically indistinguishable from a glimpse of Pupshaw from afar; now he’s her
anatomy is indeed destiny; the question is one another, except for one tiny difference. most ardent resident suitor. Pushpaw isn’t
w h o s e ? Though they all carry within their The Faux Pa assumes his role enthusiastically, the most exalted creature in the world, but
misshapen skulls the capacity for sub- giving Frank the worst possible advice. what he lacks in subtle strength he more than
rational ministration, the conical Jerry has the The Real Pa is another story altogether. When makes up for in pluck and goodnaturedness.
greatest impact on Frank by virtue of the Frank is old he will look like this. Pushpaw’s inborn sense of fair play will
implications of his potentially infinite dimin- Here is the real horse in the ointment: time never allow him to exploit an advantage
ishment. Here we see them in their filthy will diminish them all, and their influences gained falsely. When all is said and done he’s
coop, plotting a beakin’ in the night. will no longer be felt. just a lovable street scrapper with extra room
in the bulkhead.

THE CART BLANCHE LUCKY THE UNIFACTOR

Keeping to the little channels behind shrubs One thing Lucky knows for sure is that even Did you know? Yes, you did. The golden
and along protected walls, the shy, silent, though there may be no jobs, there’s always mother of unknowing draws these
solitary, unresponsive, dead, white, slightly plenty of work. If ever there was a born bewildered creatures to her heaving bosom.
crunchy Cart Blanche travels slowly from drudge, it’s Lucky. The nature of his curse This is the land of the phantom-smasher.
place to place and from scene to scene. Its overwhelms him, and he immerses himself The worst that can happen never happens.
mood is that of a lost toy. Frequently present in whatever toil is at hand in order to numb It already happened. Everything is terrible.
but hidden when fortune expands into his uncomprehending sorrow. All he asks in The two-mouthed fear cow lives here.
disaster, the little trolley is well-respected as a return is a roof over his head and a panniken
catalytic presence whose bias is always of chopmeat. Still, there’s a light in his eye
inclined toward the chalky and austere. that bears watching.

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The first drawing of Frank

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The first Frank comic

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 Afterword
Fra nk w a s b o r n i n L o s An g e l e s in 1989, o ut o f the imp uls e to c re ate a s u i g e n e r i s
c a rt o o n ch a r a c t e r ; n o t a c a t , o r a mo us e , o r a b e av e r, o r any o the r kind o f c re ature,
but a g e n e r i c a n t h ro p o m o r p h, b e ho lde n to no b o dy and w ith no e xp e c tatio ns to
f ul f i l l . I s h o w e d t h e d r a w i n g (p . 346) to my fo rme r c o -w o rke r Te d Blac kman, as king
h i m w h a t h e t h o u g h t o f i t , a n d s aying that I mys e lf tho ught it w as quite inte re s ting.

Ted g o t m a d . “ T h i s i s e x a ct l y w hat I hate ab o ut yo u,” he s aid. “Yo u p lay mind

ga m e s . Yo u m a k e t h i s n o t h i n g little s c rib b le and as k me w hat I think o f it. What c a n
I t h i n k o f i t ? I t ’s n o t h i n g ! ” To sp ite him I de c ide d to p ut a v e rs io n o f this draw ing o n
th e c o v e r o f t h e fo u r t h i s s u e o f my auto j o urnal J I M .

W h e n I s h o w e d a c o p y o f t h a t magazine to the mo the r o f my frie nd Me re dith Lahr

sh e p o i n t e d t o t h e co v e r a n d s aid, “He lo o ks like my c at Frank! Yo u hav e to nam e
h i m F r a n k !”

I n 1 9 9 0 Ma r k L a n d m a n a s k e d me to do a s to ry fo r his c o mic b o o k BUZ Z . Whe n I

a ske d h i m w h a t s o r t o f t h i n g he w ante d to s e e he s aid, “Why no t do a c o mic that
l ook s n o r m a l b u t i s n ’t ? ” I d e ci de d that Frank fille d the b ill.

H e n e e d e d a fo i l , s o I p u t h i m to w o rk w ith Manho g, a lame ntab le fathe r figure . My

ow n fa t h e r h a d j u s t d i e d , a n d I w as s till angry at him. To furthe r inv o lv e the family
dynamic I based the story on the first joke I had ever heard, told to me by my mother:
“ W h a t ’s w o r s e t h a n fi n d i n g a w o rm in an ap p le ? Finding half a w o rm!”

T h e fi r s t d r a ft o f t h a t c o m i c (p . 347) had the c harac te rs talking in a flo w e ry, s tylize d

d i a l e ct . T h e s e co n d d r a ft h a d the m us ing s o muc h p ro fanity that it made my e yes
f e el g r i m y t o re a d i t . T h e n i t o c c urre d to me that if I le ft dialo gue o ut e ntire ly it
w ou l d re i n fo rce t h e o t h e r w o r l dly mo o d o f the s to ry.

R ea de r s h a v e s u p p l i e d m a n y o f Frank’s attrib ute s . Ov e r time v ario us indiv iduals

h a v e d e t e r m i n e d t h a t h e i s 11 ye ars o ld, that he is c o v e re d w ith s ho rt, de ns e fu r
l i ke a m o l e ’s , t h a t h e i s i n n o ce nt b ut no t no b le , and that he is mo rtal and mus t s o m e
day die.

A l l o f t h e F r a n k s t o r i e s h a v e s traightfo rw ard me anings w hic h I us ually re c o gnize

on l y a ft e r t h e y a re d r a w n a n d p rinte d. I us e d to e xp lain the s e me anings to anyo ne
w h o a s k e d , b u t I ’v e s t o p p e d d oing that b e c aus e the s to rie s are mo re p o w e rful w he n
t h ei r m y s t e r i e s a re u n d i s co v e red.

H ow e v e r, i n t h e s p i r i t o f p u b l i c s e rv ic e I w ill giv e a c lue to the me aning o f o ne s to ry,

Fra nk ’s R e a l P a . T h e re i s a p u n at the c e nte r o f it that, o nc e re alize d, s nap s the w ho le
st o ry i n t o s h a r p fo cu s . T h i s p u n inv o lv e s the e ye p o o l into w hic h Frank s o de s p e r-
a t el y l o n g s t o j u m p , a n d t h e s u rro gate he finds at the Je rry C hic ke n’s yard s ale . The
me ss a g e i s o n e t h a t e v e r y o n e c an e mb rac e w ith re al p ro fit to the ir liv e s . Do n’t go
a rou n d s a y i n g I d i d n ’t w a r n y o u.

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