five crampons out of five
To call Jim Woodring a genius is too limited. To call him a ‘visionary’ implies that he’s seeing something beyond, or is somehow fanciful in his work. No. You can only call Jim Woodring ‘Jim Woodring.’ I have never encountered an artist / writer so uniquely himself as Woodring, and the ‘Frank’ strips – many of which are lovingly collected in ‘The Portable Frank,’ bring that quality out front and center.
So what’s this guy about if’n yer new to to his oeuvre? Take Fantasia and run it through the surreal ringer about ten times over and you’ll get close. Woodring’s style absolutely has some elements of classic animation (just look at Frank – that’s that cuddly character front and center on the picture down there – just look at that mug) but with a clean and confident, yet detailed, penciling / inking style that feels a bit European, if I’m feeling a bit wankery in my descriptions. The storylines float in a weird level of consciousness between the imaginative free-for-all flow of old cartoons and a very adult, developed sense of iconography. This means that you’re never quite sure if you’re reading something very childish or very mature, never quite getting over the feeling that you’re looking at a drug trip (items morph from panel to panel), but then, due to the detail put into the experience and the pointed beginning and end of the tales, leaning back toward seeing it as a purposeful exhibition and not just a get-high-and-draw session.
Now on one hand, we have wordless, amazingly crafted serialized stories out there – Ricardo Delgado’s dinosaur books come to mind – but often those books will have a clear point, or have categorizeable appeal to a given audience. With Delgado’s books, for example, dinosaur afficionados love them, and art fans can simply marvel at the detailed draftsmanship. With Woodring’s Frank material, it’s hard to pin down. It doesn’t seem to be made for anyone, and yet, anyone can read this. I would love to give this collection to a mature child (there are some scary bits) and see if it inspires any curiosity. For those who are still getting a grasp on the world, I imagine Woodring’s free-form take on his characters would be helpful support for those who think out of the box.
One thing to take into account here is that this is not the complete Frank. For that, you go to the Frank Book, but that’s oversize and expensive. This is exactly what it says: portable (about hardcover book size) Frank. It collects pieces from different eras of Franks life, and features all the main characters. You can read it again and again and find new ways to look at a character’s reaction or actions. You’ll never be able to describe it, adequately, to anyone.
vaguely-offensive 