4 out of 5

Imprint Banzai Editions began putting out these really lovely, slightly-oversized issues / magazines called “The Art of Collection,” each dedicated to a notable artist. This one – obviously – is dedicated to Jim Woodring, of Frank fame. This particular package contained a French / English mini-book that has a short bio of bibliography of Jim’s, some extra Frank comics, and a brief interview, alongside an illustrated postcard. The magazine itself, certainly the main selling point, is full-bleed, and all color, though some of Jim’s work is black and white. Part of the artsy pitch here is that the mag is truly art only – the index of the contents comes in the mini-book.

This is an appealing package, for sure. Even with a solid familiarity of Jim’s work and owning most of his comics, having a nice curation of his art pieces is truly lovely, and Banzai’s print / page quality is stellar: the stock isn’t glossy, but it’s very substantial and allows the colors / grayscale to be very rich and present. The full-bleed absolutely makes an impact. …Except the binding, which is a stapled edge, doesn’t go wholly flat given the thicker paper stock, and you definitely lose some details of splash pages in the crevice. And because these are art pieces, and not comics designed for such splash pages, the focus is generally front and center. The majority of the works are single page, so it’s by no means the worst thing in the world, but you’ll notice it.

And as a more this-is-probably-just-me complaint, if you’re going to bother putting a bibliography in here, why not make it a full bibliography? I’m likely buying this as a fan of Jim’s; I probably don’t need a list of the 5 books that come up when you do an Amazon search.

Still, the latter point is just me as a completionist; and the former point doesn’t diminish – even on those splash pages – how amazing Jim’s art can be, especially when you get to appreciate it up close and at this quality.