Frank (comics)

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Frank is a cartoon character created by Jim Woodring. He is a bipedal, bucktoothed animal of uncertain species with a short tail, and he has been described by Woodring as a "generic anthropomorph". From context, he appears to be about the size of a cat. When shown in color, his fur is purple. He first appeared on the cover of Jim #4 (although in that drawing he had disturbing, human-like eyes rather than the standard cartoon eyes he would sport later), and he became a recurring feature in Jim Volume 2, before acquiring his own series, Frank. Various artists have created short Frank animations based on Woodring's original tales, which have been sold on DVD by the Red Rocket company.

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 effects), and are done either in brightly-colored paint or in a distinctively patterned black-and-white style. They follow Frank's adventures in an unusual world which is both 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) 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 pet, Pupshaw - a creature shaped like a house and sporting a rainbow-striped tail - has occasionally exhibited godlike powers and her better judgement often saves Frank after he's gotten himself into a jam, 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 rather ambiguous morally (even Manhog has his good side,) but Whim is a genuinely evil character. He appears as a tall, reed-thin figure with a large, ever-grinning, mask-like head topped with two devilish horns, but this body is actually just some kind of suit, and Whim's true form is a tiny, tadpole-like beast that enters and exits through a hole in the back of the suit's head. Whim has a palace full of 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, although Pupshaw usually rescues him and humilates Whim in the process by forcing him out of his devil suit to reveal his true form. 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, perhaps the result of one of Whim's ghastly experiments.

Other inhabitants of the Frank universe include a group of round, square and triangular wiseguy chickens 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 flying, spinning, top-like, and colorful Jivas, soul-creatures that are neither vapourous nor altogether benevolent.

Woodring has written that many of Frank's attributes come 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."^[1]

Though the stories are often described as "dreamlike", Woodring has said that they are his most consciously and deliberately created work. 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, but while Woodring's comics output does seem to be slowing down, in 2005 he created a new Frank book called The Lute String.

It should be noted that the characters of the Frank stories are rarely named within the stories themselves, but Woodring usually reveals their names in his responses to reader letters, in interviews, 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 backgrounds.

Shapes 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. Eyes are also a ubiquitous presence.

While the Frank stories have never been a mainstream success, they have attracted an avid cult following and have been extensively merchandised as t-shirts, action figures and other things. Many alternative cartoonists (Dave Cooper, for example) have cited the Frank stories as an inspiration, and mainstream comic book creators 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.