superunison's review
5.0
Hallucinatory, mystical, fascinating, and gorgeous. Religious texts from another universe.
gilmoreghoul's review
5.0
Coworker brought this to work and it is so strange and wonderful. The illustrations are so fantastic and creepy and cute I can't even.
tymelgren's review
5.0
A few months ago my friend Mario suggested I watch a documentary about Jim Woodring, and I did and it was great. It's mostly just him saying surprising things about art and perceptions of reality and his connections to Christianity and Vedanta Hinduism while meticulously drawing and correcting minute details of his comix. I wanted to know more about his spiritual beliefs and inclinations, and I was disappointed that I couldn't find much online beyond what he hinted at in the documentary. But I also got this book of his from the library, and it wasn't disappointing at all. Despite being completely bizarre, something about these stories' fixation on encounter and confusion and transformation has a type of primal emotional resonance that seems really rare. Every day Frank wakes up and walks out of his house and into a world where literally anything at all could happen, and something unexpected always does. These are some of the best depictions I've seen of the mystery and potential terror of being obligated to exist, and Woodring does this without even using any words. When I read other comix, I mentally "say" the words in my mind as I read them, but since the characters don't speak in this book, and there's no narration, I found myself physically imitating the characters' facial expressions and mentally making wordless sounds of surprise or delight or disgust or fear. A weird experience that I don't remember ever having with any other book. Don't know how I've been reading comix as long as I have without ever reading Woodring before now, but I'm glad I finally did. Thanks for recommending that movie, Mario.
idontkaren's review
4.0
Favorites were "Gentlemanhog" and "Bliss." The expressions on Pupshaw's face throughout the book are hilarious.
jsjammersmith's review
5.0
A Disney Cartoon steps out of his house and a pig man tries to kill him before a demon pulls a spirit from another dimension, and at the end of the day Frank goes home.
Reading is the wrong word for The Portable Frank. You don’t “read” Frank’s story, you just feel it as your eyes travel over the story and the reader is left with the sensation of this world. This is not to say The Portable Frank isn’t enjoyable. I read this book over and over again just savoring the sensation of being in this world with this character who seemed immune to the oddities that would drive the hardiest of wills to the brink of madness. That’s the charm I think of Woodring’s universe. No matter how strange or surreal or wonderful or frightening, there is always Frank.
Jim Woodring is an incredible artist, and as a comics writer and artist he contributes to the form by establishing a universe where anything, ANYTHING, can happen. The world of Frank is about possibility and imagination. And while there are no words to this story, the reader is left haunted by the silence and the images that crafted a narrative that lingers after them long after they have put the book down.
Reading is the wrong word for The Portable Frank. You don’t “read” Frank’s story, you just feel it as your eyes travel over the story and the reader is left with the sensation of this world. This is not to say The Portable Frank isn’t enjoyable. I read this book over and over again just savoring the sensation of being in this world with this character who seemed immune to the oddities that would drive the hardiest of wills to the brink of madness. That’s the charm I think of Woodring’s universe. No matter how strange or surreal or wonderful or frightening, there is always Frank.
Jim Woodring is an incredible artist, and as a comics writer and artist he contributes to the form by establishing a universe where anything, ANYTHING, can happen. The world of Frank is about possibility and imagination. And while there are no words to this story, the reader is left haunted by the silence and the images that crafted a narrative that lingers after them long after they have put the book down.
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