Frank in the River
Frank in the River | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | Tundra |
Format | One-shot |
Genre | Alternative comics |
Publication date | 1992 |
No. of issues | 1 |
Creative team | |
Created by | Jim Woodring |
Frank in the River is a 24-page comic story by Jim Woodring.
Like all Frank stories, Frank in the River is virtually wordless and the story is conveyed entirely in
Publication history
It was published by Tundra in 1992 in a special full-color issue of Tantalizing Stories, Tantalizing Stories Presents Frank in the River, and features Woodring's signature character, Frank. The special issue also included a shorter full-color story by Mark Martin featuring his character Montgomery Wart.
Plot synopsis
While
The next morning a swarm of strange monsters clamber out of a nearby river and onto the palace grounds. Frank runs out to battle with them, and by the end of the day has killed them all. He buries their corpses in a hole which he covers with a large rock. Cleaning up after the battle, he peeks in the cistern and finds a small figurine which resembles the statue he knocked over. At dinner, Frank finds that Manhog has chopped up the remains of the monsters he killed and cooked them into a nauseating porridge. Rejecting the food, Frank goes to bed.
That night Frank is awakened by a light turning on. Getting up, he sees Manhog moving around, and surreptitiously follows him down a long flight of stairs to an underground canal. Frank's attempts to find out what Manhog is up to are thwarted when he unexpectedly encounters a stop sign, which causes him to tear back towards his room in a panic. After catching his breath he looks in the cistern again, and finds a different figurine shaped like one of the monsters he fought earlier.
Getting an idea, Frank makes a figurine that looks like himself and puts it in the cistern. Soon a small squad of Frank
Down in the
The real Frank, observing the scene from a
Collected editions
Frank in the River is reprinted in the book collections Frank Volume 1 (1996,
Reception
Frank in the River was the first full-color Frank story by Woodring, and is still his longest color story to date. Its intense, luminous hues won Woodring the 1993
The logic of cause and effect behind the sequence of events in Frank in the River is notoriously difficult to figure out. Woodring once released a limited facsimile edition of the complete rough draft of the story, "with a caption under each panel explaining just what is going on."[3]
See also
References
- ^ "1993 Harvey Award Winners". Archived 2007-11-03 at the Wayback Machine The Harvey Awards. Accessed October 23, 2007.
- ^ "1993 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees and Winners". Archived 2007-10-31 at the Wayback Machine Comic Book Awards Almanac. Accessed November 2, 2007.
- ^ Woodring, Jim. "Jimland Novelties". Jim Volume II #2 (April 1994), 21.