BIOGRAPHY:

"... an original surrealist. Rich and universal, his work is unequalled by anything in comics since George Herriman's Krazy Kat."
World Art

"His is a more elusive, vaguely mystical, occasionally surreal approach but always firmly rooted in the existential here and now."
The Comics Journal Special Edition Vol 2

Jim Woodring (1952- ) was born in Los Angeles, USA and had a childhood plagued by nightmares, apparitions, hallucinations and paranoia. After a short lived career as a garbage man he turned to cartooning, and in 1980, in an effort to maintain his creative sanity while working in an animation studio, he began to document these experiences in a self-published 'autojournal', called Jim. By 1987, Jim Woodring quit his day job to concentrate on comics full time.

The first Frank comic was published in 1991. Over time it has been determined that Frank is 11 years old, that he is covered in short, dense fur, like a mole's, that he is innocent but noble. As Jim Woodring explains, "All the Frank stories have straightforward meanings which I usually recognise only after they are drawn and printed. I used to explain these meanings to anyone who asked, but I've stopped doing that because the stories are more powerful when their mysteries are undiscovered."

Jim Woodring lives in Seattle with his wife, Mary, and son, Max.

Interviews:
Comic Book Bin (2006)
Suicide Girls (2005)
The Comics Journal Special Edition #2 (2002)
The Comics Reporter (1999)
Cartoons Forum (1997)
Electric Minds (1997)
The Comics Journal #164 (1993)

Resources:
Jim Woodring.com
Jim Woodring at Fantagraphics
Jim Woodring at Strangeco.com

Reviews:
Time.com: Frank

The Frank Book
Fantagraphics, 2003
Frank is a generic anthropomorph who lives in a world of mysterious and dangerous beauty. Propelled by forces beyond his control, including his own unquenchable curiosity, he finds himself in one bizarre escapade after another, frequently involving the loathsome Manhog or the power hungry Whim. Luckily, Frank has a protector and ally in the form of his feisty godling companion, Pupshaw. Frank's adventures are told in a series of nearly wordless cartoon stories that draw the readers deep into a hallucinatory mindscape governed by a profound interior logic.

"The Frank Book is one man's puzzling gift to a puzzling world. It brings a hidden world to light and lets us examine it minutely."
Francis Ford Coppola, from the introduction

"Frank will take you to another world, re-arrange your consciousness and reprogram the inside of your head."
Neil Gaiman

"Perched midway between cute and terrifying, Jim Woodring's Frank stories put a lunatic spin on the familiar 'funny animal' tradition."
100 Best Comics, The Comics Journal #210

The Book Of Jim
Fantagraphics, 1993
"The Book Of Jim melds dream comics, automatic writing, and surreal illustrations into one unsettling package."
100 Best Comics, The Comics Journal #210

"...unsettlingly alien and intimately familiar..."
Alan Moore

Seeing Things
Fantagraphics Books
A coffee-table collection of paintings and charcoal drawings by Jim Woodring. Born in 1952 in Los Angeles, USA, Jim Woodring had a childhood plagued by nightmares, apparitions, hallucinations and paranoia. After a short lived career as a garbage man, he turned to cartooning, and in 1980, in an effort to maintain his creative sanity while working in an animation studio, he began to document these experiences in a self-published 'autojournal', called Jim. By 1987, he quit his day job to concentrate on comics full time. Seeing Things takes the otherworldly qualities of his comics to a higher level of clarity and nuance. His crisply rendered images reflect his life-long obsession with hidden worlds, alternate realities and the inexplicable resonance of the unprecedented and irrational in lucid art.

"A revelation... Woodring's stuff will outlast all but one in a thousand of his peers."
Scott McCloud

Books:
Seeing Things (2005)
Pupshaw & Pupshaw (2004)
The Frank Book (2003)
Trosper with Bill Frisell (2002)
Frank Vol 2 (1997)
Frank Vol 1 (1996)
The Book Of Jim (1993)

As writer:
Aliens: Labyrinth with Kilian Plunkett
Freaks with Francisco Solano Lopez

Periodicals:
Frank #1-4
Jim Vol 2 #1-6
Jim Vol 1 #1-4
Tantalizing Stories #1-6 with Mark Martin