Hello, How are you? My name is Hippie John and this my creative corner. The basic idea of the corner is a place where I cover obscure forms of media(IE: movies, books, music, comics, stand up comedians, cartoon characters etc.) that I feel more people should check out of at least know of  their existence.

For my first outing. I am exhibiting a wordless, surreal comic by Jim Woodring, Frank. Frank follows the title character, Frank, who is a cross between a beaver and Micky Mouse as he lives his life in his surrealist world called unifactor along with his pet, Pupshaw and a cast of unusual and sometimes disturbing characters.

Which includes the incompetent Manhog, the sly and trickster Whim, the mischievous Jerry Chickens, and many more weird and wonderful characters.

The basic way to describe frank is if Micky Mouse was thrown into a Salvador Dali painting. Frank himself is drawn kind of a old theatrical cartoon style but the world he lives in is very highly detailed and strange.

That is the one thing you have to remember when you read frank, It is surreal, it doesn’t make sense and it has no plans to make sense. But instead of that being a fault it becomes the comic’s biggest plus.

The world at times can be terrifying and abnormal, but the way frank treats this world as normal and inviting, which causes the reader to feel the same. Frank can be gruesome and deranged but it can also be beautiful and heartfelt.

Frank is printed in both black and white as well as in color. The book I have , The Portable Frank, is in black and white which gives the comic a kind of gritty feel, but when it is printed in full color the comic looks even more insanely beautiful then it is in black and white.

The highly detailed illusions are like a feast to the eyes.Each new character we meet in the world of Frank is more bizarre and creative then the last and the next one will be even more surreal.

The comic is wordless except for the titles of the stories and sound affects, So the comic is pretty easy to read, I took me about a day to read The Portable Frank but the art style and the basic creativity of the comic will have you coming back again and again just to stare at the panels.

If you want to check of Frank, (which I highly suggest you do) I would suggest The Portable Frank if you want it in Black and white and if you want it in color, Check out The Frank Book.

Well that is all about the time we have now ,but thanks for taking time to read my first column and I hope you will come back again.Next time I will be covering a short lived cartoon character  created by one of the animations greats, Tex Avery, Screwy Squirrel.