Quacky

Jim Woodring has been drawing the otherworldly, allegorical adventures of his cartoon Everycreature, Frank, for three and a half decades. These stories are a singular rarity in the comics form - both bone-chillingly physical in their depictions of Frank''s travails and profoundly metaphysical at the same time. Not since George Herriman''s Krazy Kat has the comics language been so exquisitely distilled into pure, revelatory aesthetic expression. With Quacky, Woodring adopts the format of 1930s Big Little Books to deliver a text story with illustrations, in which the typically nonplussed Frank''s reactions are told to us explicitly, through narration and his own thoughts. Frank is buffeted by generosity, anguished to see how loving friends perceive him, distraught by the process of ageing and physical transformation in a beloved pet, delighted by nature and physical experiences shared with others, and ultimately sees a path toward radical acceptance in the face of trauma. Frank cast regulars Pupshaw, Pushpaw and Manhog are here, along with new entries to Frank''s world of the Unifactor. And, in a backup feature, we meet a cast of toontown pigs in a story that undercuts the kiddie book format: ''Hoggy Goes Hogwild.'' Cunningham, the clever pig who helps all his friends, and his confirmed fiancee, Porceline, are called on to assist local pal Hoggy - who turns out to have gone on a violent crime spree, presaging a possible psychotic break. Jim Woodring is back, and no two worlds wouldn''t be the same without him.