Exclusive: Quacky by Jim Woodring by Fantagraphics Books

Jim Woodring (Frank, Jim) is the award-winning cartoonist and animator whose unique comic language has made him a beloved talent in the industry. Last week, Woodring’s graphic novel Quacky from Fantagraphics Books — homaging the Big Little Book format — was released! We’ve got an exclusive preview of the book for those interested in checking it out!

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 aging 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.

Thanks to Fantagraphic Books for letting us preview the book! Quacky is in comic book stores now.