Frank Et Le Congrès Des Bêtes (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
I loved the fact that this was a wordless comic. Often, I will read comics and think about how much better off it would have been if the author had not stuck his superfulous word graffiti on the page. Writer/illustrators in particular: the one-man shows. They are illustrators, first and foremost. I wish they would trust in their abilities as visual storytellers but more often than not we associate words with depth and so they compromise their strengths on the altar of words yet again. And you might think Woodring hadn't made such comprises judging by the actual comic itself, that is, until you look at the back of the hardback, or on the insides of the dust jacket. The "synopsis" lays out practically the whole comic in words. The back has a "key" of sorts with captions for like twenty scenes from beginning to end (a huge no-no for me). Once the tyranny of those captions are read their influence on my experience was unassailable. Anything I might have felt for this comic was ruined as it struck me hard on the nose, repeatedly. Frank's house is destroyed after a freak polo accident, causing him to get a job at a factory to pay the costs of rebuilding it. But that wouldn't make an interesting book would it? Frank escapes and sets out on a journey of exploration of the wonderfully weird world of the Unifactor and falls in love. Jim Woodring's follow up to the successful "Weathercraft" is another wordless, charmingly illustrated, surreal trip of a comic book. Everyone seems to be a strange monster and the further Frank delves into the Unifactor (the world Woodring created where all of his books take place in) the more confusing and bizarre the events unfolding become. Woodring's style of highly detailed black and white drawings are gorgeous to look at and the story of someone leaving home and finding their place in the world, while as old as time, is given new life in this strange new world. If you've read "Weathercraft" or Woodring's "Frank" books you'll know what to expect and "Congress of the Animals" is as good as anything he's done previously. If you're new, be prepared to be bamboozled and fascinated by the uniqueness of the Unifactor. Strange but beautiful, it's an interesting comic book that underlines how different Jim Woodring is from other comic book artists out there at the moment.
What do You think about Frank Et Le Congrès Des Bêtes (2011)?
Another mind-boggling, grotesquely creation from the mind of Woodring.
—Riya
Somehow simultaneously idyllic and horrifying. Pretty much perfect.
—Juhi
