The Frank Book #[nn]

Jim Woodring's The Frank Book collects his wordless adventures set in the Unifactor, and the cover gives you an immediate taste of that fever-dream world — Frank, the small cat-like figure, sits curled in an ornate chair amid a lush, surreal landscape packed with biomorphic shapes, mysterious doorways, and strange hovering creatures rendered in Woodring's saturated, jewel-toned palette. Every inch of that red-bordered cover vibrates with the peculiar logic Woodring has made entirely his own, inviting you into a place that feels simultaneously cozy and deeply uncanny. At $45, this Fantagraphics volume is a substantial, beautifully produced entry point into one of the most singular imaginations in 2011 comics.