I can't really review or describe this book in very useful detail, I'm too much of a fan... but if you've read any Jim Woodring comics that are not Frank, you probably know whether you would like a large volume of them. I love Frank but I've always had a special weakness for his other stuff, partly because he's one of a very small number of cartoonists who can make emotionally engaging narratives out of dreams, and partly because he writes sharp and hilarious dialogue. I'm partial to the longer stories that originally appeared in the Jim vol. 2 series, especially "Quarry Story" and "The Hindu Marriage Game", so it makes me really happy that those are collected here. The only problem with the completeness(*) of this collection is that if the stream-of-consciousness text pieces from his early zines aren't really your thing, well, there are a fair number of them. Also, I would've liked to see more cover art. Whatever, it's a beautiful book.

(* The only thing that's missing as far as I can tell is one of the "Big Red" stories, where Jim's cat gleefully murders a boastful cat named Tuffy. Except now I can't find that story in any of my old Jims; maybe it was just one of those tiny zines that he sent out through the mail? Or did I dream it??) ( )