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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Books Funny-Book Review: Pim & Francie

Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 12:20 PM

What's the book? Pim & Francie: The Golden Bear Days by Al Columbia.

What's it about? Well, it's about these two cartoon kids. One is named Pim and one is named Francie. They keep getting into trouble, kind of Hansel-and-Gretel-like, and people are threatening to do cruel things to them. Sometimes they do cruel things to other creatures (there's a scene where one of the kids is torturing Bambi, and Columbia can do an eerily good Walt Disney art-style; it's super-creepy.)

What's the art look like? This is the thing that will make or break the book for you: Columbia leaves the book in various stages of completion—sometimes you'll only see a part of a page, sometimes you'll see just the pencils without any inks, and at times the pages appear to have been torn apart and then glued back together. It's like a historical document: Incomplete, a little obfuscated, and hinting at a much larger story. Columbia's art is beautiful. Turns out, Pim & Francie ran in The Stranger back in 2001. You can read the four strips that we ran over here, and here's a sample strip:

Do you recommend it? Yes. It's not for those who are dead set on clear narratives in their comics, but Pim and Francie succeeds as both an art book and as a creepy comic strip. They're like the remnants of wicked folk tales from some sort of pop culture that was destroyed in the 1930s. This book is absolutely worth your time.

Comments (4) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

HaHa. This is so funny. Thanks!
for telling me what my time is worth

Posted by dnt trust me on December 15, 2009 at 12:31 PM

It may be worth my time but is it worth the price? Seems a mite pricey to me. I'll see; I've reserved a copy from the Seattle library.

Posted by FreudianShrimp on December 15, 2009 at 1:18 PM

Interested parties can see excerpts and photos at the Fantagraphics website.

Posted by The Publisher on December 15, 2009 at 11:35 PM

This book is wonderful. Columbia actually signed in Seattle earlier this year -- or so he told me at the Providence signing the other night. Maybe your local shop has some autographed copies lying around. Quiet, serious, nice fellow.

Posted by beautiful grotequeries on December 16, 2009 at 10:41 AM