Weathercraft

Weathercraft was published in book form without previously being serialized, a first for Woodring. Some panels of the book were previewed on Woodring's blog leading up to publication. When asked in an interview with The A.V. Club why, after 30 years of doing comics, he had now decided to produce his first graphic novel, he replied:

{{Quote

|"It sounds kind of dumb, but I just didn’t think of doing it until recently. I used to publish these stories in 32-page comics, and I would either do short stories or break the long ones up into chunks so there would be some variety inside the Weathercraft comic. But since then, people have been doing more and more long, standalone works, and the term "graphic novel" has sort of become the codified term now. It just seemed like the time was right to do it. I always felt that I could do those Frank stories by the inch, yard, or mile. The length of the stories never really mattered that much to me."

|Jim Woodring}}

The dust jacket was quite verbose, in contrast with the pantomime of the book itself. On this he said, "I thought it would be funny to have a book that was almost word-free and a dust jacket that was slathered in copy."

File:Om.svg
This character is hidden somewhere in the artwork of every page of the book.]]

Weathercraft, like all of the works set in Woodring's Unifactor (the world in which Frank and associated characters appear), is executed in wordless pantomime, with no word balloons or captions of any kind. In contrast, the dust jacket is quite verbose, and provides clues to the interpretation of the story. "[A] cyclical telling of Manhog's suffering, punishment and enlightenment", the book actually stars Manhog, with Frank only appearing briefly. Another recurring character, the devilish Whim, also features.{{citation needed|date=April 2012}}

The book is dense and intricate. It rewards (or requires) re-readings, and "blends [Woodring's] understanding of Vedantic beliefs with stylized, Max Fleischer nightmares to explore ideas about the evolution of consciousness. As if to hammer home this mysticism, Woodring notes that the Sanskrit symbol for the sacred syllable Aum [{{script|Deva|ॐ}}] is hidden on each page." Every detail of the book has meaning to Woodring, although he accepts and encourages "reader participation" and further or alternate interpretations.{{citation needed|date=April 2012}}

After merging with a psychoactive plant known as Salvia divinorum, Whim proceeds to "distort and enslave Frank and his friends". After much suffering, Manhog sets out on a transformative journey, attaining enlightenment. Manhog then returns for a final encounter with Whim.{{citation needed|date=April 2012}}

;Manhog : "[A] freakish creature that is often depicted as hedonistic villain whenever he isn't being forced to suffer." With some notable exceptions like the short story Gentlemanhog, Manhog is normally a secondary character in the stories set in the Unifactor, where Frank is normally the star.
The significant thing for Manhog in Weathercraft, according to Woodring, "is that [Manhog] feels morally obligated to clean up after himself" after being "responsible for Whim's acquiring a hallucinogenic plant-body...a first for him. He passes up a chance to enter paradise in order to do the right thing."

{{quote box|quote="In a lot of ways, Manhog is the most interesting character in the Unifactor. He has the most potential for change and the widest range of dramatic possibilities. Besides, it's fun to put him in awful circumstances and watch him suffer. There's something about a big fat guy screaming in terror that's just naturally funny. Oliver Hardy got a lot of mileage out of that formula."|source=Jim Woodring, 2010, on Manhog being the star of Weathercraft|width=220px}}

;Whim : As in so many other stories, this devilish, perpetually smiling, moon-headed character spends his time tantalizing and torturing the inhabitants of the Unifactor. "[A]t one point [he] merges with a psychoactive plant called Salvia divinorum" and "distorts and enslaves Frank and his friends."

;Frank : Normally the main character of the stories set in the Unifactor, Frank plays a small but important role in this book, distorted and enslaved by Whim early in the book.

;Pupshaw and Pushpaw : Companions and protectors of Frank, they are distorted and enslaved along with him by the now super powerful Whim.

;Frank's Faux Paw : Quadrupedal "bad conscience" of Frank, he plays a minor but critical role in the book. When participating in a forced marriage that is interrupted by Manhog, he reveals the location of the transformed Whim.

;"Betty and Veronica" : Described on the dust jacket as "our grossly inappropriate pet names for the unchristened hags" who "seem to have elemental control over [Manhog's] life". They are "two bird-like hags that mysteriously propel the story from the sidelines through rituals that alter the weather and, in turn, alter Manhog’s course". The pet names are taken from the characters Betty and Veronica from Archie comic books.

The book was included on numerous "Best of 2010" lists, including:

• The 2010 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Graphic Novels{{cite news |url=http://events.latimes.com/bookprizes/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100225050735/http://events.latimes.com/bookprizes/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 25, 2010 |title=The 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes ceremony honors the best books of 2010 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |accessdate=April 4, 2011 }} (as Finalist)
• Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2010{{cite magazine |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by%2Dtopic/book%2Dnews/awards%2Dand%2Dprizes/article/45070%2Dbest%2Dbooks%2Dof%2D2010.html?page=3 |title=Best Books of 2010 |magazine=Publishers Weekly |date=November 8, 2010 |accessdate=April 4, 2011 }}
• Douglas Wolk's Best Graphic Novels of 2010 at TIME.com – Techland{{cite magazine |first=Douglas |last=Wolk |url=https://techland.time.com/time_slide/10-how-to-understand-israel-in-60-days-or-less/slide/6-weathercraft/ |title=The Best Graphic Novels of 2010 |magazine=Time |date=December 20, 2010 |access-date=April 4, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501054840/http://techland.time.com/10-how-to-understand-israel-in-60-days-or-less/6-weathercraft/ |archive-date=May 1, 2011 }} (ranked #6)

{{Portal|Comics}}

• Alternative comics
• Graphic novel

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=

{{cite web

|url = http://www.comixology.com/articles/384/Description-Is-a-Myth-i-Weathercraft-i-

|title = Description is a Myth

|publisher = [comixology.com]

|first = Tucker

|last = Stone

|date = 2010-06-01

|accessdate = 2010-04-14

|url-status = dead

|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20100605090049/http://www.comixology.com/articles/384/Description-Is-a-Myth-i-Weathercraft-i-

|archivedate = 2010-06-05

}}

{{citation

| url = https://www.avclub.com/jim-woodring-1798221175

| date = July 8, 2010

| title = Interview Jim Woodring

| publisher = The A.V. Club

| access-date = April 4, 2011}}

Woodring, Jim (2010). Weathercraft, dustjacket. Fantagraphics Books, Seattle. {{ISBN|978-1-60699-340-8}}.

{{cite web

|title = Jim Woodring's Weathercraft

|url = http://www.espabl.com/comics/jim-woodring-weathercraft/

|publisher = [espabl.com]

|last = Rios

|first = Paul

|date = 2010-06-10

|accessdate = 2011-04-14}}

{{cite web

|url = http://blogflumer.blogspot.com/2010/06/weathercraft.html

|title = How to Read Weathercraft; or, How I Read It and What I Learned

|last = Parille

|first = Ken

|date = 2010-06-18

|accessdate = 2011-04-14

|publisher = [Blog Flume]}}

{{cite web

|url = http://brunswick.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/weathercraft-by-jim-woodring/

|title = Weathercraft by Jim Woodring

|accessdate = 2011-04-15

|date = 2010-11-16

|publisher = [The Name of this Cartoon is Brunswick]}}

{{cite web

|url = http://roctoberreviews.blogspot.com/2010/08/weathercraft-by-jim-woodring.html

|first = Robert

|last = Dayton

|date = 2010-08-08

|accessdate = 2011-04-16

|title = Weathercraft by Jim Woodring

|publisher = [Roctober]}}

{{cite web

|url = http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=25633

|first = Shaun

|last = Manning

|title = Woodring Practices "Weathercraft" (interview)

|publisher = [Comic Book Resources]

|date = 2010-04-09

|accessdate = 2011-04-15}}

|2}}

• {{cite web

|url = http://hoodedutilitarian.com/2010/07/a-short-walk-through-the-unifactor-jim-woodring-frank-and-weathercraft/

|title = A Short Walk through the Unifactor: Jim Woodring, Frank and Weathercraft

|author = Ng Suat Tong

|publisher = [The Hooded Utilitarian]

|accessdate = 2010-04-14

|date = 2010-07-06}}

• {{cite web

|url = http://rodmckie.blogspot.com/2010/06/weathercraft-and-nutwood-worlds-apart.html

|first = Rod

|last = McKie

|title = Weathercraft and Nutwood; world's apart?

|date = 2010-06-01

|accessdate = 2011-04-14}}

• {{cite web

|url = http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2010/07/07/weathercraft-by-jim-woodring/

|first = Brian

|last = Heater

|title = Weathercraft by Jim Woodring

|publisher = [The Daily Crosshatch]

|date = 2010-07-07

|accessdate = 2011-04-15}}

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2phX5i6ftQ Weathercraft by Jim Woodring - Video Preview]
• [http://vimeo.com/12125215 Jim Woodring talks about Weathercraft]
• [https://www.avclub.com/jim-woodring-1798221175 Interview] at The A.V. Club
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110227230145/http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/06/02/weathercraftreview-jim-woodring/ Review] at ComicsAlliance

{{Jim Woodring}}

{{Fantagraphics comics}}

Category:2010 graphic novels

Category:2010 comics debuts

Category:American graphic novels

Category:Comics by Jim Woodring

Category:Books by Jim Woodring

Category:Fantagraphics titles