for the obsessive
23 September 2004
Happy Equinox! The dust has sure been settling in Jimland, and things are going to be different around here. Less dusty, for one thing.
For another, I will be posting the truly monstrous backlog of Stranger cartoons, starting first with the most recent (WHICH ALSO HAPPENS TO BE THE LAST ONE IN PRINT).
Interspersed with the old will be new ones, so please keep checking back.
Of course, it'll have to be called something other than "Stranger Cartoon," now...
Not that I'm complaining or anything...
We are also thinking about some new features, but they're too embryonic to expose to the cold air of reality as yet.
Now here's something interesting, an award-winning
animation
from Mr. Taruto Fuyama starring some familiar characters.
You might have wondered: Why has this website become moribund? Gainful employment on Madame W's part is to blame. I just couldn't drive a 60-foot bus and navigate cyberspace at the same time. That noble experiment having run its course, I'm back and rarin' to go.
12 June 2004
I am in the throes of moving this website to a new server and rebuilding the store, when all that dust has settled we will have this wonderful item for sale!!!:
8 May 2004
We were in Japan! It was fantastic! What a place! What people!
Jim was there for a couple of art shows, organized by our WONDERFUL hosts Yuji, Yasutaka, and Maki of Presspop and Trancepop Gallery. He was also promoting something which I will tell more about in the near future.
We saw some truly amazing Frank animations as interpreted by various talented artists; the Fushimi-Inari Fox Shrine; geisha and maiko out shopping of a Sunday and monks begging of a morning; the Miyako Odori; Kabuki; textile, art, and ukiyo-e museums. We ate sushi at the main Tokyo fish market (uni can be good!); went to the Ghibli Museum; stayed in the most Japanese city in Japan (Kyoto) and the most Tokyo part of Tokyo (Shinjuku) and walked our feet off and did a million other things and it was just a rip-roaring, hate-to-leave good time!
Pressure Printing has made some ultra-attractive, very limited edition prints of four drawings by Jim! Read about them here or go directly to the website for an in-depth perusal.
3 February 2004
Lots of news today!
(...for anyone who hasn't given up on this space in disgust at its seldom-
changing sameness. The laxity has been due to my new vocation, but my
new "piece of work" is EASY so just maybe I can be more forthcoming with
the updates here...)
MYSTERIO SIMPATICO, the don't-it-beat-all collaboration between Bill Frisell and Jim, is to be performed in
SEATTLE THIS WEEK!
Wednesday, February 3rd-Saturday, February 7th
7:30 PM
Jewel Box Theater in the Rendezvous
2322 Second Ave, Seattle.
Tickets are $15, available at Wall of Sound records or
www.ticketweb.com. There will also be a performance on
Sunday, February 8th, at the Seattle Art Museum,
100 University St., Seattle; $10 (206-654-3121).
AND you can hear the two maestros pontificate on
KUOW
Wednesday, Feb 4th, at 2:00 NOT 2:30!!!! The station is on the internet for
those of you not in Seattle or those of you goofing off at work.
WHAT IS MORE, the FRANK CARTOONS Jim made for the
library are finally up, and man those things are bitchin'!
AND FINALLY, there was a nice writeup in the Seattle Post-
Intelligencer about Jim, complete with glamour photo and
domestic dirt dished!
23 December 2003
The Frank Book was named one of the best 25 books of the
year by the Village Voice, JUST IN TIME FOR THE FIRST
PRINTING TO BE SOLD OUT! Fantagraphics says they'll
reprint in "a couple of months," if you are impatient for the
reprint a friendly email to let them know might speed things up slightly.
10 December 2003
The Frank Book was named one of the best 25
books of the year by the Village Voice!
8 December 2003
Well, was I ever wrong about the updating! Madame W. has been otherwise
occupied for the past few months but getting back into the swing of
things here.
AND NOW,TIME FOR SOME HOLIDAY SHOPPING!
First, the semi-annual ART SHOW is now up; please go and look.
Next, have a gander at the JW-designed stationery and
"Oneiric Diary" that Dark Horse has put out.
(It looks like they still have some Frank hats; Robin Williams
was seen wearing one of these on TV not too long ago.)
And last but certainly not least, the second set of Sony Toys
Jim designed, the " IMPERIAL NEWTS," is out and available at
kidrobot.com! Man are they cool!
Remember, the economy is depending on you!
7 October 2003
Now it's not good bike riding or swimming weather and Jim is finally done with those cartoons, maybe the updates will be more frequent...
Jim is drawing and painting for a number of new
projects, and those drawings and paintings will
soon show up in the "Art for Sale" section if
people don't buy 'em all first...
The Frank Book got a starred review in the September 15th Publisher's Weekly, and the book is selling out fast.
Jim will be on a panel at Northwest Bookfest (Seattle) called:
"Graphic Novels – Where Literature and Art Intersect"
with Peter Bagge, Gary Groth, and Ted Jouflas.
Eric Reynolds moderating
Sunday, October 19th 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Carver Stage
14 August 2003
Not much to report.
Jim is scurrying like mad to finish 3 little Frank cartoons for the new downtown Seattle library, and the weather is great here.
4 August 2003
The Frank Book is in the
(and this is now the correct URL)
Fall 2003
Small Press Book Sense 76 Top Ten!)
29 July 2003
Jim will be at the
University Bookstore
4326 University Way NE
in Seattle
this Wednesday, July 30th, from 7PM till 9, not 10PM!
Find out about Frank!
Recent article in the Seattle Times
New Jim-designed toy from Strangeco, the DORBEL!
The Frank Book was reviewed in the July 22nd Entertainment Weekly! A-! (Oh well...)
July 2003
Crazy Newts are now available in the US!
We saw them at our very own neighborhood
Zanadu Comics, which means they can be found
at the more discerning purveyors of cartoon fun
across the land! Demand them!
Frank Book review at ComicBookGalaxy.com
Jim will be at the legendary
Comic Relief
Sunday, July 6, 2pm-4pm
2138 University Ave.
Berkeley, Ca. 94704-1026
Phone: 510 843 5002
and at the stupendous
Meltdown Comics & Collectibles
Thursday, July 10, 7pm to 9pm
7522 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046
Phone: 323-851-7283
and I will be there too...
23 June 2003
The Big, Beautiful Frank Book
is out!
Read all about it, including overseas ordering info,
here!
Mantra toys available!
If you want 'em
email Maki at Presspop Gallery for details!
(And steel yourself for the price---these are "limited-edition" toys!)
Jim got a GAP grant from the Seattle Arts Commission!
Now he can buy that easel he's been wanting!
And finally, Jim will be at Meltdown Comics in L.A, on Thursday, 10 July. More details soon.
15 April 2003
The Frank Book is at the printer!
The Mantra and Jiva toys are available in Japan!
By gum, things aren't as bad as they could be, are they?
I mean, I feel like Chicken Little rather than Cassandra. So far.
February 2003
Look at this skateboard Jim designed!
Starring my least favorite animal!
How can the lovely Kirsten of Roq la Rue bear to hold the thing?
Here's a review in the Seattle PI.
I'm sorry to be so laggard with the updates.
We've been renovating a bathroom haunted by the ghost
of a particularly stupid, insulation-eating possum.
That and keeping my fingernails bitten to the quick, fretting over the
stupidity, hubris and apocalyptic unconcern
for humanity and the earth of our so-called "leaders,"
have kept me away.
(Sorry to inject the harshness of reality
into this whimsical world here but
the juggernaut of calamity is approaching and I don't feel I can keep silent.)
3 January 2003
Happy New Year!
18 December 2002
Please view this year's
Holiday Greeting
from Jimland.
6 December 2002
December Art Show
is now "up!"
Invitation to "opening" here!
Mantra* is coming!!!
(*That's the fellow right above, there.)
Jim will be in Japan Dec 12-19
He has art shows in Tokyo and Kyoto. and will also be attending the debuts of these goodies he designed: a Sony jiva toy;some fabric; and Mantra!
Kega o shimashita, dakara watashi wa Nihon ni ikimasen!
Bob
1980-2002
7 November 2002
He was the best cat ever.
30 October 2002
Real life mamhog lolls while long-suffering artist husband husband caters and slaves! (No picture, too gruesome.)
22 October 2002
Real life Menhogs!
15 October 2002
"Someone" thanks you for the birthday greetings.
8 October 2002
Not much happening, save someone hereabouts reaching a millstone, errr, milestone of sorts on the 11th...
2 October 2002
I have been remiss in not bringing this up before:
Many fine cartoonists including JW have animation on the
God Hates Cartoons DVD
Sneak a peek at the Beck article in the October Mojo magazine!
14 September 2002
A cool review that ran in the San Francisco Chronicle in cartoon format, by Mr. Chris Lanier*!
(*a critic worth his salt! Well-informed, accurate, not psychobabbling out in left field! An admirable individual!)
9 September 02
It is my lot in life to find SOMETHING to put here every week or two. I thought that "recent thing," ---let us never mention it again except obliquely to salve the feelings of those who were irritated or upset by me bringing it up--- was certainly interesting enough to write about. So write about I did, in my usual overblown meth-addicted publicity flack style.
Some people thought this was in bad form or poor taste. Some people seemed particularly upset at the "letter to the editor" link---to those people I recommend this short course in living in the 21st century: the power of the press has been somewhat mitigated by the increased ease that ordinary people now have to respond to that power. I don't feel that this is bad.
Many people, however, even including some admitted non-fans, thought that "recent thing" in the Weekly was not well-reasoned or written. Some of these people did not avoid ad hominem attacks, they were so exercised.
All of you who felt free to criticize Jim for doing this thing obviously don't know, so I'll tell you: It is I and I alone who write these silly messages and drop them into the abyss with such unforeseeable results.
---Madame W.
(Incidentally, Jim thought the review was sort of funny.)
28 August 2002
"Something about that "recent thing":"
A response to that unfortunate review.Jim was in Vancouver B.C. this past weekend meeting all the idiosyncratic and talented B.C. cartoonists. Fun was had, let me tell you. Thanks to Mr. Leonard Wong for putting it all together!
(Thank you Mr. Bouchard!)
What is with those black squirrels anyway?
14 August 2002
It had to happen sometime!
A lousy recent thing in, of course, one of our very own hometown papers!
Riddled with errors of fact, some puzzling contradictions, and a soupçon of condescending, offensively simple-minded vulgarity, but hey, no publicity is bad publicity!
And just look, down near the bottom of that page: A handy "
(disregard this, some people think it's just not cricket)
about this story" link!
25 July 2002
Jim built the "World's Largest Mini-Comic"
as Wattis Artist-in-Residence at the Yerba Buena Arts Center. Check it out if you will be in San Francisco---the show is up until October!
Some of you who live in the Bay Area have emailed to say: "Are you SURE Jim is in this comics exhibit at the YBCA? I can't find his name in the promo materials or ads or his images in the posters!" Well, I dunno about that, but rest assured and pay your admission fee with confidence, he is indeed in the show!
Kidrobot.com apparently has the Sony Toys! And the site is in English!
Interesting interview with Bill Frisell talking about Mysterio Simpatico, among other things, on MeettheComposer.org
15 July 2002
Don't forget:
Mysterio Simpatico
Meany Hall
Tuesday, July 16th!
Jim will be in San Francisco
July 21-29 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Read about it here !
The Summer Comics Journal
features a great cover painting and long interview with Jim!
28 June 2002
Jim solo show at
Elliot Bay Bookstore's
new art space
Come to the opening
Weds, 3 July, 6-10 PM!
12 June 2002
Mysterio Simpatico review in the
New York Times!
Jim will have a show in July at
Elliot Bay Bookstore's new exhibit space!
24 May 2002
Jim will be in San Francisco in July at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Read about it here under "Future Exhibitions"!
13 May, 2002
Jim willl be at the Olympia (WA) Comics Fest this
Saturday, May 18th
and
signing at Confounded Books in Seattle on
Sunday the 19th!
4 May 02
Did anyone see the "JIM" comic hanging right by Bart's head in the comic book store in last week's Simpsons? Thank you for the shout-out, kind and brilliant Simpsons workers!!!
18 April 2002
Read all about the upcoming Mysterio Simpatico shows at
St. Ann's Warehouse in New York
and
at the University of Washington's Summer Arts Festival
Review of Trosper in Education Digest
16 April 2002
Trosper:
a story so powerful, so chock full of horrifying goodness that the universe itself attempted to prevent its publication is now in
THE STORE!
Originally printed in murky tones and tiny format in Frank #3, this sweet nightmare of deluded bliss is now presented as a heavenly little hardbound book. A CD of original music, composed and recorded for this project by internationally renowned guitar virtuoso Bill Frisell, is part of this handsome, crisp, talismanic package.
Own the project that drove strong men (and at least one woman) to the very brink of madness!
Stranger Cartoon returns!
14 February 2002
Preview Mysterio Simpatico, due this summer from Jim and Bill!
8 April 2002
"Soon" is a relative term. As soon as I can get some uninterrupted time on this machine, that is...
25 March 2002
I will put Trosper in the store SOON!
5 March 2002
Check out this amusement by the fabulous Bob Smolenski!
1 March 2002
New Art Coming Soon!
25 February 2002
31 January, 2002
New art from Multimedia project with Bill Frisell coming soon!
18 January 2002
"Seeing 'The Stranger' without my cartoon in it is like seeing my grandmother without an eye"
says Jim.
What do YOU think? If you have any thoughts on the matter, you could express them, (sans vitriol please!) to editor Dan Savage
and design director Joe Newton.
(Perhaps you could also BCC them to jim@jimwoodring.com, as he's feeling all the discouragement of a prophet without honor in his own town.)
January 16th, 2002
Still no word on whether they can find enough room in the paper for Jim's panel...
January 14th, 2002
The people at The Stranger say they are trying to find another place in the paper for Jim's cartoon, so please don't holler on 'em.
Thanks to everyone who wrote!
January 11th, 2002
¡Alerta!
The Stranger is cancelling Jim's weekly cartoon!
Seattle's venerable alternative weekly has reduced and reorganized its pages and in the process found it necessary to eliminate a couple of features from its well-respected comics pages. Jim's panel was deemed fit for the axe, so it's gone as of 1/16/02.
This change in the paper will certainly gratify those people in Capitol Hill who wrote The Stranger last year to say they hated the cartoon, and THEY were The Stranger's "target audience", and so, what was it DOING assaulting their optics while they were trying to look at some of the other, shall we say, less challenging cartoons on the page?
Can this really be the state of things? Does The Stranger's "target audience" truly prefer their visual entertainment to slip smoothly in one eye and out the other, causing no unsettling, unaccustomed cerebral activity during its passage? Impossible!
What do YOU think? If you have any thoughts on the matter, you could express them
here
January 4th, 2002
We have some longsleeved black Pushpup shirts, Men's size Large, and they will be in the store soon
December 27th
Hard to believe another year is limping to a close, isn't it?
After an earthquake, a riot, and massive layoffs here in Seattle, and terrorist atrocities and war in the US, Afghanistan, and who knows where else next, we hope Fortuna's pendulum will be on the UPswing next year!!! Bonne Année!!!!
(Below)
Santa of the Apes wishes you Happy Holidays.
(If he could only see you in person he would offer you a pack of tissues from his bottomless shopping basket!)
December 20th
Happy Solstice!
December 12th
I'll tell you what's new! Look at these toys Jim designed for Sony! To be sold in vending machines in Japan!
(Flash website designed by the talented Yayoi Sagara!)
December 9th
Read all about Jim's show in Tokyo at SAG Gallery.
Perhaps one of these days the true, sad tale of the Trosper book can be revealed. For now, let it be said that a problem with it prevents us from putting it up for sale here.
December 6th
We have some copies of Trosper. They will be in the store soon!
Here is a little interview with Jim in a Mac-ezine.
December 4th
New art is here!
December 2nd
New art for sale Monday or Tuesday!
November 23rd
Still...stuffed...can't...think...must...rest.
(Oh, the troubles we have in this country!)
November 16th
It's been raining apocalyptically around here, just look
November 9th
Anyone have advice for Jim about his trip to Tokyo in December?
October 31st
Happy Halloween!
October 29th
That new art is here!
October 24th
That new art is still a comin'
October 18th
New art about to appear in Ars Gratia Pecuniae section!
October 13th
Somebody had a birthday on Thursday.
Life is grim, life is precious....
October 5th
Trosper book snafu results in book being delayed yet again!
(But what does that matter, really, in the scheme of things?)
September 27th
Once again, no news is good news
September 19th
Let cooler heads prevail
September 11th, 2001
May all beings be happy
May all beings be free of affliction
May all beings see glorious days
May no one be sad
September 6th, 2001
Say, just where is that Trosper book?
August 30th, 2001
More of the same...
August 23rd, 2001
If you can't say anything nice...
August 16th, 2001
Trosper should be here any time!
August 10th, 2001
Jim paints on, through the massive Seattle heatwave (85 degrees)!
August 3rd, 2001
Just the usual struggle!
July 25th, 2001
No news is good news!
July 20th, 2001
Mysterio Autentico approacheth!
July 13th, 2001
It's Friday the thirteenth! Careful!
July 5th, 2001
New shirts in store NOW!
June 29th, 2001
New shirts will be in store next week!
June 21st, 2001
Sneak a peek at the new t-shirt!
June 13th, 2001
Unexpected snafus with the Trosper book, but it will be out one o' these days!
June 6th, 2001
Would You Like to See a Nice Picture?
June 1st, 2001
Hoity-Toity Arty Site is in the Works!
(upon which shall be visible the fruits of Jim's newest endeavor...)
May 18th, 2001
Trosper Approacheth!
May 2nd, 2001
New Prints Available!
April 26th, 2001
It's been sunny for 2 days in a row in Seattle!
April 17th, 2001
New Art-For-Sale Today!
April 5, 2001
The "aprons" and shopping bags are now available!
April 3, 2001
Attention Pupshaw fans! We have plastered the Pupshaw image onto aprons and canvas shopping bags. They will be in the store imminently!
Mar 18, 2001
Check out the article on Fantagraphics and the Seattle "Comics Scene" (or the smoking ruins thereof) today in the Seattle Times
Pacific Northwest Magazine!...
Disquieting lack of mention of MOST Seattle cartoonists, unfortunately! I mean, you can't throw a rock in this town without hitting a cartoonist. God knows I've tried! They should have devoted a whole issue of the paper, or at least a series, to this story !
Mar 14, 2001
Hey, you nabobs what gets The New York Times! Keep your peepers peeled for new blood in the editorial illustrational department!
Mar 7, 2001
Ever Wanted to Know
What the back of Jim's head looks like? Sate your raging curiousity with the new edition of Seattle Magazine.
Did You See
That JW designed Soul Coughing shirt appearing on "The Lone Gunmen" premiere episode Sunday night?
Trosper Book Coming Soon!
The cute and horrific tale from Frank #3 is in production as a little, cardboard covered, (familiar-to-all-children-format) book, with a CD containing a short track by BILL FRISELL! How about that!
03/01/01
We're OK!
AND
Frank #4 Reviewed in Time.com
Frank #4 Available Here Now!
10/26/2000
The Lambiek Silkscreen is available again
for a limited time!
10/19
Don't waste your cash at the Hallmark Store!
We've got greetings suitable for all, from fetus to fossil, in our brand new Card feature.
Go crazy!
Thanks to Ian at Webcom for the card application!
Frank Collection #1 Reprinted and Available Now!
New! "Stranger" Cartoon Every Week!
Old Stranger Cartoons now
New Art for Sale! (9/14)
New! Free! Wallpaper!