Frumpy the Clown

    (Oni, 2001)

Judd Winick has a handle on the elusive concept of humor. Though he’s better known these days for Green Lantern and the hysterical Barry Ween, Boy Genius, this volume collects the last year of Winick’s comic strip featuring the Bragg family and their cynical but wise clown live-in, Frumpy.

Frumpy the Clown is funny, indeed, but it’s also heartwarming. The strip deals with issues as wide-ranging as anti-Semitism (the Bragg family is Jewish), quitting smoking, and being too embarrassed to change in the locker room for grade-school gym classes. Through it all, Frumpy acts like a sort of Mr. Belvedere for the Bragg family, offering advice and an objective viewpoint to both the parents and their two kids.

The art in Frumpy the Clown is rough, but facial expressions are often priceless. Winick improved his draftsmanship in his later work, but his earlier material still shines.

The introduction by Brad Meltzer says the strip ended because Winick wanted to move on to bigger and better things, but it’s still a shame. The newspaper comics page would benefit from more strips like Frumpy.

— Steve Horton
Jump to issue:
  NotesWriterArtist