A murder mystery. A natural disaster. A town with layers of hidden secrets….and a woman who wants answers. These are the basic elements behind Frank, the first graphic novel from comics writer and artist Ben Rankel.
This novel takes place in 1903. Nestled in the shadow of Turtle Mountain, Frank is a small town completely dependent upon its coal mine. A rough town, most people show up to make a quick buck but often end up drinking that buck away. Others arrive in town to make a fresh start, or to forget the life they thought they were promised.
The protagonist of this story falls into both of these categories. Eve Lee followed her ex-lover Oscar to this small town, and now wants to know why their relationship soured. She has never received a satisfactory answer, and as she laments to her friend Bobby, “I don’t know how someone can turn off their feelings like that. Like a faucet.” 
She descends into alcoholism, and her drunkenness makes her a familiar guest of the local jail.
When Oscar disappears suddenly, Eve has to decide if her life thus far has been a lie. Could Oscar have simply left town? Or is his disappearance related to two other missing men and a series of unexplained mining accidents? This being a murder mystery, she chooses to investigate the more sinister hypothesis.
Rankel slowly unveils the secrets behind this murder mystery…
The prologue to Frank could easily be used as the introduction to an episode of Law & Order. In the first five pages, Rankel introduces us to a victim, demonstrates the man’s good-nature and bonhomie, and then swiftly dispatches him with some quick stabbing action in a dark alleyway.
Rankel then slowly unveils the secrets behind this murder and the town itself. As Eve’s investigation proceeds, new characters are introduced. Some are clearly villainous, while others are a bit more morally ambiguous—and it’s not always clear who can be trusted. After all, the person who pushes you around on the street could be the guy who later shields you when the mine begins to collapse. There are a number of interesting characters in Frank (including people of colour in featured roles), and their stories and background histories are likely quite compelling.
That may be where Frank’s weakness lies. The mystery comes to an end, but there is also quite a bit of story that has yet to be told. The resolution of this novel seems a tad forced, almost as if the work were constrained a bit by page count. 
Frank could have easily been twice as long and really delved into each of the main characters, their motivations, and the daily struggles that force them unwillingly into each others’ lives—the mystery was almost secondary to the characters created. Perhaps Rankel will return to them and create a prequel. There’s certainly enough inner conflict and inter-personal strife to fill another volume or two.
The colour selection in Frank is surprising…
Character is definitely the main focus in this graphic novel. As a result, the backgrounds in many of the panels are a bit sparse and the buildings sometimes seem interchangeable. A map of the town does appear about two-thirds of the way through, but until then it is difficult to determine where buildings are in relation to each other, or even how large/small the town actually is (Compare this to Snow Day, which also takes place in a small town. In that novel, numerous vehicular trips give you a clear sense of distance). As a result, when the Frank Slide finally hits, the physical impact of the natural disaster on the town is diminished a bit.
The colour selection in Frank is surprising at first. A murder mystery in comics is usually done in heavy black inks or dark moody colours (e.g. Fog Over Tolbiac Bridge or Babylon Berlin), but not in this graphic novel. Changes in line weight are minimal, and bright greens and yellows permeate each page. It may be initially surprising, but the unique colour scheme works really well and several panels are more emotionally dramatic because of it.
Rankel also made an interesting choice to use hot pink graphics to suggest sound and emotional effects. Pink musical notes float above singing patrons while Eve experiences her alcohol withdrawal symptoms in pink trembles.
And in the mine, small bits of rock fall with ominous pink squiggles, foreshadowing the historic natural disaster. Best of all, however, are the emoji daggers shared between Eve and her nemesis in a staredown at the local jail. These graffiti-esque features might not have worked in another book, but like the colour scheme, it was a risk definitely worth taking.
If you want to write a graphic novel…
One feature that will be of interest to anyone who wants to write a graphic novel is the backmatter in Frank. It’s a bit brief, but it does outline Rankel’s thought process as he crafted this work. 
Miniature double-spreads (16 pages per sheet) show how panels were designed (and redesigned). It’s an interesting look behind-the scenes, demonstrating how much collaboration there has to be between a writer, illustrator and letterer if every element is to appear properly on the comics page—even if only one person is responsible for most of those roles!
Overall, Frank is a good read with some really interesting characters. Hopefully they’ll re-appear in a future work.
Frank
Ben Rankel (writer, artist)
Renegade Arts Entertainment (released 2018)
Frank
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