Frank at Home on the Farm #2 continues Scout Comic’s post-war horror thriller on February 24. In this issue, writer Jordan Thomas goes into the trauma and fear of loss. Because with art and lettering from Clark Bint and LetterSquids, feeling sanity slipping is a given.
Background
Frank at Home on the Farm follows a veteran’s return to his family farm after World War I; only to find the farm empty save for the animals. With loneliness setting in, Frank Cross seems to begin hallucinating the animals talking to him.
Frank at Home on the Farm #2: War For Comfort
Thomas takes an interesting turn for juxtaposition in Frank at Home on the Farm #2. Instead of Frank, the issue brings up an old soldier living a happy life with his bedridden wife. With how independent his wife is to try and pee on her own and have an open sex life despite her poor health, the old Sergeant feels lucky to have her. When the old Sergeant’s wife collapsed trying to pee, he wants less work time to help out. Now compare that to Frank, who wants to find his missing family but has to take care of the farm animals.
Both of these men want to spend more time to spend with their families, but their responsibilities get in the way. It’s that feeling of wanting to hold onto the people they love that hooks the reader. After the war took much away from these veterans, the reader genuinely wants these people to be happy.
War On A Cross
Bint’s illustrations can range from wholesome to outright horrifying with surrealism. Just the opening pages features an innocent-looking drawing made by a child. In juxtaposition is the old sergeant going home to his wife to hold her hand where they make a heart shape. It brings a sense of warmth that Frank never got after coming home. Instead, he has hallucinations where he sees the farm animals in enemy uniforms as if blaming the animals for his family’s disappearance.
It certainly doesn’t help that LetterSquids provides one hallucination with a dark and foreboding word balloon that makes the pig speaking look demonic. That’s a terrifying sensation where the reader gives Frank the benefit of the doubt when he starts to feel paranoid about the animals.
Love Your Family After Frank at Home on the Farm #2
Frank at Home on the Farm #2 brings a tremendous sense of empathy through its presentation. Seeing something so wholesome at first only to provide some whiplash at the sight of the title character’s psyche doesn’t just hook the reader in; it simultaneously gives both sympathy and empathy. Because all the characters really need, is someone to give them love.
