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FOREWORD
I have been asked once or twice to write an introduction about an artist I admire — generally when either the author
or the editor has exhausted the New York Times Phone Book, and I am the last possible choice — and I try to come up
with well meant words of praise generously peppered with humor and self-deprecating remarks to distract from my
obvious lack of intellect. But because I feel so strongly about the talent and worth of Frank Cho’s work, I’m gonna go out
on my thin limb and play it straight.
It’s obvious to anyone that Frank knows the female anatomy. He knows which muscles play off other muscles to
accentuate the curve of the thigh, the swell of the hip, the arching of the lower back that pushes the breasts up to peaks
that would daunt Sir Hillary.
But it is more than that. And it is this that pole vaults (no penis reference intended) him up into the ranks of
Michaelangelo, Carvaggios, and Frazetta. He does it with a line that doesn’t just describe those delightful curves of
the breast, the hip, the thigh, the lower back but it caresses them. His incredible, thoughtful pen strokes (still no penis
reference intended) make slow, sensuous love to them. That line the lower breast makes when it lays against the rib cage
is so happy to be there and would make all the other lines on the drawing jealous, if they weren’t also similarly placed in
perfectly harmonious spots, both erotic and sensuous. Who wouldn’t want to be a line in one of Frank’s drawings?! Stroke
after pen stroke (well, I might be making a penis reference here), Frank makes love to the paper in ways guys like me can
only dream about. I imagine when he finally lays down his pen, that exhausted instrument (yeah, this one is definitely a
penis reference) pulls out a Virginia Slims 100 and lays there smoking contentedly.
Each of Frank’s lines is a work of art. He uses them to create characters on the paper that fire every level of the
imagination. His women are beautiful, idealistic and real. They are the kind we dream about and wish we could talk to,
and could if we had the courage. Because they look like the kind of women that would share a cup of tea with you and
talk about just about anything with you. And I mean it.
Well, that thin limb I am out on is starting to break,
so I better end with something goofy, so you know it
is really me. In conclusion, if you have an erection that
lasts more than three hours, put down Frank’s book and
consult a physician. I have mine on speed dial.
Geof Darrow
Chicago, Illinois
September 23, 2012
Geof Darrow is the award-winning creator of Shaolin
Cowboy, the co-creator of Hard Boiled, The Big Guy
and Rusty the Boy Robot, the conceptual designer for the
Matrix movie trilogy, and all around bad-ass.