by Mike Rhode
Gordon Thomas Frank's art is influenced by cartoons including DC and Disney. A selection is on display at
Artomatic 2017 in Arlington, VA. He's answered our usual questions.
What type of comic work or cartooning do you do?
My work has been described as digital pop art.
How do you do it? Traditional pen and ink, computer or a combination?
Scanned images manipulated through Photoshop.
When (within a decade is fine) and where were you born?
I'm a child of the 70's.
Why are you in Washington now? What neighborhood or area do you live in?
I grew up on the D.C. border in P.G. County. I've lived in Alexandria since 2001.
What is your training and/or education in cartooning?
Self-taught. I never finished school.
Who are your influences?
Tumblr is a great source for inspiration. I have spent hours cataloging old comic book panels for future reference for my artwork.
What work are you most proud of?
It's hanging in Artomatic right now...it's called 'Once You Go Black' and it depicts Sleeping Beauty holding a dildo. The show hadn't even opened, and it caused a few complaints. The woman using the wall space next to me to said it was borderline child pornography. (She went ballistic and moved to the 3rd floor after someone else hung a floor-to-ceiling-sized painting with a penis on it). Another artist told me the Sleeping Beauty piece was 'kinda sorta' pornography, but was more upset with it because, 'as a Black woman', she felt it was racist.
Do you have a website or blog?
I am the creator of the tumblr blog Love Boat Insanity (
loveboatinsanity.tumblr.com). It's a collection of Love Boat celebrities (and even fictional characters) that might've been...such as John Waters, Divine, Pam Grier, Ultraman, Jeffrey Dahmer and Tommy Wiseau, etc.
