Frank King Biography

Frank King was a celebrated cartoonist best known for his comic strip ‘Gasoline Alley’. He was a very innovative artist who introduced many novelties to the concept of comic strip creation. His most popular creation was a soap-opera style comic strip that dealt with a group of automobile enthusiasts who meet in an alley. What differentiated King from other cartoonists of his time was that he was not afraid to innovate and try out newer things. He played with colour combinations and page designs, and introduced for the first time in comic strips, the concept of real time ageing of the cartoon characters. He was a naturally born artist who began drawing as a small child. As a teenager he once won a country fair drawing competition—one thing led to another and he was soon offered a job at the ‘Minneapolis Times’ when he was just 19 years old. Realizing that his life’s calling was in creating art, he went to study at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts before embarking on a career as a comic strip creator. He created many popular comic strips but the one that became his claim to immortality was ‘Gasoline Alley’ which became so popular that it ran successfully for decades.