Frank Powers is a high-energy, action packed cartoon super hero of his own making. Tucson’s top comic strippers, David Fitzsimmons and Max Cannon, are joining Powers’ plot for WORLD DOMINATION, with help from stand-up comic Jacob Breckenridge and jack-of-all-trades Mark Zepezauer. The four are guests for the launch of Powers’ first live talk show, “After Hours with Frank Powers!” at The Screening Room, 8:30 p.m., Saturday, March 23, $5. A video of the event will follow, and Powers promises to repeat the format every other month.

Just a week later, Powers presents “Animated Arizona,” the state’s first animated short-film fest at the Screening Room, March 31 through April 1; $6.
“’You’ve always done all those things,’” Powers says, quoting his dad. “’Who knew you had to do them all at once to make it work?’” The Origin Story! Fast-forward to the present day!

Powers supports himself as a freelance graphic designer. Currently he’s rebranding a charter school and creating educational animated short films in superpower style. But he also runs a retail space and studio-rental operation, Constant Con (constantcon.com) at, 117 N 6th Ave. The building is home to ten Tucson graphic artists, and something like heaven for the Con-crazed Tucsonans who shop there for comics, costumes, props, posters, stickers, T-shirts, and ephemera for characters created by the space’s tenants.

“Pissed Off Panda” is Powers’ own trademark character, available in every format. Fans follow Panda’s provocations and the rest of Powers’ prodigious creative output by following @Frankenstylin, on every app he’s ever found. He also has a radio show from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. every Saturday at 99.1 FM Downtown Radio. That show has him jolly-ing it up in his turbo-charged Radio Man voice with whoever he thinks his audience might find interesting.

Powers says Steve Romo’s “Romo Tonight”, inspired the live version of “After Hours,” but he had always wanted to be in radio. “That’s a real career, though,” he says. “I knew I could never walk in and be a radio announcer.” He saw his chance when independent Downtown Radio begin to thrive. “I figured out how it worked, and I pitched them a show.”

At the time, the only slot the station had left was 7 to 9 a.m., Saturday mornings. He says, “That’s perfect! So I made a Saturday morning cartoon show, ‘Fun Times with Frankenstylin’. After Hours With Frank Powers debuted on the station at midnight last New Year’s Eve.