A short animation of “Kake in the Wild West”

Animation by Rob Clarke

From The World of TOM: a 1998 short animation made by erotic artist Rob Clarke, combining panels from Tom of Finland’s beloved Kake in the Wild West comic from 1982. Clarke created the animation as Flash, which we have converted to video for our patrons. Using color and modifying Tom’s original images, Clarke envisioned animating many of Tom’s stories, though this one is the only version that came to fruition. He was also experimenting with Flash at the time, which would become part of his professional work for the next 15 years.

Tom of Finland Foundation President and Cofounder Durk Dehner has described Kake as “Tom’s favorite character…[who] was always just as willing to get his hole plowed as he was to do the plowing…By his characters’ actions, Tom showed unbridled sexual passion between men and, afterwards, a brotherhood and camaraderie. His drawings encouraged guys to experiment and push boundaries, to do anything to turn your partner on and get him off.”

Kake in the Wild West shows Kake’s escapades in a cowboy-western bar. As part of the 26 Kake comics (1968–1986), Kake was Tom’s “recurring alter ego.” This particular comic documents “the convergence of two Gay communities in an era still grappling with the criminalization of Homosexual love. Tom radically hijacked traditional masculine roles; throughout the show, his emboldened cowboys, sailors, and bikers engage in couplings at turns boisterous, erotic, idyllic, and tender.”

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Published: 2nd April 2021

Categorised in: ONLINE, Patreon