Frank Frazetta has passed away...

[Admiral Buzzkill]

According to http://www.comicsbeat.com/ Frazetta's agent Robert Pistella has confirmed that the artist passed away this afternoon in a hopital near his home. The cause of death was a stroke.

 

[Joeman]

Isn't he the guy who did the Molly Hatchet album covers? That's how I first heard of him, as redneck as that is.

RIP.

 

[doubleohfive]

Rest in peace.

 

[Klaus]

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Rest in peace, Frank Frazetta.

He was one of the all-time greats of SF&F art:

Death Dealer

Gollum

Conan

 

[exodus]

Very sad news.

He's left a hole in the art world that can never be replaced.

R.I.P. Mr. Frazetta.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

He will be missed.

I honestly can't count the number of people who have told me they started reading regularly because of his covers on Conan novels.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Sad news. RIP.

 

[Mistral]

Aw. I had Death Dealer on my bedroom wall for years. He influenced countless artists with his distinct style. I know he affected my view of things ala D&D years ago. And the Bakshii LOTR was certainly influenced by him(or did he have a hand on it?) Either way, RIP.

 

[Ptrope]

Terribly sad news. Frazetta was a huge inspiration to me as a teen, and over the years I've heard that he was just an all-around really nice guy. R.I.P., Frank

 

[Shaw]

... The cause of death was a stroke.

I'd argue that the cause of death was a broken heart... his wife died less than a year ago.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

That's why we let doctors make the call...

 

[Goliath]

Drag.

RIP, Mr. Frazetta.

 

[Chris_Johnston]

Awww, man! That's so sad. I hope he worked things out between his son before the end.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Shame. I started looking at fantasy novel covers because of him. (Okay, so I don't read fiction much...)

Frazetta was the shit, as the kids say.

Reminds me of another great fantasy artist, Keith Parkinson, who went before his time in 2005.

 

[Greg Cox]

He will be missed.

I honestly can't count the number of people who have told me they started reading regularly because of his covers on Conan novels.

Indeed! And let's not forget his Edgar Rice Burroughs covers as well. My mental image of Pellucidar is still heavily influenced by Frazetta . . . .

 

[Captain Robert April]

... The cause of death was a stroke.

I'd argue that the cause of death was a broken heart... his wife died less than a year ago.

Sounds about right.

 

[Turtletrekker]

RIP, sir.


A Google search for his art...

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=frank+frazetta+gallery&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sohttp://www.google.com/images?

 

[coolghoul]

RIP

I was recently reading Conan the Phenomenon, which talks about everybody's favorite barbarian adventurer. It also covers a lot of details about the various media in which Conan appeared and also covers a lot of information on Robert E. Howard (REH) and then other authors who pastiched REH's work in coming out with their own versions of Conan. The book speaks glowingly about Frazetta's work on the covers of some of the books and says that for many people, his art work on the cover was the reason to pick up the Conan book. In comparisons, the same book but without Frazetta's artwork didn't sell as much as the Frazetta-covered books did. So he majorly contributed to the popularity of the barbarian's adventures permeating into common consciousness.

Re his art - The Unchained is almost textbook Conan. While I don't like his iconic Conan book cover as much, I am viewing it at a totally different time from when it was designed.

For me, Buscema's art as Conan probably trumps all others (including Barry Windsor-Smith's young lithe versions of Conan) but Frazetta according to the book is very instrumental in keeping Conan and REH popular in the minds of fans.

 

[Tulin]

R.I.P. to one of the great masters of modern fantasy art.