No.2: Frank Frazetta
Although perhaps better known as a science fiction and fantasy illustrator, Frank Frazetta’s relatively modest amount of work in comics was the benchmark for the medium, his vivid, baroque art eliciting movement and naturalism, adding an extra dimension to the form. His key comics work, for E.C. and Famous Funnies, elevated the science fiction genre, his intensive attention to his craft proving to be almost too detailed for the four colour page…… Words: Andrew Colman
pic by Greg Preston
A child prodigy, Frazetta began his professional career in comics in 1944, at the age of 16. He initially worked at Bernard Baily’s studio, doing art chores for pencillers such as future EC alumni Graham Ingels and George Evans. He then moved to Standard, D.S. Publishing and Magazine Enterprises, where he drew for Ghost Rider, Durango Kid and issue 1 of Thun’da, King of the Congo, the only time he completely illustrated an entire comic book and his best work of this period. He also did work for Adventure Comics and Tomahawk for DC along with contributing to other publishers such as Prize and Toby. By the early 1950s he was working at EC, collaborating with Al Williamson on various pages and covers, while contributing a seven-page horror story for Shock Suspenstories, the excellent and typically gruesome Squeeze Play, whose protagonist was based on himself. His art style by then was virtually fully formed.
His most celebrated work during the pre-code era was his Buck Rogers cover illustrations for Famous Funnies 209 – 216. All eight covers of this run were superlative film poster standard masterpieces, brimming with fluid, filmic art of the highest calibre and imagination. Considered by most Frazetta fans to be his artistic zenith in comics, the effort involved was thankfully matched by the publisher (Dell)’s production values, with the thin and delicate linework, gradients, clean colours, and intricate zipatone effects to the fore, adding an extra layer to the artwork. The sheer level of scope, movement, characterisation and nuance in each cover was more European in its approach, and was a milestone in Frazetta’s career.
By the 1960s Frazetta had moved into paperback covers, mainly focusing on sword and sorcery books featuring Edgar Rice Burroughs novels as well as Conan the Barbarian. His gritty, feral, Neanderthal take on Conan was a huge success which helped to revive the character for a modern readership, as well as provide the inspiration for the comic series a few years later. Many of these Conan and sword and sorcery oil paintings approached a fine art level of excellence, with several in recent years going for record prices in auctions. His Conan the Adventurer and Conan the Cimmerian covers in particular are iconic images of the genre. By this point Frazetta had cemented his position as the number one fantasy artist in pop culture.
During the 60s Frazetta also worked at Warren Magazines, working on Vampirella, Blazing Combat, and above all horror titles Creepy and Eerie, pencilling Werewolf for Creepy 1, while providing many classic covers for both titles, the original art for many of these again highly prized by collectors. Frazetta would continue working in the fantasy genre, his art now having broken into the mainstream, with a number of his best pieces, such as 1973’s Death Dealer ending up as album covers, mainly, as one would expect, for heavy metal bands.
Aside from many comic artists, such as Bernie Wrightson, Jeff Jones, Barry Smith and Mark Schultz, Frazetta’s influence reached the wider pop cultural sphere, influencing filmmakers such as George Lucas, Guillermo Del Toro and Robert Rodriguez. Frazetta’s status within comics and other media is pre-eminent, his art style a brand and genre practically of its own. His quote about never following trends and prizing his artistic freedom explains his longevity but not his almost unparalleled genius. What is clear is that he had the vision, conviction and talent to be the best in his field for a considerable period of time.
Here’s the rest of our 101 Greatest Comic Artists list so far
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.3: Neal Adams
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.4: Bernie Wrightson
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.5: John Buscema
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.6: Steve Ditko
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.7: Frank Miller
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.8: Will Eisner
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.9: Lou Fine
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.10: Alex Schomburg
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.11: Joe Kubert
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.12: Wally Wood
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.13: Jim Steranko
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.14: Alex Raymond
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.15: Harvey Kurtzman
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.16: Walter Simonson
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.17: Russ Heath
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.18: Bill Sienkiewicz
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.19: Jack Cole
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.20: Bernie Krigstein
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.21: Graham Ingels
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.22: Al Williamson
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.23: Barry Windsor-Smith
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.24: Alex Ross
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.25: John Byrne
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.26: Mike Mignola
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.27: Basil Wolverton
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.28: Howard Chaykin
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.29: Moebius
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.30: Dave Gibbons
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.31: Creig Flessel
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.32: Milt Caniff
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.34: Burne Hogarth
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.35: LB Cole
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.37: Bill Everett
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.38: Robert Crumb
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.39: Mac Raboy
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.41: Jim Starlin
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.42: Mike Zeck
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.43: Adam Hughes
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.44: Daniel Clowes
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.45: Gene Colan
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.46: George Perez
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.47: Michael William Kaluta
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.48: Cary Nord
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.49: Frank Quitely
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.50: Mike Ploog
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.51: Johnny Craig
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.52: Darwyn Cooke
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.53: Steve Dillon
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.54: Gil Kane
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.55: Michael Zulli
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.56: John Romita
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.57: Joe Maneely
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.58: Marshall Rogers
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.59: John Severin
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.60: Alex Toth
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.61: Brian Bolland
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.62: David Mazzuchelli
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.63 Reed Crandall
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.64 Harry Anderson
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.65 Nick Cardy
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.66 Matt Wagner
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.67 Bryan Hitch
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.68 Shawn Martinbrough
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.69 Al Feldstein
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.70 Nestor Redondo
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.71 Tarpe Mills
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.72 Eduardo Risso
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.73 JH Williams III
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.74 Irv Novick
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.75 Dan Zolnerowich
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.76 Gilbert Shelton
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.77 Tommy Lee Edwards
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.78: Sean Phillips
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.79: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.80: Dan DeCarlo
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.81: Marie Severin
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.82: John Paul Leon
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.83: Jim Lee
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.84: Denys Cowan
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.85: Ross Andru
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.86: Paul Gustavson
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.87: George Evans
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.88: Michael Golden
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.89: Matt Baker
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.90: Todd McFarlane
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.91: Fiona Staples
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.92: Carl Barks
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.93: Carmine Infantino
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.94: Alan Davis
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.95: CC Beck
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.96: Syd Shores
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.97: Bob Fujitani
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.98: Tim Sale
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.99: Jim Aparo
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No.2: Frank Frazetta Although perhaps better known as a science fiction and fantasy illustrator, Frank Frazetta’s relatively modest amount of work in comics was the benchmark for the medium, his vivid, baroque art eliciting movement and naturalism, adding an extra dimension to the form. His key comics work, for E.C. and Famous Funnies, elevated the
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