FRANK FRAZETTA By Dian Hanson

Frank Frazetta’s fame as the undisputed King of Fantasy Art grows greater every year, as his paintings set new annual auction records. His muscular, fleshy, action-packed oils of heroes, monsters and maidens have defined myriad fantasy worlds for over 50 years, and now this comprehensive overview of his career and works arrives at its most affordable price ever!Born in 1928 to a Sicilian immigrant family in Brooklyn, Frank Frazetta was a minor league athlete, petty criminal and a serial seducer with movie star looks and phenomenal talent. Self-described as "lazy and difficult," he often started a painting the night before it was due, completing it in mere hours, yet still delivering a masterpiece — often still wet, but a masterpiece, nonetheless.He started in comics at 16, drawing westerns and jungle adventures before joining the infamous EC Comics group. Later still, he moved on to film posters, then to Tarzan and Conan pulp covers. Along the way he produced magazine covers for National Lampoon, though at odds with the editors' "hippy politics," made the animated film Fire & Ice with director Ralph Bakshi, and learned to paint left-handed at age 68 after the first of many strokes paralyzed his right hand.As he explained in the 1970s, "I’m very physical minded. In Brooklyn, I knew Conan, I knew guys just like him." Using this first-hand knowledge of muscle and macho he redefined fantasy heroes as more massive, more menacing, more testosterone-fueled than anything seen before, and their female counterparts as thick-thighed, heavy-buttocked, and pixie-faced, yet still, with their soft bellies and hints of cellulite, believably real.All in all, Frazetta’s art is addictive as potato chips, and now available in a compact, attractive and affordable package.