portrait of the artist as a young killer

comics industry titan of titans frank frazetta died of a stroke this week at the tender age of 82. the norman rockwell of science fiction and fantasy art had sired countless imitators but no superiors. however, instead of redundantly reproducing some of the world's most recognizable and ubiquitous art, i thought we'd take a rare glimpse of the artist himself in his element:

frazetta and his friends and colleagues often posed for each other's reference photos, and frank certainly looked like one of his own archetypal heroic subjects.

this 1954 story from ec comics shock suspenstories represents frazetta's only solo piece for the company, and he modeled its callow protagonist's looks after his own. (bonus quiz: ec comics' publisher and mad magazine founder bill gaines makes a cameo appearance as well. can you spot him?)

(story by bill gaines and al feldstein; art by frank frazetta)