This is sad news; one of the greats of fantasy art, Frank Frazetta, died of a stroke today at the age of 82.

Frazetta was perhaps most famous for his cover paintings for the Conan series of paperback books. His musclebound barbarians, scantily clad barbarian princesses and enchantresses, and imaginative use of color and shadow were an inspiration for many other artists in the genre.

I’ve been looking at his work lately because the Lizard Comic Collection contains quite a few issues of Creepy and Eerie magazine with Frazetta covers. Here’s one of my favorites, Creepy #15, published in June 1967, featuring a group of fellas you probably wouldn’t want to meet in a dark neolithic landscape.