Remembering Frank Frazetta

The famed fantasy illustrator and onetime comic book artist died at age 82 Monday, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Frazetta's most famous works were in oil, but his canvases were rarely seen in museums; instead his legacy was defined by barbarians and warlocks who reached out to readers from book covers on dime-store spinner racks. But as comic books and fantasy entertainment gained a wider audience in the 1970s and '80s, Frazetta became a brand name and his original artwork became a sensation. Last November, one of his pieces, a berserk battlefield image that graced a "Conan the Conqueror" paperback, sold for $1 million to a private collector.

Here's a vintage Comics Journal interview with the artist.

Golden Age Comic Book Stories pays tribute with a look at Frazetta's Buck Rogers comic book covers and Conan book cover paintings.