Legacy: Selected Paintings and Drawings by the Grand Master of Fantastic Art, Frank Frazetta

This is book 2 of a trilogy. This one seems to have more emphasis on his comic book and comic strip work, than what appears in the other two books of the trilogy, "Icon" and "Testament." This one includes an 8-page romance comic book story by Frank, from 1952.There are also plenty more Tarzan/Burroughs/John Carter of Mars works, and terrific paintings of Savage Pellucidar. Frank's work for Warren magazines, like Eerie, Creepy, and Vampirella get shown and discussed in this book (and also in the other two books of this series). All of the different eras and decades of Frank's life and career are discussed and shown, in all three books, but always with different paintings, drawings, personal photos, and different commentary by different friends and business associates.I would recommend starting with "Icon" if you're new to Frazetta's work, but "Legacy" is a close second, containing the works that he is best known for. "Testament" has a focus on unpublished, never before seen work.One thing that is surprising in all three of these books is seeing how Frazetta would often paint over his paintings, to improve them and change major elements, after they were originally published. So, many of his paintings look different than the way they were printed on paperback covers in the 1960's and '70's. I am very pleased with all three of these books, but "Legacy" is my favorite of the three, if I really had to choose.

Sci-fi and fantasy fans know of Frank Frazetta from his great covers of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan and Pellucidar paperbacks--and of covers of the 60's-70's popart horror slick magazines Eerie, Creepy, and Vampirella...indeed, these same fans became somewhat like latter day speculators by causing prices of some of these books to increase in some instances more than one hundred fold simply because Frazetta did the cover art. Well, now because of "Legacy", all Frazetta fans can enjoy his sword and sorcery work, his post-Lil'Abner penwork and humor, his inventions of neo-Gothic phantasmogoria, elves, princess goddesses and swampy-moss covered jungle dramas without someone price gorging--indeed, original prints of these great works may by now be on par with, say, a Warhol lithograph, but that in my opinion shouldn't be the reason one enjoys Frazetta...Frazetta's work is and always have been great to look at, to get lost in, to live in those dark fantasies he conjures up. Trust me. Are you gonna love this!

After having immensely enjoyed ICON, I waited with baited breath for another volume to help my Frazetta collection towards completion. I did not have to wait long. LEGEND is leaps and bounds ahead of ICON (although both books are essential for any collection of Frazetta's works), both in biographical works and selection of paintings. While ICON concentrated mostly on his "fantasy-based" paintings (largely the magnificient pieces that Frazetta created for the Robert E. Howard series), LEGEND concentrates on the "fantasy-based" paintings Frazetta painted both for Howard and Burroughs, as well as much-appreciated comic work and book covers from other genres of literature. A perfect companion piece to ICON or any other fantasy or Frazetta collection.

After "Icon" I didn't think there was anything left to be said about arguably this century's greatest fantasy artist. Boy, was I wrong! "Legacy" is a stunning collection of paintings and drawings, many that have either never been included in Frazetta's previous books or are published here for the first time. Check out "Predators"--wow! There's even an entire romance comic story from the '50s that showcases some of the best brush work you're likely to see. As the editors say, there's only one Frazetta. Thank goodness there are TWO great books: "Icon" and "Legacy"!

"Legacy" contains a few repeats from "Icon", but don't pass it by. Once again, we're given a beautiful and affordable collection of Frazetta's work. There are many pieces pulled from personal collections. Quite a bit of watercolor and pen work is included, as well as some sculpture.