Frank Frazetta Dies

He lived among dragons, battlefields and medieval landscapes. And in the end, he was master of them all.

Frank Frazetta Sr., one of the most renowned fantasy illustrators of the 20th century, died Monday at a hospital near his home in Boca Grande, Fla. He was 82.

Frazetta suffered a stroke at home Sunday after having lunch with his daughter and grandchildren. He was flown to Lee Memorial Hospital, where he died.

We are sad to confirm via Frazetta’s agent Robert Pistella that the artist passed away this afternoon in a hospital near his home. The cause of death was a stroke. Funeral arrangements will be announced shortly.

Frank Frazetta was born February 9, 1928. His early artistic career consisted of years of exquisitely drawn comics work, including contributions to the EC line of comics, assisting Al Capp on L’il Abner and later drawing several years of the strip, and working with Harvey Kurtzman on Little Annie Fanny.

Frank Frazetta, an illustrator of comic books, movie posters and paperback book covers whose visions of musclebound men fighting with swords and axes to defend scantily dressed women helped define fantasy heroes like Conan, Tarzan and John Carter of Mars, died on Monday in Fort Myers, Fla. He was 82.

The cause was complications from a stroke, said Rob Pistella and Stephen Ferzoco, Mr. Frazetta’s business managers.

Mr. Frazetta was a versatile and prolific comic book artist who, in the 1940s and ’50s, drew for comic strips like Al Capp’s “Lil’ Abner” and comic books like “Famous Funnies,” for which he contributed a series of covers depicting the futuristic adventurer Buck Rogers.