Today marks the tenth anniversary of Frank Frazetta’s death. In memory of that, I was rereading my 2010 post written for The Cimmerian blog right after Frank died, wherein I paid tribute to Mr. Frazetta’s legacy. In that blog entry, I stated that I first became aware of Frank’s work by way of an airbrushed version of “Silver Warrior” on the side of a van. That may have been the moment when my mind was totally blown by a piece of Frazetta artwork, but it wasn’t my first encounter.

I was seven years old when I checked out Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar from my hometown public library. Less than a week later, I read Tarzan and the Lost Empire. Not long after that, I decided I needed to read the Canaveral Press edition of Tarzan and the Castaways. Since it was a hardcover, “Castaways” was on the next higher shelf, just out of reach. I had to have it. Mrs. Carpenter, the head librarian and the lady who had purchased that volume years earlier, saw that I was trying to use a chair to reach the coveted tome.

Mrs. Carpenter, Crom bless her, came over and asked what book I wanted. When I told her, she looked at the cover—which featured Tarzan leaping through the air with a voluptuous girl, clad in a g-string, slung over his shoulder. She looked down at me and asked me if I was old enough to read it. I looked her in the eye and told her I was.

Next thing I knew, I was heading home with Tarzan and the Castaways, which was chocked-full of Frazetta art and graced with that great Frazetta cover. Thankfully, the cover was reproduced as the frontispiece, since the cover itself had a diagonal red bar across it, apparently so as not to fully display the voluptuous girl’s scantily-clad derriere.

The three stories in “Castaways” were all good to varying degrees, but the Frazetta art, every single plate of it, is what really sticks in my mind decades after I laid eyes on it. What I didn’t know until much later was that Frank had just finished up his first ever paperback gig doing ERB covers for Don Wollheim at Ace books. The Canaveral Press edition of Tarzan and the Castaways was Frazetta’s first chance at illustrating a book in the more prestigious hardcover format. Like the major league ballplayer he very nearly became, Frank swung for the fences.

As it turned out, the illos for “Castaways” caught the eyes of numerous young artists. Artists like Neal Adams, Bernie Wrightson and Michael Kaluta. They’d all seen and loved Frazetta’s painted ERB covers, but these were mostly pen-and-ink guys hoping to make it as comic book artists. Frank’s line-work was a revelation to them. Later on, those illustrations would also inspire the likes of Mark Schultz and John Bolton. I’ve also read here and there that Frank’s Canaveral work—plus his work at Ace Books—helped get him his job doing art for Lancer books, which soon led to him doing their Conan covers.

I’m not going to do a carousel gallery for this post—though that would be easier with this software. Instead I’ll stack all of the Frazetta illos for Tarzan and the Castaways so you DMR Blog readers can get the maximum effect. Check ‘em out below.

The Canaveral Press cover from 1964.

The beautifully colorized repro dustjacket version done by the estimable Phil Normand at Recoverings.

The Normand version sans text.

The frontispiece for Tarzan and the Castaways. The caption reads, “Itzl Cha saw in one terrified glance that the god who bore her was flying through the air.”

“He had me captured by an African Chief.”

“Tarzan took in the picture in a glance.”

“A great tiger emerged from the underbrush.”

“The ape-man dealt him a terrific blow on the side of the head with his open palm.’ I love the grin that Frazetta put on Tarzan’s face in this illo. “Say goodnight, champ!”

“Tarzan in perfect calm, raised his short heavy spear above his right shoulder and waited.” This is powerful stuff. Frank had a true genius for depicting big cats.

Well, that’s all of ‘em. More info on Tarzan and the Castaways can be found here, courtesy of the great folks over at the ERBzine website.

Thanks for all the great art and for the memories I’ll treasure until my dying day, Frank. You will never be forgotten.