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Frazetta the man and his Legacy.

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Drusilla lives!:
I hope this isn't too soon after his passing to discuss, I don't want to come off as being disrespectful in any way, nor do I want to start any controversies, but...

I was looking through that book "Telling Stories: The Comic Art of Frank Frazetta" the other day, and then I read some of those online articles and bios... btw, once again, nice work JVJ, you did as good a job as Ed Mason IMO and I didn't even have to buy anything  :)

... but getting back to the Mason book... it's not often said (perhaps it's never been said... it is just my opinion after all), but I get the feeling that Frank's comic career was held back by his desire to control his work (among other things), and that some aspects of his comic work were a reflection of this.  Perhaps it's just me.  But in light of learning of the careers of other immensely talented artists and their travails in the industry of that day, I can't help think that Frazetta was relegated to working mostly for companies like M.E. and not for DC (and for EC for that matter) due in part to his insistence on not handing over his ownership rights to his artwork.  I mean, even at EC, with Gaines... who was always above board and very pro-artist... one still had to hand over one's work.  I can't see how Frank's desire to keep his work would have been an asset to furthering his career in such a working culture.  

Basically (IMO), he knew he was good... and others did too... but he just didn't want to "play ball" with them.  That's why I feel it's not appropriate to compare him with other artists in the comic book field who were superb masters at the art of sequential narrative, which some may argue he was not (as I remember someone in another forum, on another website, once pointing out).  He couldn't in my opinion, partly due to this desire to hold on to his art.

Oh, and I know that's not to excuse some of his own choices (some of his Thun'da material comes to mind here)... but I can't help thinking that this also limited him to working with people that allowed such material to be produced.  In other words, he didn't work in a vacuum, they allowed him to illustrate such things because it sold, and I suppose it sold well... let's face it... America wasn't as attuned to certain prejudices as they are today.  And I guess neither was he, being a product of that culture as much as a reflection of it.

What are your opinions?  Do you think his strong desire to control his work was a hinderance to his comics career?... And if so, do you think he would have ranked higher in the eye of some people when it comes to the art of sequential narrative?

Btw, if some of you out there don't want to chime in I'll understand.

JonTheScanner:
I suspect Frazetta didn't work much for DC because he didn't work fast enough to handle a regular feature.  I don't really know how fast he worked, but given the detail he put into his work, I suspect he didn't work very fast and he generally penciled and inked his work as I recall which would only make things slower. 

He worked for a long time for Al Capp and he certainly never controlled his Li'l Abner work (probably the single biggest portion of his comic work) at all.

Drusilla lives!:

--- Quote from: JonTheScanner on May 26, 2010, 01:36:24 PM ---I suspect Frazetta didn't work much for DC because he didn't work fast enough to handle a regular feature.  I don't really know how fast he worked, but given the detail he put into his work, I suspect he didn't work very fast and he generally penciled and inked his work as I recall which would only make things slower. 

He worked for a long time for Al Capp and he certainly never controlled his Li'l Abner work (probably the single biggest portion of his comic work) at all.

--- End quote ---

Both valid points Jon.  But regarding DC, I'm not sure how much of Frazetta's detailed styling would have been needed for working on something like Batman, he might have amended his style for the material at hand... I think I recall it being mentioned somewhere that he did in fact do so for his Li'l Abner strip work.

And I'm glad you brought up the Abner strip... he is considered as doing a wonderful job of it... but I think as JVJ mentioned somewhere, there's a different narrative flow to strip work than to comic book work.  Which still might not make his adroit handling of it proof enough for some that he was equally capable of the other (btw, I think he was judging from some of his romance stories).   

narfstar:
Well his L. Lazybones knock off of Little Abner looked great

JVJ (RIP):
Thanks, DL,
IMO Frazetta didn't work much for DC because DC probably gave him deadlines and he hated deadlines. I've always been amazed at the long run he did at ME on White Indian - actually, other than his L'il Abner stretch, the longest continual stint on a single strip in his career. I can't explain it other than he must have loved doing it and probably had a lot of freedom. Maybe we should ask Nick Meglin, the last Fleagle standing, if he knew if FF wrote the strip, too.

ME probably was flexible with deadlines, meaning that if FF missed an issue of Tim Holt they wouldn't have cared all that much, whereas DC probably wanted a commitment in writing. With no contract, he might have been willing to be consistent at ME, whereas he would have rebelled mightily against a similar required schedule at someplace like DC.

I'm not certain that anywhere he worked gave him any special "control" over his art or his originals. As he stated often in biographies and interviews, he primarily wanted to go out and play baseball, and he'd throw a strip together at the last minute. I love your comment about "play(ing) ball with them."

Perhaps it was the original artwork, but other than  Gaines (and perhaps DC - so you might have a point there), I don't think any publisher was particularly INTERESTED in retaining his artwork. I believe that it was entirely a matter of an imposed schedule - which he totally rejected unless he imposed it himself. I don't think he ever took comics seriously as a career. He just wanted to have fun and comics were a way to do finance that without much effort. A "career" never seemed all that high, IMHO, on his radar.

It wasn't until he got married that the notion of a steady job and good paycheck made him forego comics for the Capp studio gig.

Just an opinion.

My 2¢

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