Frank Frazetta Original Art

Currently on auction on the Heritage Auctions website, we find an original Phantom illustration by Frank Frazetta.

Depicting the Phantom with his pistol drawn, with Devil by his side, the black and white illustration by Frank Frazetta measures 9″ x 10.5″. The Illustration is described by Heritage Auctions as:

Frank Frazetta – The Phantom Illustration Original Art (undated). A handsome full-body portrait of Lee Falk’s original Phantom character along side his trained wolf, Devil. Possibly produced later in Frazetta’s career with his left hand.

Heritage Auctions also provides us with a short biography on Frank Frazetta:

Frank Frazetta (American, b. 1928): An artistic prodigy, Frank Frazetta broke into comic books at the age of 16 out of economic necessity. A series of landmark Buck Rogers covers for Famous Funnies and several outstanding EC jobs brought Frazetta to the attention of comic strip artist Al Capp, and he was soon hired to assist on the Li’l Abner Sunday strips from 1952-61.

By the time that Frazetta had quit working for Capp, the comic book market had atrophied and his freelance opportunities had all but dried up. Frazetta was forced into the illustration market at large, and it proved to be a blessing in disguise. After creating a series of well-received movie posters and paperback covers, Frazetta’s fortune was secured when he painted his world-famous paperback covers for Robert E. Howard’s Conan character. A string of spectacular covers for Warren Publishing’s titles Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella added to his success. Frank Frazetta is now widely regarded as the master of modern fantasy art.

The art was possibly produced by Frank Frazetta for the series 1 Phantom Gallery trading card set released by Intrepid in 1996. A similar image, in color (colored by Glenn Ford), is found in the special metallic Legends Cards sub-set, card number L1.