My dad didn't own many books. The ones he did own were of two sorts: self-help (usually written by Og Mandino), or escapism (written by Edgar Rice Burroughs'...
Tarzan, and
John Carter of Mars). An interesting collection, I know, and what it says about good ol' Jack is also interesting. Now, anyone who knows me correctly assumes that I never read any of the self-help books...clearly demonstrated by my poor decision-making skills, and over all inability to actually help myself. However, if you really do know me, you would also correctly assume that I was drawn to the nerdery found in Burroughs' stories. Still, keep in mind that I was young and this was pre-comic book me, so my reading level was still quite low. So I couldn't really read the books and understand them in any real kind of way; but I loved the covers, and stared at them for hours.
It was later that I learned the artist's name: Frank Frazetta; his covers are one of the few occasions where it would be safe to judge the book by it's cover. Frank, made a name for himself in the fantasy realm. He dabbled in all the generas I love: comics, fantasy, and Sci-fi. How, in all honesty, I haven't posted about him before is a mystery. He is amazing. He somehow manages to meld realism and surrealism in such a way as to make it easy[er] to think: well of course it is possible for that man to be fighting a four-armed giant alien on Mars, look at the picture...it's obvious.
Anyway, Frank died today, so it seemed a good time to share so all appreciators of art/space/monsters/aliens/swords/axes/gorillas/muscles/wizards/et al...can mourn as well as bask in his nerd god glory.
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Why yes, that is
Battlestar Gallactica you see depicted there...."oh", you ask, "is that The Witch King fighting Éowyn from
Lord of the Rings", yes yes it is. "Is that a badass on a horse with a bloody axe?" Yessir, and isn't it fine?
Told ya, folks.