Remembering Frank Frazetta

Varkzetta Sketches (2010)
Art by Dave Sim

DAVE SIM:
(promoting the Cerebus TV special on Frank Frazetta, June 2010)

There's never been before and never will be again a Frank Frazetta in the world of comics. If Michaelangelo had been fired by Al Capp, as Frank was, there might have been thought balloons on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel! ...All of us in "The Comic Book Nation" owe so much to Frank's genius...

Commission: Bonfire Of The Super-Heroes
Art by Dave Sim & Gerhard

DAVE SIM:

(discussing the commission Bonfire Of The Super-Heroes at Cerebus Art)

Intended to be the centrepiece of a triptych, this is Bonfire Of The Super-Heroes. The specific request was for Cerebus a la Frank Frazetta's Conan The Destroyer cover art, only in this case with Jaka holding onto one leg and Red Sophia holding onto the other. This is a good example of getting your money's worth. Once I had the Cerebus, Jaka and Red Sophia figures done, that left the question of what the pile of dead adversaries was going to be and I tried just roughing in a few corpses (it's a pretty vague aspect of Frazetta's original painting. There's an arm sticking up and a rib cage, but that's about it). Ger and I did one of these commissions years ago, that consisted of Cerebus standing atop a pile of dead Smurfs so, really hating to repeat myself… that was when I got the idea of doing Marvel and DC characters. A natural gag. Of course, if that had been part of the request, I would have said we needed to get more money for it, but since it was my idea, Patron A is basically getting a bunch of extra characters for free. It's not a guarantee that that's going to happen but I'd have to say that it happens a lot more often than it doesn't.