There’s not many novels in the publishing pipeline this month, to be honest with you. The regular flood of advance proofs and review copies that wash up in the mailroom at Black Gate‘s rooftop headquarters here in Chicago has slowed to a trickle, and the only thing flooding in these days is book cancellations and postponements.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t have exciting publishing news for you. Would we ever let you down? (Hint: no.) The upcoming month of June is looking lighter than usual from a publishing perspective, but that just means the books remaining in the schedule will be all the more cherished. And that goes double for J. David Spurlock’s oversized tribute to one of the great fantasy artists of the 20th Century, Fantastic Paintings of Frazetta.

J. David Spurlock is the author of Art of Neal Adams, Alluring Art of Margaret Brundage: Queen of Pulp Pin-Up Art, and Paintings of J Allen St John: Grand Master of Fantasy, all from Vanguard, as well as multiple volumes dedicated to Frank Frazetta, including the Frazetta Sketchbook (two volumes) and The Sensuous Frazetta. His latest is Fantastic Paintings of Frazetta, which repackages and expands the long out-of-print The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta from 1977 into a 120-page coffee table book. It arrives in hardcover next month from Vanguard.

Some previous Frazetta art volumes 1977 – 2008

Fantastic Paintings of Frazetta is by no means the only art book dedicated to the master. Above are just a few of the many deluxe volumes celebrating Frazetta’s astonishing contributions to fantasy art published over the last few decades. They are:

The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta, Volume One (Rufus, 1977)
The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta, Volume Two, edited by Betty Ballantine (Peacock Press, 1982)
Icon: A Retrospective by the Grand Master of Fantastic Art, edited by Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner (Underwood Books, 1998)
Testament: A Celebration of the Life & Art of Frank Frazetta, edited by Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner (Underwood Books, 2001)
Frazetta: The Definitive Reference by James Bond and David Winiewicz (Vanguard, 2008)
Legacy: Selected Paintings and Drawings by the Grand Master of Fantastic Art, Frank Frazetta, edited by Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner (Underwood Books, 1999)

Most of these, like the 5-volume set of slender Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta volumes, are long out of print and command exorbitant prices. A handful are still available in limited quantities from some sellers.

Interior pages from Icon: A Retrospective by the Grand Master of Fantastic Art,
by Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner

Here’s an excerpt from the description for Fantastic Paintings of Frazetta.

Discover, or return to, the world’s greatest heroic fantasy artist, Frank Frazetta in this landmark art collection entitled, Fantastic Paintings of Frazetta. The New York Times said, “Frazetta helped define fantasy heroes like Conan, Tarzan and John Carter of Mars with signature images of strikingly fierce, hard-bodied heroes and bosomy, callipygian damsels” Frazetta took the sex and violence of the pulp fiction of his youth and added even more action, fantasy and potency, but rendered with a panache seldom seen outside of major works of Fine Art. Despite his fantastic subject matter, the quality of Frazetta’s work has not only drawn comparisons to the most brilliant of illustrators, Maxfield Parrish, Frederic Remington, Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth but, even to the most brilliant of fine artists including Rembrandt and Michelangelo and, major Frazetta works sell for millions of dollars, breaking numerous records….

J. David Spurlock started crafting this book by reviving the original million-selling 1970s mass market art book, Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta. But, he expanded and revised to include twice as many images and, presents them at a much larger coffee-table book size of 10.5 x 14.625”! The collection is brimming with both classic and previously unpublished works of the subjects Frazetta is best remembered for including barbarians, beasts, and buxom beauties. Game of Thrones creator George R. R. Martin said, “Though he bears only a passing resemblance to the Cimmerian as Robert E. Howard described him, Frazetta’s covers of the Conan paperback collections became the definitive picture of the character… still is…”

Here’s a look at all five volumes of The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta, the first volume of which served as the basis for Spurlock’s new book.

All five volumes of The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta, plus The Comic Strip Frazetta

Fantastic Paintings of Frazetta will be published by Vanguard on June 16, 2020. It is 120 pages, available as a Deluxe Hardcover with Slipcase with a 16 page bonus section, signed by J. David Spurlock and Frank Frazetta Jr, for $69.95, and a standard hardcover edition priced at $39.99. Order copies directly from the Vanguard website.

While you wait, you can still buy and enjoy The Fantasy Art of Frazetta wall calendars for 2020 and 2021 for just $14.99 each, still available and a fine way to get oversized Frazetta paintings on your walls. (2019 is still available too… and admit it, you weren’t really going to use these things as calendars anyway.)

The 2020 and 2021 Frazetta wall calendars, still available

See all our recent Art coverage here.