RIP, Frank Frazetta

Several sources, including CBR, are reporting that fantasy illustration legend Frank Frazetta has passed at the age of 82.

As a fan of sword-and-sorcery fiction (Township fits pretty well into that category, now that I think of it), I owe a great debt of entertainment and inspiration to Mr. Frazetta. And then there's thirteen-year-old me, who owes his illustrations a quite different debt altogether. So it's a sad day for me in a number of ways.

We can, however, take comfort in the fact that, as long as barbarians wrestle lions bare-handed, as long as dark riders loom menacingly from atop their midnight-black stallions, as long as swordswomen wear impractically revealing chain-mail into battle, the spirit of Frank Frazetta will still be with us.

Rest in peace, Frank. Thanks for the memories.