'Probably' everything that ripped off Frank Frazetta

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the Godfather of Fantasy Art passing on.

In honour of the great man, my ultimate guide illustrates just how influential paintings were (and still are).

I suppose you could call it 'Franksploitation'.

There's only one place to start.

The Norseman (1972)

Black Tiger, Dragon Slayer and Castlevania¹

¹Cover art would be recycled for NES and beyond.

Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (PC Engine)

Yao hun (1983)

Targhan

Spectre: "Hey, what about me?"

Okay, keep yer' cloak on.

Shapeshifter (PC Engine CD)

The Sorcerer of Claymorgue Castle

Let's take a closer look.

Oh my fucking God!

Here's more copy and paste piss takes.

Dying Fetus - Reign Supreme vs Dark Kingdom (1976)

Suicide Angels - Bloodbath vs Swords of Mars (1966)

WHAT?

One more.

Wolfmother had permission to use Sea Witch (1967) as cover art for eponymously titled album.

However, this didn't.

Ulysses Siren - Above the Ashes

Tut tut.

The Mammoth (1974)

Mumakil - Behold the Failure and Far Cry Primal

Swords of Mars (detail)

Galivan and Kentilla

Lord of the Sword and Rygar

A Princess of Mars (1970)

Barbarian II² and Garrison

²ntbcw Barbarian II: The Dungeon of Drax, aka Axe of Rage in North America.

Lords of the Rising Sun and The Beastmaster³ (1982)

³Although virtually anonymous compared to the likes of Drew Struzan, C. Winston Taylor did create some impressive pieces, including The Swarm, The Godsend and Burial Ground.

Some random images.

Weaponlord (Jen-Tai) and Ys III: Wanderers from Ys

Lord of the Rings - The Black Nazgul (1975)

Willow Pattern and Myth: History in the Making⁴ (16 bits)

⁴Adapted for the NES as Conan in 1991.  Mindscape changed player's sprite, added terrible music and for some reason, didn't include final stage.

Cos' I know you're interested, same company got licence rights for The Last Starfighter, but rather than making a new game, lazy bastards simply modified the C64 version of Uridium.

Myth II: Soulblighter and Myth III: The Wolf Age

And no, these aren't related to Myth: HITM.  The first game was subbed The Fallen Lords.

Miscellany

Random painting (Echo Night) vs Conan the Usurper (1967)

Korr ending (Weaponlord) vs Against the Gods (1966)

Colarado (alternative art) vs Land of Terror (1967)

Azure Dreams vs Pony Tail (1970)

Ramparts⁵ vs Snow Giants (1967)

⁵Rampage clone shouldn't be confused with Atari's Rampart.

Ys III: Wanderers from Ys vs Seven Romans

Shadow of the Beast (Master System) vs Land of Terror

Dynasty Wars vs Tarzan and Bolgani

Why is it signed 'For Vern'?

Here's the story.

In 1962, Vern Coriell, head of the Burroughs Bibliophiles (a non-profit organisation dedicated to promote the works and characters of Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs) invited Frazetta and his family to Kansas City, and as a thank you, our man created incredible pencil drawing at host's kitchen table.

So now you know.

Death Dealer (1973)

Death Adder (Golden Axe)

Golden Axe: The Duel (North American cover art)

Weaponlord's end boss Zarak certainly rings a bell.

As does Shao Khan (Mortal Kombat II).

Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword was a fabulous pile of shit, and rightly bombed.

Jude Law's villain Voritgern (in demon knight form).

 If that wasn't enough.

Weapon may be double-ended, but shot is extremely similar to 'sequel' painting.

Death Dealer II (1987)

Multiples

Now it gets VERY complicated.

Legend of the Amazon Women

Land of Terror (1967), Escape from Venus (1972) and The Huntress (1977)

What of battle between prehistoric beasts?

I suspect Tyrannosaurus Rex (1969) was responsible, especially with warrior present.

Rygar

The Huntress and Conan the Usurper

Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (PC Engine CD)

Intro segment stole three.

Conan the Destroyer (1971), The Brain (1967) and Land of Terror

Worst of all.

Duel (PC-88)

Ghoul Queen (1972) and Land of Terror

Jongor Fights Back (1967) and Sun Goddess (1970)

Central panel is likely based on Land of Terror.

Conan the Destroyer

Others appreciated masterpiece a little too much.

Assassin's Creed III

Gauntlet (Arcade)

Middle-earth: Shadow of War

Paragon is a pinball machine released by Bally in 1979, featuring artwork by Paul Faris.

Flippers, balls and pretty lights can be seen at the start of Rocky III.

Coming full circle.

More often than not, when Golden Axe: Beast Rider loads, you'll see this.

Looking absolutely nothing like:

Ahem.

On the surface, Sungold's line of Galaxy Warriors toys screams Masters of the Universe.

But digging deeper.

Logo vs Against the Gods

Did they really think swapping sword for axe would fool anybody?

As an example, packaging for The Fearful Beast from the Planet Ferror splices two.

Conan the Destroyer and Tyrannosaurus Rex

Huk vs Snow Giants

Spikes vs Atlantis (1973)

Example packaging vs Warrior with Ball and Chain⁶

Once again, weapon was changed.

⁶First appeared on the cover of sword and sorcery anthology Flashing Swords! #1 in 1973.

In the 90s, Hong Kong manufacturer re-branded bootleg range as Freedom Fighters.

'Huk' was given a green axe and opponent recoloured red.

Okay then.

Finally, shield sticker is basically a shittier version of sabre-toothed tiger.

Unbelievable.