Baryon 116 Editorial

contents - reviews

John Carl Schoenherr was born July 5, 1935 in New York City. He became a full-time freelance artist shortly after his graduation from the Pratt Institute in 1956, and did hundreds of illustrations for SF magazines, including Astounding/Analog, Amazing, Fantastic, Infinity, and F&SF. He was the principle cover artist for Astounding/Analog in the late '50s and '60s, and was nominated for eleven Hugo Awards from 1962-1975, winning in 1965. He also won a 1988 Caldecott Medal for his work on Owl Moon, written by Jane Yolen, and wrote and illustrated a handful of children's books on his own. I remember Schoenherr from his magazine appearances and the cover of DUNE by Frank Herbert. I can't be positive it was the cover on the original edition or not, but it is on the cover of the SFBC I picked up in the late 60s or early 70s. He had a beautiful sense of color and style that was an inspiration, in my opinion, to Jack Gaughan and other artists of the 70s and 80s. Frank Frazetta, an illustrator of comic books, movie posters and paperback book covers whose visions of musclebound men fighting with swords and axes to defend scantily dressed women helped define fantasy heroes like Conan, Tarzan and John Carter of Mars, died on May 10, 2010 in Fort Myers, Fla. He was 82. The cause was complications from a stroke, said Rob Pistella and Stephen Ferzoco, Mr. Frazetta’s business managers. Mr. Frazetta was a versatile and prolific comic book artist who, in the 1940s and ’50s, drew for comic strips like Al Capp’s "Lil’ Abner" and comic books like "Famous Funnies," for which he contributed a series of covers depicting the futuristic adventurer Buck Rogers. A satirical advertisement Mr. Frazetta drew for Mad earned him his first Hollywood job, the movie poster for "What’s New Pussycat?" (1965), a sex farce written by Woody Allen that starred Peter Sellers. In 1983 he collaborated with the director Ralph Bakshi to produce the animated film "Fire and Ice." His most prominent work, however, was on the cover of book jackets, where his signature images were of strikingly fierce, hard-bodied heroes and bosomy, callipygian damsels in distress. In 1966, his cover of "Conan the Adventurer," a collection of four fantasy short stories written by Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp, depicted a brawny long-haired warrior standing in repose on top of a pile of skeletons and other detritus, his sword thrust downward into the mound, an apparently naked young woman lying at his feet, hugging his ankle. The cover art created a new look for fantasy adventure novels and established Mr. Frazetta as an artist who could sell books. He illustrated many more Conan books (including Conan the Conqueror, Conan the Usurper and Conan the Avenger) and works by Edgar Rice Burroughs (including John Carter and the Savage Apes of Mars and Tarzan and the Antmen). "Paperback publishers have been known to buy one of his paintings for use as a cover, then commission a writer to turn out a novel to go with it," The New York Times reported in 1977, the same year that a collection of his drawings, The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta, sold more than 300,000 copies. Frank Frazzetta was born in Brooklyn on Feb. 9, 1928, and as a boy studied painting at a local art school. (Early in his career, he excised one z from his last name because "with one z it just looked better," Mr. Pistella said. "He said the two z’s and two t’s was too clumsy.") Mr. Frazetta began drawing for comic books of all stripes — westerns, mysteries, fantasies — when he was still a teenager. He was also a good enough baseball player to try out for the New York Giants. The popularity of Mr. Frazetta’s work coincided with the rise of heavy metal in the early 1970s, and his otherworldly imagery showed up on a number of album covers, including Molly Hatchet’s "Flirtin’ With Disaster" and Nazareth’s "Expect No Mercy." Last year, Kirk Hammett, the lead guitarist for Metallica, bought Mr. Frazetta’s cover artwork for the paperback reissue of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Conqueror for $1 million. Mr. Frazetta married Eleanor Kelly, known as Ellie, in 1956. She served as his occasional model and as his business partner; in 2000 she started a small museum of her husband’s work on their property in East Stroudsburg, Pa. She died last year. Mr. Frazetta is survived by three sisters, Carol, Adel and Jeanie; two sons, Alfonso Frank Frazetta, known as Frank Jr., and William Frazetta, both of East Stroudsburg; two daughters, Heidi Grabin, of Englewood, Fl, and Holly Frazetta, of Boca Grande, Fl; and 11 grandchildren. Although we never had the chance to meet, Frank did autograph the series of art books that Bette Ballentine edited as well as some of his work for Vern Coriel when he was running the Burroughs Bibliophiles. The last correspondence was several years ago from his wife Ellie letting me know about his first stroke. He was truly one of a kind and even though others have copied his style, there will never be another of his talent. Peter O’Donnell, the British writer who created Modesty Blaise, the sexy, resourceful action hero who was a distaff answer to James Bond, first as a comic strip character and later as the heroine of novels and short stories, died May 5, 2010 in Brighton, on the south coast of England. He was 90. The Modesty Blaise comic strip was published in The London Evening Standard for 40 years. "Modesty Blaise," as the comic strip was known, was published in The London Evening Standard for nearly 40 years, from 1963 to 2001 — more than 10,000 strips in all — and syndicated in newspapers all over the world. I remember seeing the comic strip in the newspaper for a brief time when James Bond was at its peak in the 1960s and read several of the novels when they were reissued by Mysterious Press in the 1980s. Artist Al Williamson, 79, died June 13, 2010 in New York from Alzheimer’s. Williamson was best known for his SF/fantasy work for EC Comics in the ’50s, including titles like Weird Science and Weird Fantasy, and for his work on Flash Gordon in the ’60s. He was nominated for and won numerous comics industry awards from the ’60s onward, notably eight Harvey Awards from 1988-1995 and an Eisner Hall of Fame Award in 2000. For the long time readers, most of you will remember Jim Brock’s contributions and he still gets a review in every now and then. He has been busy lately caring for his older brother Ronald who has been having health problems. Ronald died on June 21 from cancer and other issues. I’ve known Ronald almost as long as I have Jim. Jim and I met on our first day of college orientation and our love of music drew us together. I visited Jim’s home and met Ronald, who had just gotten out of the Marines and home from Vietnam. He treated us to some great barbecue and ice cold beer. Ronald spent the majority of his life working in the textile industry and kept himself local in order to take care of his Dad. Their family is very close and they have kept the family tradition as a lot of the folks do in this area. A close sense of family is an old Southern tradition and Ronald, Jim and their younger brother, Larry, are prime examples of what it means. I was honored to be a pallbearer, most especially as the only non-related family member asked to do so. The American Legion provided an Honor Guard, had a 21 gun salute, and played Taps. It was a fitting tribute to Ronald and made me proud to be a brother in arms and a brother in spirit. He will be missed. This issue is heavy on the reviews and heavy on obituaries this time. I hope there is something of interest for you. I’ve been working with the Census and my time has been less for reading. I’m being called back for the next phase of Census validation so I hope to busy for the next three or four weeks as well. I’ve just ordered a new pair of glasses and hopefully my reading time will improve with them. Thanks to all the folks that keep sending books for review. Musically I still listen to too many oldies because the newer stuff isn’t of too much interest. The Moody Blues, Boston, Tom Petty and The Rolling Stones are the most played. Sarah McLachlan has a new CD out. It’s called LAWS OF ILLUSION and is a collection of softer material and is very pleasing to the ear. Tom Petty has a new one out, but I haven’t gotten it yet. Be sure to check out STRANGE MYSTERIES 2 available from www.whortleberry.com. I’ve got another story in it. Hope everyone has a pleasant summer and we will see you again in about 90 days. Finished June 26, 2010 Check out the blog at the Baryon Blogspot. Email us at the-baryon-review@bellsouth.net As always, thank you for your support. Barry
contents - reviews

John Carl Schoenherr was born July 5, 1935 in New York City. He became a full-time freelance artist shortly after his graduation from the Pratt Institute in 1956, and did hundreds of illustrations for SF magazines, including Astounding/Analog, Amazing, Fantastic, Infinity, and F&SF. He was the principle cover artist for Astounding/Analog in the late '50s and '60s, and was nominated for eleven Hugo Awards from 1962-1975, winning in 1965. He also won a 1988 Caldecott Medal for his work on Owl Moon, written by Jane Yolen, and wrote and illustrated a handful of children's books on his own.

I remember Schoenherr from his magazine appearances and the cover of DUNE by Frank Herbert. I can't be positive it was the cover on the original edition or not, but it is on the cover of the SFBC I picked up in the late 60s or early 70s.

He had a beautiful sense of color and style that was an inspiration, in my opinion, to Jack Gaughan and other artists of the 70s and 80s.

Frank Frazetta, an illustrator of comic books, movie posters and paperback book covers whose visions of musclebound men fighting with swords and axes to defend scantily dressed women helped define fantasy heroes like Conan, Tarzan and John Carter of Mars, died on May 10, 2010 in Fort Myers, Fla. He was 82.

The cause was complications from a stroke, said Rob Pistella and Stephen Ferzoco, Mr. Frazetta’s business managers.

Mr. Frazetta was a versatile and prolific comic book artist who, in the 1940s and ’50s, drew for comic strips like Al Capp’s "Lil’ Abner" and comic books like "Famous Funnies," for which he contributed a series of covers depicting the futuristic adventurer Buck Rogers.

A satirical advertisement Mr. Frazetta drew for Mad earned him his first Hollywood job, the movie poster for "What’s New Pussycat?" (1965), a sex farce written by Woody Allen that starred Peter Sellers. In 1983 he collaborated with the director Ralph Bakshi to produce the animated film "Fire and Ice."

His most prominent work, however, was on the cover of book jackets, where his signature images were of strikingly fierce, hard-bodied heroes and bosomy, callipygian damsels in distress. In 1966, his cover of "Conan the Adventurer," a collection of four fantasy short stories written by Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp, depicted a brawny long-haired warrior standing in repose on top of a pile of skeletons and other detritus, his sword thrust downward into the mound, an apparently naked young woman lying at his feet, hugging his ankle.

The cover art created a new look for fantasy adventure novels and established Mr. Frazetta as an artist who could sell books. He illustrated many more Conan books (including Conan the Conqueror, Conan the Usurper and Conan the Avenger) and works by Edgar Rice Burroughs (including John Carter and the Savage Apes of Mars and Tarzan and the Antmen).

"Paperback publishers have been known to buy one of his paintings for use as a cover, then commission a writer to turn out a novel to go with it," The New York Times reported in 1977, the same year that a collection of his drawings, The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta, sold more than 300,000 copies.

Frank Frazzetta was born in Brooklyn on Feb. 9, 1928, and as a boy studied painting at a local art school. (Early in his career, he excised one z from his last name because "with one z it just looked better," Mr. Pistella said. "He said the two z’s and two t’s was too clumsy.")

Mr. Frazetta began drawing for comic books of all stripes — westerns, mysteries, fantasies — when he was still a teenager. He was also a good enough baseball player to try out for the New York Giants.

The popularity of Mr. Frazetta’s work coincided with the rise of heavy metal in the early 1970s, and his otherworldly imagery showed up on a number of album covers, including Molly Hatchet’s "Flirtin’ With Disaster" and Nazareth’s "Expect No Mercy." Last year, Kirk Hammett, the lead guitarist for Metallica, bought Mr. Frazetta’s cover artwork for the paperback reissue of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Conqueror for $1 million.

Mr. Frazetta married Eleanor Kelly, known as Ellie, in 1956. She served as his occasional model and as his business partner; in 2000 she started a small museum of her husband’s work on their property in East Stroudsburg, Pa. She died last year.

Mr. Frazetta is survived by three sisters, Carol, Adel and Jeanie; two sons, Alfonso Frank Frazetta, known as Frank Jr., and William Frazetta, both of East Stroudsburg; two daughters, Heidi Grabin, of Englewood, Fl, and Holly Frazetta, of Boca Grande, Fl; and 11 grandchildren.

Although we never had the chance to meet, Frank did autograph the series of art books that Bette Ballentine edited as well as some of his work for Vern Coriel when he was running the Burroughs Bibliophiles. The last correspondence was several years ago from his wife Ellie letting me know about his first stroke. He was truly one of a kind and even though others have copied his style, there will never be another of his talent.

Peter O’Donnell, the British writer who created Modesty Blaise, the sexy, resourceful action hero who was a distaff answer to James Bond, first as a comic strip character and later as the heroine of novels and short stories, died May 5, 2010 in Brighton, on the south coast of England. He was 90.

The Modesty Blaise comic strip was published in The London Evening Standard for 40 years.

"Modesty Blaise," as the comic strip was known, was published in The London Evening Standard for nearly 40 years, from 1963 to 2001 — more than 10,000 strips in all — and syndicated in newspapers all over the world.

I remember seeing the comic strip in the newspaper for a brief time when James Bond was at its peak in the 1960s and read several of the novels when they were reissued by Mysterious Press in the 1980s.

Artist Al Williamson, 79, died June 13, 2010 in New York from Alzheimer’s. Williamson was best known for his SF/fantasy work for EC Comics in the ’50s, including titles like Weird Science and Weird Fantasy, and for his work on Flash Gordon in the ’60s. He was nominated for and won numerous comics industry awards from the ’60s onward, notably eight Harvey Awards from 1988-1995 and an Eisner Hall of Fame Award in 2000.

For the long time readers, most of you will remember Jim Brock’s contributions and he still gets a review in every now and then. He has been busy lately caring for his older brother Ronald who has been having health problems.

Ronald died on June 21 from cancer and other issues. I’ve known Ronald almost as long as I have Jim. Jim and I met on our first day of college orientation and our love of music drew us together. I visited Jim’s home and met Ronald, who had just gotten out of the Marines and home from Vietnam. He treated us to some great barbecue and ice cold beer.

Ronald spent the majority of his life working in the textile industry and kept himself local in order to take care of his Dad. Their family is very close and they have kept the family tradition as a lot of the folks do in this area. A close sense of family is an old Southern tradition and Ronald, Jim and their younger brother, Larry, are prime examples of what it means.

I was honored to be a pallbearer, most especially as the only non-related family member asked to do so. The American Legion provided an Honor Guard, had a 21 gun salute, and played Taps. It was a fitting tribute to Ronald and made me proud to be a brother in arms and a brother in spirit. He will be missed.

This issue is heavy on the reviews and heavy on obituaries this time. I hope there is something of interest for you.

I’ve been working with the Census and my time has been less for reading. I’m being called back for the next phase of Census validation so I hope to busy for the next three or four weeks as well.

I’ve just ordered a new pair of glasses and hopefully my reading time will improve with them. Thanks to all the folks that keep sending books for review.

Musically I still listen to too many oldies because the newer stuff isn’t of too much interest. The Moody Blues, Boston, Tom Petty and The Rolling Stones are the most played. Sarah McLachlan has a new CD out. It’s called LAWS OF ILLUSION and is a collection of softer material and is very pleasing to the ear. Tom Petty has a new one out, but I haven’t gotten it yet.

Be sure to check out STRANGE MYSTERIES 2 available from www.whortleberry.com. I’ve got another story in it.

Hope everyone has a pleasant summer and we will see you again in about 90 days. Finished June 26, 2010

Check out the blog at the Baryon Blogspot. Email us at the-baryon-review@bellsouth.net

As always, thank you for your support.

Barry

contents - reviews