The artist best known for Marvel’s Red Sonja has died at the age of 90…
Frank Thorne, the cult-favorite artist most popular in the ’70s, died Sunday at the age of 90, the same day as his wife, Marilyn.
While Thorne was known for many features, none came close to his mainstream success on Marvel’s Red Sonja, with writers Roy Thomas and Clair Noto, in the Bronze Age. (He also made a name for himself playing the Wizard at comics shows where cosplayer/artist Wendy Pini would perform with him as the She-Devil With a Sword.)
Here’s a 13 COVERS tribute:
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MORE
— Behold the Epic Awesomeness of WENDY PINI’S RED SONJA! Click here.
— 13 COVERS: A Spotlight on RED SONJA. Click here.
March 8, 2021
His covers alone make me want to buy Red Sonja. But I wasn’t into the world of sword and sorcery (closest was Warlord), and they were very sporadic on spinner racks and stands.
These are stunning covers and amazing work
March 8, 2021
Back in 1988, I attended a two-hour class that he taught at a New York comic convention; the class was called “How to Draw Women the Frank Thorne Way.” After he gave the class a brief history lesson about his career, he imparted his first artistic advice: “Draw ’em like you wanna f— ’em!” Which is probably about the best one-sentence description you could have of his Sonja-and-after comics career. 🙂