The majority of Frazetta's comic work at this time, signed with his nickname, "Fritz," were humorous stories or spot illustrations for short text pieces. These charming and whimsical drawings exhibited a great deal of animation and caught the attention of the Disney Studio. " I still have the letter," Frank says. "They wanted me to come out to California. I was excited and flattered but I was just a kid. There was no way I could have left Brooklyn." Frank Frazetta was finally able to stretch his creative legs in 1946 when Prize Publications gave him a chance to solo in Treasure Comics. This was definitely a far cry from Tally Ho and he felt the pressure to draw a story that might earn him some well deserved merit. Standard Publications were also looking for someone to help draw their funny animal books. In consideration of his work for Prize they hired him to do text illustrations for Goofy Comics. Between the years 1946 and 1950 he worked diligently with Standard on 15 different titles; most of which were their humor books such as Barnyard, Coo Coo, Happy and Supermouse. But once Standard realized Frank's potential he was offered a nine page story for one of their action/adventure titles; Exciting Comics # 59. They also handed him the first of the "Looie Lazybones" features in Thrilling Comics. These stories were credited as the ones that caught Al Capp's attention and eventually resulted in Frazetta ghosting the Li ' l Abner newspaper strip. The period of 1948 through 1951 was undoubtedly the most productive in the young artist's comic career as other companies were introduced to his work. Not only did he continue working for Standard's humor and adventure titles, D.S. Publishing offered him a seven page story in Outlaws #9. This was the first of many western stories on which he would contribute. The publishing company Magazine Entertainment contacted Frank to help on their "A-1" line of books. The popularity of Trail Colt quickly led to the production of another western title The Durango kid. This book introduced Dan Brand the "White Indian" and Tipi his indian sidekick. It continued well into 1952 with sixteen issues. This particular run of stories best illustrates the growing development of Frazetta's early drawing style. |
 |
|
||||||||
|
||||||
