Jᴀᴄᴜʀᴜᴛᴜ - Tʜᴇ Cᴀsᴛ Oᴜᴛ

Associated Press · July 23, 2010

PHILADELPHIA - A 1971 painting by fantasy artist Frank Frazetta has sold for $1.5 million, two months after the Pennsylvania artist's death.

Frazetta's managers said this week that a private collector bought "Conan the Destroyer" from a family trust. Managers Robert Pistella and Stephen Ferzoco call it the price the highest ever for a work by Frazetta.

The illustrator died in Florida in May at age 82. His iconic illustrations of Conan the Barbarian, Tarzan and other characters often graced comic books, album covers and movie posters.

In recent years, his children have fought over an estate estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars.

The feud boiled over in December when Frank Frazetta Jr. used a backhoe to try to break into the artist's museum in the Pocono Mountains.

I was just talking about Franzetta at a party at my brother's house last night. That's an impressive amount of money.

I can think of a much better way to spend $1.5M, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

And for good measure:

Ironic that the new Frazetta record actually comes from a re-done painting.

"Destroyer" originally featured a slightly different scene; Conan also had no weapons in hand. It's probably best-remembered as the cover to the old Conan the Buccaneer paperback, which sold like 4 billion copies: