By MARYCLAIRE DALE (AP)

PHILADELPHIA — Pioneering fantasy artist Frank Frazetta died Monday in a Fort Myers, Fla., hospital, a manager said. He was 82.

Frazetta had been out to dinner with his daughters Sunday but suffered a stroke at his Boca Grande home later that night and was taken to Lee Memorial Hospital, manager Rob Pistella said. A hospital spokeswoman confirmed the death, as did his daughter Heidi Frazetta Grabin.

“He’s going to be remembered as the most renowned fantasy illustrator of the 20th Century,” Pistella said.

Frazetta created covers and illustrations for more than 150 books and comic books, along with album covers, movie posters and original paintings. His illustrations of Conan the Barbarian, Tarzan, Vampirella and other characters influenced many later artists.

Frazetta had many imitators, but there was only one Frazetta.

The image above was one of my favorites in the 1970s, but my girlfriend wasn’t impressed when I projected it and copied it onto my dorm room wall with magic marker, so I broke up with her. I was like that back then. With that in mind, let’s have an Overnight Open Thread.

[Image from here, news blurb from here.]