Benjamin Franklin Thorne (16 June 1930 - 7 March 2021; Rahway, New Jersey, USA)
Frank Thorne was an American comic book artist-writer, best known for the Marvel Comics character Red Sonja.

Thorne began his comics career in 1948, penciling romance comics for Standard Comics. After graduation, he drew the Perry Mason newspaper strip for King Features, which was followed by more comic book work for Dell Comics. He turned out a multitude of stories for Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim, The Green Hornet, Tom Corbett Space Cadet, Tomahawk, Mighty Samson, Enemy Ace and numerous others. Thorne drew the syndicated comic strip Dr. Guy Bennett / Dr. Duncan from 1956 to 1963 for LaFave Newspaper Features.

Originally drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith for Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonja was transposed from a minor Robert E. Howard 16th-century gunslinger character ("Red Sonya") to a mainstay of the sword and sorcery Conan canon by Roy Thomas. After the character was spun off into a solo feature, Thorne succeeded penciler Dick Giordano in drawing her for Marvel Feature #2 (Jan. 1976), continuing through most of her 1977-79 solo series, Red Sonja.

Thorne subsequently created a number of erotic fantasy comics and characters, alongside other works. His works include creating, writing and drawing the features "Moonshine McJugs" for Playboy, "Lann" in Heavy Metal, and "Danger Rangerette" in National Lampoon, and the 1989 miniseries Ribit! for Comico, as well as the Fantagraphics Books/Eros Comix graphic novels Ghita of Alizarr, The Iron Devil, The Devil’s Angel, and The Illustrated History of Union County.

Publishing company Hermes Press has reprinted Lann, Ribit! and Ghita of Alizarr; the latter being reprinted as an archival, nearly full-sized reproduction of the original art.

Frank Thorne died in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, USA, aged 90.
Source: Wikipedia