History Main / FrazettaMan

* A lot of the primitive humans in ''ComicBook/TheGoddamned'' are portrayed as more ape-like mongrels than people, implied to be the result of both their barbaric lifestyles and inbreeding.
* Dapper, a villain from ''ComicBook/TheGoon'', is a gangster who resembles a hulking, apelike caveman, making him the rare antagonist who can go toe-to-toe with the Goon himself [[BadassNormal without magical or technological aid]]. In a twist, however, Dapper is also pretty smart, almost a GeniusBruiser, and, as his name suggests, he's very much a WickedCultured SharpDressedMan trying to compensate for his animalistic appearance.
-->You see, for an evolutionary throwback such as myself, a veritable Cro-Magnon if you will, the clothes make the iceman. A linen and silk suppression of my brutish and savage nature. A symbol that I am a cultured, sophisticated, modern man.

* In issue #7 of ''ComicBook/Supergirl1972'', "The Sinister Snowman", ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} bumps into two large, hairy and apelike cavemen trapped in a large slab of ice as she is exploring a mountain in the Himalayas. Suddenly they awaken, break free and attack Supergirl, uttering unintelligible noises but showing immense strength.

* A two-page George Booth comic called "Ip Gissa Gul" was published in ''Magazine/TheNewYorker'' in January 1975. Its titular "ip" (ape) is a hulking apeman [[MarsNeedsWomen searching for a girl]] while observed by some slightly more human-looking cavemen, with all the dialogue in goofy broken English. While this strip was his most famous, Booth did numerous other strips with similar hulking ape-men.

* ''Franchise/{{Hellraiser}}'': The cavemen in issue #6 of the ''Pinhead'' miniseries are drawn in this manner. Notably, the cover has the tagline "The climactic Cro-Magnon clash!" despite them definitely not being Cro-Magnons (who were essentially indistinguishable from modern humans).

* Myth/MalaysianMythology: While usually seen now as a variation on BigfootSasquatchAndYeti or a type of [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]], ''Santu Sakai'' traditionally fit to a T (except for the [[BladeBelowTheShoulder sharp bones on the arms]] and huge mouths), being regarded as a hairy, fanged and degenerate (but still human) race of mountain-dwellers who descend after long periods of cloudy weather to attack villages [[ToServeMan and capture and eat humans]].

* The hostile Wagabu tribe from ''Film/QuestForFire'' are a textbook example: hairy and bestial proto-humans with great strength. The apelike Kzamm that attack at the start of the film are even more primitive. Our three heroes and their own tribe, the Ulam, on the other hand, are a more sympathetic and nuanced take on Neanderthals, while the more advanced Ivaka tribe are Cro-Magnons, who know how to make their own fire.

In RealLife, there were indeed many species of "ape-men", those being various non-''Homo'' hominids, many of which have been classified as australopithecines, with the best-known being the ''Australopithecus'' genus itself (often viewed as the ancestor of ''Homo''). However, while these creatures were indeed "transitional forms", sharing characteristics of both modern humans and more typical apes such as chimpanzees, one of their more human-like traits was their gracile build, meaning they lacked the physical strength of a chimp, not helped by the fact that most australopithecines were seldom over 4 feet tall. Many of them also lived before the emergence of ''Homo'' (during the latest Miocene-Pliocene), though some did overlap with early humans such as ''Homo habilis'' and ''Homo erectus'' during the Early Pleistocene, most notably the robust australopithecines (''Paranthropus''), though they were still on the short side and largely herbivorous (much like gorillas), so when the two crossed paths, [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters it's likely that the more human-like hominids would have been the aggressors]]. ''Homo erectus'' itself was another inspiration, as it was originally described from very incomplete remains as "''Pithecanthropus erectus''", and some workers interpreted it as a "missing link" between humans and apes, leading to reconstructions showing it as a 6-foot ape-man, but once we discovered more material of this species, it became clear that it was far more human-like than initially thought, leading to it being placed in ''Homo''.

In RealLife, there were indeed many species of "ape-men", those being various non-''Homo'' hominids, many of which have been classified as australopithecines, with the best-known being the ''Australopithecus'' genus itself (often viewed as the ancestor of ''Homo''). However, while these creatures were indeed "transitional forms", sharing characteristics of both modern humans and more typical apes such as chimpanzees, one of their more human-like traits was their gracile build, meaning they lacked the physical strength of a chimp, not helped by the fact that most australopithecines were seldom over 4 feet tall. Many of them also lived before the emergence of ''Homo'' (during the latest Miocene-Pliocene), though some did overlap with early humans such as ''Homo habilis'' during the Early Pleistocene, most notably the robust australopithecines (''Paranthropus''), though they were still on the short side and largely herbivorous (much like gorillas), so when the two crossed paths, [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters it's likely that the more human-like hominids would have been the aggressors]]. Another source of inspiration was "''Pithecanthropus erectus''", who was initially thought (by some) to be a "missing link" between humans and apes, and was clearly man-sized, but once we discovered more material of this species, it became clear that it was far more human-like than initially thought, leading to it being reclassified as ''Homo erectus''.

In RealLife, there were indeed many species of "ape-men", those being various non-''Homo'' hominids, many of which have been classified as australopithecines, with the best-known being the ''Australopithecus'' genus itself (often viewed as the ancestor of ''Homo''). However, while these creatures were indeed "transitional forms", sharing characteristics of both modern humans and more typical apes such as chimpanzees, one of their more human-like traits was their gracile build, meaning they lacked the physical strength of a chimp, not helped by the fact that most australopithecines were seldom over 4 feet tall. Many of them also lived before the emergence of ''Homo'' (during the latest Miocene-Pliocene), though some did overlap with early humans such as ''Homo habilis'' and ''Homo erectus'' during the Early Pleistocene, most notably the robust australopithecines (''Paranthropus''), though they were still on the short side and largely herbivorous (much like gorillas), so when the two crossed paths, [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters it's likely that the more human-like hominids would have been the aggressors]]. Another source of inspiration was "''Pithecanthropus erectus''", who was initially thought (by some) to be a "missing link" between humans and apes, and was clearly man-sized, but once we discovered more material of this species, it became clear that it was far more human-like than initially thought, leading to it being reclassified as ''Homo erectus''.

In RealLife, there were indeed many species of "ape-men", those being various non-''Homo'' hominids, many of which have been classified as australopithecines, with the best-known being the ''Australopithecus'' genus itself (often viewed as the ancestor of ''Homo''). However, while these creatures were indeed "transitional forms", sharing characteristics of both modern humans and more typical apes such as chimpanzees, one of their more human-like traits was their gracile build, meaning they lacked the physical strength of a chimp, not helped by the fact that most australopithecines were seldom over 4 feet tall. Many of them also lived before the emergence of ''Homo'' (during the latest Miocene-Pliocene), though some did overlap with early humans such as ''Homo habilis'' and ''Homo erectus'' during the Early Pleistocene, most notably the robust australopithecines (''Paranthropus''), though they were still on the short side and largely herbivorous (much like gorillas), so when the two crossed paths, [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters it's likely that the more human-like hominids would have been the aggressors]].

* Creator/RobertEHoward's ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'':
** In "Literature/ShadowsInTheMoonlight" Conan fights one:

** It gets a bit more complex than that when you read [[AllThereInTheManual Howard's essay on the Hyborian Age and other related materials]] -- it turns out that after the cataclysm that destroyed the previous Thurian Age, several human groups (including King Literature/{{Kull}}'s birth people, [[{{Atlantis}} Atlanteans]]), devolved into Frazetta Men shortly after falling back to savagery, and Cimmerians like Conan are explicitly descended from them. Those from Conan's time are the descendants of those who didn't re-evolve ''back'' into humans.

* Creator/ManlyWadeWellman wrote a series of stories about a HandsomeHeroicCaveman named Hok the Mighty and his struggles against savage, cannibalistic Neandertharls (although Hok knows them as "Gnorrls"). These stories were actually fairly well-researched for the time, although [[ScienceMarchesOn much of Wellman's research is fairly dated today]] - he takes it for granted, for example, that all contact between ''sapiens'' and ''neanderthalensis'' was violent, and that Neanderthals vanished because they were all killed, rather than simply genetically absorbed. There's also a lot of DeliberateValuesDissonance: we ''do'' see Gnorrl women and children, and Hok [[WouldHitAGirl seems]] perfectly [[WouldHurtAChild willing]] to kill them without a moment's hesitation because they're his tribe's enemies. All in all, he and the other humans are [[ALighterShadeOfBlack only slightly less brutal]] than the Gnorrls.

* ''WesternAnimation/DinoBoy'': Frazetta Men called the Tree Men appear in one episode. They have tails like lions, but otherwise are clearly ape-men, and worship [[MixAndMatchCritters vulture-pterodactyls]] by offering up {{Human Sacrifice}}s. In the end, Ugh saves Dino Boy from becoming a vulture-dactyl's meal by ''[[GodzillaThreshold stampeding a mastodon herd through their village]]''.

* ''Paranthropus'' actually fit the physical description of a Frazetta Man, as a hairy, densely muscled, bipedal gorilla-like entity, but existed well before modern humans did, and is believed to have fed largely upon nuts, seeds, and hard fruits, so it was hardly a savage cannibal. Even if it had hypothetically encountered humans, they most likely kept to themselves and avoided humans unless provoked. [[StatingTheObvious Neither their men nor their women would be very likely to be sexually attracted to us, either]]. ''Paranthropus'' actually did live side by side with ''Homo erectus/ergaster'' for a while, and some think that early humans contributed to their demise. Especially since at that time, humanity was young and curious about everything, seeing how we were globetrotters who used spears and primitive fire. We may have eaten them or their food, or burned their trees in an attempt to drive away predators. It could be that both genera got along, and other reasons are what caused ''Paranthropus'' to disappear. The recent discovery of Homo naledi, a late ''Homo'' hominin with very australopithecine features just a couple hundred thousand years before the oldest Homo sapiens fossils raises the possibility of a real-life Frazetta Man closer to the beginning of early humanity.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

* In ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh'', Enkidu starts out as a NobleSavage take on this trope, [[FriendToAllLivingThings running freely with the gazelles of the plains, who do not fear him as they would a human]]. He becomes civilized over the first part of the story, as the priestess Shamhat introduces him to [[SexAsRiteOfPassage sex]], alcohol, and clothing. This is portrayed as a good thing in some ways, since Enkidu can now enter the city of Uruk and befriend Gilgamesh, but also a somewhat tragic moment, since Enkidu's old animal friends now see him as just another human, and flee from his approach. It also leads, ultimately, to [[spoiler:his death, since man is mortal.]] This makes this trope OlderThanDirt.
* Used for horror in "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn" by Creator/HPLovecraft, where it's revealed that decades ago, the titular character's great-great-great-grandfather, Sir Wade Jermyn, had discovered a tribe of white-furred ape-men living in DarkestAfrica. Unusually for this trope, they're not portrayed as doing anything particularly evil. The reason he committed suicide prior to the book's opening had been due to learning that [[spoiler:Sir Wade Jermyn had fallen in love with the tribe's princess, marrying her before smuggling her out of Africa, with all the subsequent Jermyns being descendants of this union of man and ape-woman]]. It's unclear whether the story is meant to be read as an expression of Darwinian horror at our simian heritage, or if it's just [[ValuesDissonance Lovecraft's fear of race-mixing]], or even both. The story is generally considered [[NightmareRetardant one of Lovecraft's least scary]] by modern audiences, if not ''quite'' as underwhelming (and racist) as TheReveal from "Medusa's Coils".

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' has the Woses, inspired by the woodwoses from folklore. Here, they're just a tribe of technologically primitive hunter-gatherer humans who look very strange to everyone else, but they aren't aggressive, stupid, or even particularly hairy, and they show the Rohirrim the way through Drúadan Forest in time to save the day at a climactic battle. In reward, King Elessar recognizes their right to the Forest in perpetuity, and they are never seen again. Interestingly, the Rohirrim say that the Woses remind them of their old legends of the Pukel-men, a word meaning the same as "woodwose". They receive an expanded backstory in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' and ''Literature/UnfinishedTales''.

* The Medieval European folkloric image of a "woodwose", a primitive human living in the wilderness where the Christian civilization ends, has many similarities with the Frazetta Man. Shaggy hair and beard, [[CarryABigStick big club]] (which due to its stooped posture, could serve as a cane), naked or near-naked, etc. They weren't ''evil'', but rather just the antithesis of urban life, law, religion, and everything else that the civilization of that time stood for -- occupying a mythological role not unlike that of FaunsAndSatyrs, but without the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Bacchic associations]]. One of the Italian words for woodwose was ''huorco'', which is one theory about where [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orcs]] got their name.

** ''Literature/{{Pellucidar}}'' has the Sagoths, an advanced breed of Frazetta Man who act as {{Mooks}} to the ruling Mahars, along with separate species dubbed Ape Men, Gorilla Men, and Brute Men.

* A two-page George Booth comic called "Ip Gissa Gul" was published in ''Magazine/TheNewYorker'' in January 1975. Its titular "ip" (ape) is a hulking apeman [[MarsNeedsWomen searching for a girl]] while observed by some slightly more human-looking cavemen, with all the dialogue in goofy broken English.