The moment I realized he was doing it on purpose

He wore a conical hat with hexagonal rim, both decorated with emerald-green owls. His cloak had a turned-up collar in back and epaulets in the shape of lions couchant. The fabric was a green shimmering stuff with a pattern of trefoils pierced with a bleeding lance. His shirt was electric-blue and piped with white skulls. A great belt of leather was bossed with gold and set with diamonds, emeralds, and topazes. His baggy pants were white-and-black striped and calf-length. The boots were of some pale soft red leather.

–Philip Jose Farmer, The Gates of Creation, book two of the World of Tiers

This is where I realized that Farmer was deliberately playing with all the cheesey pulp stuff that he’d grown up on, the figure from Flash Gordon of Ming the Merciless in flowing cape with giant collar and flowing gown. This is Farmer as proto-Grant Morrison.