...Addition: The Saga of Garth

Back from holiday, and saw many towns in the south, and I have added my reviews to http://www.tripadvisor.com of the 2 hotels. We also saw a flamenco event, but avoided the bullfights...although we did see one on the TV in a Tapas bar in Cordoba!

Anyway back to Bellamy

Richard Sheaf leant me "The Saga of Garth" a fascinating anomaly. It appears to have been issued to correct a misprinting from The Comic Journal (the UK version later called The Illustrated Comic Journal, then The Illustrated Comic Journal incorporating A.C.E.) as a free supplement. But I'd like to know which CJ it came with! I have added it to the listing.

"GARTH SUPPLEMENT

In CJ No. 28 the Garth article was mistakenly published with the pages out of sequence. We hope that this did not spoil your enjoyment of the article, however to make amends we have enclosed with this issue of the CJ a complete Garth supplement. This has been expanded from the original article and now includes two extra articles on Garth.

We hope that you enjoy it.

Yours

Bryon"

Cover adapted from:
The Daily Mirror Book of Garth, London: IPC Limited, 1975.

WEBLINK: "Happy Warrior" story

Run, do not walk, to ComicsUK and click on the Daily Page link on the opening page for a page-by-page reprint of, what some consider Bellamy's finest strip, The Happy Warrior.

Bellamy said he was intimidated by this commission as this was the first time the back page of Eagle was taken up with a living person's biography and the subject, Winston Churchill, would approve pages before publication. If you follow the strip day by day, as Alan Notton, the site's creator/moderator intends. you will see Bellamy start out in standrad panel formats, but later experiment with the panels style he later was loved and remembered for.

Matadors and Hop!

I'm off on holiday, and although my subconscious might have had a hand in this, I have just realised I'm heading to Andalucia, where Nancy and Frank Bellamy spent many happy hours. Both Nancy and Frank were great fans of flamenco and all things Spanish. And if you've read the website in detail you'll find many drawings are mentioned of bulls, matadors, toreadors etc.

Jeff Haythorpe kindly gave me permission to show this wonderful picture. I'll tidy up my references on my return. Jeff has given me other pictures which I'll add later. Jeff, thanks AGAIN!

And just to tie up loose ends....
Some time ago I bought a copy of HOP!, a nice French magazine on comics. Marc-André Dumonteil kindly sent me an addition to my data on the non-English reprints page, and it wasn't until I re-read his email I realised his web address points to the magazine! There's some English at the bottom right of the page, but Marc's English is far better than any French I speak!

I definitely need a holiday!


Adiós y yo te verá la semana próxima

Norman

Crikey! Bellamy gets everywhere!

Sometimes the social world of the Internet can seem very circular, with mentions/news turning up all over the place in a short space of time. Perhaps one day, I may have to list the virtual publications that mention this website!.....That way lies madness!

But I don't mind joining in:

http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2007/06/crikey-no1-reviewed.html

When my copy comes I'll add it to the Articles page on the website

...Correction: Eagle - Dan Dare - Sufferin' Satellites

We have confirmed it was never commercially published:

• EAGLE - Not Yet Found. Colour page of Dan Dare (mustard coloured uniform) holding ray gun with a circular space station and astronaut in background (black & white), all on red background

This begs the question "what does unpublished mean?". I have also referenced the source, a fanzine/comic called Sufferin' Satellites, published in 1998

Many thanks to Richard Sheaf - read more about this project on DownTheTubes


Someone on Facebook identified the craft at top-right as coming from "The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire" drawn by Don Lawrence in Look and Learn. I've tracked it down to the 13th story "Voyage to the Moon Bolus" - and the episode was published in Look and Learn #329 (4 May 1968)

Mike Butterworth & Don Lawrence's "Trigan Empire"

And
SUFFERIN' SATELLITES (Issue 4, Mar 1998)

Sufferin' Satellites #4

Front cover - uses the unpublished Dan Dare
Back cover - shows the complete mock up of the proposed Eagle re-launch which never happened (note: the pink hue is a publishing 'fault' as the original is a more pronounced red background

The credit for the rear cover - "A big thank you goes to JEFF HAYTHORPE [...] and Terry Doyle for this issue's eagerly awaited cover. Produced originally for a 1970s relaunch of the Eagle, this previously unseen piece of Frank Bellamy artwork is presented in its original format on the back cover".

The Eagle was actually re-launched by IPC on March 27, 1982 with no sign of this artwork!

Many thanks to Richard Sheaf for the loan of this rare magazine

Telegraph Sunday Magazine - Eagle review

Shaqui has come up trumps again! On the Articles about Bellamy page, we listed the "Eagle Story" article from the Telegraph Sunday Magazine . WRONG!

It is in fact, Telegraph Sunday Magazine No. 49, 21st August 1977 pp. 18-22, "Where Eagles dared", by Byron Rogers, a three and a half page history of the Eagle comic - with one reference to Bellamy, but no relevant content!

But there is an interesting photo included - see below - with an error on it. Can anyone correct this for us, although not directly concerning Bellamy!

"The men behind the comic: from left to right, Frank Hampson, the original illustrator, Clifford Makins, who succeeded Morris as editor, John Pearce who launched the first promotion, Macdonald Hastings, Eagle Special Investigator, and Marcus Morris, the clergyman who conceived and created it, pore over early issues of Eagle.[...]" (p.18).

Unfortunately there are indeed five gents, but Hampson is instantly recognisable as being second from the left. Can anyone tell me who the first guy is?

They are, according to an Eagle Times article ("Memories of Eagle" by Graham Page, Eagle Times, Vol 30:3, Autumn 2017, pp12-14):

1. Clifford Makins reading Vol.4:9 (12 June) Eagle comic
2. Frank Hampson reading Vol.4:9 [sic] (5 June) Eagle comic
3. John Pearce ("former Joint General Manager of Hulton Press Limited")
4. Macdonald Hastings reading Vol.4:13 (3 July) Eagle comic
5. Marcus Morris reading Vol.4:12 (26 June) Eagle comic

Fanzine articles added

As stated earlier, Richard Sheaf has been really helpful in supplying details of articles about Bellamy in fan magazines.

The updated information (on the Articles page) includes:

• Astral Group Member's Forum #4-5 Feb 1982
• Astral Group Newsletter #7, 1981-2
• Comics Journal #28 (UK version), Autumn 1994
• Eagler magazine #2, Winter 1983
• Eagle Times 1987 [pilot issue] which is a reprint of....
• Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph 3 Sept 1987

Many thanks Richard - who supplied scans too! The last article by Tony Smith (who must have interviewed Bellamy more times than anyone) contains some more information which I'll use. The others are fairly derivative.

Interesting also to note the article reproduces this cartoon done by Bellamy for the Pink 'Un but with the wrong date! To understand the nicknames for the football teams read the description on the N.E.T .page

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE EVENING TELEGRAPH
(Sat 11/10/1947)
(Football Telegraph)
"Will Ar Tarn douse posh, and the Russians scare the Poppies"

...Correction: Radio Times date

Simple correction to this entry:
RADIO TIMES (04/10/1971 - 10/09/1971) should read
RADIO TIMES (04/09/1971 - 10/09/1971)

Marv Wolfman and Frank Bellamy

I thought it was time to correct something I left up on the site, namely this mysterious entry in the unpublished list:

• Robin Hood:
• Black & white with an inscription "Best wishes to XXXXXX" and signed

I'm pleased to say that wonderful Marv Wolfman agreed that I could let people know that he owns this original Bellamy drawing. He says "I also have two original painted Heros the Spartan pages, too."

It was the latter that was the start of suggesting that Bellamy be entered in the ACBA award for Best Foreign Artist in 1972. Due to the age of the Heros strips (1962-1965), they could not be used. However, someone (Barry Windsor-Smith?) had the bright idea of using the one-off comic strip of Star Trek that appeared in the TV and radio listings magazine in the UK, the Radio Times. And the rest as they say is history......

Footnote:
Many people think therefore Bellamy drew Star Trek in the UK. He drew only only this single page mentioned above with 2 spot illustrations for the TV listings. Mike Noble's run on Star Trek in the second series of TV21 is considered a high point.

TV21 Issue 50
Drawn by Mike Noble