Boy's World Annual 1971 - J. T. Edson

You can subscribe to Rebellion's newsletter at their Treasury of British Comics website and that's where I saw this (with thanks to Richard Sheaf for the nudge!). Boy's World Annual 1971 had the J. T. Edson story "Johnny Boyland and the quail hunters" on pages 23-27 and Rebellion still have the original art which is a joy to see. 

 

Boy's World Annual 1971 p.27

Boy's World Annual 1971 p.26

Boy's World Annual 1971 p.25

Boy's World Annual 1971 p.24

Boy's World Annual 1971 p.23

 Rebellion added this short piece:

This month, the Rebellion archivists have found a quintet of stunning original Western illustrations by the legendary Frank Bellamy. Produced for the Boy’s World Annual 1971, the story 'Johnny Boyland and the Quail Hunters' was written by J. T. Edson.

Born in Kettering in 1917, Bellamy is renowned for his stunning work for Eagle and TV Century 21. With a radical approach to page layouts, and a sophisticated and innovative use of graphic effects and colours, his work truly stood out against the more staid and formulaic comics of the era. For Eagle he illustrated 'Heros the Spartan' and 'Fraser of Africa', as well as working on the lead 'Dan Dare' strip. He also drew 'Thunderbirds' and the splash center spreads [sic] of 'Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons' for TV Century 21, and the Daily Mirror's 'Garth' strip 1971 until his sudden death in 1976 at the age of 59.

Although fondly remembered, Boy's World was rather more short-lived than intended. Published from January 1963, Boy's World was meant to be an Eagle for the new decade, with full bleed magazine-style layouts and an impressive roster of creators, including writers such as Harry Harrison and Michael Moorcock, and artists like John M. Burns, Ron and Gerry Embleton, Gerald Haylock, Frank Langford, Brian Lewis Harry Bishop, and Luis Bermejo.

However, the project was beset by problems. Its original editor was replaced before launch and the first issue had to be substantially revamped in under six months. In the end, it lasted just 89 issues and in October 1964 it was folded into Eagle, the comic it had been intended to replace. The title continued as an Annual until 1972.

However, these small examples of Bellamy's work for Boy's World had a curious second life – the story and its illustrations were reprinted in exactly the same way in the Gold Star Gift Book for Boys from 1972, which reused material from the Boy's World Annuals from 1970 and 1971.

Bellamy only produced covers for five Captain Scarlet strips in TV21 - no centrespreads! It only takes a minute to count them in my index and the full details are there. The rest of those stories were drawn by Don Harley (2) and a further three drawn by Jim Watson - none on the centre pages.

Here's a link to the Gold Star Gift Book mentioned and isn't interesting that all these were reproduced at "same size" in the printed annual?