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| Eagle Vol.11:21 (21 May 1960) p1 |
INTRODUCTION
I've now examined the first "Dan Dare" story which involved Frank Bellamy "Terra
Nova" and the second tale "Trip
to Trouble". This time we look at the third and last story "Project Nimbus". As I have a lot to say, I hope you'll bear with me as I decided not to split this final part into chunks!
The Eagle comic was going through a tough period with corporate takeovers. Yet they still believed that publicity aimed at the retailer could get numbers up.
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| Retail Newsagent Bookseller and Stationer 5 March 1960 |
It looks obvious from the above advert that Bellamy had drawn (at least the top-half of) the first episode of "Project Nimbus" (of the SPA-1, a space station - like no ship seen before in "Dan Dare") before the trade magazine's publication date of 5 March. The published copy of the comic arrived dated 19 March, two weeks later, and it no longer had the top-left corner "Eagle" logo but had a standard masthead across the top of the comic incorporating the old and fondly remembered logo. All change! Also Keith Watson was now gone (his last work on the 'Bellamy year' was Vol.11:8). As we'll see this was also the story in which Bellamy was told to alter the whole look of Spacefleet craft and uniforms, as he related in the long interview with Dez Skinn and Dave Gibbons!
David Jackson pointed out to me that
The redesigned Spacefleet is, in fact, made passing reference to almost as editorial sleight-of-hand in the previous week's concluding storyline final panel of the crews' thoughts (Vol.11No.11) - i.e. before the readers knew what had hit them.
PROJECT NIMBUS: Who drew what?
If fans of Dan Dare moaned about the previous two stories not being as good as when Hampson was in control, then this story must have blown their minds. It has the Frank Bellamy stamp on it - in the design of the spaceships and also the aliens which look, well, very alien! The story is a bit all over the place and I personally feel that Bellamy was getting extremely tired and this might explain why he didn't sign many of this story's pages. In a 70s interview with the creator of Dan Dare, Frank Hampson, Alan Vince asked the question:
Alan Vince: Were you happy about the way Bellamy changed the look of Dan Dare?PROJECT NIMBUS - Overview
Frank Hampson: No. I'm not saying that, as an artist, Bellamy wasn't doing a good job. He was as much a victim of the changing face of Eagle as I was.
Now we come to another story and another dilemma in identifying who did what. Bellamy signs 7 of his pages but drew a lot more. The story starts off with the confidence and clarity we saw in the last story - Bellamy signing his solo pages. But after the initial 4 episodes, it goes to pieces. We'll need to look at each page in turn so make sure you have copies from Hawk, Titan or one of the other many reprints - or even your original Eagle comics.
The first page (Volume 11: 12 (19 March 1960) shows
Bellamy's use of colours to delineate objects thus negating the need to
use heavy outlines. Worth remembering as we go on through the story.
The second thing to note is it is with this story that Bellamy introduces the re-designed uniforms for Spacefleet personnel. It wasn't his idea and many copies exist in photocopy form (2 of which can be seen here) and people often quote the change as if it happened at the start of Bellamy's run. It's interesting to see how no-one mentions it in the strip itself or explains any of it!
On the second page of the first episode, we see Dan Dare in a green dress uniform (with new insignia) and then in the spaceship he appears in the red 'uniform', he wears most of the time afterwards. And poor Anastasia is just totally forgotten! I personally don't like many of Bellamy's designs for craft, whether space or earth-bound. A lot appear in a needle form, such as the Ferry mentioned in the strip below. But I know many love his craft!
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| Eagle Vol.11:12 (19 March 1960) p2 |
The credit at the bottom right of the page also made me wonder what was going on. Previously the copyright statement stated "All copyright of Dan Dare Pilot of the Future is vested in Hulton Press - then LongacrePress Ltd" but here we also get a credit for the workers!
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How did Don Harley, Keith Watson and Gerald Palmer feel about this? I'm afraid, I have no idea. But again it wouldn't enamour Bellamy to them, even though it wasn't his idea to do this!
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| Eagle Vol.11:15 (9 April1960) p.2 |
THE ARTWORK
Let's go back to Vol11:13 and look at this in detail. Bellamy had drawn and signed Vol11:12 plus the first page of issue 13. Let's look at issue 13's interior second page.
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| Frame 1: Don Harley, Frame 2: Gerald Palmer |
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| Frames 3-5: Don Harley |
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| Frames 6 to 8: Gerald Palmer |
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| Frames 9+10: Don Harley, Frame11: Gerald Palmer |
Now although none of these make me think they are Bellamy (except perhaps Frame 2 due it being a ship designed by Bellamy), it's interesting to see how Palmer - in particular - tries to mimic Bellamy (in Frames 2 and 6). [Thanks to David Slinn for the breakdown]
For the cover of Vol 11:14 (not shown here) Palmer handles the spaceships in both the title panel and panel 4, while Harley draws the rest.
After signing his individual pages for Volume 11 numbers 12 - 15 inclusive, Bellamy's next page is unsigned. Why?
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| Eagle Vol.11:16 (16 April1960) p.2 |
At first sight, it looks like Bellamy's artwork, but then another glance starts me wondering, some of the colours are 'off', some of the stippling doesn't match his usual work. But the layout, the figure work just ARE Bellamy. David Slinn suggested that " all the familiar traits of FB are present – tending to suggest that Frank had chosen to make a conscious effort [or as part of the “redesign” editorial briefing] to more closely match Don Harley’s (long-ingrained, Frank Hampson) treatment of ‘Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future’.
The above (Eagle Vol.11:16 (16 April1960) is a good example that will stand in for others later in the story. Some of the background colour in the panels seem to be by someone other than Bellamy. They appear flat, lifeless somehow. In panels 2 and 3 the helmets, although his by design, appear to me to be crudely stippled as in the penultimate panel too. It's hard to compare the original art as it is faded but one panel shouts loudly to me. Look at panel 6 of the Nimbus 2 - the blue and grey. The background just isn't the way Bellamy would draw. He'd use stippling or colour variations. That green is just not a Bellamy green, the ceiling of the craft does not match the sort of thing Bellamy would do.
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| Original art |
The next cover is by Don Harley and then page 2 of that issue again gives me a chance to pause. Eagle vol.11:17 (23 April 1960) at first glance, bits of it look very strongly as if they are Bellamy's work. But then we get panels 1 and 2 with a plain blue star-field - no stars! The fourth panel is strange in that the Nimbus 2 nose is outside the panel but not overlain as Bellamy might do.
David Jackson said "11.17 p2 (unlike p1) is enough like FB to be FB as a page but with unusual differences such as some background colour and word-balloon shapes. The circular inset mini panel word balloon looks more FB than the previous one in shape but the one on the right is another more sausage shape and their outlines could be slightly thinner and wavering than usual FB, possibly retraced and reworded maybe, I don't know. " - thus showing how complicated this is! And then David Slinn stated: "The cleanly-shaped outlines and positioning of the speech balloons is typical FB, further advancing the foregoing as a feasible explanation... while the visual continuity of the sequence seems more comfortable"
The next issue has an unsigned cover and again has some of the same anomalies - the strange coloured star-field in panel 2; the way the major middle panel background is coloured and drawn.
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| Eagle Vol.11:18 (30 April 1960) p.1 |
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| Eagle Vol.11:18 (30 April 1960) p.2 |
The front cover page for the following week (Eagle Vol.11:19 (7 May 1960)) is by the team, but the next page,although signed and with strong Bellamy elements, I wondered about the purple background, the mixture of colours in panel 6 and elsewhere which is why this identification is so troublesome! David Slinn felt this was a "A clearer example of an apparent decision to improve the continuity, by aiming to have either FB or DH to be responsible for a complete page of artwork... and, where practical, then also handle the page immediately following it"
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| Eagle Vol.11:19 (7 May 1960) p.2 |
The next week (Vol.11: 20) has a cover which again at first glance seems to be Bellamy - but it is unsigned. The colours again don't feel right, the Dan Dare face in panel 2 seems awkward somehow, yet Bellamy-ish!
Page 2 of this issue contains obvious Bellamy aliens and I have to say row 3 looks to be all Bellamy, (in addition to panels 1,2,and 5) - again he designs the alien.
Then we get to the alien spacecraft on the cover of Vol. 11:21 (see the image at the top of this article). Not only the spaceship but also that iconic Dan Dare and Digby shot. Then the team draw the second page but let's focus on one particular panel. Is it Frank Bellamy or not?
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| Eagle Vol.11:21 (21 May 1960) p.2 Detail |
After this the team draw the cover to Vol. 11:22 and then we get the following page.
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| Eagle Vol.11:22 (28 May 1960) p.2 |
It's not signed and again I think it's because most of it is Bellamy but not all. Most strange, to me, is the middle panel at the bottom. Look closely and you can see Bellamy's constructed face but the lines are definitely not his. The aliens look to be a Bellamy creation (my intuition as this is the big reveal shot!) so this really is confusing. It's almost as if Bellamy pencilled and someone else inked, which would be a first - but it doesn't look like the linework of Harley, Watson (who had left Eagle by this time and gone onto draw "Captain Condor" for Lion later in the year - see below) or Palmer!
As an aside I always wondered from where the inspiration came for the aliens and wondered if it was Virgil Finlay (another great artist whose stippling technique rivals Bellamy's!) - Compare his other alien designs that appeared on the BBC during his time on Dan Dare
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| Virgil Finlay (1914-1971), ‘Gift Horse’, Worlds of IF, June 1958 |
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| Eagle Vol.11:23 (4 April 1960) p2 detail |
Then we get to a similar situation with Volume 11:23. The cover is definitely the team and then the interior page is Bellamy-ish! It's again not signed and looks very confusing. I'd say it was Palmer imitating FB but I'm not convinced by that here or in the previous comic! In fact Bellamy signs no more of the Dan Dare pages for "Project Nimbus". When Dan shoots the red-eyed alien machine, the explosion extends beyond the comic panel - a Bellamy technique - but the explosion colour is awfully crude for a Bellamy drawing and like the rest of the page, I can't believe it was Bellamy handing in inferior artwork. What went on here? If we examine the panels shown here, the lines on Dan and Digby's oxygen tanks are crude (1st panel) the rocks behind them are crude; the colour sketchy lines on Dan's helmet in the 4th panel are crude. It looks like a Bellamy composition but....
David Slinn felt that
"perhaps, not a factor that’s taken into account, but “last-minute” amendments/corrections/clarifications would sometimes be carried out by a staff-artist under directions from Eagle editorial. [On one occasion – while delivering a completed weekly assignment – due to temporary staff absences, I was tasked with cleaning-up and making minor alterations to the ‘Safari in Space’ episode for Eagle Vol. 10 No. 6 (7 February 1959).]"
And of course, as David was there this seems to me to be very plausible but still begs the question, why amend Bellamy's art?
Volume 11:24 has Bellamy handle the cover page and he's 'back on form' but again leaves the page unsigned.
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| Eagle Vol. 11:25 (18 June 1960) p1 Original Art |
The same with 11:25, a lovely cover by Bellamy - unsigned - followed by a lovely Harley internal page. This pattern is repeated until the end of the story in volume 11 number 28 on 9 July 1960. David again helps me out explaining,
As you’ve correctly identified, from Eagle Vol. 11 No.25 (18 June 1960) through to Vol. 11 No. 28 (9 July 1960), the covers are handled by Frank. Now working on his own in Hulton House, Don completes each episode’s second page (Gerald Palmer having left by now) – while also preparing for Bruce Cornwell’s arrival and the commencement of ‘Mission of the Earthmen’ (the next DD story).
BALLOONS
We know that Bellamy drew the balloon/ bubble shapes onto the board for letterers to complete. In Vol.11:13 panel 6 [see left panel below] we get not only a Bellamy-like drawing within an otherwise 'Team Hampson' page, (inked by someone other than FB perhaps?), but also the balloon looks different and also the lack of drawn border on the right hand side of the panel makes me wonder if this is an insert by Bellamy? David Jackson felt this is the only panel on this page by Bellamy.
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| Eagle Vol. 11:13 (26 March 1960) p2 detail |
DON HARLEY'S MEMORIES
Don Harley (in Spaceship Away #22) explained that
Frank Bellamy came to London each week. He took one page home with him and the ex-Epsom artists divided the other frames. He wasn't much help to us and didn't give us much advice. It was left to me to keep an eye on the other artists, but Frank was a delightful person. We looked forward to the days on which he came to London as he made us laugh so much that we could not get any work done. [...] The move to London was early 1959, and I went freelance at the end of the year. Keith, Gerald and Brenda [Kennington] were made redundant when I started work with Frank Bellamy ('Project Nimbus') after leaving the studio in London. I liked Bellamy's uniforms and spaceships, but not Dan Dare - the Dan Dare and crew of Venus 1996 were the only people of the future to the readers of the 1950's. When Bellamy left I took over as a matter of course. I decided to carry on with the original Dan Dare and Bruce Cornwell came to work with me.
So here's a clue as to who drew what when! But I suspect, like all of us, Don might be remembering only half the story. But he was consistent, as in a letter Richard Farrell kindly shared, Don states "Kieth (sic) Watson and I never saw Frank Bellamy at work as he worked at home and at this time, 1959, [..] Frank would deliver his part of the work and we tied it in with what we were doing and as the two styles were so different it looked like two different strips"
So does "and we tied it in with what we were doing" mean consistently drawn aliens? Or one page followed or preceded another properly as regards continuity? Or could it mean even half pages were handed over for Frank Bellamy to fill? In another piece (SSI Newsletter) Don stated:
As a friend and colleague I never saw him for more than a few hours a week [..] He would come up to Hulton House, where we had our studio on the top floor, for a few hours twice a week to make sure that our work tied up with the part of the strips that he had done.
In an interview with Terry Doyle (Eagle Times Winter 1994 (Vol.7:4)]:
TD:HOW DID BELLAMY COORDINATE THE WORK - DID HE PROVIDE ROUGH LAYOUTS, OR DID HE MERELY EXPLAIN WHAT HE WANTED YOU TO PRODUCE?
DH: I can't remember Frank producing a rough, I think he decided which page he wanted to draw and left the rest of us to get on with the other page. He then came into the office when he had finished, to tie things up.
We always looked forward to his visits as he had a great sense of humour.
DH: I think that Frank Bellamy was a bit worried about taking on Dan Dare and he didn't enjoy drawing it. His style of drawing was so different that he eventually re-designed everything in the Dan Dare strip to suit his own style of drawing. I know he was hoping to get a strip of his own.
Finally these are Frank Bellamy's own words from the Skinn/Gibbons interview
SKINN/GIBBONS: ON "DAN DARE" YOU WERE WORKING WITH SEVERAL OTHER ARTISTS. HOW MUCH OF THE STRIP DID YOU ACTUALLY DRAW?
FB: It varied from week to week. Sometimes, I'd draw half a dozen frames only, the following week I might draw both pages. But I'd always draw any frames that introduced new characters. It often depended where the awkward frames would appear. As senior artist in the studio, this was my problem. The eventual idea was that I would take over the whole strip and draw both pages by myself every week.
S/G: BUT YOU DIDN'T WANT THAT?
FB: No, not really. Although, as a temporary measure, I'd have preferred to draw "Dan Dare" in that way, complete, as Keith Watson did later. But the other artists were employed on a freelance basis to help me with fill-in frames and such. I never really have been happy working that way. If I look at Alex Raymond .art, I like to see pure Alex Raymond, not inked by Fred Bloggs. It's okay if Fred Bloggs is helping out with some research or rubbing out the pencils, but I like the drawing to be a personal thing.
DAVID SLINN on KEITH WATSON'S DEPARTURE
As with much of what went on, the accurate timing of Keith’s departure, presents its own difficulties. In the context of these present discussions, having experienced the undoubted success of Frank Hampson’s studio method, he became somewhat despondent that – despite FB’s illustrative skills – the overall appearance of those episodes with linking sequences was often less than satisfactory. Marcus Morris had passed over the reins to Clifford Makins around the end of September 1959, certainly placing Keith’s decision to actually hand in his own resignation nearer to late-autumn. The actual outcome, I feel, reflects more on Odhams management’s determination to reduce staffing costs, than Clifford’s actual indifference, but Keith was left with a clear impression he’d likely have been given his cards in the upcoming changes.
An even bigger unknown – unless it’s been documented in Eagle Times or some other fanzine interview – is how Keith’s freelance existence initially fared; whether he sought agency representation – or, reprising his 1957 arrival at Bayford Lodge – went knocking on potential editorial doors with appropriate specimen artwork. However, what’s extraordinary – and achieved in less than six months – he somehow managed to produce such accomplished finished artwork for ‘Captain Condor’ in Lion, right from the first episode. [As David sent me the "Captain Condor" story, I thought I'd share the first page! ~Norman]
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| Keith Watson's artwork for "Captain Condor" (Lion 1 October 1960, p. 14) |
SUMMING UP FRANK BELLAMY'S TIME ON DAN DARE
Many people have published their opinions on this very subject. Let me state my personal opinion which is based on 'retrospective reading' - I wasn't reading Dan Dare until c. 1963 and even then it was 'Fidosaurus' that attracted me more!
I always found the 1950s Dan Dare to be a real mish-mash of artistic styles and when Frank Hampson drew Dan Dare, it was fantastic - hands-down brilliant. When Don Harley drew the character, it was really good and I enjoy his straight-forward artwork here and elsewhere. I'm not surprised Hampson 'awarded' Harley the co-credit in the later 50s for the production. Later when Keith Watson took on the character by himself his bold and big designs were superb but the colouring strange - which we now know was perhaps due to his colour-blindness
However, mixing three artists' work on two pages just led to disaster, despite many innovative designs, interesting use of line and colour work. The idea could never work. But hindsight is an easy thing to use as a criticism. I wasn't there making decisions about who did what - after all Odhams wanted to reduce costs and Hampson's studio method was costly - the number of people involved as well as models and filing cabinets stuffed with previous information.
Bellamy alone would have produced something vibrant and different and more importantly consistent in style - despite not loving science-fiction. David Jackson made a comment when we were talking recently along the lines of great artists being able to construct art from their heads. They don't need to copy models and images, they take them on board and manipulate them as art. I've looked and looked for more years than I care to imagine to see if I could find a 'swipe' or Bellamy plagiarising anyone else's art: I haven't! I have found others copying Bellamy - amongst them, Al Williamson, Wally Wood, Gerry Haylock, Brian Lewis to name but a few. He was just so clever - especially as he was self-taught.
~ Thanks again to David Jackson, David Slinn and Paul Holder for looking over my musings. I am extremely grateful to many others such as Terry Doyle, Alan Vince, Phil Harbottle, and Don Harley for their published articles and interviews. I take full responsibility for the finished article - let me know if I need to correct or add/delete anything!
FOOTNOTE regarding the free gifts in Eagle at the start of "Project Nimbus"
As I did some extensive research I've added this here for others, to help them follow up (Richard Sheaf!). The first issue of "Project Nimbus" would have a free gift (a usual UK idea to garner extra sales), of a "Passport to Adventure". Inside the comic the editor Clifford Makins explains the "free passport wallet" to keep the "World Transport" supplement in, and the following three weeks would include "Space, The Real Wild West and Underwater World" to add to the wallet. They are actually 4 page supplements that are folded to make small 16 page black and white booklets. The Wild West supplement was produced by Frank Humphris, the regular artist on 'Riders of the Range'