NEW FINDS - Frank Bellamy the Daily Record again!

New Garth? Read on!

There were many printing strikes in the 1970s. I remember it well when my regular weekly comic didn't turn up! This article will make you think I'm obsessive but bear with me and I'll show you some newly discovered Frank Bellamy artwork! And for fans of 'Garth' the daily newspaper strip, stick around! And if you were a Scottish reader of the Daily Record, well, you'll learn a few things too. And if you're not interested in industrial relations in the 1970s, well....

REVIEW of what's gone before

Firstly I have written about the numbering system on the Jim Edgar authored, Frank Bellamy drawn and John Allard lettered 'Garth' strip before.  It was in 2019 I discovered a previously undiscovered Bellamy 'Garth' strip in the Scottish Daily Record. I then did further research and listed all the Christmas Daily Record differences to what was published in the Daily Mirror in England. 

Well, I was just checking facts on when the 'Garth' strips were published in England and had so many days where printing strikes and public holidays occurred, it made me dig deeper. I've added all the data to the main page listing all Bellamy's 'Garth' strips but discovered, in comparing Daily Record strips with these gaps, that Bellamy drew some more 'Garth' strips not seen by me - and I suspect a lot of you, before!

Let's take each story by story and add notes

GARTH STRIP ANOMALIES

SUNDANCE

E221 was published in England and Scotland on Saturday 18 September 1971 and then from Monday 20 - Thursday 23 September there was no Daily Mirror printed in England and because of this, none of the usual 'imported' strips appeared in Scotland's Daily Record. A notice appeared under the Scottish strip "Angus Og" by Ewen Bain on 20 September:

Due to the industrial dispute in Fleet Street, we are unable to bring you the adventures of Garth and The Perishers. Both strips will be continued as soon as possible.

Variations of this appeared each day until the 23 September when it was announced Garth would "return tomorrow" - and it did, continuing the numbering with no gaps.

CLOUD OF BALTHUS

Over Christmas and New Year things deviated, but caught up, with Scotland, there was a fill-in strip but drawn by John Allard - see this post - and as it's not numbered I called it  "E300.5". And the Scots saw F301 before England - published on 27 December - Boxing day in England! 

THE ORB OF TRIMANDIAS

Nothing was published on Good Friday (31 March 1972) in England....BUT... and I really need a drum roll....there was a Garth strip illustrated by Bellamy in the Daily Record!

**NEW** 'Garth' DR. GF. 72 or  F77.5

If you are following the English numbering it should be placed after F77 and before F78. The Scots named it DRGF72 = Daily Record Good Friday 1972. Imagine my excitement! Now it's shared.

THE WOLFMAN of AUSENSEE

Between Tuesday 25 July - Thursday  27 July 1972 there were no Daily Mirror published in England and the Daily Record stated on 27 July:

SORRY
As most readers know, production of the Daily Record was stopped on Monday and Tuesday nights by industrial action in support of the dockers. Sorry you missed your favourite paper. It's nice to be back.

This doesn't explain the lack of Wednesday's Scottish paper and I couldn't find a reason! On 29 July Garth was missing from the Daily Record with an announcement that he would return next week, thus allowing the Scots to catch up and in the Mirror of Friday 28 July, F175 was reprinted together with the new episode F176 with the explanation

"As southern editions of the Daily Mirror did not appear last Monday, two editions of the strip cartoons appear today."

PEOPLE OF THE ABYSS

**NEW** F303.5 or DR.CH.72

There were no discrepancies in this story's run. However, in Scotland, as stated previously on this blog, we see an extra episode - "F303.5" which I suppose should be called DR.CH.72 but it is not numbered in any way and just rounds off the story before the Scots began the next story on 26 December 1972. 

On the 19 December 1972, there were two of all the cartoon strips printed:

"As southern editions of the Daily Mirror did not appear yesterday double helping of your favourite strip cartoons is printed today."

WOMEN OF GALBA

So Scotland saw the start of this story on 26 December when England was not publishing on Boxing Day and after a week, caught up and was back in sync. There were no other discrepancies except on Thursday 22 March 1973, two strips were printed G70 (+G69) - the latter being a reprint with the following:

"Southern editions of the Daily Mirror did not appear yesterday because of industrial action. Here's a double ration of strips."

GHOST TOWN

Good Friday fell on 20 April in 1973 so there was no Garth strip as the Mirror didn't used to publish on that key Christian date. But....here 's the next drum roll....the Daily Record was published and had a single panel Garth strip

**NEW** Garth: Ghost Town G94a

Helpfully someone at the Record used the same numbering sequence and called this (instead of my 94.5) 94a. A brand new Garth to most of Britain! And of course there is no interruption to the story as Garth merely stares out at the town!
A strike predicted on 26 April took place on May Day which meant neither the Record or the Mirror were published on 1 May 1973 so Garth merely carried on the next day in both papers.

The MASK OF ATACAMA

There were no discrepancies in this story's run. 

THE WRECKERS

I have no idea why on Tuesday 6 November 1973 an announcement was made at the top of the day's cartoon strips "Here's a double ration of your favourite strips" - no explanation why, as there was no industrial action!   Monday 5 November 1973 had the Garth strip G263 and on Tuesday 6 November 1973 G263 with G264 appeared (along with "The Fosdyke Saga" and "The Larks" doubled up)! 

But more excitedly and as previously mentioned on this blog, the fact the Scots published a Daily Record on 26 December 1973, meant they got a new Bellamy Garth which I've shown before, but to make sure we are clear I've included it here as 'new'.

Garth: The Wreckers - G305.5 or DR.CH.73

Neither the Mirror nor the Record published on New Year's Day 1974

 THE BEAST OF ULTOR

I'm not sure you can contain your excitement...but here's the drum roll again....on Friday 12 April 1974, Good Friday, the Daily Mirror did not publish. But the Daily Record did!
 

**NEW** Garth: The Beast of Ultor H86.5 or DR.GF.74

We have another new Garth which inserted in the arena scene fits perfectly. But the story doesn't need it! Clever. Finally Wednesday 8 May 1974 there was no Daily Mirror but there was a Daily Record and they merely moved an episode ahead of England.

The other interesting thing  is that H120 (23 May 1974) has a caption printed above the Garth strip which says "What kind of music relaxes Garth when he's not whizzing around Space? See this week's Disc, on sale now!" which I've written about before.

FREAK OUT TO FEAR!

Interestingly this story was completely omitted in the Daily Record - perhaps as it deals with drugs? - and John Burns 'Danielle' strip (from the Evening News) was used instead. 

In the Daily Mirror, H144 appeared twice - once on the scheduled date Thursday 20 June 1974, and as Friday wasn't published at all, the Saturday edition reprinted H144 before the Monday resuming normal service.

THE BRIDE OF JENGHIZ KHAN

The Daily Record carried on using John Burns 'Danielle' rather than Frank Bellamy's 'Garth' and after that ended, there was no replacement strip for a long time- leaving 'Angus Og' alone to carry the torch for cartoon strips.. The following public holidays in England meant the Daily Mirror wasn't published - Wednesday 25 December 1974 and the next day, plus New Year's Day 1975 - and obviously there was no Garth in the Daily Record. Interestingly a caption appeared above the episode of 3 December 1974 (H284) stating "Garth has discovered a well of pitch, and has had pitch spread over the courtyard". Effectively the first time I've seen an introduction to an episode (and there's one for 'The Fosdyke Saga' too!). This does happen again - see below ("Angels of Hell's Gap")

ANGELS OF HELL'S GAP

J12 and J13 were published as usual. But here's where I'm having difficulties. The British Newspaper Archive does not have issues of the Daily Mirror for Friday 17 January 1975, or Saturday 18 or Monday    20 January and episode J15 appears on Tuesday 21 January 1975. So I can't tell when J14 was published. The paper of the Thursday 16 mentions that there's a possibility of strike action closing down all national newspapers on Friday 17, and there's no resumé on Tuesday, so I wondered if J14 was published on the Monday. But an article on Monday 20th in the Daily Record states: "The Daily Mirror was again not published last night" - obviously meaning the early hours of Monday. So it looks as if J14 was never published. So in case it's missing from your collection here it is - but then again, Scotland, this might be your first glimpse of any later 'Garth' strips!

Garth: Angels of Hell's Gap J14

The 28 March 1975 was Good Friday - but the Scottish paper was still running 'Danielle' so no Garths to be found there. Interestingly the issue of the Daily Mirror 5 April, under a headline of "It's great to be back" mentions that DM "did not appear" for last 10 days in the Midlands and the South. Thankfully the Archive has copies of all but one of these. I presume this means the plant in Manchester did go ahead with publication but distribution elsewhere was a problem?

That introductory caption (see above "The Bride of Jenghiz Khan") occurs again in 21 January 1975 paper: "Garth, temporary film extra, has donned the uniform of a Confederate Army major."  In J78 (5 April 1975) we get another: "Loomis with most of his men captured is on the run from Garth and the miners" Were the editors thinking with all the disruption, a resumé of the story was worthwhile?

THE DOOMSMEN

From May to August 1975, there are no discrepancies in the publication of Garth except on 4 July 1975 when 2 strips were published (J154 + J155)! The reason appears to be explained earlier in the paper:

The Daily Mirror regrets that readers in some areas of England and Wales were unable to obtain copies of the newspaper yesterday. This was due to a dispute with journalists. The Daily Mirror apologises for this inconvenience to readers, wholesale newsagents, retailers and advertisers.

THE BUBBLE MAN

"The Daily Mirror did not appear yesterday, in common with other national newspapers"  is the statement on Saturday 15 November 1975. So in case you need this episode J269 to complete the story, here it is.

Garth: The Bubble Man J269

Also another introductory caption appears on J270 (15 November 1975): "Garth learns from a Nomad of sabotage by Ledra"

BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

On 8 December 1975, the Mirror brought all its strips together on one page - meaning Andy Capp was no longer on a 2 x 2 grid but a single strip like Garth. The Daily Mirror didn't publish on the holiday dates of 25 and 26 December 1975 or 1 January 1976 and there are no other surprises here.

THE SPANISH LADY

Good Friday fell on 16 April in 1976 and there were no gaps as a result of the non-publication of the Daily Mirror (and the Record had only the 'Angus Og' strip).

GHOST TOWN - REPRINTED
Unfortunately Frank Bellamy passed away on 5 July 1976 when the third-to-last episode of 'The Spanish Lady' appeared as K158 on Monday 5 July 1976. The Mirror ran the last two episodes and began on Thursday 8 July to re-run 'Ghost Town' with the original numbering on the artwork. So while 'Andy Capp', 'The Perishers', 'The Fosdyke Saga', 'The Larks' and 'Little Joe' were numbered K161, 'Ghost Town retained the number G87. Notice the header above the strip.

Garth: Ghost Town - reprinted

What would have been nice, would be to see G94a from the Daily Record included, but that didn't happen. 

The publication of these 78 episodes gave the Mirror time to try-out and appoint a successor and that was Martin Asbury, as we know. However Bellamy had drawn 16 more episodes of Garth.

THE MANHUNT 

The first episode (K239) was published Thursday 7 October 1976 and the last credited episode was K253. However K254 (published Monday 25 October 1976) despite being credited to Martin Asbury is signed and clearly drawn by Frank Bellamy

 

Garth: The Manhunt K254 drawn by FB

And in case anyone is wondering, the Daily Record of the same date had Angus Og and  was now also publishing 'Lance McLane' by the brilliant Sydney Jordan (M148).

SUMMARY

I've studied all episodes of Garth drawn by Bellamy and noted published dates in a spreadsheet with discrepancies due to strikes, and public holidays. I've looked at the Daily Record for these dates and around them a bit and justified why things were different. This led to the discovery of these new strips. Anyone reprinting Garth would do all collectors a favour by including them.

I hope you enjoyed seeing them and if you followed the text too, go and grab a cup of tea or something stronger! You deserve it.

Norman

ORIGINAL ART - Garth x 2 and Thunderbirds

 

Garth:  J135+J136

2 episodes of Garth: The Doomsmen story are up for auction at Anderson & Garland Ltd., Newcastle with an auctioneer's estimate of £250 - £450. The auction takes place over 3 September 2024 to the following day, and we're looking at Lot #333 in their "Comics Auction". The Garths are consecutive numbers which is nice. The auctioneer's description is:

Original artwork by artist Frank Bellamy for the Daily Mirror newspaper comic strip Garth, two episodes from a continuing story published June the 11th, June the 12st [sic] 1975, ink on boards, signed, 18 x 55cms, unframed, (a pair).

The average price paid over the last 12 years for one strip has been £326 so I'd expect these two nice examples of Bellamy's work to reach the upper estimate or more. Let's see how well my Cassandra powers are working. 

I happen to have a better photo of those two:

Garth:  J135+J136

For those interested there are also some Martin Asbury "Garth" too: Lot #334, Lot #335, Lot #336 and #337.  

"Thunderbirds" from TV21 #80

"Thunderbirds" from TV21 #80

"Thunderbirds" from TV21 #80

Secondly an eBayer has placed an episode of Thunderbirds which he has been trying to raise interest in via Facebook. It's a wonderful example of Thunderbirds  and thankfully not very faded, if at all - but that's hard to tell as this is mounted behind glass. It sold at auction in America two years ago - see my blog entry here - at £9000 which I considered a very high price - and if this has been 'posted' to the UK, the cost for that piece alone is high, but I suspect the buyer bought the other piece(s?) too! Is he now trying to recoup some of that outlay? norman

norman I deliberately kept a spreadsheet of sales on this blog after so many people asked me how much their Bellamy was worth. Please remember you can say anything with statistics.

Taking that sales data - excluding non-sales - and ONLY looking at double-page spreads (not 2 single pages of the same story) I think - including 5 faded boards which sold AND including the two sales mentioned on Heritage (which are outliers in my opinion) the average is £3,961. If we include those outliers and say we must exclude the faded boards, we get an average of £5,393.  If we only count all non-faded and exclude the outliers, we get £4,174 over  aperiod of 15 years!

The highest price paid for a double-page Thunderbirds prior to that Heritage sale was £8,300 so make of that data what you will! At the end of the day, if someone is willing to pay, that's how much a piece is worth! And don't forget on Sunday 1 September that Dan Dare page auction ends!

AUCTION SUMMARY

"Garth: The Doomsmen (J135 + J136)
WHERE?: Thesaleroom
STARTING BID: £
ENDING PRICE: £380
END DATE: Tuesday 3 September - Wednesday 4 September 2024

"Thunderbirds" TV21 #80
WHERE?: eBay seller: d.g100
STARTING BID: £8,000
ENDING PRICE: £UNSOLD - re-listed and immediately taken down
END DATE: Sunday 1 September 2024

 

When is a title not a title? When it has no date!

Undated cover

Richard Sheaf, a good friend of the blog, runs his own blog collecting together all sorts of ephemeral comics and comic art materials in one handy-dandy place, "Boy's Adventure Comics". I'm surprised how obsessive he can be - but love the fact he is!

Recently he noted that some annuals - which look to be published in Britain for the non-UK market - had no date on their covers (or spines, I might add).

So here's where Frank Bellamy comes in. For years I called the  "Daily Mirror Book of Garth" just that. That is until, to my surprise, I saw the 1975 (portrait) book was dated 1975! That sent me to correct the checklist!

For your collectors among you, here are the two covers sans date plus an unusual advert for this book showing the date.

Dated

Top Secret Picture Library #11-p.68

Undated

Undated spine - thus the gap at the end!

Undated - first page
No prizes for guessing what's missing from the end part of the scroll

Dated

And just for good measure here's the original art for the later 1976 book  which sold in May 2008 for £1089. If anyone knows who has the art for 1975 do let me know!

Original Art

If anyone has a non-dated 1975 book, could they send me a copy of the spine and also the first page - where the scroll device was again used? Thanks

Frank Bellamy and Garth numbering and dates

 

I was recently alerted to the fact I have never stated anywhere what the hand-written numbering and dates on Garth original art mean. It's flattering when people think I know everything to do with Frank Bellamy and his run on the Daily Mirror's Garth strip from 1971 to 1976.

So let's have a go at presenting my thoughts and see whether anyone can add anything.

Here's an example of the printed page (scanned very poorly) which shows one episode of the strip "Garth" (H118) published on page 24 of the Daily Mirror 21 May 1974 from the story "The Beast of Ultor". 

For those who haven't seen how these strips first appeared in print, this gives you some idea. However over the 6 years Bellamy drew "Garth" there might be more strips on this page. "The Perishers" strip appeared later in the run on this same page, as did "Andy Capp" and "Little Joe" - and that page may appear in different places day-by-day. I remember a kind friend of my Dad's cutting the page out for me, so I got to know the recently departed Bill Tidy's work too.

Daily Mirror Tuesday 21 May 1974 p.24
Garth: The Beast of Ultor (H118)

I have a scan of the following day's original artwork and the original shows, around the border, two things usually in pencil: two days and a date and secondly a single letter from A-F.

Daily Mirror 22 May 1974.
Garth: The Beast of Ultor (H119)

On this artwork we can see the pencilled "Tues-Wed 22 May 1974" and the letter "F". But notice the "Mon-Tues 21-5-74" is crossed out. I think this is where there was a jump in days and date because the Daily Mirror dated Wednesday 8 May was not actually published according to the Newspaper Archive. I infer that the "double day" notation plus date had to be moved as a result until the art editor had caught up, usually three weeks later - why 3 weeks? - see below.

Hand notations

But why write two days and then publish the strip on the second day - H119  was published on Wednesday 22 May 1974 - I double checked. it seems likely that the first day is the 'preparation' day and the second the publication day. This seems the most likely. I did wonder if this had anything to do with Northern editions or Scottish editions (remember my matching strip numbers in the Daily Record?) but it's not, that I can see.

 Here's a second example:

Daily Mirror 2 September 1972, p.18

You can just about see an episode from "The Wolfman of Ausensee" - episode F207. This page comes from the Daily Mirror Saturday 2 September 1972 and here is the original art with the corresponding numeration

Handwritten notations

This shows the "Fri-Sat" note plus date which matches publication. Also we have the letter "B" which to my mind is Bellamy's notation to the Art Editor that this is the second one of the 6 strips he delivered every week. 

We have never seen any other letters besides A, B, C, D. E and F and the Daily  Mirror was not published on a Sunday and the sequence rotates -A-F.

A friend and I lined up several originals and saw all of them are different sizes from top to bottom where Bellamy cut single boards from a bigger CS10 board. 

Here's another example:

F206 with notes and stamp

Daily Mirror 1 September 1972 p.20

Here we see "Thur-Fri 1 Sept"  (not shown on this image but the letter "A" appears on the original board) but also a red sticker - which is seen infrequently on the boards - with "1972 VIII 8 13:57" which logically tells us the date the piece arrived at the Daily Mirror offices. If this is correct it also gives a clue as to the lead time for Bellamy to produce the strips and them being published - from and including: Tuesday, 8 August 1972 to and including: Friday, 1 September 1972 = 25 days. This is not always the case as one would expect. Do the "received" stamps/stickers only appear on the "A" boards?

There are also anomalies where we see dates crossed out and alternatives given in these pencil notations, as mentioned above.Checking some of the published Daily Mirrors there were strikes -two messages included in two papers:

• Daily Mirror 22 March 1973: "Southern editions of the Mirror didn't appear yesterday because of industrial action. Here's a double ration of strips"
• Daily Mirror Tuesday 6 November 1973: "Here's a double ration of your favourite strips" 

No explanation is given for the latter but presumably industrial action again! And notice the differentiation between Northern and Southern editions.   

The problem putting this article together is that anyone who frames the strips is likely to hide/cut off the notations. Also some people who have originals may rub out the pencil notations. So thank you Paul Holder for his assistance in analysing these obscure ephemera!

So to conclude:

• The two days are 1) 'prep' day and 2) publication day
• The date is the publication date
• The letter (from A-F) indicate the order of any one strip in the 6 delivered each week
  
• The date and time stamp show date of receipt

One other notation is to the internal production team that a strip should be reproduced at a certain size. J154 has "Wed-Thu  3-7-75"; a receipt date and time of "1975  VI 11 16:19" and a note to say "197mm" - the width of the published image -one episode is approximately 21.5 inches by 8 inches as drawn by Bellamy

 

Any questions, or observations?

Frank Bellamy and lettering Garth comic strips

Garth: The Beast of Ultor (#H56)

I want to write something about lettering in relation to Frank Bellamy's work. In the Skinn and Gibbons' interview Bellamy answered the guys' question:

I should imagine your experience in making movie billboards stood you in good stead for the “splash” frames in your “Churchill” strip……
FB:  Yes. I did my own display lettering. I like to do my own lettering wherever possible. I always try to give a completely finished piece of artwork, on clean white board, camera-ready. The right size, bleed marked, something that an editor can send straight off to the engraver. This is getting on to technique, but I’ve seen artwork which goes so close to the edge of the board that there’s not even enough room to fit the reduction indication anywhere. I like to give a client a piece of board with a working area, where he can put any notes down the side – “Urgent”, “Infra-red” or whatever.

David Jackson commented to me: The graphics aspect - ruler-straight lines and title deign lettering and all large-scale compound curve lines (which many, particularly ‘fine’ artists would run a mile from - is the single aspect which FB had nailed first.

Bellamy began in a advertising studio in Kettering, his home town. It was here he learned the craft that he would follow for the rest of his life. When it came to comic strips in comics in the 1950s there would be an author who wrote the script; the artist who laid out, pencilled, inked, and maybe coloured his artwork. In later years the letterer would add text into balloons which might have been left empty by the artist or he (mostly 'he') might actually add balloons and then letter. I have read that some of the Eagle balloons were on adhesive film which was lettered and then added to the artwork. 

All three would have to understand each other. If the author produces reams of text, the artist knows it can't work in a panel. If the artist places a balloon such that the letterer has no room to create complete words - but hyphenated ones only, the letterer knows it won't work. And so on. A collaboration.

In an interview with Barry Askew for BBC TV (the film is lost but we have an audio recording) he was asked again about his method of working.   

BA: Tell me how one sets about drawing a Garth strip. Can you show me?
FB: Well, yes. In this way; there is a piece of board exactly the same way I would use for the Garth strip. Set it out in pencil in this manner and once again you’ll notice I break up the frames. I’ll show you on this one here. For the start, of course, there’s the balloon and stuff to go in, it’s about the most important piece of all.
BA: Does the scripting give you a problem? How do you relate the script to your er..to your work?
FB: I keep in general to the script. Occasionally you get little things that on a typewritten script don’t work visually. Then it’s up to me to er.. re-draw, or re-think, or present it in a different manner.
BA: How long would it take you in fact to do a complete Garth strip?
FB: Ah, that’s a difficult one. All I can say is that I have a complete bank of six a week and come what may, a deadline is a deadline, it’s a religion to me. And they have to have one every week.

From the outset, a lot of the strips Bellamy drew he lettered the boards himself. For "Thunderbirds" which was syndicated abroad, he left the boards with space for captions and balloons.

Bellamy poses with his completed artwork
for the "Thunderbirds" episode from TV21 #74

Thanks to Alan Davis rescuing many Polaroids of the original artwork from Bellamy's studio after his death, we can see the completed 'clean' artwork just waiting for captions and balloons.  

Garth was drawn to an established scale to accommodate the word-balloon lettering. The strip which ran in the Daily Mirror from July 1943, was created by Steve Dowling and Gordon Bushell. Bushell moved on to concentrate on his work as a producer for the BBC and therefore Dowling took an assistant, the 15 year old John Allard, who Dowling in a later interview said "I have my assistant John Allard to help me now and he supplies all the backgrounds and lettering". The word 'now' is interesting as Allard was there from the start - in Allard's own words: “I started work there as an assistant to Steve Dowling a few months before the creation of Garth in July 1943." Allard is certainly a great influence on this long-running strip.  

Dowling and Allard formulated a method of working whereby Allard would sketch out the strips which Dowling would then correct, inking in the main figures, leaving Allard to complete the inking of the backgrounds and do the lettering, a system which continued essentially the same for 25 years, with a break between 1946 to 1948 when Allard was called up for his national service in the R.A.F. and the task of inking fell to Dowling’s other occasional assistant, Dick Hailstone.

Allard remained Dowling’s assistant until 1969, when Dowling retired to run a farm and riding school [...] Allard took over the strip full-time, working with writer Jim Edgar until 1971, when Frank Bellamy was invited to take over the strip and Allard found himself relegated to drawing backgrounds for some months before Bellamy took over the strip full-time.

From Steve Holland's blog

In 1971 John Allard began the story "Sundance" and after 12 episodes, Bellamy came on board as the main artist, possibly in competition with the sophisticated decorative linework of the new rival 'Scarth' in the revamped Sun newspaper. However, here is where it gets hard to describe who did what (although we have attempted to distinguish things a bit in a series "Garth strips analysed").  But it seems clear that Bellamy left the lettering to John Allard from the start although there appear to have been some clashes here.

On Alan Davis' site he shows two examples of how Bellamy took Polaroids of what Allard suggested as a layout with balloons completed and how Bellamy wanted to see the layout - thanks to Alan for permission to use these images. Now I have to say I cannot prove this, but it seems the most likely explanation to me as to why Bellamy took the photos. He wanted to communicate this to a third party, is my theory.

Bellamy and Allard layouts for Garth: The Mask of Atacama (#G165)

The published version of G165

"The Mask of Atacama" story is significant in that it's the first of the seven stories Bellamy had drawn to date where he added his very recognisable signature. So it does not seem unreasonable to assume that he might have been presented.with the image above - Allard's drawn layout with completed balloons. Bellamy has drawn his version of the opening strip with pencilled balloon lettering to show the Cartoon Editor how he sees the script being interpreted. I suspect this is where they settled the confusion over Allard's part in "Garth" and Bellamy was left to complete the strip without fully lettering it.

I prefer Bellamy's layout here, as we have the intro panel first, followed by Garth's comment, whilst holding the mask, we see Professor Lumière and then the speaker of the second balloon - reading left to right. I find Allard's layout OK, but clumsy, as we have to read 'around' Garth's back to see who's talking.

Bellamy and Allard layouts for Garth: The Wreckers (#G279)

The published version of G279

In this second example I wonder why Allard laid out the completed balloons as it would appear to have already been settled who did the artwork (proof being FB signed the previous story as well as this one). But the choices Bellamy makes - in breaking up the dialogue - are illustrative of his design sense. There was too much talk in one balloon and the shorter "Next month!" aids the flow, in my opinion.

There are a few other things I'd like to mention regarding the lettering and corrections in the Bellamy version of "Garth". In The Beast of Ultor (#H56) - shown at the top of this article - there are firstly the pencilled words in the second panel visible under the inked version and secondly overlays of inked text stuck on, saying "Professor Lumière activated". What's underneath isn't easy to see, but I'd love to know.

Also in the example owned by and used with permission of Jonathan Wilson, H3, we can see a few overlaid pieces of text. In the first panel it looks like Allard might have misspelled 'instructions' and in the third panel 'beneficial'. Bellamy was proud of the fact he never used process white, 'white-out' or correction fluid, but in many original boards and balloons we can see Allard has resorted to this. Even perhaps unnecessarily,over tiny overlap lines which would have in any case been unnoticeable when reduced in reproduction.

Garth: The Wreckers (#H3)

In an email with me in 2015, Ant Jones had just interviewed John Allard and asked him something for me.

"In the strips department there was a guy called Ken White who did the lettering but sometimes he could be unreliable, so John would end up doing the lettering. John Allard does the lettering on F194 (and all the other strips in that story that aren't Ken). When John started on Garth, Stephen Dowling's main priority was to train John to develop his lettering so it could be used in Garth."

Garth: The Wolfman of Ausensee (#F194)

Garth: The Wolfman of Ausensee (#F193)

I wonder if John meant F193 was John's work and F194 was NOT - but that of Ken White - compare the two and see what you think. 

Lastly Dez Skinn presented a strip (G274) which again shows completed lettered balloons and Bellamy's version in his book Sez Dez (p78), following the same lines as we have discussed above. 

Garth: The Wreckers (#G274)

Just for completeness sake, I should say that, if anyone is wondering, John Allard did not do the lettering on the "Perishers" strip that also ran in the Daily Mirror, as Maurice Dodd explained that Dennis Collins, the earlier artist, did it - The Perishers Omnibus No.3 - Thanks to David Jackson for reminding me!

I have yet to say anything about the markings and dates on the original artwork borders but that's for another time.

Frank Bellamy and John Tornado

 JOHN TORNADO: der Mann mit den tausend Masken [The man with a thousand masks]

 

John Tornado #1 cover by Ertuğrul Edirne

An old friend of the blog, Bill Storie asked about German reprints of Garth. I list all known international instances of Frank Bellamy and his artwork so you'll see that "John Tornado" is what Garth was called in Germany when he appeared between 1979-1981. There were only 20 issues of the 50 page comic published fortnightly by Bastei Verlag, which included a second strip "Stargo", more on that later. The last 4 issues were illustrated by Martin Asbury so fall outside the scope of this blog, but I've listed them below for completists.

Firstly, notice the sub-title "The man with a thousand masks", which I presume is how the German Editor (named as Manfred Soder) at Bastei Publishing explained the English time-traveller who goes to all points of the compass and travels through time!

There are 24 pages of Bellamy strips in each issue but - and here's the interesting thing - the strips are coloured red (with the black and white left as is - mostly!) and cut up, shrunk and enlarged and also 'foreign' panels added by another artist. The single colour is not unusual in UK comics (even the 1970s Marvel comics first appeared like that in the UK). 

John Tornado #1 p.1

My translation of the paragraph above - which appeared in each issue (with a new introduction on the relevant story):

A balloon floats out of the steel-blue sky over Tibet and lands on the roof of the world. A young man lies unconscious in the gondola. Where does he comes from? From a European country? Maybe even from the starry world? The man remembers nothing. They give him the name JOHN TORNADO. Soon he has to realize that the laws of space and time do not apply to him... The man who came out of nowhere experiences breathtaking adventures in the past, present and future. Are his fights dream or reality? John doesn't know himself! Perhaps the beautiful goddess from the world of stars knows the secret of the man who has to face ever new dangers in a thousand masks. She always encounters John when he is in grave danger. But in human form she cannot intervene. The moments of reunion are only short, then she has to go back... to where, maybe, JOHN TORNADO came from...?

The following is the opening page of the strip in issue 1 which you'll no doubt have identified as "The Women of Galba". There is only a piece of Bellamy's original drawn title - obviously because the original is in English. Then note the top 'banner' which fills space. There are four of these collage images which rotate through the 24 pages. Also of interest is that nudity is covered by bikinis and other underwear! It was a children's comic after all, but surprising as I remember the 70s magazine displays in Germany as showing a LOT more than Bellamy's drawings portrayed!

John Tornado #1 p.2

Here are the first three episodes of the original publication in the Daily Mirror  to make your own comparison

Later in the story we see other panels enlarged, I assume to justify the first page's enlargements.

John Tornado #1 p.12

For those who are keeping track, I looked at Issue 10 (The Wreckers) in case the Daily Mirror sent Germany the Daily Record strip and the answer is no! Ditto for issue 8 (People of the Abyss).

Here are some more assorted pages, note particularly the large panel in issue #6 :

John Tornado #2 p.16

John Tornado #4 p.9

John Tornado #5 p.25

John Tornado #3 p.27

John Tornado #6 p.7

Here are some more pages by, I suspect, the cover artist  Ertuğrul Edirne which are interesting as they show the Garth characters

John Tornado #2 p.28

John Tornado #11 p.1

John Tornado #2 p.35 pin up of Stargo

STARGO

To read details of who did what on the strip, you can't do better than RalfH. I also wrote to Peter Mennigen on Facebook - an author of an extraordinary amount of German comics including the excellent "Malcolm Max" which ironically, being a Victorian demon-hunter in London, is not available in English...yet! 

Hi Norman, the original title of "Stargo" is "Tenax". But Frank Bellamy has nothing to do with it, his series "John Tornado" appeared first in "Stargo" before he got his own 15-issue series. The author of "Stargo" is Pedro Muñoz. The artwork is by José María Ortiz Tafalla (who also drew many of my "Phantom", "Ghost Stories" and some "Vanessa" Comics.) The cover artist of the "Bastei" books is Ertugrul Edirne. More information may be found in a " Bastei Freunde" magazine, which deals with the topic "Stargo" in detail. Unfortunately, I don't have the magazine here, so I don't know how helpful it could be. - Kind regards and have a nice weekend - Peter

Lastly I should mention the indicia state that copyright is held by Bulls, Frankfurt am Main and Syndication International, London. ("Stargo" is copyright Imperia/Graphlit)

Back page of John Tornado #1

Translation of the "breathtaking" adventurer's next episode in 14 days!:

Nobody knows the secret of the fighter with a thousand masks. As a lone wanderer
he is chased through space and time by powerful opponents. JOHN TORNADO has to face incredible dangers in the past, present and future.
In the next adventure, JOHN TORNADO stays in a ghost town of the Wild West. The wind howls eerily through the shattered windows of the Star Saloon... A swinging door creaks... Suddenly the ghost town awakens to new life. And JOHN TORNADO wears a new mask: As the sheriff of Silver City, he hunts down a ruthless gang...

And as a bonus, just for Bill, here's the pin-up from the centre pages of issue #1 where we can see some of Bellamy's art and the rest, I suspect is by Ertuğrul Edirne.

John Tornado #1 centrespread

STORY LISTING

John Tornado #1-20
Covers by Ertuğrul Edirne

LISTING OF GARTH STORIES
 

1. Die Gefangene des Gladiators [The Gladiator's Prisoner] = The Women of Galba
2. Duell in der Geisterstadt [Duel in the Ghost Town] = Ghost Town
3. Der Dämon in der Zauberkugel [The Demon the Magic Bubble] = The Bubble Man
4. Im Hinterhalt der wilden Horde [Ambushed by the wild horde] = The Bride of Jenghiz Khan
5. Die Schreckensreiter von Montana [The Horror Riders of Montana] = The Angels of Hell's Gap
6. Aufstand der Galeerensklaven [The Galley Slaves Uprising] = The Orb of Trimandias
7. Die Verräter von Soho [The Traitiors of Soho] = Freak Out to Fear
8. Die Ungeheuer von Azlan [The Monsters of Azlan] = People of the Abyss
9. Die Meuterei der Roboter [The Robot Mutiny] = The Doomsmen
10. Fluß ohne Wiederkehr [River of no return] = The Wreckers
11. Der Fluch von Atacama [The Curse of Atatcama] = The Mask of Atacama
12. In der Arena des Tyrannen [In the Arena of the Tyrants] = The Beast of Ultor
13. Das Rudel der grauen Wölfe [The Grey Wolfpack] = The Wolfman of Ausensee
14. Die Verschollenen des Alls [The Lost Ones of the Universe] = The Cloud of Balthus
15. Die Menschenjäger von Ikonos [The Manhunters of Iconos] =  The Beautiful People
16. Die Galeone des Teufels [The Devil's Galleon] = The Spanish Lady
17.  Der Hexer von Darkville = The Long Sleep
18. Die Sendboten des Unheils = Sapphire
19. Die Wächter des vergessenen Sterns =  Finality Factor
20. Die Garde des Teufels = Power game

Thanks to Sammlerforen.net's John Tornado thread here's the chronological reading order for Garth in German:
14, 6, 13, 8, 1-2, 11, 10, 12, 7, 4-5, 9, 3, 15-16, 18-20, 17 but of course you are missing Sundance (Bellamy's first Garth story and "The Man-Hunt" his last.

I'm grateful to the German Comic Guide and http://ralf-h-comics.de/comics-jt/001.html for their information.