New Garth Story: The Doomsmen

Starting today in the Daily Mirror the new Garth story The Doomsmen. Originally published from the 3rd May 1975 to the 15th August 1975 (#J102-J191) this has also been reprinted in the following publications:

• Garth: The Doomsmen (Daily strips No. 7) London: John Dakin, February 1981 A4 size reprint 20 pages - Print run 1000 Another edition found published by the Daily Mirror with Copyright John Dakin taken off and where it says No.7, instead it says Daily Mirror 
• Garth: The Doomsmen All Devon Comic Collectors Club Daily Strips: Collectors Club Editions No.7 [No date] - Information from Garth: the index (Pub: ADCCC)

Thanks again to Martin Baines for permission to use his artwork.

Friday 28th December 2012 © Daily Mirror

Sundance comes to an end

Thursday 27th December 2012

See you back here tomorrow for the first episode of The Doomsmen, kindly supplied like the above by the colourist Martin Baines.

John Ridgway colouring Garth

When I saw some of John Ridgway's colouring of the newspaper strip Garth, I had to catch him by email and ask permission to reproduce it.

John was kind enough to not only share the one I wanted (above) but also to send me copies of several others and agreed I could share them. I like to reciprocate and said is there anything he is working on that I can advertise for him? He hasn't actually got a web presence but DownTheTubes have kindly set up a page for him and he sent me this list:

"Currently I'm working on

• a Commando book for D.C.Thomson, 
• Colouring Age of Heroes for Strip magazine 
• Colouring some Ron Turner Space Ace stories for possible publication 
• Colouring Fudge and the Dragon and Speck's Inventions (yes that's Ken Reid's creation!) for ROK Comics 
• Working on designs for Frontiers – a space series I want to write 
• Working on scripts for two other series – Wereworld and Alternate Earth 
• Continuing to colour the Garth stories and Earthspace("I've been colouring up Earthspace by Sydney Jordan with the hope of convincing Express Newspapers to let us get it done in full colour as a graphic album")"

© Daily Mirror

© Daily Mirror

© Daily Mirror

© Daily Mirror

© Daily Mirror

Original Art: Garth on eBay - Bubble Man & Angels of Hell's Gap & The Doomsmen

Just like a London bus, you wait for  a while and then several come along at once.

I have updated the recent sales including a phenomenal amount for a Garth original. Are we seeing rising interest?

The three pieces on sale this week on eBay are care of the seller "muddyfunster2001" (also known as Chris Martin of Burgess Hill) and they look to be in very good condition. Chris let me know how he bought them:

"Rather boringly I picked them up at a local antique market from a dealer who didn't really know what he was selling. I used to read Garth (and numerous other Bellamy illustrated strips) as a schoolboy in the '70s and immediately took a fancy to them so I bought them on impulse" They are:

• The Doomsmen #J139   UPDATE: £227 - 11 bids - April 2012
• The Bubble Man # J239 UPDATE: £170 - 10 bids - April 2012
• Angels of Hell's Gap #J56 UPDATE: £180 - 15 bids - April 2012

They all start with £99 starting bid and are already attracting interest.

The Doomsmen #J139

Every time I see a woman sitting/standing like this, drawn by the master I am reminded of the lovely Nancy Bellamy, Frank's wife. She was a great model and very proud of her figure even into her 80s!

The Bubble man J239

He also knew how to make aliens look very alien. Is it a frog, a butterfly, a hybrid between the two?

Angels #J56

I won't bother repeating myself! Enjoy!

I will update this entry when the auction finishes in the same way I have for the recent ones

Original Art: Garth on eBay - The Doomsmen

J191 - The Doomsmen

UPDATE: £168 with 14 bids (24 Mar, 2012) 

'Tweedacademy' is selling another Garth original and it looks to be beautifully preserved with a lovely portrait of Garth's looking surprised. It comes from the story - yet to be reprinted in the Daily Mirror -  "The Doomsmen", where Garth tackles humanoid looking robots. It looks to be in excellent condition with the usual beautifully clear line work. The seller says:

A wonderful example of a character study of our time travelling hero Garth, from the story entitled 'The Doomsmen' published in The Daily Mirror newspaper in 1975. This strip (J191) is actually the last episode of the story, before we moved onto the magnificent 'The Bubble Man' (being reprinted in The Daily Mirror as we speak). It shows Garth, much to the amusement of ourselves and Professor Lumière (did David Suchet read Garth I wonder?) being taken aback by the forward nature of the young lady. I'm reminded of Bellamy's remark in the highly enlightening interview in Fantasy Advertiser International, that 'sometimes as an artist you find yourself captured looking for an expression in the mirror'. The last panel of this strip 'is' Bellamy to my mind. What do you think?

I'd agree - I can just see Bellamy, who we know, like most artists, used a mirror to get just the right expression, acting the part he drew.

The opening bid is 1p and the auction ends 24 March 2012and I'll update this page with the sale price

Below is a scan of the last three parts of the story with a beautiful Bellamy explosion, for your enjoyment.

© Daily Mirror