Frank Bellamy tribute art in comics

Not wishing to turn this blog into an advert for Richard Farrell (who does Andersonic) but he inspired me to dig out some pictures from my collection to see what his article on Bellamy was about. I warned you all to buy it when his new fanzine came out, but it's obviously a collector's item due to #1 and #2 being sold out already!. It's called  Plaything of Sutekh and had an article called "Frank's Who: Bellamy's influence on the art of the Doctor" by Richard Farrell (Issue #1 April 2012, pp 24-27)

Issue 1 Art by Richard Farrell

Richard's idea is that he has seen Bellamy's influence in several places and being the detective I am, (well, librarian actually!) I decided to hunt them down- quite easy when Richard gives the references!

"If you're a real geek you'll notice that [Bellamy's] drawing of Pletrac for 'Carnival of Monsters' is based on a rehearsal shot of Peter Halliday in his braces"

Radio Times 3 Feb1973 - 9 Feb1973, p.13

I'm not enough of a geek/detective to ask how he knows that! His references to Gerry Haylock are interesting and I can access the art so here you go...

Countdown #5

Farrell sees Bellamy's art from his Sunday Times piece "Last great invention" (see my blog entry on this) particularly the last panel second from the bottom row

Here's the Bellamy to compare:

Yes, I agree, with the orange colour it's obviously a 'tribute'. Richard also mentions the launching of the Polaris missiles in Countdown issue# 52

Countdown #51

and again the Bellamy:

I can see the inspiration too. It's a shame Gerry's artwork hasn't been collected or at least a website created dedicated to his work. Anyone up for the challenge? His work appears in Hulton Press' Eagle, Girl, Look and Learn, World of Wonder and Schoolgirls Picture Library amongst many others.

Richard then goes on to mention Brian Lewis and his Thunderbird strip in TV Century 21 Thunderbirds Extra (1966).

TV21 #52

TV21 #55

TV21 #53

TV Century 21 Thunderbirds Extra (1966) Page 6

TV Century 21 Thunderbirds Extra (1966) Page7

I had never noticed this before and as Steve Holland recently said to me regarding this 're-use' or tribute to another's artwork, if you're asked for an item, you'd immediately look at what had been done and use that. In this case I think Lewis would have easy access to Bellamy's accurate drawings and use them instead of photos or models etc.

I have posted a few similar comparisons on my Frank Bellamy FaceBook page. I use this infrequently to put smaller stories, thoughts, links, but many thanks to Richard for writing an article that inspired me to do a longer piece - oh! and he mentions several other inspired artists such as Chris Achilleos. Hope you enjoy the art of these brilliant UK artists! Any other examples gratefully received. Email me:

Reprinted Bellamy illustrations - Thunderbirds Extra 1966

The 48 page 1966 Thunderbirds Extra was published in March of that year by City Magazines Ltd who produced the weekly comic TV21 in cooperation with Century Publishing Limited. It contains a lovely Thunderbird strip illustrated by Brian Lewis - a far too neglected artist, and a strip by Don Harley, (Dan Dare and later Thunderbird artist, most famously in Countdown) and finally Ron Turner best known for his colour back cover on TV21's Dalek strip and later Anderson annuals.

But here it's the text stories that are of interest to Bellamy fans and one in particular: Thunderbirds: Flight to Destruction

Three pages of text are accompanied by what are obviously Bellamy illustrations, but it takes a fanatic to track them down. And I have! Shaqui gave me the idea for this blog post, so again thanks Shaqui.

Here are the pages from which the above illustrations are taken

TV21 51 pp.10 &11:
TB5 is from the 3rd B&W page in TV21 #51
The portrait of Jeff Tracy is from the same TV21

TV21 51 pp.12

TV21 56 pp.10 & 11
Scott's portrait is from the above

TV21 60 pp.10 & 11
Jeff and Brains' portraits are from the above

TV21 60 p.12
TB1 comes from the above