New Garth Story: Bride of Jenghiz Khan

"Garth accompanies Lumiere on an archaeological mission close to the Great Wall of China. But he has not the dedicated enthusiasm of Lumiere or his Chinese colleague..." 

Thus the latest reprint, written by Jim Edgar, drawn by Frank Bellamy and newly coloured by Martin Baines, starts us out on another time-travelling adventure with Garth.

Tuesday 19 February 2013 © Daily Mirror

"Bride of Jenghiz Khan" originally ran between 28 September 1974 to 14 January 1975 (numbered H228-J11) and was reprinted twice before, to my knowledge:

• Garth: Bride of Jenghiz Khan (Daily Strips No. 1). London: J. Dakin, P. Hudson & G. Lawley, May 1979 A5 size reprint 20 pages - Print run 400
• Garth: Bride of Jenghiz Khan All Devon Comic Collectors Club Daily Strips: Collectors Club Editions No.1 [No date] 

I remember from childhood (and most likely in a comic!)  that the Mongol Empire stretched all the way to Europe from China, and Wikipedia has a wonderful animated picture of the growth of the Mongol Empire:

Map showing changes in borders of the Mongol Empire from founding by Genghis Khan in 1206, Genghis Khan's death in 1227 to the rule of Kublai Khan (1260–1294). (Uses modern day borders)

Original: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mongol_Empire_map.gif

Genghis Khan is quoted as being the greenest conqueror ever! And you might be interested to learn that work on discovering his grave (a great historical mystery) is advancing and that Khan might have been the most prolific lover in history! However do take this with a pinch of salt. As Albert Lin, a National Geographic explorer stated: “It is undeniable that Genghis Khan changed the course of history. Yet I cannot think of another historical figure of comparable impact that we know so little about,” 

So follow Garth as he travels back in time ...in The Daily Mirror! And of course thanks go again to Martin for sending me this first episode.

Frank Bellamy and Thunderbirds monsters

http://www.andersonic.co.uk/page3.htm

Richard Farrell is a modest fellow who produces, as previously mentioned, a great fanzine called "Andersonic". It's a fun tribute lovingly assembled by asking people like me to jot a few lines about a topic on any of Gerry Anderson's works.

Go and buy one, or more, now. They are great!

In Andersonic Episode 12, Summer 2011, pp33-43 you'll find an article called "John Blundall: APF'S Monster sculptor". To quote from Richard's back issues page this is an:

"Interview with former APF sculptor John Blundall in which he discusses his time working on series from Supercar up to Thunderbirds. John discusses how he got involved in puppetry, working with Christine Glanville, Wolfgang Manthey and Mary Turner, his favourite creations and what went into designing characters such as Robert the Robot, Professor Matic and of course Parker".

Worth buying for that alone, but in the interview John Blundall innocently mentions the following, quoted here with permission:

"John also came across a special visitor to the puppet studio back in the days of Thunderbirds... comic artist Frank Bellamy. "When I was a kid, I hated comics except the Eagle. The back and centre pages had wonderful strips based on historical things. l wasn't interested in the rest of the comic, but I was fascinated by the work of Frank Bellamy. It was quite early on in the early days in the studio workshop; one day a quiet fellow came in the workshop with a stool and a sketch pad. Reg Hill brought him in, and said, 'This guy's coming in to do some drawings of the puppet figures'. He sat down and started drawing the puppets. I looked at his drawings and thought 'Bloody hell!'. People often find it very difficult to draw my characters, and he was drawing them exactly. I thought, 'Oh, here's somebody interesting!' He was very shy, a timid character and I started to talk to him and then I said 'I'm sorry, l don't know your name.' He replied 'Frank Bellamy'. And that was the last I saw of him. I thought his work was wonderful, one of the few people who really captured the soul and spirit of the characters." (p.40)

A wonderful portrait of a talented artist!. But for me the connection to TV Century 21 numbers 90 - 92 (8 October 2066 - 29 October 2066) was striking. Blundall tells how Bellamy drew in the APF Studio - notice not from photos. We know from Alan Davis lots of materials went in the bin after Frank's death so it's unlikely we will find any 'stills' in the family's possession. But it doesn't matter as we know that Bellamy had photo references provided for jobs (David Driver at the Radio Times confirmed this) and we know from Nancy Bellamy that Frank had puppet heads to draw from. So why am I excited by John Blundall's comment?

TV21 #90

In the best of all the stories in TV21 drawn by Frank Bellamy (just my opinion) we see a fantastic creature in a Venusian lake drawn by Bellamy, and that creature appeared exactly the same way on the cover of issue 92.

Thunderbirds from TV21 #90

In an article by Bill Earle on a now defunct Supermarionation website he mentions that "In order to supplement a Thunderbirds comic strip story by Frank Bellamy in TV Century 21 numbers 90 through 95 [sic], Roger Dicken produced several sculptures of Venusian monsters in plasticine clay which were photographed with Thunderbirds craft".  Dicken created special effects for 2001 and Alien amongst others. The mystery for me was, did Dicken create the creature and then Bellamy draw it based on the photos or did Dicken follow Bellamy? I thought the latter unlikely.

TV21 #93

The mystery was settled when , in October 2012 I found an email address and wrote to Roger Dicken who kindly replied:

"Thank you for your e-mail.  I can confirm I did design and create entirely the model creature you have enquired about, along with a second figure, both of which appeared on the covers of the TV21 Comic.  The other monster also featured on the cover of a Thunderbirds Holiday Special Mag.Both were actually made of plasticene built over a strong wire and wood core.  Further, they were constructed at my home studio and brought in for the photo shoot at AP Films.  From this point Frank Bellamy was obviously supplied with prints of the beast of your interest and via his wizardry with the pencil he reproduced it in comic form. They were still up on a shelf when I left AP Films to work on 2001, thus I do not know what became of them following the demise of the studio.  One can only assume somebody appropriated them or they went into the skip with a multitude of other stuff I understand was, sadly, being disposed of at that time."

I'm very grateful to Roger for taking the time to indulge an old fool!

MYSTERY (if there was one!) SOLVED!

Thunderbirds from TV21 #92

Frank Bellamy appeared in Lion

Steve Holland's new comics index

Not many people realise that Frank Bellamy's work appeared in the Lion comic, which ran in the UK from 23 February 1952 to 18 May 1974.

I discovered this fact solely because someone mentioned it in their eBay listing years ago and I won the comic - ironically shipped from the USA!

The art in question isn't worth spending money on! I bet you never thought I'd say that about Frank Bellamy's art!

The Lion Holiday Special (undated but published in 1977) pp36-48 reprints the gloriously coloured Fraser of Africa in a horrible blurred black and white!!! And to add insult to injury, the panels were cut up and rearranged for the different sized page. It's a good thing Frank didn't see this travesty!

Lion Holiday Special [1977]

The original ran from 27 May 1961-12 August 1961 (Vol. 12:21 - 12:32) of the Eagle comic and looked like this

Eagle 27 May 1961

Why do I mention this now?

Because when a book is published (see the image at the top) that contains data on the run of Lion comics (and Annuals, Specials etc.) the librarian in me needs to check its validity. And once again I couldn't fault Steve Holland's dedication to his profession as National (Comics) Treasure!

If you pop along to Steve's Bear Alley Books website, you see his description and details of how to purchase it.

If you think £25.99 sounds expensive, it isn't. This work is not likely to ever be published again and especially in such detail with accompanying articles and pictures. It's a great read in itself and has sent me back to the Lion comic to re-read some of my childhood favourites.  The pictures are reproduced crystal clearly and even this old man can read the original art

262 pages is not stressed enough on the site. That's more pages than Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (and Lion: King of Picture Story Papers is eminently more readable IMHO). It's a gorgeous book and if we are snow-bound as the media has been saying for weeks, I have plenty to keep me amused this chilly January weekend!

Go and buy it and support this great work. I get no commission, I just love an excuse to praise and highlight brilliant comic scholarship and especially British comic scholarship...but it must connect to Frank Bellamy in some way as this did!

Frank Bellamy and C. T. Stoneham

Charles Thurley Stoneham (1895-1965) Thanks to Richard Simms for the photo

Watching the fantastic David Attenborough series 'Africa' I was bowled over by the image of rhinoceros groups greeting each other under the starlight and it brought back memories of Bellamy's work on C. T. Stoneham's writings. 

I'm not sure if this works internationally but this link includes the clip I'm talking about. Sorry, if it doesn't work for you, but never mind here's Bellamy's cover for Boy's Own Paper March 1953. For a larger scan follow the 'More information' link on the website

Boy's Own Paper March 1953 Cover

Bellamy's internal illustration shows the rhino by moonlight (again follow the 'More information' link for a larger scan)

Pages 20-21

Besides the four Stoneham stories that Bellamy illustrated in Boy's Own Paper, he also did a cover for a Stoneham paperback reprint of Wanderings in Wild Africa  As Simms tells us "This volume includes chapters detailing Stoneham's experiences on five safaris, as well as practical information on how to hunt big-game and organize an expedition. This book was reprinted in 1957 under the title Wildest Africa."

Wildest Africa - my copy scanned and joined

Photo of the original art (thanks to Jeff Haythorpe)

The reverse of the original art (again thanks Jeff) - note the date

Interestingly Richard goes for 1957, where I took 1958 from the British Library's accession record. However looking again I see they have two copies of the Digit Book dated 1957 and 1958. If only Brown & Watson had included the publication date, we scholars would have less work! If Bellamy, in his own writing says he completed it in December 1956 it seems likely it was published 1957. So I have amended the webpage listing accordingly. I'll add these to my list for when I visit the British Library again. Fortunately they are printed covers not dustjackets, which the BL used to dispose of before adding books to stock. Tough luck illustration art researchers!

For larger scans see the 'More Information' link on the Book listing page

Lastly, Bellamy actually wrote to and received a reply from Stoneham when Bellamy was interested in going on safari. It never came to anything, but an interesting side note!

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.

Frank Bellamy and Outspan magazine

I have been searching for Outspan magazines for 12 years after having been to the British Library to actually find the details of Bellamy's run in that magazine title. Martin Baines, who colours the current reprints of Bellamy's Garth, asked me whether I could write something on Outspan and I can't refuse him a favour as he has been so kind to me (and you too!)

I need to tell you I do not own a single copy of Bellamy's work in Outspan so all the illustrations you see are photos taken with my camera of the photocopies I ordered from the British Library. 

"Timeliner" by Charles Eric Maine.

The Outspan ("A South African weekly for everybody"), copied the successful format of the UK Everybody's magazine, but the former was published in Bloemfontein, South Africa, starting in 1927 and later became Personality with the 6 June 1957 issue and continued until 23 Dec.1965 when it ceased, probably due to the same reason UK magazines disappeared around the mid-sixties - television

"Timeliner" by Charles Eric Maine.

It was apparently launched by The Friend Newspapers Limited on 4 March 1927 and was extremely popular. The magazine format was similar to the fifties Everbody's I have seen. "Thorough modernisation took place in 1957 when The Outspan reappeared as the fortnightly Personality on 6 June. Past contributors included Agatha Christie, Wernher von Braun, Admiral Donitz, Stuart Cloete, Denis Compton, Eddie Cantor, Major-General Sir Francis de Guingand, Donald Campbell, P G Wodehouse, Viscount Montgomery, Adolf Eichmann and Manuel Fangio. Early editors of The Outspan (and Personality from 6 June 1957) included A W Wells (1927-1939), Gordon Makepeace (1939-1953), W R G Legge (1953-1955), C H H Barry (1955-1960), D S Garnett (1960-1963), R A Short (1963-1971), G Brennan (1971) and Leon Bennett (1972)." - taken from MyFundi.

"Fear is a spotted cat" by Elaine Mans

One of my favourite pieces by Bellamy of this period is the above. It's so atmospheric. I can feel the fear

"The Satan flower" by Peter Monnow

Lastly below are two pages (download  them and stitch them together - don't forget to send me a copy! . The author of this article, Edna Henkel, wrote in September 1956, a grateful letter to Bellamy saying he'd "drawn a figure that looks like me without having seen me" and she goes on to mention that Wide World might publish some of her stories

"I was stalked by a panther" by Edna Henkel

"I was stalked by a panther" by Edna Henkel

Bellamy was proud enough of these assignments to mention them whenever outlining his career. I personally prefer them to his Everybody's work but they are so elusive. If you have copies I would really value talking to you either for sales or scans, contact me at: