Frank Bellamy's "Dan Dare" - or "Who drew what?" PART ONE

The first Bellamy "Dan Dare" (+ Don Harley!)

A lot of children reading Dan Dare's adventures in Eagle, in the summer of 1959, will have been confused, angry, sad as, firstly, the print strike meant no Eagle for 6 weeks and secondly when it returned there was a new set of artists drawing their favourite character. Frank Hampson, the creator of the  'Pilot of the Future' had moved on to create an ambitious back cover story for Eagle "The Road of Courage" about Jesus Christ. 

Adjusted face - by Harley

INTRODUCTION

Bellamy's first panel and in particular Dan Dare, being attacked by an inhabitant of Terra Nova, was re-drawn by Don Harley - long-time artist on the strip - at the request of the editor. The face was considered too unlike the Hampson/Harley version. The start of an uncomfortable period for a man who was very competent at working alone. The second page (after Bellamy's above) shows Harley's strong presence, but the adjusted Bellamy face and Harley's look so different - why change Bellamy's?

Compare Harley's "Dan Dare" here from
Eagle Vol. 10:28 (29 August 1959)

 

"The mix of artistic styles between Frank Bellamy and assistants Don Harley and Keith Watson was an uneasy one. Bellamy had developed his own distinctive brand of illustration which would have been difficult to emulate. Conversely, Harley and Watson had developed styles designed to complement that of Frank Hampson, which would not have been easy to move away from. [Doyle & Vince, 2004]

Here's what David Jackson drew for me to illustrate his comment: 

Frank Bellamy's "Dan Dare" sans paste-over

[This] appears to be a paste-over of Dan's face and front of his hair - only - with the rest of the side of Dan's head, hair, ear area etc looking to be FB style and technique; note the yellow reflected light thrown up into the lower part of the neck and jaw area from Dan's spacesuit metal 'collar'.

Bellamy came in at episode #10 of the ambitious "Terra Nova" story in Eagle Vol. 10:28 (29 August 1959) which ran till  - 10:40 (21 November 1959). Eric Eden (an artist himself) wrote all three stories which Bellamy had a hand in drawing. 

The other two - to be covered separately in the next two articles - were "Trip to Trouble" (Eagle Vol. 10:41 - 10:45, 11:1 - 11:11 (28 November 1959 - 26 December 1959, 2 January 1960 - 12 March1960) and his last "Project Nimbus" (Eagle Vol. 11:12 - 11:28 (19 March 1960 - 9 July 1960)). Bellamy had agreed from the start to take on Hampson's creation for only a year and indeed he did. I shall not be showing all the episodes (for copyright reasons) so grab yourself a copy of the Hawk Books or Titan reprints and follow along - or dig out your original Eagles

WHO DREW WHAT?

My primary interest here is to identify which pages (and on occasion, which panels) Frank Bellamy drew as opposed to the other three involved - Don Harley, Gerald Palmer and Keith Watson,all three of whom had been working at various times with Hampson on "Dan Dare". 

Don Harley joined Hampson's team in October 1951 (Eagle launched in April 1950) and in my opinion, really helped to keep a steady look to the strip when Hampson was away ill at times. His work can be seen on "Thunderbirds" in TV21 for six weeks (where he filled in while Bellamy was busy creating the renowned episode of the Avengers TV series) as well as other Gerry Anderson strips.He carried the strip, with Bruce Cornwell, after Bellamy had moved on until Keith Watson took over.

Keith Watson - famously colour-blind - took over from Harley from Vol. 13:10 and single-handedly drew the strip until the penultimate volume (Vol18:1). He also drew "Captain Scarlet" in TV21 and other strips too

Gerald Palmer is the most interesting to this article as he could 'ghost' Bellamy's style very well as we shall see.

Bruce Cornwell joined Hampson's studio helping with technical drawings such as buildings, machinery and spaceships before this period and partnered with Harley post-this period and Steve Holland confirms he is unlikely to have worked on these three stories.

Each episode of the "Dan Dare" stories has two pages - the cover and the second page of Eagle - each in colour and I have listed, with a tick, those we believe are by Bellamy. My friend David Jackson, says "Frank Bellamy never signed any pages that any other artist made a contribution to.  As he himself said, he liked to see pure Alex Raymond or whoever"

TERRA NOVA

STORY Episodes	Date	Volume	Issue	FB art COVER	FB art INTERIOR	Notes
Terra Nova 1	29/08/1959	10	28	✔		Not signed
Terra Nova 2	05/09/1959	10	29	✔		Not signed
Terra Nova 3	12/09/1959	10	30		✔	Not signed
Terra Nova 4	19/09/1959	10	31	✔	First Panel	Not signed
Terra Nova 5	26/09/1959	10	32
Terra Nova 6	03/10/1959	10	33	✔	✔	FB signed x2
Terra Nova 7	10/10/1959	10	34
Terra Nova 8	17/10/1959	10	35	✔	1/2	Not signed
Terra Nova 9	24/10/1959	10	36	✔		FB signed
Terra Nova 10	31/10/1959	10	37		✔	FB signed
Terra Nova 11	07/11/1959	10	38	✔		FB signed
Terra Nova 12	14/11/1959	10	39		✔	FB signed
Terra Nova 13	21/11/1959	10	40	✔		FB signed

The first four episodes of "Terra Nova" are clearly delineated - Bellamy drawing one whole page and leaving the next to the rest of the team. One wonders why he didn't sign the pages that appear - to me - to be completely his. 

David Jackson felt there's a possibility Frame 2 page 2 of the first episode was by Bellamy - "the second frame shows possible FB - particularly note the shape of the thought bubble in contrast to others by the Dan Dare team on the same page". I agree that bubble is different but can't see the art being by FB.

He also mentions that Vol.10:30, second page, shows "various faces of Dan Dare himself [which] might also give some indication of what the original first FB DD frame might have looked like before it was pasted over by DH."  And "Vol.10:33 last frame".

And moving on, why did Bellamy then sign from the ninth episode, in which he was involved? Also why did he leave two issues completely to the others?  Was he too busy - which I find unlikely? It's more likely having received the script he saw an opportunity (Vol. 10: 33) to show what he could do - and both pages are signed.

Eagle Vol.10:33 (3 October 1959) p.1 (original art)

Eagle Vol.10:33 (3 October 1959) p.2

Volume 10:34 is fully by the 'Hampson Team' [David Slinn sent me a message to say he thinks the second page is pure Don Harley]  for want of a better way of expressing it. Then we get a lovely page 1 for Volume 10: 35 - but unsigned, but much more interesting is the second page, shown here

Eagle Vol.10:35 (17 October 1959) p.2

The top half is definitely Harley but the bottom half Bellamy! If you're in doubt compare it to the page appearing the following week (below), which he does sign. So did Harley and Watson complete the whole page to find half rejected by the lead artist? Or did Bellamy instruct them to leave the last panels to him? I wondered if it was because Bellamy wanted to 'design' the 'Nagrabs' - the ant-like creatures but, in fact, Harley had created them earlier in the story.Any thoughts?

Eagle Vol.10: 36 (24 October 1959)

 The next spot worth noting is the second page of Eagle Vol.10: 38 (7 November 1959). I've shown the panel which appears at the top of the Eagle page (see below) which at first glance might fool most comic fans as being Bellamy but this is a great example of Gerald Palmer's ghosting Bellamy's style. 

Eagle Vol.10:38 (7 November 1959) p.2 top panel

Look closely at the lines on Anastasia's front as well as the claw of the 'Nagrab'. Bellamy is more likely to show that spot on Anastasia using colour and if not, by stippling. If you have a copy look at Anastasia on the front cover by Bellamy.

When I asked David Jackson what he thought, he said 

"EAGLE v.10 No.38 p2 does not look like FB at all, any part, anywhere (it's a bit like someone making more of an effort in that direction in places).  Doc Garriock in his slide show of original pages noted the greater intensity of FB skies as an FB marker, compared to the non-FB non-authorised Gerry Palmer front cover page Gaz Tank not by FB".

Another interesting thought is who drew what when? For the next issue, the Hampson team drew the first page - notice the Palmer Anastasia panel at the bottom. Then we get that fantastic second page signed by Bellamy. Did both parties work separately or did Bellamy see the first page and go off and draw the second page (or vice-versa)?We are never likely to know.

Eagle Vol.10:39 (14 November 1959) p.1

Eagle Vol.10:39 (14 November 1959) p.2

SUMMARY

Of 26 pages in this story (from when Bellamy started on it)  Frank Bellamy drew 8 front covers by himself and four and a half internal second pages. So he didn't even draw half the output! We'll see if this changed when covering the other two stories. 

I have to confess that the criticism that Bellamy's artwork messed up "Dan Dare" is so unfair when one examines the 9 years previous to this. Even in this story one sees strong artwork from Keith Watson and separately Don Harley and the two are quite different. In fact Watson has a 'colour-rounded' look that emulates Hampson's best work. He'd only been with the Hampson studio team for a year and was self-taught like Bellamy and moved on in 1960 to draw "Captain Condor" in Lion before returning solo to work on "Dan Dare" in an epic run. 

David Slinn wrote to say, as an example of who drew what, Eagle Vol.10:36 (24 October 1959, page2) looking at panels 4 and 5 they look very like Keith Watson, while Don Harley has handled the remaining frames. I'm ducking out of mentioning, in too much detail, anyone other than Bellamy as I'm never sure between Watson and Harley. Thanks for the identification David. 

~Thanks to David Jackson, David Slinn, Paul Holder and Terry Doyle and Alan Vince. The final thoughts are mine.

PART TWO: TRIP TO TROUBLE - To follow

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

 

ORIGINAL ART ON EBAY: Dan Dare in Eagle- again!

Eagle  Vol10:33 (3 October 1959)

The latest Compal Auctions  (Lot #27) has another episode of the "Terra Nova" story - the first Bellamy Dan Dare story he drew. It's described as: 

Dan Dare/Eagle original cover artwork (1959) painted and signed by Frank Bellamy for The Eagle Vol. 10 No 33. With original comic. 'Flamer is seized by the claws of a giant Nagreb and Lex gets a shot at the man-eating ant just in time. Flamer's still in one piece but ...' Bright Pelikan inks on board. 15 x 13 ins

The opening bid is £1,260 (someone has already bid!) with an auctioneer's estimate of £1,400- £1,800. In the last year we have seen a few pieces fetch good prices and the average for "Dan Dare" pages since 2019 has been £2,453.33 - the benefit of keeping a spreadsheet! 

Mind you that doesn't include what is special to a collector. I hung a spare Eagle comic cover up at home and I didn't realise my kids wanted to know what happened next until they mentioned how frustrating it was, years later! We each have our reasons for liking something.

So in the spirit of not wanting to frustrate you here is the next page of that week's story - and why wouldn't I share that Bellamy artwork!

Eagle  Vol10:33 (3 October 1959) page 2

For those who collect "Dan Dare" artworks I'm sure you will have seen in the same auction the cover by Harold Johns and Greta Tomlinson

I'll add the final sale price onto the spreadsheet, as usual.

AUCTION SUMMARY

"Dan Dare", Eagle Vol10:33 (3 October 1959)
WHERE?: Compal /Thesaleroom)
STARTING BID: £1,260
ENDING PRICE: £1,400
END DATE: Sunday 1 September 2024

Frank Bellamy and Patty Hearst

 

Daily Mirror 20 March 1976, p9

"Patty's hours of agony: a reconstruction of the life of Patty Hearst 'on the run'" by Anthony Delano was published in the Daily Mirror on Saturday 20 March 1976 with this accompanying strip by Frank Bellamy

Saturday 20 March 1976

• Was she a kidnap victim or a participant? 
• Could she have 'escaped' at any time?
• Did she willingly participate in the Symbionese Liberation Army crimes?
  

These were the questions being asked by a jury of the heiress Patty Hearst. 

From Wikipedia:

Patricia Campbell Hearst (born February 20, 1954) is a member of the Hearst family and granddaughter of American publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. She first became known for the events following her 1974 kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army. She was found and arrested 19 months after being abducted, by which time she was a fugitive wanted for serious crimes committed with members of the group. She was held in custody, and there was speculation before trial that her family's resources would enable her to avoid time in prison. At her trial, the prosecution suggested that Hearst had joined the Symbionese Liberation Army of her own volition. However, she testified that she had been raped and threatened with death while held captive. In 1976, she was convicted for the crime of bank robbery and sentenced to 35 years in prison, later reduced to seven years. Her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter, and she was later pardoned by President Bill Clinton.

That summarises a story that gripped the world at the time. I read a lot about Patty's Grandfather William Randolph Hearst when studying "Citizen Kane" the Orson Welles' film and of course Hearst's name pops up in American comic book history too. I also remember the times themselves when aeroplane hi-jackings happened - who, at the time,  could forget  the Entebbe raid? So the story was 'out there' and of interest even to this teenager! 

 By this time I had woken up to Frank Bellamy's design skills in the Sunday Times Colour Magazine, the Radio Times and of course the Daily Mirror itself where he was drawing 'Garth'. The cropped image shows the LAPD attacking the house - Bellamy using his trademark 'smoke' design. 

Interestingly my good friend David Jackson pointed out to me that his version of the Daily Mirror differed from the one I saw. The Northern edition actually has different text accompanying Bellamy's illustration

Text from southern version of Daily Mirror

Text from northern version of Daily Mirror

 Bellamy was paid £270 for this 'illustration' / comic strip and it was his last illustration in the Daily Mirror, although he continued drawing the 'Garth' strip until his -far-too-early- death on 5 July 1976.

***REMEMBERING 20 July 1969*** well, the 11 July to be precise!

Frank Bellamy and David the Shepherd King

Let's look at one of his many strips that has not been reprinted (yet): "The Shepherd King: The Story of David" to give it its full title

Eagle 14 March 1959 (Vol.10:11)

Eagle 21 March 1959 (Vol.10:12) Original Art

First image of David

EAGLE (Volume 9:37 - 9:52 and 10:1 - 10:15, (13 September 1958 - 27 December 1958 and 3 January 1959 - 11 April 1959) saw a beautiful interpretation in 32 episodes of the biography of "David the Shepherd King" on the back page in full colour. The comic, begun by the Reverend Marcus Morris (and Frank Hampson, "Dan Dare" creator) to combat the growing tide of horror and crime comics being introduced from the United States had a weekly strip on the back cover covering such saints and biblical characters as St. Paul, St. Patrick, "Mark, The Youngest Disciple", but also historical characters such as Alfred the Great, Baden-Powell, Walter Raleigh and Nelson.

Eagle 13 September 1958 (Vol.09:37)

Frank Bellamy had just come from his first colour assignment on that very back page, telling the story of "The Happy Warrior" (Winston Churchill) which was also written (as was "King Arthur" and "Robin Hood" in Swift), by Clifford Makins. After the 6 September 1958 issue ends the series with a full page portrait of Churchill, Bellamy began "The Shepherd King" written by Makins.Interestingly Bellamy changed the opening panel  - showing David's portrait - as he grew older in the strip. 

 David Jackson to me to say:

The second image of David as the new intro / portrait frame in EAGLE Vol.9 No.42 is an inspired re-envisioned re-working of the previous episode's lower central frame in EAGLE Vol.9 No.41 and FB must have seen its potential.

Eagle 11 October 1958 (Vol.09: 41

Second image of David

It's well known now that Bellamy always presented his editor with drawings showing how he perceived the characters in his strips before he started. "David" is no exception. Below we can see Bellamy shows the sheepskin coat, girdle, staff and inner garment David will be dressed in.  Notice in the bottom right we also see a "script" by which I think Bellamy means a "scrip" or "shepherd's bag" in which shepherd's would carry food, or small tools, or a flute-type instrument. Then we also see a gourd for water, and a short sword to defend himself against wild animals. Bellamy also shows how David's sandals would be tied as well as various half-length portraits and a rear view too. It's interesting to wonder why this is not in full colour, but only has some shading in blue on one side of David's face.

 

Character design sheet

In Volume 7 Number 3 (Autumn 1994) of the Eagle Society's  Eagle Times (pp.49-53) Terry Doyle featured "Frank Bellamy: Illustrated guide - The Shepherd King - character studies" which was Part 6 of his series on Bellamy. The designs below were borrowed from Alan Whitehead by Terry, as was the sheet above. I wonder whether these were inserted into a folder for the editor, knowing how Bellamy knew all about presenting briefs to clients.

Another thing we now know is that Bellamy also took photographs of his artwork before handing them over to his editor. Thanks to Alan Davis we still have some of these to compare to the published artwork. 

Eagle 1 November 1958 (Vol.09:44)

Polaroid of the artwork

Third image of David

The colours are so vibrant in the photogravure comic and Bellamy used props he owned - such as the cheetah skin in the above panel. Of course the earliest most famous incident is when David confronts Goliath and beats him using not only his confidence in God but also his shepherd skills. Both the last panels showing David stooping for a stone and challenging Goliath are drawn next to Goliath looking bigger and 'pointing' down to David. In the episode where David triumphs, we feel the impact of the stone on Goliath's forehead as Bellamy both draws a highlight of the stone's path and because the artist makes the giant wince so much. But the ultimate panel shows the power of the stone's impact as Goliath flies backwards!

Eagle 22 November 1958 (Vol.09:47)

Eagle 29 November 1958 (Vol.09:48)

Fourth image of David

We follow David's adventures of calming King Saul's moods and his meeting Jonathan, the King's son. David's followers support him loyally and after many battle scenes, Bellamy changes the introductory panel to showing the crowned King David. 

But before this I want to highlight one other piece of trivia brought to me by David Slinn. Looking at the episode below from Eagle Volume 10 Number 9, we see a lovely portrait of David saying "The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places! How are the mighty fallen!" (which comes from 2 Samuel 1:19) and is his lament on hearing Saul and Jonathan have been killed.

Eagle 28 February 1959 (Vol.10:9)

A forgotten comic in the UK was called Zip. It was a weekly comic published by Odhams Press, launched on 4 January 1958, as a venue for the original strips from Mickey Mouse Weekly after Odhams lost the rights to Disney characters. It ran for 85 issues before it was merged into Swift on 10 October 1959. Several strips carried over but one that did not was "Captain Morgan" drawn by Colin Andrew

"Captain Morgan" Zip 16 May 1959

It looks to me that Colin Andrew was closely watching Bellamy's work - especially in that last panel! David wrote:

Around two years previously, in the confines of Hulton House, there had been “management murmurings” regarding perceived similarities between Colin Andrew’s, ‘Captain Morgan – Buccaneer of the Spanish Maine’, appearing in Odhams’ Zip, and ‘The Travels of Marco Polo’ currently on Eagle’s back-page. While preliminary advice was sought from company lawyers; as I recollect, Frank simply viewed the fellow illustrator as someone destined for a successful future… as, would later be proved, in the pages of Boys’ World, Eagle, TV Century 21, Lady Penelope, Solo and Countdown/TV Action.  [...] On 14 March 1959, Odhams Press bid for and acquired all the major shareholdings in the Hulton Press.  Auguring, the more momentous 1961 Mirror Group take-over of Odhams – including the Longacre Press – that, to all intents and purposes, nullified any awkward repercussions from “swipes”, purloined plots or blatant breach of copyright.

For anyone who wants the listing of Andrews' stories, the first story in the series:

“The Prison Ship”, appeared in Zip, issue dated 15 November 1958; followed by “The Treasure of Porto Bello”, 7 February 1959; with “Tortugas Trap!”, beginning on 9 May 1959 - with the one above being the second episode of that story. Zip returned to newsagents after the summer printing strikes, week-ending 22 August 1959, the delayed episode was the conclusion of the ‘Captain Morgan’ stories.

An interesting footnote in the story of how Bellamy inspired fellow artists. 

Eagle Times Spring 2017

Meanwhile back to Makins and Bellamy's "The Shepherd King". In Spring 2017 Eagle Times published the first of three parts of "Steve Winders examines Clifford Makins and Frank Bellamy's strip about King David and compares it to the biblical accounts of his life". Steve has certainly covered the comparison between biblical sources and the necessarily abbreviated and censored life story very well. The three articles appeared in Eagle Times Vol. 30: 1 (Spring 2017) plus Vol. 30: 2 (Summer 2017) and finally Vol. 30: 3 (Autumn 2017). An excellent article.

Lastly before I leave the subject, did you know that Swift (the younger people's comic from Hulton) also ran a strip on David. Here's an example of the half page strip from the first issue of Swift from 1954.

Swift 20 March 1954 (Vol1.No1), p14

 

The strip ran until 11 September 1954 (Vol 1: 26) after which its title changed to "David and Jonathan". This strip ran until 19 March 1955. The following week "Picture Stories from the Bible" began - which were illustrations with text boxes, or libretto, rather than comic strip.

 

Frank Bellamy and 1951 Coach Guide

Summer 1951 ABC Coach Guide

Let's celebrate Frank Bellamy's birthday (21 May 1917) by looking at a newly discovered piece of early Frank Bellamy artwork!

The Summer 1951 "The Official A B C Coach Guide for Great Britain Complete Timetables & Fares" cost 2/6 (12.5p) and had 273 pages plus a fold-out map of Great Britain. I presume that Victoria Coach Station and bus depots all over Britain will have bought this meticulous guide in 1951. The contents page shows us that this year was the year of "The Festival of Britain" - an important cultural event in post-war Britain which was staged primarily at the South Bank and as one book states it "left behind more memories than solid structures". It ran from May to September 1951. A cursory search shows how exciting the event was and how local events also took place around Britain. What better way to travel than coach. 

I bet you're asking "Norman, what's this got to do with Frank Bellamy?"

Well, I was stunned to see on eBay, the above book for sale with a description saying "containing artwork by Frank Bellamy". The seller showed the said artwork and indeed it is by our favourite artist. I've scanned the page so you can see the detail

Artwork by Frank Bellamy

The piece is clearly signed up the top left - F(rank) A(lfred) Bellamy and has elements of Bellamy's early cartoon style art. At the time he would have been working for the Norfolk Studio where he worked from late 1948 through to December 1951 when he began to be represented by International Artists. 

The page above show coaches around Britain's insignias plus the Festival of Britain emblem designed by Abram Games. Looking clockwise around the piece, we also see the Skylon tower (the needle shaped tower to the right of the insignia, a 90m high ‘floating’ tube of steel), the Dome of Discovery, plus Nelson's Column and various coaches (and a car!). We see St. Paul's Cathedral, what looks like Durham Cathedral with its twin peaked roofs and tower behind. We then see a bucket and spade and starfish (for seaside holidays) and the profile of Windsor Castle above the lion and unicorn. We return to Victoria Coach Station, and see the sun shining behind the Welsh dragon. I couldn't find any images to map Bellamy's "Majestic Hotel" - a generic name.  Finally we get back to the South bank - where the Shot Tower stood, followed by a partial drawing of the only still extant building from the Exhibition: the Royal Festival Hall.

I always wondered whether Bellamy and family attended the Festival as they lived in Morden, South London and the journey would have been very straight forward - especially as he could have dropped off artwork in town at the same time. I wish I'd asked Nancy Bellamy but that one more question that remains unanswered. At least I now know Bellamy drew part of the Festival architecture.

It's been 48 years since Frank's untimely demise at 59 but today we remember the birth of one of the most influential artists.

ORIGINAL ART ON EBAY: Dan Dare in Eagle

Eagle Vol10:40 (21 November 1959)

Two beautifully preserved examples of Frank Bellamy's artwork on "Dan Dare" have come to auction.

The first (Lot #64) comes from the very last episode of the "Terra Nova" story - the first Bellamy Dan Dare story he drew. It's described as: 

Dan Dare/Eagle original artwork (1959) painted and signed by Frank Bellamy for The Eagle Vol. 10 No 40. Dan and Digby had set off in Anastasia to wipe out the dreaded 'Nagreb' man-eating ant colony with a high explosive missile. Their mission accomplished, they land Anastasia outside Pax...' Bright Pelikan inks on board. 15 x 13 ins

The opening bid is £1,260 with an auctioneer's estimate of £1,400- £1,800. I love the composition and how Bellamy shows the dome on the spaceship Anastasia. Notice that the caption "Later..." is attached below the artwork and the Eagle logo and details have been added to the artwork. As the pencil inscription shows, Bemrose the printer will have added the panel but not to the artwork. So that's an addition to the best of my knowledge. Bellamy signed the pages he drew and left the Harley/Watson/Palmer page for them.  I am drafting an article on who did what in each of the episodes - watch this space. Just for your delight, here is the second page of this story (and therefore the final page) by said Harley, Watson and Palmer, so you can see how jarring the change of styles are from one page to another. No wonder a lot of the original readers still do not like Bellamy's "Dan Dare"! It wasn't his choice to do it in this way, inheriting some of Hamspon's studio team when the shake-ups took place.

Eagle Vol10:40 (21 November 1959), p.2

Back to Bellamy.

Eagle Vol10:41 (28 November 1959)

Lot #62 is the next consecutive episode, the beginning of the "Dan Dare" story "Trip to Trouble" and features some lovely portraits of Dan Dare and Galileo McHoo (who first appeared in Eagle Vol:10:10 in 7 March 1959). The opening bid is £1,260 with an auctioneer's estimate of £1,400- £1,800:

Dan Dare/Eagle original artwork (1959) painted and signed by Frank Bellamy for The Eagle Vol. 10 No 41. 'On Terra Nova - a new world - Dan Dare is trying to find his father who landed many years before and disappeared without trace. Dan has a sudden flash of inspiration... Bright Pelikan inks on board. 15 x 13 ins

Again the strip at the top and the Eagle logo have been added in my opinion. But enlarge the image and you'll see some gorgeous Bellamy techniques.

These two episodes follow on from the recently auctioned page which sold fro £1,700.

I'll add the final sales onto the spreadsheet, as usual.

AUCTION SUMMARY

"Dan Dare", Eagle Vol10:40 (21 November 1959)
WHERE?: Compal /Thesaleroom)
STARTING BID: £1,260
ENDING PRICE: £4,150
END DATE: Sunday 2 June 2024

"Dan Dare", Eagle Vol10:41 (28 November 1959)
WHERE?: Compal /Thesaleroom)
STARTING BID: £1,260
ENDING PRICE: £2,650
END DATE: Sunday 2 June 2024