GARTH STRIPS ANALYSED: SUNDANCE

To start what might become a series, David Jackson and I were discussing what involvement John Allard had in the Garth strips which Bellamy illustrated. We've looked at the first story, "Sundance". It's been fascinating examining Garth panel-by-panel and seeing that John Allard added stuff to every strip in the story (except six, we think). I should add I am not about to show you every single episode - for copyright reasons. So I should get through a 'fair use' argument if it ever comes up! 

WE COULD REALLY DO WITH YOUR HELP - can you scan any ORIGINAL artwork you have? It's so much easier to analyze the artwork if we can. 

 

"Garth: Sundance" E150 John Allard art

To start let's get the first 12 strips in this story out of the way as they are solely John Allard (E150 through to E161). In the one above we can see a trademark Allard device - the 'dashes' in the sky applied through ink but also a lack of white space.

Here's the first Bellamy drawn strip E162 with E163 and E164

"Garth: Sundance" E162-E164 Frank Bellamy + John Allard art

However, as you'll soon see, Allard's imprint is on almost all strips in the Sundance story. As David said to me, Allard appears to add:

• Screentone: A mechanical tint to shadows, background, skies and as 'local colour' to fabrics
• Background elements: sky-tone 'dashes'
• Background elements: Landscapes including lines of hills; waterfalls; trees and wigwams!

Taking the three images as an example, which are the first three where Bellamy joins the strip:

• E162 - Panel 1 and 3 have a screentone added to clothing and also the trees in Panel 3 are drawn by Allard.
• E163 - Panel 1  and 3 have the same tone added to Garth's trousers and Panels 1 and 3 have trees and background landscape added by Allard.
• E164 - Panel 3 has background trees added by Allard. Also Panel 3 has tone added. Having had access to the original art in the past here's my photo to show that added tone/tint/Zip-A-Tone/Letraset that Bellamy never used in his career. 

"Garth: Sundance" Panel 3 of Garth E164

 

Artwork in newspaper strips tends to be drawn in pencil, followed by ink (Bellamy tended to sketch in outlines for himself and do the detail when inking) and the process can include ways the artist wishes to lighten from dark to light (or vice-versa) such as cross-hatching, 'spattering' (with a toothbrush for example) drybrush, or, as Bellamy brilliantly did in his artwork - stippling. But another way of showing texture might be to add Zip-a-Tone or Letratone, both screentone effects. Allard used it quite often as we shall see - and even misses it on Garth's trousers in E195!

 

"Garth: Sundance" E175

E.175 is interesting in how Bellamy left blank space only to have Allard add two pieces of mechanical tint. The sky-tone tint in panel #3 solidifying the background framing device, is otherwise so minimal to be hardly worth doing. As David said to me, Bellamy could have left the vegetation out of the first panel and also the background in the third, but didn't.  I wonder if his aim was to stymie Allard, but as can be seen he didn't succeed! Also have a close look at panel #3. Bellamy appears to have drawn the 'foreground' wigwams and Allard appears to have added more behind them! - Well spotted David - who also mentioned that stray ink blob in panel #3 which we guess is a shield.

Also that framing device in panel #3, which David pointed out to me, was like a device Fortunino Matania used (for example in Great Stories from History illustrated by Fortunino Matania. Sidgwick and Jackson Ltd, 1970: pages 56-57). I can't find anything else like it in Matania's work but would love to know if anyone has seen anything similar or have you seen it in other artists' works? Bellamy uses it again in E175 #3, E180 #2, E183 #1, E186 #2, E188 #1, E190 #2, E191 #1, E205 #3, E216 #2, E234 #3. Allard added a similar effect in E194 #2 with just tint behind Falling Leaf's portrait! In E226, Bellamy adds his 'swirls' in the same framing device, presumably to stymie Allard again!

Garth: Sundance E182 - Letraset on Garth's face (or FB stippling?)

Was Bellamy able to produce any strips by himself in the Sundance story? We're pleased to say 'yes'!E180, E182, E183, E184, E185 and E203 - so that's 6 strips out of 75 - drawn by Bellamy where we can't see any Allard artwork or tone being added.  [He could also have drawn of E222 but we're not sure using the reproductions we have - again the original art may be easy to 'read' ]

 

If you've followed us to this point, you must be interested in details too We also counted 21 individual strips without the addition of Allard pen and ink drawing (- i. e. where he only applied mechanical tone and no linework) were 21

Garth: Sundance E186 - Allard hills and sky 'dashes'

In E186 frames #1 and #3 we see Allard's hand in the added hills, clashing with Garth's profile; but in the second frame the background hills by FB are overlayed by 'overspill' Letratone over the middle-ground cavalry, presumably in error. In E208 we see Allard draw tracks, and as David said to me "though looking down on the Indian tracker, from the point of view of the officer on horseback, the b/g could have been completely blank (readers don't need to see the tracks to follow the story).

I asked David about E209 as I wasn't sure that Allard drew the wigwam and waterfall as he would have had to 'grab' some space from the Bellamy drawing. He replied  

"Not that John Allard couldn't insert 'negative' white space with his use of process white.  I'd think the background marks indicating fir trees at the left edge of the first frame are John Allard (the FB figures and horse, ground and trees read clearly  without any further b/g) - the waterfall is in optical competition with the flank of the horse, so the falls would not be FB in this frame (as with middle frames of E.204 and E.207 and the first frames of E.208 and E.213) - compare the established design by FB in E.199 to E.201 and looks also to be FB (except the sky dashed tone) in E.212.

 

I wonder if Allard didn't see value in leaving white space as, a glance at earlier stories illustrated by him appear very 'cluttered' at first glance, in my opinion, where Bellamy left white space, or added circular 'cameos' to highlight, or enclose figures. Every space seems filled by something where Bellamy was a consummate designer, in the service of legibility, leaving balancing elements to his strips and illustrations. We should add that John Allard definitely did all the lettering on this strip all the way through to Bellamy's death in 1976.

David also pointed out:

I notice E179 has (seemingly, to me, redundant) the identity trope about Garth and the surname "O'Hara" in this story; although Falling Leaf calls him Garth (and Pehizizis in E191 for example) many times, as does Sitting Bull (e.g. E227).

 Some of our discussions were around how difficult it is to identify who did what - which isn't surprising. I thought in strip number E166 the left-hand side wigwams work as a composition  but on the right of this frame and the other frames' wigwams looked awful. I mentioned to David that 

"Allard did the poles in a linear frame in one of his episodes at the start of the story (E152) which appears in panel #1 of E166 and I wonder if maybe Bellamy would have emphasized the 'sundance' Indian, and so left out the wigwams on the left. However, if he did, that space would be too tempting for Allard! But then, Allard added the one on the right of the frame and maybe that linear pole frame too! Oh dear!" 

David replied

"All that, exactly spells out the problem.  It seems impossible that the same hand could have drawn the wigwams at the right and those on the left.  Same goes too for the linear poles structure in this FB frame compared to the second of JA's Sundance opening centre frame.  I doubt FB would have pencilled those in for JA to ink or as reference". 

Norman: "E222 = hills query?"

David: "Difficult.  Line and stipple hills look FB, as also dark hatch above wigwams, but vertical hatch hill at right obscure/ blend heads of soldiers as does in next frame horses and figures profile"

You get the idea, how we went back and forth!

E218 caused a lot of back and forward discussion - see below

Garth: Sundance E218

Enlarge this image (excusing the "spine curl" on the left in my scan!)  and you'll see an interesting effect, Custer and the men in the foreground are visually distanced from the rest of the column and the trees. It's  perspective shown by changing the tone, much like in a colour painting, where hills at a distance are a lighter colour than those in the foreground. To me it looks like some Letratone placed over Bellamy's original artwork. it also occurs in strips  E219 (#1), E221 (#1 and #2), [E224 (#1)?], E225 (#1) , E227 (#1) and looks to be transparent to allow the artwork through. We explored Letratone on the Internet until our eyes went all funny, but couldn't find any proof. Can you help? Was/Is there a Letratone that allows the user to place a tonal pattern over the art but not hide it completely?  We know that some Letratone was available in WHITE.

We found some awful examples where Allard added backgrounds which just weren't needed and worse detracted from a nice frame. But we also suspected there are places where Bellamy left some space after seeing how Allard performed and that's what Allard did -filled that space. We also spotted E177 #3 where the background appears to be unfinished!

 

If you want to explore further and follow along, I've created a spreadsheet showing the details with some added notes where pertinent. These are always up for debate, especially as we are working on printed copies, not originals - the best reproduction so far has been the Titan book published in 1984, Garth Book One: The Cloud of Balthus (London: Titan Books, 1984) which had 96 pages, an introduction and checklist of Garth strips. It reprinted Sundance, Cloud of Balthus, The Orb of Trimandias, Wolfman of Ausensee. In some paces we found backgrounds a bit faded, which is odd given the great reproduction elsewhere. Note that Titan reprinted the original strips (including nudity). The second Titan book is listed in detail here.

Do feedback as to whether this is worthwhile as we have started on the other stories in which Allard participated but as you can appreciate they take a lot of time and work. I must say a huge thank you to David Jackson and Paul Holder, true friends, whose eyesight is still functional enough to do such a detailed analysis! If you have any originals from this story or hi-res scans I'd love to see and share them?

Unknown Frank Bellamy #12: Astronaut

Alan Davis (in his Unknown Bellamy section of his website) shows this one image which I have numbered #12 for convenience.

Used by permission of Alan Davis

To me this looks to illustrate a story. An astronaut is being manipulated by an astronaut 'pulling his strings' - a metaphor for "to control someone or something often in a secret way". A beautifully designed spaceship takes off and we see the manipulating astronaut, who has no shirt, let alone spacesuit on,  and the face of an astronaut. On the right in the background is a executive (?) with dollar signs surrounding him and at the bottom another emphasis on dollars. An ECG reading shows tension across the face and background

Bellamy illustrated the Moon Landing in 1969 and we have seen 2 designs for rockets (produced for T-shirts) appear recently. Also we see an upright rocket in the Comicon '71 image and various bits for an animated ice lolly film. He also drew an astronaut for Letraset. But I can't see any connection beyond the space theme. It's a very bold design and I wonder whether it was drawn for a magazine feature? I have no other information or thoughts.

The reason for showing this is to see if YOU can see anything else I'm missing which could give us a clue where to look next.

Any thoughts please contact me. 

NEXT: Unknown Bellamy # 13 - Castrol GTX advert

ORIGINAL ART: Thunderbirds from TV21 #206 and some statistics

"Thunderbirds" page 1 from TV21#206

Phil-Comics has more than 18,000 positive feedbacks on eBay (and no negatives!) and has been selling comic related materials since 2000. I have sold some stuff through him and found him to be nothing but polite, efficient and an all-round nice guy. He often has obscure British material, such as advertising flyers for annuals, free gifts (which sell so well these days - why did I throw all mine on a bonfire?!?).

Anyway, you don't come here for my charming repartee. Phil is selling an original board on eBay which we have seen come up for auction before, back in 2011 when it sold for just £550. I've said something about the change in colour from original art to printed version (but can't add anything to what I said then).

Here's Phil's description of the piece: 

Thunderbirds Original Artwork (FRANK BELLAMY) for TV21 comic #206 (1968)

A wonderful single page of original artwork, drawn and painted by Frank Bellamy, for TV21 comic #206 - Dec 28 1968. It appeared on page 11 and was the first page of the strip in this edition, but Part 4 in the overall story.

The art board measures 47 x 37.5 (18.5 x 14.75 inches) and is rigid, so will be posted flat.

Vibrant colours and incredibly crisp lines, this is a joy to behold. A few very small brown spots (of paint?) have somehow landed on the page at some stage in its 53 year life, but don't detract and are hardly noticeable. There's also a 2 inch brown line of the same substance to the right edge, which is more noticeable but only slightly goes across 1/2 inch of one panel edge. A bump / scuff to the lower corners but artwork unscathed.

Frank Bellamy's work is highly sought-after and this is the first time we have bought a page of his original artwork to market.

UK buyers - This will be posted flat between several sheets of  sturdy cardboard (and quite possibly in a large box to really protect it) and sent by Special Delivery. Cost £14.95.

I suspect those "very small brown spots" have appeared in the last 10 years as the image from Comic Book Auctions didn't show them back in 2011, and if I had been the buyer then, and discovered they weren't on the image, I would have kicked up a fuss. [UPDATE: The spots ARE visible back in 2011]. It will be interesting to see what this reaches with a the staring bid is £1,250. 

Out of interest, I thought I'd look at statistics for the single Thunderbirds pages that I have recorded in the spreadsheet - you can all play along if you like. 

The average price - where I have data - of a single Thunderbirds board (remember they were double page spreads until TV21 #141) was an amazing £1,544! Bear in mind this is over 17 years when I could, and did record data. So we need to look at outliers and maybe median prices. 

The lowest price was in 2008 (TV21 #146) £404.95

The highest price was in  2018 (TV21 #90) £4,550.00

So you can see, just as with some of the Government statistics, you really do need to ask some questions about how things are counted. 

The median price over those years (and where recorded) is £1,080

I haven't done the mode (most commonly recurring amount) as it means nothing here at all!

If you want to see the pages, just click on the links under the dates on the spreadsheet

Lastly I've added all of Phil's images below and there are some nice close-ups.

AUCTION SUMMARY

THUNDERBIRDS TV21#206
WHERE?:phil-comics on ebay
STARTING BID: £1,250
ENDING PRICE: £1,250
No of bids: 1
END DATE: 30 May 2021

It's Frank Bellamy's Birthday

 

On 21 May 1917, Frank Alfred Bellamy was born to Horace George Bellamy (born in 1885) in Rothwell, Northamptonshire and Grace Winifred Ashley (born 1887) in Kettering. Frank had one sister Eva born in 1912 (so 5 years his senior).

The image above comes from Ally Sloper, a new comic he contributed to in the year he died, 1976. It was published two months after his untimely death.

 Gone but never forgotten.  Happy Birthday Frank!

 

 

ORIGINAL ART: 8 Garths

 

Garth: People of the Abyss F246 and F266

Compalcomics are offering more Garth strips this month, drawn by Frank Bellamy. The images are gorgeous and clear and make me re-appreciate his work here. 

As Malcolm Phillips, the Director of Comic Book Postal Auctions Ltd,  says:

Welcome to our May/June catalogue. The catalogue is open for bidding. You can place realtime bids at The Saleroom. Click here to visit our catalogue at The-Saleroom. You can also browse lots here and fill out a fax or mail bidding form.

The fact he still gets faxes (is that the plural?) is amazing to me. It's been years since I sent or received one!

Onto the Garth strips

GARTH: People of the Abyss - 2 episodes: F246 and F266

Garth: 'The People of the Abyss' two original artworks (1972) by Frank Bellamy for the Daily Mirror 18.10.72 and 10.11.72. Indian ink on board. 21 x 17 ins (x2)

That's the description for these two strips in Lot #103 (see top of article for the image). Please click on these images and view them in detail. Bellamy's gorgeous linework is sublime. And for those who want to know it's a torch and an electro-gun he's holding in that first strip!  Notice those famous Bellamy swirls which add tone in a light-handed way. In the second strip he creates a bubble of light.

Garth: The Women of Galba: G22 and G26

GARTH: The Women of Galba The Beast of Ultor - 2 episodes: G22 and G26

Garth: 'The Beast of Ultor' [sic] two original artworks (1973) by Frank Bellamy for the Daily Mirror 25/30 January 1973. Indian ink on board. 21 x 17 ins (x2)

These two strips are actually not from "The Beast of Ultor", but from "The Women of Galba" story. I'll let Malcolm know so this may change before you see it. Nevertheless they are lovely drawings. Look at the third panel in G22 and how Bellamy uses diagonals and cuts them off, to show a background of some sort. 

 

Garth: The Wreckers G280 and G283

GARTH: The Wreckers - 2 episodes: G280 and G283

The third lot (#107) has two strips from "The Wreckers". I've always wondered who Bellamy used as a model for his version of Andromeda, a recurring character who meets and helps (and loves) Garth in his time-travelling adventures. Malcolm's brief description:

Garth: 'The Wreckers' two original artworks (1973) by Frank Bellamy (both signed) 24/28 Nov 1973. Indian ink on board. 21 x 17 (x2)

These two strips have some usual Bellamy devices: beautiful woman, the sweeping thrust of an arm,  the frame behind Garth and Andromeda in G283 (the middle panel). 

Garth: The Bride of Jenghiz Khan H245 and H250

GARTH: The Bride of Jenghiz Khan 2 episodes: H245 and H250

These two strips come from "The Bride of Jenghiz Khan" story (Lot #110) are described:

Garth: 'The Bride of Jenghiz Khan (1974) two original artworks by Frank Bellamy (both signed) 18/24 Oct 1974. Indian ink on board. 21 x 17 ins (x2)

 

If you want information on reprints of the strips travel to the menu on the website "Garth Reprints" and I'll add these to the spreadsheet, where I record sales of original art by Frank Bellamy. 

Lastly I NEVER ask for money for the website or blog but gifts are very much appreciated, check out the Mike Noble Fireball XL5 - I suspect it might sell for the higher end of the reserve! And also there are lots of Eagle comics which have Bellamy artwork - but I have those!

AUCTION SUMMARY

GARTH: People of the Abyss - 2 episodes: F246 and F266

WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom -Lot #103
STARTING BID: £450 reserve
ENDING PRICE: £450
END DATE: Sunday 6 June 2021

GARTH: The Women of Galba The Beast of Ultor - 2 epsiodes: G22 and G26 

WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom -Lot #105
STARTING BID: £450 reserve
ENDING PRICE: £920
END DATE: Sunday 6 June 2021

GARTH: The Wreckers - 2 episodes: G280 and G283 

WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom -Lot #107
STARTING BID: £450 reserve
ENDING PRICE: £520
END DATE: Sunday 6 June 2021

GARTH: The Bride of Jenghiz Khan 2 episodes: H245 and H250 

 WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom -Lot #110
STARTING BID: £450 reserve
ENDING PRICE: £840
END DATE: Sunday 6 June 2021

Unknown Frank Bellamy #9: Comic strip

 UNKNOWN BELLAMY #9: COMIC STRIP

Used by permission of Alan Davis

Thanks to Alan Davis for permission to use the above image. as he states on his website:

I was simply one of the guys lucky enough to help Nancy Bellamy clear Frank's studio when she was moving home. AND enough of a fanboy to ask if I could keep the rubbish.
Compared to new images recorded and created in our digital age none of the source material I have is good, some is very poor but I believe it offers a unique and valuable insight to any true Frank Bellamy fan.
Thanks to Nancy Bellamy for giving me the two bags of studio debris, permission to use it here and for her time in relating anecdotes and tales of Frank's life and career. 

I have no information to provide for this unknown piece. It's done in a comic strip form, yet there is space for a libretto text beneath the first row - but as with all this material I am arguing from silence! We have to use what we have, to see if we can move this further. 

1. The story looks to open with three or four people mounted on horseback in a fenced field.
2. A farmhouse with walled garden appears to be watched from on high. 
3. Four people walk towards a helicopter
4. What appears to be the pilot (with cap and sunglasses) appears to be held at gun point
5. Two men, prone on the ground are secretly watching the horse-riding party pass by with rifles aimed at them
6. As three people head towards a rope ladder dropped from the ascending helicopter a guard stands by facing away from the copter
7. The helicopter takes off from the same farmhouse grounds
8. The last shot shows a military build-up showing helmeted soldiers with rifles, an armoured vehicle and jeep plus two jet aircraft flying over a village

I have no correspondence that fits this strip and can only guess it's from later in Bellamy's career. The structure of the panels is lovely and clear - but note they do seem to sit on top of each other with that space between the rows. Perhaps a newspaper article might have some text between them? Is this reportage of a kidnapping incident? We had the IRA bombings, Bader-Meinhof Red Army incidents in the 70s - when I think this was drawn. Could it be one of these?

Alan kindly let me scan the photos he recovered - which I'll show in later blog articles - here's a scan I have converted from TIFF to JPG - perhaps this might give another view of Alan's photo?

Used by permission of Alan Davis - version 2

Bellamy did "try-outs" for newspaper strips before landing "Garth" for the Daily Mirror. I have seen copies of "Modesty Blaise", "The Saint", "Wes Slade", and earlier, "Antony Falloway" Could this be the opening of a character's strip before the lead enters the scene? Which strips in the late 60s-early 70s were of the secret agent / political thriller type?

Let me know your thoughts!

NEXT: Unknown Bellamy # 12 - that astronaut picture

Bellamy Life Studies

Tony Smith, appears in the Frank Bellamy Checklist as he interviewed Frank Bellamy, shortly before Frank died and also published various articles in the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph. His articles helped keep Frank's name in the limelight - just search for his name on the Articles on Frank page.

Anyway he was inspired by the start of the new series I'm doing based around Alan Davis' findings amongst Frank's studio 'detritus'! I'm so glad the series has prompted such a response. Tony sent me three images by Frank I have never seen before and with Tony's permission I present them here. As Tony explained they are all behind glass and therefore not the best representations of the master's work! But I'm more than happy to spread the love!

Tony added that the middle one is, according to Nancy Bellamy herself, Frank's drawing of her!

Nancy Bellamy kneeling

Unknown Frank Bellamy #6-8: Bell and Howell

Used by permission of Alan Davis

Used by permission of Alan Davis

Used by permission of Alan Davis

Alan Davis (in his Unknown Bellamy section of his website) shows three images next to each other (numbers 6-8 as I have labelled them here). I can reveal they are actually advertising for a cine-camera as you might guess. 

Movie Maker June 1967 cover

Movie Maker - note the two separate words (unlike MovieMaker in the USA) was a magazine that began as a new title in March 1967 (and ran till October 1985) and was published by Fountain Press Limited, publishers of many books on photography too. I confess I have only ever seen the one I own - June 1967 - and you know why I have that issue in particular! The cover shows a woman - hardly visible, ironically - behind a film projector and the magazine cost 3/6d.

The title began life through the incorporation of Amateur Cine World, 8mm Movie Maker and Cine Camera. The British Library states it also incorporated Film Making as well, but that's not in the one I own, and they say its later title was Making Better Movies. This glossy black and white magazine is 28 x 20.5cm and was published on the second Thursday of the month "preceding the month for which it is dated"- well, in June 1967 anyway! The Editor was Tony Rose, the Assistant Editor Alan Cleave and the Art Editor Anthony-Brian Grant. The Advertising Manager was John Patrick. It contains loads of advertising but also "How-to-do-it" features, Special Features, News and Reviews- one of which is by Denis Gifford: "Films to Buy"! Gifford commissioned Frank Bellamy for his comic Ally Sloper, which became Bellamy's last comic strip ever in 1976, so is too far-fetched to assume he put a word in for Bellamy? Or maybe it all went through an agency and is just coincidence!

Anyway our focus today is on Bell and Howell's "The Optronic Eye: Report on the Bell and Howell Optronic Eye Super 8 camera in action" which appears over three right-hand pages (which any advertising person will tell you costs more than any left-hand page) - p309, 311, 313.

The first thing I notice in Alan Davis' rescued Polaroid (see top of article) is the lettering is surprisingly not by Frank Bellamy but added later. However it seems obvious Bellamy left space in the designs for boxes containing text.

Movie Maker June 1967 p.309

The first page introduces us to this simpler Super 8 camera with cartridge loading capability. I felt the way the guy is holding the device in the first panel looked awkward but this is demonstrated properly by the lady on the instruction manual below

The script is a bit stilted in order to show off all the features and our protagonist uses phrases like ""I don't tolerate mistakes, I gritted" and ""Nix", I grunted"!

Movie Maker June 1967 p.311

The second page ignores "Uncle Arthur" and moves to the father of the bride who obviously knows how to do it properly but is outdated. I'd love to know who the model for this was, as he looks like a politician to me, but I suspect he can't be. The last panel is empty of text.

Movie Maker June 1967 p.313

The last page has Bell and Howell's technical sheet  for three versions of the camera at £49.19.0, £79.15.0 and lastly £125.0.0 The advert states the camera was developed as a result of "cooperation with official U.S. Government Moon-shot experiments" - whatever that means. The Bell & Howell Research Center in Pasadena certainly looked at spectroscopy at this time. I like the line on this page that seems to thing we are, I presume, secret agents: "Further Classified Information: All agents to memorise"!

Unfortunately, despite having access to the Bellamy's financial accounts for the period (for which I'm ever grateful to Nancy Bellamy) I can't find anything attributed to the brand or any agency that can be identified.

So we can tick off those three images now! 

NEXT: Unknown Bellamy # 9 - that comic strip.

Unknown Frank Bellamy: INTRODUCTION

FRANK BELLAMY "Unknown artworks"

Alan Davis (does he need an introduction?) has given me permission to reproduce some of the Bellamy artwork on his website, thus making it a lot easier to discuss individual pieces and see if anyone out there can help identify what they are? Yes, it's been 45 years since Frank Bellamy left us but anyone following this blog will know we have found a lot, we knew nothing about previously.  Alan has other images that are worth discussing but for now we'll get started on identifying these pieces.

INTRODUCTION

So if we use Alan's Unknown page as our starting point, I've given each image a number to help remember what we will have covered and help me keep clear in my own mind which image I'm talking about, as they have no titles. I shall blog each different image as separate entries to make it easier to update as we go.

Alan Davis' Unknown Frank Bellamy work

There are 18 images, and we now know what several of them are:

• #1-5: "Pawley's Peepholes"
• #6-8: The Bell and Howell advert from Movie Maker (June 1967) - I'll blog the published version soon
• #9 is a strip but what???
• #10 confirms that not only did Bellamy draw two strips on Walls Wonderman but also drew some 'point-of-sale' material
• #11 is from the Radio Times article on Orville and Wilbur Wright 
• #12 is an astronaut pulling strings and money is involved - BUT what is it???
• #13 is a Castrol GTX advert but I've never seen it published. I'll say more about this one later
  
• #14 is John Bull and the New Year 1973 BUT where was it published, if at all?
• #15 Farnborough Air Show- I'll blog the other stuff some time soon.
• #16 The "WSA+P bridge" was a commission for an individual who worked for W. S. Atkins and Partners - an engineering firm
• #17&#18 I think are the two images for the early 1960s BBC TV programme Focus (16 May 1960) but again I'll say more
  

Have you got any thoughts on these? I'd love to see what you think? My next article will cover these in as much detail as I can round up.

Review of Comics Unlimited #5 article on Frank Bellamy

I loved Crikey! the fanzine Glenn B. Fleming and Tony Ingram and many others kept going for 16 issues from 2007 to 2010! I had them all before giving them to someone else. It was a labour of love and made me laugh out loud sometimes. The writing was spot on for a fan publication - affection, jocularity and serious research. Therefore most of its mistakes could be forgiven. Glenn wrote a 5 page article in Crikey!, Issue 1, (2007) on "My Comic Hero- Frank Bellamy" a personal view - fun and easy to read. I remember at the time thinking there were a few mistakes, but not enough to worry too much.

Now we have had 5 issues of Crikey!'s successor publication called Comics Unlimited (I've linked to Glenn as author as Amazon has no single page that I could find) and the latest has an article by Glenn about Frank Bellamy - he obviously loves Bellamy's work. 

However quite a few errors and misunderstandings are in this article and I felt I must say something as these things get perpetuated all too easily. Having recently completed the writing on the soon-to-be-published Illustrators Special on Bellamy, I know how hard these things are, writing original material, ensuring factual accuracy, and making the article interesting. Once you write something you also seem to become the authority, whether you think you are or not. 

I wrote to Glenn to talk to him about this and he kindly replied. I said I felt bad correcting his article in this way and he kindly said "The truth is the truth and doesn't care about feelings" and "I will have to fall on my sword and just say I got it wrong."

Comics Unlimited #5 2021

Comics Unlimited #5 (2021) FAB: Frank Bellamy by Glenn B Fleming pp12-19

Page 13 of Comics Unlimited

MY COMMENTS:

• p. 13 Bellamy was stationed at West Auckland and met Nancy in Bishop Auckland
• p. 14 The Kettering Evening Telegraph was actually, at that time, the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph 
• p. 14 "Following his demob in 1948" - it was 1946
• p.14 In advertising he was "principally producing artwork for Gibbs Dentrifice" - actually he did a lot more but that's the most well remembered having been in Eagle 
• p.14 "In 1949 to enable Frank to be nearer to his publishers, the Bellamys moved to London; they remained there till 1953" - they actually stayed till a year before Frank died - moving back to Kettering in 1975!
• p.14 Swift was the intended junior companion" to Eagle "and whilst working regularly on that publication" implies Eagle not Swift and the list of strips are from Swift. maybe that's just me!
• p.14 Hulton was sold to Odhams in 1959 "Swift merged into the Eagle" - except it didn't until 1963 as a quick check on Wikipedia would tell you!
• p.14 It was "incumbent on" Bellamy to pick up the art chores on Dan Dare when Hampson left. Did Bellamy have a duty or responsibility to do this? I don't think so.
• p.14 "even lettered the strip himself which was something of a radical move in the early 50s British comics scene" Bellamy's stint on Dan Dare was the late 50s (1959-1960) and many others had lettered their own strips before this! Also this paragraph implies he did all the artwork (despite inverted commas around 'complete artwork' - he didn't and Harley and Watson are mentioned coming in later anyway. This is a bit confused.
• p.15 "Although Bellamy worked for Eagle for less than a year, leaving in late 1965" - and apparently could time travel as Glenn has already mentioned he worked on strips in Eagle way before 1964! Bellamy started with "The Happy Warrior" in October 1957 and almost worked continuously till 1965 with Eagle. He did drew Dan dare for one year, does Glenn mean that?
  
• p.15 "Supercar, Fireball XL5 and Stingray were all TV favourites in the mid 60s" - I think I'd rather state "in the early 60s" but that's a bit pedantic!
• p.15 In TV21 "The art was actually painted, not coloured later using mechanic techniques" - I think this means the artwork was completed by the artist in a single piece of work, not handed to a colourist. "Painted" implies paints and most used inks not paints to my knowledge and Bellamy certainly used inks for his comic work
• p.16 Bellamy's first art for TV21 #52 was January not April 1966 - oh dear!
• p.17 "as the deadlines for the artwork became ever tighter, the strip was cut down from three pages to two" - I have no evidence it was deadlines becoming tighter that made Bellamy reduce Thunderbirds, but suspect it was the sheer amount of work involved in a colour double-page spread plus a B&W wash. He had time to start at that rate of work before it was published but I'd imagine he couldn't keep that up.
• p.18 Re Bellamy's handling of the 5 front covers he drew of the Captain Scarlet strip, "either editorial troubles or deadlines prevented Frank from producing the whole strip". This was interesting as it sent me back to look at my collection and I wonder if , after Mike Noble completed #184's strip (1 colour page plus 3 B&W pages) we then had no Noble (why, does anyone know? Was it to prepare for his run on Zero X in #197 - but he returned to Captain Scarlet in issues # 194-196?) and Bellamy was asked to do the colour cover and Harley the 3 B&W interiors for the next two weeks. Perhaps Harley felt 3 B&W plus a colour cover too much; perhaps Fennell who liked Bellamy wanted impact on these issue's covers? I don't know. But Bellamy also did three more covers #192, a free gift issue, (with Jim Watson doing the interior pages) #193 (free coupon) and much later #210 (no idea why!). So here I think any suggestions are interesting, but what does "editorial troubles" mean? And I suspect Frank was asked to do all 5 covers and didn't want or was not asked to do the interiors, otherwise "deadlines" implies Bellamy couldn't meet them not once but 5 times, which makes no sense!
  
• p.18 Bellamy's last comic strip for the comic was not Joe 90 #4 but TV21 & Joe90 #4 - the combined comic.
• p. 18 "In 1968" Bellamy provided the artwork for the TV series "The Avengers" - expect he didn't! It was 1967 that the programme was broadcast (February) so he produced it in 1966!
• p.18 Glenn, talking about Garth, says "Bellamy would instinctively recap what had happened previously", move the story on and give us a cliffhanger. This is very flattering to Bellamy but Jim Edgar should get some credit as writer - and a quick glance will show that there is no recap in the first panel but a continuation of the story - generally speaking.
• p.13 Captions:The first caption implies Mike Butterworth published a book called "Story of World War I" and doesn't mention Look and Learn is the place the articles started and were gathered by Book Palace into a book for the first time
• p.14 Captions: Did Bellamy 'paint' Dan Dare? I'd say 'illustrated'
• p.14 Captions: "Frazer" of Africa - common mistake - should be "Fraser of Africa"

One last comment: There are 2 pages of Thunderbirds shown, and, although the captions do make clear they are faded, I think better versions of un-faded work might do Bellamy more credit. As Glenn says, I might not have appreciated why he showed the faded art, which I accept.

He then asked: "How were the other 92 pages??!!"

So before anyone starts thinking I'm an old curmudgeon (which might be the truth) I paid £10.50 for this issue (I also have #1). I enjoyed much of both issues and don't want you to be put off buying this great fan publication. Its square-bound with full colour throughout all 104 pages with glossy covers. I read all of it and I found some articles of not much interest; some fascinating; and most enjoyable. Some are about things I know already, and the different perspective was interesting, and some were about comics after I stopped following the Marvel and DC universes. To put such a thing together is incredible and I applaud such efforts.

Watch the video for a glimpse of how well presented Comics Unlimited is, and here's a list of the Contents that Glenn kindly sent me after I mentioned my thoughts.

4-11 :  John Celestri : The Master Animator
John tells us, in his own words, about his desires, his own self inflicted deadlines and how he finally achieved his goal and finally broke into the animation business…
12-19 :  FAB : Frank Bellamy
Frank Bellamy’s talent was nothing if not unique; Glenn B Fleming tells us why…
20-25 : Spider-Man v. The Comics Code
Stephen Hooker takes us into the darker side of comics…
27-29 :  Adventures in the New DC Universe
The 1985 series Crisis on Infinite Earths had one purpose-to streamline and simplify the DC Universe. Unfortunately, the results were not quite what were expected. Tony Ingram presents part 2 of a rough guide to DC’s many worlds past and present.
30-33 :  A Miracle in Time
Scott Free escaped the hell of Apokolips, but he didn’t escape scot-free.  Michael Mead let’s us in on the great escape…
34-35 :  Quasar : The Cosmic Avenger
The 1990’s, when grim n’ gritty was the ‘in thing’ with comics writers desperate to show how ‘adult’ their books were. Tony Ingram, pregnant with knowledge, tell us about it…
36-41 :  Zero-X
Over half a century ago Zero-X burst upon our screens in the film Thunderbirds Are Go!. Glenn B Fleming takes a closer look one of Anderson’s most beloved creations, this time in its strip form.
42-45 :  There’s a Star Man, Waiting in the Sky…
The name ‘Starman’ goes back a long way in comics. All the way back to 1941, in fact, although it wasn’t really until 1994 that the name – and the latest character to use it – became a force to be reckoned with. Ziggy, er, Tony Ingram tells us more…
46-47 : Collecting Comics in the 70s
Stephen Hooker talks about his personal Bronze Age rampage.
48-51 :  The Defenders
The final chapter in the original Defenders with Tony Ingram.
52-55 :  Beowulf & Grant Lankard
Grant Lankard had a dream. A dream to write and draw comics… he’s doing that now.
56-59 :  Truth is Forever
On this, the 50th anniversary of publication of each issue of Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, Forever People, New Gods and Mister Miracle, Michael Mead gives us new insights into  Jack Kirby's Fourth World comics…
61-65 :  The Quest to be in Demand
Not unlike the rest of the world, comics or otherwise, creator Joe D McFee has had quite a decade. In this article, he tells us about his trials, troubles and ultimately his success…
68-73 :  The Greatest Story Ever Told
Glenn B Fleming tells us about the greatest story ever told in a comic book. Ever.
74-75 :  Like a Hurricane
In October 1970, Stephen Hooker, at the heady heights of eight, decided his comic book reading needed to go up a gear or two…
76-81 :  The Comics Unlimited Interview : Donald Glut
If you remember the days of Gold Key Comics, Donald Glut is a name you should know. Wally Monk reminds us…
82-87 :  Annual adventures in the DC Universe
DC Comics have never really prioritised the British market in the same way that Marvel have. Tony Ingram talks about it…
88-89 :  Yancy Street Escapee becomes The King of Comics
Escape is a powerful desire. The urge to be someplace better than where you are, or simply someplace else. Micheal Mead tells us how Jack Kirby became the legend he is.
99-95 :  Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends
Spider-Man was always an outsider, an outcast, almost an anti-hero… well, in J Jonah Jameson’s eyes anyway. In the first part of two, Steven Laming talks of Spidey’s not so friendly friends…
96-97 :  Hatch
Our space hermit decides to build an ancient Egyptian helicopter. Yeah.
98-100 :  The Sin Killer
Mário Vasconcelos shows us why he is one of the best Indie creators around…

Fans of Frank: Mark Farmer

 

Garth: G250 from "The Mask of Atacama"

I wrote to Mark Farmer a while ago. His credits on the Grand Comics Database state he was penciller for 43 items but an inker on 1,728 - I have not counted any publishers outside the UK and USA. Nevertheless you can see why he's known now as an inker! Why did I write to him? 

Well, I was tidying the data which I transferred from my old Bellamy website to this blog and found the files pertaining to a 'competition' in the Daily Mirror.

Daily Mirror 1 June 1974, p.9

The Daily Mirror of 1 June 1974 has the headline, (in the Junior Mirror section) "Is there a comic in the house?" It shows the Hulk, Spider-Man and a tiny cameo of, I think, Super-Humanoid from The Incredible Hulk #116, who says I don't work hard! The blurb states:

Fancy yourself as a comic artist? If so, draw us a strip featuring your own characters, funny or dramatic, and we will publish the best one. How about that. Fun and fame...all for the price of a postage stamp!

It doesn't say it's a competition but later we discover the winners earn an original Garth drawn by Frank Bellamy! 

In the Daily Mirror of the 15 June 1974, under the banner "Titan the Terrible!" the winners are announced for the competition including Mark Farmer, the renowned comic book artist!

Daily Mirror 15 June 1974, p.9

I wrote to him, having known this was THE Mark Farmer for quite a while. I asked him if he could add anything to "this tiny backwater of Bellamy history" and sent him copies of the relevant pages. He replied very politely:

 Hi Norman,

Strangely enough, in the process of sorting "stuff" out during lockdown, I found my own old clipping and scanned it for my records, but thanks for your scans in any case.

All I remember of this event is that my Mom sent the drawing in without my knowledge and the first I knew about it was getting a call from the Daily Mirror telling me the piece would be printed in Saturday's edition and that I was to get a piece of original Frank Bellamy's Garth artwork as a prize. When I saw the image in the paper I quickly realised that they'd cut off one of the arms and a leg and pasted them at a weird angle in order to fit in with the columns and edges of the page. All very crudely done and a foretaste of my future where art is altered without the artist's consent, though at this time I was just delighted to see my work in print. My Mom and Dad were very proud but I don't think I even told my mates at school. The Bellamy artwork was much more exciting to me.

When the artwork arrived I was amazed at how big it was .... it was the first piece of original comic artwork I'd ever seen or held. It was on CS10 board (long gone, I'm afraid) and the ink looked really black and the white gleamed. It wasn't a great piece of Bellamy art but I've since added two other Garth strips by Mr. Bellamy and I have all three framed together .... the two other pieces are much better examples of what he could do with half tone stippling and extreme lighting and shadows, but they are all pretty special to me, originals by the greatest British comic artist ever to have lived.

I hope this is of use, Norman. Any questions, just send me a message.

Cheers, Mark.

"Of use?" I am over the Moon. After thanking him, I asked which episode he received. G250 was the reply - see the top of this article

Lastly David Jackson shared this photocopy of his Bellamy scrapbook with me in the late 1970s and I've just noticed that he had a bigger article on comics than I saw down south! Another instance of different editions of the same daily paper (as we saw with the Daily Record!)

The same article BUT different!

ORIGINAL ART: Garth, Garth, Garth and Garth!

Garth:  G32 and G34 "The Women of Galba"

This month sees not just one Frank Bellamy artwork up for auction but 8 Garth strips! These come via Compalcomics. Malcolm Philips offers a listing at both his Compalcomics and TheSaleroom

GARTH: The Women of Galba - 2 episodes: G32 and G34

Garth: 'Women of Galba' two original artworks (1973) by Frank Bellamy for the Daily Mirror 6/8 February 1973.
Indian ink on board. 21 x 17 ins (x 2)
£500-600

That's the description for these two near consecutive strips in Lot #122 reads. The original story ran in the Daily Mirror from 27 December 1972 - 10 April 1973. The reserve price of £450 has been met - actually while I was typing this note!

GARTH: The Wreckers - 2 consecutive episodes: G308-G309

Garth: The Wreckers G308-G309

Here are two consecutive strips from the story "The Wreckers" - you might remember I discovered an unseen episode - in England at least - previously.  These two show Garth and Andromeda being brainwashed and demonstrate beautifully how to vary panels in just a small space! The lot is described as:

Garth: 'The Wreckers'. Two original consecutive artworks (1973) by Frank Bellamy (one signed) for the D. Mirror 29/31 December 1973. Indian ink on board. 21 x 17 ins (x 2)

At this time of writing the reserve has not been met but I suspect that will happen today or tomorrow!

GARTH: Freak out to Fear - 2 consecutive episodes: H135 and H136

Garth: Freak out to Fear H135-H136

I love these two as they portray the Swinging 60s-type environment in London (yes, I know they were published in the 70s!). Guy St. Clair appears to be a junkie - it can't be his unkempt hair that clued Garth in as Garth has a mirror nearby! And Guy ends up in hospital! A nice pair of consecutive strips, again showing Bellamy's command of black and white and how to vary images to grab attention.

Lot #127 is described as:

Garth: 'Freak Out to Fear', two original consecutive artworks (1974) both signed by Frank Bellamy for the D. Mirror 10/11 June 1974. Indian ink on board. 21 x 17 ins (x 2)

GARTH: The Bride of Jenghiz Khan - 2 episodes: J4 and J6

Garth: The Bride of Jenghiz Khan J4 and J6

This time we have two almost consecutive strips from "The Bride of Jenghiz Khan" story, which ran in the Daily Mirror from 28 September 1974 - 14 January 1975 - H228-J11. Garth is with Professor Lumiere in China on a dig. Bored he heads off  and as a result of a landslide discovers a skeleton with a necklace which he strangely remembers as belonging to "Crystal Sky". Touching it he becomes Kailim, guard captain to Feng, warlord of a Chinese province.  These two strips come right near the end of the story. Lot #129 is described as:

Garth: 'Bride of Jenghiz Khan', two original consecutive [sic] artworks (1975) both signed by Frank Bellamy for the D. Mirror 6/8 January 1975. Indian ink on board. 21 x 17 ins (x 2)

If you want information on reprints of the strips travel to the menu on the website "Garth Reprints" and I'll add these to the spreadsheet, where I record sales of original art by Frank Bellamy.

AUCTION SUMMARY

GARTH: The Women of Galba - 2 episodes: G32 and G34
WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom -Lot #122
STARTING BID: £450 reserve
ENDING PRICE: £800
END DATE: Sunday 28 February 2021

GARTH: The Wreckers - 2 consecutive episodes: G308-G309 

WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom - Lot #125
STARTING BID: £450 reserve
ENDING PRICE:£780
END DATE: Sunday 28 February 2021

GARTH: Freak out to Fear - 2 consecutive episodes: H135 and H136
WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom - Lot #127
STARTING BID: £450 reserve
ENDING PRICE: £680
END DATE: Sunday 28 February 2021
 

GARTH: The Bride of Jenghiz Khan - 2 episodes: J4 and J6
WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom - Lot #129
STARTING BID: £450 reserve
ENDING PRICE: £740
END DATE: Sunday 28 February 2021