Frank Bellamy and THUNDERBIRDS The Comic Collection

Some stories are reprinted over and over. Some stories are not often reprinted in any form!Some get skipped in the run!

Egmont's Thunderbirds the comic collection

Although the news of this publication came out of the blue a few months ago, it was a pleasure to finally see a copy. I have updated the website with the listing of these reprints from TV21. While I was doing it I noticed how the run of reprinted stories skips some stories.

• TV CENTURY 21 141 - 146 "The Earthquake Maker"
• TV CENTURY 21 147 - 154 "Visitor from space"
• TV CENTURY 21 155 - 161 "The Antarctic menace"
• TV CENTURY 21 162 - 169 "Brains is Dead"
• TV CENTURY 21 170 - 172 "Space cannon"
• TV CENTURY 21 173 - 178 "The Olympic plot"
• TV CENTURY 21 179 - 183 "The Barracuda awaits"
• TV CENTURY 21 184 - 187 "Devil's crag"
• TV CENTURY 21 188 - 191 "Eiffel Tower demolition"
• TV CENTURY 21 192 - 196 "Nuclear threat"
• TV CENTURY 21 197 - 202 "Hawaiian lobster menace"
• TV CENTURY 21 203 - 208 "The Time machine"
• TV CENTURY 21 209 - 217 "Zoo Ship"
• TV CENTURY 21 218 - 226 "City of doom"
• TV CENTURY 21 227 - 234 "Chain reaction"
• TV CENTURY 21 235 - 238 The Amazon Fire Pit
• TV CENTURY 21 239 - 242 Subsmash Rescue
• TV 21 & Joe 90 1-4 Volcano Oil Search

First of all we start with a reprint from TV21 #141 and I suspect this is because this was the first issue in which Bellamy no longer had the double page spread (because some guy called Ron Embleton started illustrating something called "Captain Scarlet"!) and therefore these strips are easier to reprint being two single pages - no problem with the gutter between pages.

The Zoo Ship

After this first story, we follow the published order from TV21, until issue 178's ending of the story "The Olympic Plot". We skip #179-183 (a story variously known as "The Jupiter Revolt", or in Thunderbirds Holiday Special [1993] as "Mission to Moonbase"  or "The Barracuda awaits"  in  Century 21: Classic Comic Strips from the Worlds of Gerry Anderson: Menace from Space by Chris Bentley (2012)) and go onto "The Devil's Crag from issues 184-187. We then carry on from #188-202.

It's then that we carry on into un-reprinted territory...well, sort of....

Devil's Crag

In issue 203 (7 Dec 2068) we get "The Time Machine" which has only been reprinted (to my knowledge - and please correct me) in the reprint title of the 1990s Thunderbirds (issues #27-32 [Parts 1 in # 27, 2 in #28, 3 in #29, 4 in #30, 5 in #31, 6 in #32]) to be far too exact. "The Time Machine" ran in TV21 until  #208 (11 Jan 2069) and this volume from Egmont carries on into unreprinted territory (except in that 90s comic Thunderbirds!). We see issues 209 through to 226 of TV21 and then we move onto John Cooper's artwork from the second series TV21 & Joe 90 with two stories "The Big Bang" and "The Mini-Moon" before reprinting the excellent Lady Penelope. As a 8 year old I loved these stories drawn by Eric Eden - especially the one about the Isle of Arran riddle.


The one mistake I have found in this reprint is that Bellamy is wrongly credited on the contents page with illustrating "The Isle of Arran" which is drawn by Eric Eden (pp250 - 267). But this is a minor criticism

For Dan Dare fans I should mention Frank Hampson's outing with Lady P is reprinted here too. The art is not as crisply reprinted as I'd like, but the whole book looks to be taken from reprinted material and not original scans that's not too surprising. Before I close this long ramble of factual material I should also give credit to Graham Bleathman's cutaway art of the Thunderbirds as well as Tracy Island, FAB1, Creighton-Ward stately home. All in all a fantastic book to own especially if, like me, you're always grabbing the Ravette paperbacks or Bentley and Marcus Hearn's series of reprints and getting frustrated that you have to jump around the volumes so much. This book will be in easy reach so when I search for stories I can find them quickly.

The funky wallpaper, sorry endpapers

Oh and I think I ought to mention the beautiful endpapers which would have made an 8 year old Norman some fine wallpaper back in the day!

Brains is dead

Christmas is coming so get this on your wishlist, the ISBN for Thunderbirds Comic Collection is 9781405268363

Where to now Egmont? Well they have also released some interesting boxes of postcards, follow the links for more information.I enjoyed seeing the Thunderbirds: 100 F.A.B. Postcards (Classic Comics Postcard Collection) full of photos and screen grabs. The others in this series are 70s Girls Comics: 100 Postcards (Classic Comics Postcard Collection) and Battle: 100 Postcards (Classic Comics Postcard Collection)

Other's opinions
Lew Stringer review
Win Wiacek review
John Freeman's review on Downthetubes
Steve Holland's review
Forbidden Planet's review 

Frank Bellamy and Boy's World

Brett Million & The Ghost World Part 1

Think of a UK comic in photogravure that ran in the 1960s for just 89 issues before you saw that terrible notice "Your Editor announces exciting news for you!" This usually translated in this little boy's mind as "Goodbye" as another great comic died by merging a few strips into an existing comic, normally with some pedigree. In this case we are talking about Boy's World which on 3 October 1964 disappeared into Eagle.

Steve Holland's cover for Boy's World: ticket to adventure

Steve Holland (with help from many others  has produced another invaluable comics bibliography: Boy's World: ticket to adventure. I have always loved the way Steve writes his checklists by providing a long introduction covering many details about authors and artists as well as editors and those who have connections to the comic in question. The book is lavishly illustrated and as before I found I had  to get my post-it notes and mark where the introduction finishes and the sections ended. Steve chooses here to outline the Picture Stories; Text Stories; Cartoon Strips; Features; Supplements; and the Annuals - I presume we never saw a Summer Special or we'd see it listed here. And there was a Fishing Annual in the series - who knew?

The comic was a great influence on many writers and artists who draw today and no wonder. It had writers such as Harry Harrison (Bill, the Galactic Hero) and Michael Moorcock (Elric of Melniboné) as well as Willie Patterson (Jeff Hawke) and Tom Tully (author of too many UK comic stories to mention!). The artists roster is no less impressive: John M. Burns, Ron and his brother Gerry Embleton, Gerald Haylock, Frank Langford, Brian Lewis Harry Bishop ('Gun Law' in the Daily Express for 21 years) and fellow to Frank Bellamy 'Heros the Spartan' artist for the Eagle, Luis Bermejo.

But this blog is about Frank Bellamy who in March 1963 drew a black and white illustration for a war story in Boy’s World, “Desert Duel” which shows a German tank meeting a ‘desert rat’.

Ghost World -  Episode 15
Art by Frank Bellamy
from Boy's World

Shortly after that he took on the latest incarnation of a strip called “The Angry Planet” – a story about a character called Brett Million, who attends a training survival school on the planet Pyrrus. The planet has nasty creatures and poisonous plants everywhere. In December 1963 the double page feature was on the back cover page (“Wrath of the Gods” taking back its centre pages). In the 7th December issue Bellamy started his next regular weekly assignment with “Brett Million and the Ghost World”. The story has our hero going to the planet Eisen, a mining planet, where people and things are disappearing. Needless to say, it is not ghostly activity, but Million discovers the planet’s natives are moving faster than humans can. The story ends after 21 episodes in which Bellamy shows even with one page he can create dynamic panels. Many trademark Bellamy devices are here from space shots to futuristic hardware similar to his Dan Dare creations.

There aren't many UK series of comics I have but Boy's World is one. I don't have a complete run of Bellamy's work but the issues I do have are great. However even if you own none of them, Steve's book is worth buying as his histories of UK comics are not available anywhere else. Many thanks to Steve for the artwork scan for episode 15 above and also the cover of his book!

Original art for Part 3

Original Art on eBay: Red Devil Dean and Radio Times

Just a quick note to let anyone who doesn't already know that the owner of the recently reviewed original art "Red Devil Dean" has put it up for sale at £1,900 or Best Offer on eBay

Here are the accompanying pictures:

Cover

Complete artwork (without tracing paper addition)

Tracing paper addition

He also has for sale (offered at £450 or best offer) another piece of artwork by Frank Bellamy, which originally appeared in the Radio Times magazine for 22 July 1972 - 28 July 1972) as part of the "Grand strategy" series. This one (#3 appearing on page 34) shows Frank bellamy's interpretation of the attack on Pearl Harbour. It was these graphic dispalys in the radio Times that got me hooked on Bellamy. They were so inventive and exciting - even when reproduced on that ghastly cheap pulp paper.

 

Frank Bellamy and "The Missing Lynx"

When trawling through books, magazines and comics, in the hunt for Frank Bellamy artwork (or my other favourite, Raymond Sheppard for that matter) every so often I detect traces of his style in an illustration, but can't decide with any certainty whether he drew it or not. The earlier we go back in his endeavours, the more difficult it becomes, together with a rapidly diminishing likelihood of any authentic connections to Frank’s career. So it's fantastic when such a breakthrough occurs and helps us add to the list of Bellamy's known works. Therefore imagine my reaction when, in the course of the exchanges related to ‘Red Devil Dean’, the following account quite unexpectedly unfolded before me. AND today's my birthday!

As before, I’ll leave David Slinn to chronicle the circumstances:


“While it’s generally thought the “Commando Gibbs” advertisements, appearing in Eagle at the beginning of 1952, brought Frank to the attention of the Hulton Press, his earlier illustration work for Home Notes, two years before, had not gone unnoticed by the art editor, Arthur Roberts. During 1951, both he and Jodi Hyland, from Woman’s Own, left George Newnes to play a major role in the launch of Hulton’s Girl that November.

The distinguished judges of the painting competition including
Marcus [Morris], John Betjeman and art editor Arthur Roberts (third from right)
Taken from Living with Eagles, p.179

“Home Notes illustrators, notably Ray Bailey, Stanley Coleman, Roy Newby, Philip Townsend and, later, Stanley Houghton were to draw strip features for the new girls’ title – together with, of course, Raymond Sheppard. Interestingly, Frank’s debut on an adventure serial wasn’t until 1953, with ‘Monty Carstairs’ for Odhams’ Mickey Mouse Weekly. However, the development of his strip illustration technique was closely monitored by Arthur Roberts with a view to persuading him to join the Hulton children’s magazines – eventually, the arrival of Swift, widened the practical possibilities of this coming about.

“The immediate impact achieved by Eagle and again, though to a lesser extent, with the advent of Girl and Robin, was unfortunately not repeated on Swift’s spring launch in 1954. While intended to attract younger readers from both sexes, by far the best picture-stories – Harry Bishop’s western strip, ‘Tom Tex and Pinto’, and ‘Paul English’ drawn by Giorgio Bellavitas – were clearly aimed at boys. ‘Nicky Nobody’, nicely handled by Leslie Otway, Eric Dadswell’s ‘The Fleet Family’ and ‘Sally of Fern Farm’, drawn by Girl regular Roy Newby, provided the counterbalance; together with Patrick Williams on Chad Varah’s, ‘The Boy David’; plus various cartoon strips from John Ryan, Dennis Mallet and the ubiquitous Roland Davies.

“Other artists from Hulton’s companion children’s titles, including Richard Jennings, Harry Winslade and Will Nickless, also contributed illustrations to a weekly series of complete short stories. These appeared on the page opposite ‘The Fleet Family’ which, from the issue dated 14 August 1954, I’d spotted was now being drawn by the ‘Monty Carstairs’ artist who signed that strip, “Frank A. Bellamy”. While his arrival in Swift’s pages was the key to Frank’s long-term future, within less than a month a little flurry of related coincidences also occurred.

“For, the very week Junior Express and, incidentally, Junior Mirror first hit the bookstalls on 4 September 1954, I attended an interview in Shoe Lane with Arthur Roberts, now senior art editor on the Hulton Press children’s titles. Once my, over-optimistic, teenage creative struggles with ‘Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future’, ‘Belle of the Ballet’ colour-strips and other specimen drawings had been thoroughly perused and put to one side, I was kindly shown various examples of finished artwork. Amongst these was the first episode of ‘The Swiss Family Robinson’, due to appear in Swift dated 9 October.

“Arthur Roberts particularly drew my attention to the balloon-lettering and the title-piece, pointing out that both had been done by the illustrator himself – he offered the sage advice that, becoming proficient in those skills, would considerably improve the prospects for any burgeoning strip-artist. Also on the desk was the short story illustration for “Jumping Wildcat” – though, I recall, my eye wandering to the unlettered cover artwork, drawn by Harry Bishop for ‘Tarna – Jungle Boy’, as I endeavoured to take in as much as possible. A few weeks later, “Caught” was published in Swift, 25 September; “David’s Good Deed”, on 2 October; with the story, about a lynx missing from a travelling circus, appearing in the 30 October issue.

Swift vol.1no.33 30 Oct 1954

“Clearly, the natural assumption that, in the intervening, close to sixty years, someone else was bound to unearth their existence, turned out to be seriously flawed. Even, despite the illustrations being positioned a blink away from any researching eyes, forensically examining the ‘The Fleet Family’ picture-story on the adjacent page, for clues as to when it changed hands. Moreover, the ‘Red Devil Dean’ connection and the title of the second Swift story, only add to the bizarre coincidences?”

Heeding Mr Roberts’ initial advice, his subsequent guidance and encouragement, eventually led to David working freelance for the Hulton Press on Eagle, Girl, Swift and Robin; also with Express Weekly, TV Century 21 and other children’s titles. I took the opportunity to ask if he knew anything regarding the circumstances of Frank Bellamy taking over ‘The Fleet Family’ from Eric Dadswell.

Swift vol.1no.28 25 Sep 1954

“This came about when Eric Dadswell landed a national newspaper strip, based on the BBC serial ‘The Grove Family’; an early television “soap” – that, incidentally, included the Reverend Morris’s sister-in-law, Ruth Dunning, in the cast. What I’ve always half-suspected, however, is that Frank was originally approached by the Hulton Press to join Swift for the planned autumn “re-launch” in 1954.

“It was Hulton’s usual practice to give a new artist – which, of course, Frank was at the time – something akin to those short-story illustrations, as a try out before a major assignment like ‘The Swiss Family Robinson’ strip feature. Cecil Orr, who’d drawn ‘Monty Carstairs’ prior to Frank’s tenure, had also been enlisted to contribute ‘The Rolling Stones’ circus adventures.

“In the event, as he would still have been drawing ‘The Living Desert’ for Odhams, Frank’s propensity for working well-in-hand, will have enabled him to meet the editorial request to take on ‘The Fleet Family’ at short notice. This would also account for his last feature in Mickey Mouse Weekly, being so close to his first episode appearing in Swift two weeks later.”

Many thanks to David for providing the missing links! To finish, here’s the last of the three newly added pieces of Bellamy artwork and my little pun to complete David’s own pun in our title above!

Swift vol.1no.29 2 Oct 1954

Frank Bellamy and Red Devil Dean (Part Two)

Red Devil Dean by Frank Bellamy

RED DEVIL DEAN PART TWO


The original artwork from Chris Harris, (featured in the blog of 16 May 2013), drew a number of responses and, in particular, began an exchange of correspondence with David Slinn -(who has recently assisted Steve Holland on his marvellous "Boy's World: Ticket to adventure", more on that in a later feature). Where this eventually led, is also for another time, but his initial observations are presented unedited as he can say it better than I can!

“First, let’s deal with ‘Red Devil Dean’. Included in ‘The Editor writes’, Junior Express Weekly, No.40, 25 June 1955, is this announcement about next week’s issue:

“...Then we have RED DEVIL DEAN. Red, an ex-Commando who finds post-war life humdrum, has a way of turning up wherever there is trouble. In his first adventure he is involved in an Arab rebellion in mysterious Morocco.”

Even that brief description uncannily tallies with the character Frank has depicted – though, disappointingly, as you’ll quickly spot in this first episode [pictured below], it appears Tug Wilson has already decided to go a.w.o.l.? 

'Red Devil Dean' by Desmond Walduck
Junior Express 41 July 2, 1955

In the mid-Fifties, your average youngster having grown up during the War, will have associated the “Red Devils” as the nickname for the 1st Parachute Brigade and, most probably, their involvement at Arnhem. As you’ve already established, the insignia is of Allied Combined Operations and, to add to these coincidences, even allowing for Desmond Walduck’s unmistakeable style, there is a discernible facial resemblance with Frank’s redheaded character. Admittedly, with Junior Express Weekly’s production restricted to red as a second colour, editorially expediency may have decided this new hero’s genetic traits.

Without knowing just when the specimen artwork was produced and why Frank’s version shows both men in uniform equipped for combat, suggesting the proposed stories were to be fictional wartime adventures, it’s difficult to offer much more than conjecture. Other than, while children’s titles of that period tended to persevere, often for years on end, with proven familiar content - unusually, Junior Express Weekly’s format, strips and features all seemed to be constantly evolving week-by-week.


By the time this new series had been planned to replace Jim Holdaway’s ‘Joanna of Bitter Creek’, the paper had embarked on a very successful strip adaptation of ‘The Colditz Story’, superbly illustrated by Tony Weare which led to ‘The Dam Busters’ and, later on, ‘The Bold and the Brave’ series of real-life wartime exploits. This may well have influenced the editorial decision to make Red Devil Dean an ex-Commando, with his adventures set in a civilian environment.

In any event, Frank’s further participation would have been ruled out by developments elsewhere. When, as you know, in addition to drawing ‘The Swiss Family Robinson’ for Swift he was asked during February 1955, to take over the ‘Paul English’ serial from Giorgio Bellavitas who was also coping with ‘Mark the Youngest Disciple’, on Eagle’s prestigious back-page colour feature.”

==============================================
Many thanks to David for his clear thinking on this matter and, as you’ll see next time, also providing another fascinating insight to Frank’s early career – with a triple-discovery – Be here for ........‘The Missing Lynx’!

Fans of Frank: Jonathan Wyke

TV21 #81

I tripped over the fact that Jonathan Wyke had an affinity for Frank Bellamy and in the interests of getting someone else to write my blog for me here is Jonathan...Seriously I'm grateful to Jonathan for sharing his insights and I've enjoyed adding links to the names I would list in the great pantheon (Perez has no official presence on the web, really?) and also browsing Jonathan's own art.

Frank Bellamy

I was born in Kettering, Northamptonshire on the 21st May. On the exact date and in the exactly same place as Frank Bellamy. That means nothing of course, unless you're a young lad, who's just beginning to notice that the art in comics is done by different people. What it means then is that you spend your time hunting down examples of Frank Bellamy's work and pouring over them as if they're relics.

This obsession faded somewhat as I moved into my early teenage years and was seduced by the 4 colour wonders coming from across the Atlantic. These were exotic Marvels, and because I now knew to look at the art I began to like a whole different pantheon of artists - Byrne, Perez, Adams, Kirby, Kane - all great in their own way, but all really coming from the same source. Their roots were firmly set in the States, and didn't really speak to me. It was at this time I re-discovered Frank Bellamy.

In Kettering there was a second-hand book shop - the type you really don't see anymore - with boxes of books and magazines scattered around its two tiny rooms. On the counter was one small cardboard box of old Marvel comics - they were the reason I'd gone in, and as I was buying them (very early Fantastic Four and Avengers issues at 5p each), the owner of the shop pointed out a stack of annuals on the floor and said I might like to take a look. I added one to my haul and left. It was of course an Eagle Annual, and I went back the next day to grab the rest. Harris Tweed and his friends were interesting, but here was Dan Dare. And here too was Frank Bellamy. Bellamy's strengths were many. His draughtsmanship was without peer, but his astonishingly dynamic layouts were out of this world. Where the American comics I'd been reading were all pretty rigid - fixed grids broken up by occasional splash page, Bellamy's ripped through that. Circular frames that dragged the eye to them, cinematic viewpoints swirling around, fixing your focus onto what was important. And the drawings. No more cartoon like figures. These were real people. Real animals. Real spaceships. Frank Bellamy could make the extra-ordinary real.

Dan Dare and Garth are I suppose the strips that Bellamy's most remembered for, but my favourites will always be Thunderbirds and Heros the Spartan. Heros is a particular love. Bellamy's inspiring use of colour. The wonderful penmanship. The layout! This astonishing piece was begun in the early 1960s and the dynamism of the narrative is, I believe, unsurpassed to this day.

All of this influences me. From the first finding the coincidence of our birth dates causing me to start to draw, copying the crappy reproduction in the Kettering Evening Telegraph over and over. The first thing I'd ever seriously tried to draw. To being blown away by the re-discovery of his work which spoke to me far more than the stylised pieces coming over from the US. In everything I draw I try to portray the subject with a realistic air, and that comes directly from Frank Bellamy. My attempts at sequential narrative are influenced by the European New Wave cinema, but Frank Bellamy was, of course, there first too.

Frank Bellamy was our Jean Giraud. Our Jack Kirby. His understanding and mastery of the sequential form have never been surpassed, and I know that if anything I ever did held even a slight reflection of his work I'd be a happy man.

Regards,

Jonathan

Eagle Vol 14 #39

Jonathan's presence on the Net enables you to view his terrific work.  His blog "WobblyLines and Blotchy Colour" sounds too self-denigrating for such a good artist and he has a space on the wonderful DeviantArt site (took me a long time to realise this wasn't DeviantTart!) and he's on Twitter too. I'm sure you'll all head to his comic art but I loved this sketch.

 

St. John's Church, St. John Cornwall - by Jonathan Wyke

And like a lot of us I bet Jonathan can't wait for the Heros reprint (yes another shameless plug for Book Palace!)

Frank Bellamy and Doctor Janet Brown

This is going to be a very short piece....you know as much as I do about this.....I promised a new discovery of a piece from Bellamy, and here it is.

Doctor Janet Brown

Jeff Haythorpe, who has kindly shared so much artwork over the 13 years that I've been doing this research on Bellamy, just popped this into my inbox with no more clue than I had.

The word balloons say "So at last - Doctor Janet Brown - aren't you pleased?" with two name plaques - one with Dr. D. A. Brown and one with Doctor Janet Brown. Is this a husband and wife practice? An article on conquering sexism? A story of a country General Practice?

The three portraits look as if they might have been 'spotted' throughout an article/story, but the panel looks so like a comic panel that I half think it is too unusual for a romance magazine....but I have no idea really. I have no records to match anything here. The style looks very like the Monty Carstairs era, i.e. 1953.

I asked David Slinn (who worked in UK comics during the 50s and 60s) what he thought, and he replied:

"As I’m sure you’ve come across in researching magazines and newspapers of the early 1950s, small line portraits of the main characters were dotted about the text (even repeated during the run of a serial), either with or without a main illustration; or little vignettes of “typical professions” appeared in advertisements." 

So there you go. Does anyone know anything about this? Let me know.

And for no other reason than I mentioned the Monty Carstairs strip from Mickey Mouse Weekly, here's an arbitrary page from 21 November 1953 just because it looks so good!

Monty Carstairs from Mickey Mouse Weekly 21 November 1953