Original Art: Garth on eBay - 'The Angels of Hell's Gap' (J61) 1975

Bill Storie let me know that an original Garth strip drawn by Frank Bellamy is on eBay.

The seller describes it like this:

This is a genuine artwork panel, drawn by the legendary British artust, Frank Bellamy. It is dated 1975 and is drawn on artboard. I purchased it a few years ago and had it professionally framed immediately. It is a pen-and-ink piece and it attracted me as it has all Bellamy's most famous flourishes in one: the cross-hatching, lightning flashes, etc, familiar from his Doctor Who and Thunderbirds work. I will not remove the piece from it's frame as I do not wish to risk damage..

"The Angels of Hell's Gap" story ran originally in the Daily Mirror from 15 January 1975 - 2 May 1975 #(J12-J101) and was reprinted by, the sadly defunct, "All Devon Comic Collectors Club" in their Daily Strips: Collectors Club Editions No.13 [No date]  and also recoloured in the  Daily Mirror from Monday 21 February 2011 to Tuesday 12 April 2011 by Martin Baines

Here are the other pictures the seller uploaded:

And just for your enjoyment...

The opening strip from the story "Angels of Hell's Gap"

SUMMARY 

WHERE?: eBay
SELLER: magister67
STARTING BID: £250.00
ENDING PRICE: £280.00

END DATE: 15 November 2016
No of bids: 3
No of bidders: 2

Frank Bellamy and Dan Dare - Trip to Trouble!

Eagle 28 Nov 1959 Vol 10 No 41
NOTE: Difference in artwork styles by Frank Bellamy, Don Harley,
Gerald Palmer and Keith Watson

GUEST POST from David Jackson
Frank Bellamy and Dan Dare - Trip to Trouble!

In "Al Williamson and Frank Bellamy recycled" - posted here 8th September 2016 - Norman writes:

"Frank Hampson (Don Harley, Gerald Palmer, Keith Watson inter alia) created "Dan Dare" over a 10 year period before Bellamy, Harley and others took over. Bellamy, unfairly I think, gets a lot of criticism by those who were reading "Dan Dare" at that time because he was asked to upgrade things. Fortunately he agreed from the start to do it for one year and that's what his contract stated."

It seems appropriate to unpack the above quote as a follow-up to my previous posting "Frank Bellamy - Sight Unseen"

The situation described came about when Dan Dare's creator Frank Hampson relinquished hands-on involvement with the strip - having originally signed away his copyright of his creation to the publisher, no doubt under the impression that 'that was the way things were': it was sign on the dotted line or no publication.  (For a flat fee or weekly wage). Interestingly, that's not the case in book publishing - fortunately for its authors - but it was what was done in periodical publishing.

The 1985 book 'The Man Who Drew Tomorrow' by Alastair Crompton, with additional material by Alan Vince, states (p134):

"Frank [Hampson] says today that his understanding with Odhams was that he should hand over his Dan Dare strip to Frank Bellamy for as long as it took to finish "The Road of Courage" and then take the space-adventure back again."

"Frank Bellamy - Sight Unseen" previously described the ill-fated first FB rendered "Dan Dare" frame (Eagle 29 August 1959 Vol.10 No.28) whose face - only - was subsequently reworked by Don Harley on editorial edict; the original artwork being thereafter lost to posterity and never seen again (hence its inclusion under the title of that post) - unless anyone out there knows any different...
So the (I have also argued, in print, unjustified - see article below) criticism of the Frank Bellamy "Dan Dare" was there at the outset and from the top. Understandably, the fact that this occurred could of itself account for FB's subsequent feelings towards the feature.
At that point Frank Bellamy might well have wished he had never agreed to take on "Dan Dare" - even for only a year. Creativity is not just a learned competence plus time spent, it is the product of mental states facilitated by circumstances congenial to the right frame of mind. Alastair Crompton referred to FB's first "Dan Dare" page (quoted from, in part previously in the "Sight Unseen" post and this, further, here):

"So the artwork which Bellamy had spent painful hours producing to the brief he thought he had been given was altered back to something approaching Hampson's style; when Bellamy saw the changes he was devastated."

Speakeasy #109 has a three page feature "Dan Dare - Pilot of the Past" by Alan Woolcombe with Don Harley and Keith Watson which includes the following:

"For several years, Hampson ran his studio like a tight ship, working all hours, sometimes to the point of overwork and consequent ill health.  In 1959, however, a series of publishing takeovers brought in a new, economy-minded management who couldn't see the point of such a complicated set-up.  Hampson found it increasingly difficult to maintain overall control over Dan Dare, and his estrangement became complete when he discovered that they were planning to make a film of his creation without paying him a penny.  He resigned, vowing to have nothing more to do with the strip.  The new owners lost no time in disbanding the Dan Dare team. [...] It was not a happy time.  Frank Bellamy, brought in on the recommendation of Frank Hampson as his successor, had been told by Marcus Morris and Clifford Makins (assistant to Morris) "We don't want any more of these cardboard characters, we want you to give Dan Dare another dimension."  Inspired by this brief, he produced his first page, only to see Morris and Makins have Don Harley alter it because it didn't look like Dan Dare!  Nonetheless, despite being deeply hurt by this mistreatment, Bellamy did produce a very different, modern-looking Dan Dare."

The Fantasy Advertiser Vol.3 No.50 interview (hereafter FA) says (here only in part, in selected extracts compiled together):

FA: " ...You went on to "Marco Polo", but only a few months later, you switched strips again to "Dan Dare", why was this?

FB:  Well, I think Frank Hampson was getting a bit tired of "Dan Dare" by this time.  So Marcus Morris, editor of EAGLE at that time, asked me if I'd like to take over.  I had a chat with Frank Hampson, who also wanted me to take over, and under the agreement that it would be for one year only, I started drawing "Dan Dare".

FA:  But didn't you have to refer back to the Hampson version quite a bit?

FB:  Oh, yes.  But drawing is like handwriting.  It belongs to an individual so another person's is bound to be different.  You can see a vast difference between Frank Hampson, Don Harley and Keith Watson's version of "Dan Dare".  To me the difference stands out like a sore thumb, even though the uniforms are the same. ...

[There was a later editorial edict to update the whole look]:

FB:  "They asked me to redesign "Dan Dare".  The uniforms, space fleet, everything. ...

FA:  Did you have any qualms about revamping Frank Hampson's personal creation?

FB:  Oh, yes.  I didn't like doing that.  But it was a directive from upstairs - that's what they wanted, and you can only give the client what he wants, so that was it.

FA:  You drew "Dan Dare" for exactly a year.  Why did you stop?

FB:  I'd only wanted to draw it for a year.

FA:  Have there been any sets you particularly disliked drawing?

FB:  Well, once again, "Dan Dare", because I felt cramped on it, as I've said."

The business side - editorial decisions and takeovers, printing strikes and the resultant consequences - impacted badly on Frank Hampson, the "Dan Dare" 'team' and Frank Bellamy in the fallout. And some of the most devoted readers were not happy either.  It all showed the publisher also lacked insight into the minds of readers.  Arbitrary stylistic changes - not internal to the narrative - of themselves go against the willing suspension of disbelief.  In some cases the contemporary reactions of young readers and fans brought up on the Hampson "Dare" have themselves been argued out in print retrospectively; such as those published in Terry Doyle's series for Eagle Times, scanned extracts from which provide additional supporting text, and the re-borrowed title, for this post. 

Opinion by David Jackson (& Terry Doyle)
Eagle Times Vol 8: 1 Spring 1995

Opinion by David Jackson (& Terry Doyle)
Eagle Times Vol 8: 1 Spring 1995

All that said, we do have the FB "Dan Dare" to appreciate on its own terms, and as can be judged from the many examples which have appeared previously on this blog, the Frank Bellamy "Dan Dare" pages speak for themselves as stand alone works of art in their own right.

Eagle 6 Feb 1960 Vol 11 No 6

========
Thanks for all this David. It ties together a lot of thoughts on Frank Bellamy's run on "Dan Dare", surely one of the strangest productions in British comics at that time!

Frank Bellamy, inflation and crocodiles

During an email exchange with David Jackson last year, we were writing about Bellamy's other work in the Daily Mirror, illustrations for articles, and David said:

Your mention of the "inflation" crocodile rang some faint bell and I had to go and check... And having looked at both the Speakeasy and the Daily Mirror I can confirm that the printed Mirror version I have, isn't reprinted in Speakeasy - which is in fact a completely different drawing of the "inflation crocodile. Speakeasy's is, as you say, facing to the left, but isn't a 'flipped' 'mirror' (heh) 'reversal' of the Daily Mirror image - both versions are signed Frank Bellamy, and 'signwritten' "INFLATION" along each reptile's flank.

And here to prove what David has quite rightly pointed out are both images

The Daily Mirror (15 June 1972) picture accompanies an article called "What is the cause?…The Mirror verdict" by Robert Head appearing on pp.16-17

Daily Mirror 15 June 1972, pp16-17 © mirrorpix

According to his obituary (February 19 2009 in the Times), Robert Head was "the youngest City editor on a national newspaper when he was appointed in his early thirties by the Daily Mirror’s bulky, hard-drinking but shrewd and authoritative Editor Lee Howard as the first in that post on a tabloid paper. Thirty years on he was the longest serving when he finally retired from the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror, both of which he had served for seven days a week."

 The second picture David and I were talking about appeared in the "Unseen Frank Bellamy" exhibition to which I have dedicated a page on the Checklist website. The catalogue was published to coincide with the exhibition, in Acme Press' Speakeasy magazine #100 (July 1989). The long-running (10 years or so) comics fanzine-turned-professional publication folded in the early 90s. Speakeasy was founded by Richard Ashford, whom Alan Davis (the comic book artist) took to visit Frank Bellamy's widow, Nancy Bellamy. The meeting set in motion the events that resulted in the Acme Press/Speakeasy art show The event itself took place at The Basement Gallery 391 Coldharbour Lane Brixton, London SW9 8LQ between the 15th of July and 3rd of September 1989.

The Unseen Frank Bellamy catalogue

 So there you go. Never having actually compared the two I had always assumed they were the same!!! The Archivist of the Year award goes to David Jackson!

Frank Bellamy and Star Trek

Thank you Gene Roddenberry!

As it's the 50th anniversary I thought it was time we celebrated Star Trek. I remember the day I found out it was due to be broadcast in the UK. I was laying some newspaper on the table where I sat, in school, with three others in anticipation of doing some painting. No idea what we were painting, but a photo (in black and white of course - no colour then-  stopped me in my tracks. What day was this auspicious day? Monday 2 June 1969. And the paper? The Daily Mirror (yes, the very same one that would be publishing the Bellamy-drawn "Garth" strip). How am I so certain of this? Well God bless the "Space Doubt" blog run by one Sham Mountebank, which I suspect is not her/his real name!

Radio Times 27 June 1970, p.49
My very own cut out copy (GULP!)

It s often reported that Frank Bellamy drew a comic strip of Star Trek in the UK. Well if you were trying to win on a TV quiz show the answer is .....no he didn't! The above is the nearest we get to one and it was a single colour page in the bestselling TV (BBC only) listings magazine, Radio Times. Was that all the Star Trek he did? No! But people often get confused as there was a Star Trek comic strip in the comic Joe 90, as is reported better than I could do, here on Lew Stringer's brilliant blog. When I saw that newspaper piece I was interested to see the emphasis on Mr. Spock as we all had been reading Joe 90 since January 1969 when it was launched with Captain Kurt at the helm. Go visit Lew for an explanation! And Bellamy's piece shows someone somewhere wanted to emphasise Spock's looks.

I must thank the excellent Star Trek Comics Checklist site (nice name!) as I realised I don't actually have a copy of the picture below of Kirk and Spock, and thus stole this from them. Bellamy was paid £12 for this drawing and £10 for the last one on this page (on 19 October 1971)

Radio Times 3 October 1970 - 9 October 1970, p.35

The third and last illustration that Bellamy did, was the brilliant shot of Spock and the Enterprise

Radio Times 11 Sept 1971-17 September 1971, p34

I understand that the single colour page above was part of the reason Frank Bellamy got the "Foreign Comics Award" from the Academy of Comic Book Arts in 1972 - for work published in 1971 he was awarded "Best Foreign Artist Frank Bellamy (Star Trek)". I'm sure Barry Windsor-Smith had a hand in recommending him for this and I know Archie Goodwin was in contact with him. Bellamy told Goodwin that Chris Lowder had informed him the Academy had seen a sample of his "Heros the Spartan" work and judged him more than worthy of the award. therefore his actual comic work for 1971 was concocted for the purposes of giving him the award. There were communications with Marv Wolfman regarding FB doing some work for the Marvel black and white horror comics line, but this never happened as Bellamy had his daily comic strip, "Garth", to do as well as many other assignments! Imagine, what if...!


Incidentally if you are interested in the UK Star Trek strips they were recently reprinted and included Mike Noble's gorgeous work. Volume 1 and soon to be Volume 2

Al Williamson and Frank Bellamy recycled

Bellamy's art on "Dan Dare"
Eagle 7 Nov 1959 Vol.10 No38

****UPDATED: February 2023****See also Part Two

I recently saw a story drawn by Al Williamson, a great artist, on 'Groovy's' brilliant blog and remembered previously writing something on Williamson's 'borrowing' of others' work.Unfortunately none of my wonderful storage methods have enabled me to recover this work, so here goes again!

Referring to the first King Comics, (a short-lived comic book imprint of King Features Syndicate), "Flash Gordon" comic, the author (Mark Schultz, no mean artists himself) states:

"Produced under an intimidating deadline, the leadoff story in particular not only borrows from a Raymond but also features panels lifted cold from instalments of Frank Hampson and Frank Bellamy's Dan Dare, a British science fiction comic.  Williamson has been open about his "swipes" of the work of others, a not-uncommon practice in the comics field and one attributable to the constant deadline pressure.  He has always willingly given credit to his sources." (p.20) - Al Williamson's Flash Gordon: A Lifelong Vision of the Heroic, (2009), Flesk Publications. ISBN-13: 978-1933865126

 Indeed he did say such things, I'd previously noted in James Van Hise book "The Art of Al Williamson", that he learned about drawing using photographs from assisting John Prentice (read more here about that work) and after this kept a 'morgue file' as artists call their clippings before the Internet made it so much easier.

I should acknowledge that until today I was not aware of Eric Mackenzie's interesting article in Spaceship Away #3 - another strange coincidence whilst researching this topic. I did see the article on BritishComicArt blog and it was then that I thought 'Crow', the blog author, 'borrowed' from my article (which I suspect was in an old Facebook profile and lost now!) but as you can read in the comments, it was a coincidence! I also remember long ago in the 1970s reading (was it in Fantasy Advertiser Dez Skinn?) an article on the same subject, but that's long gone! However I think I have remembered something of this - see below.

So let's get started.

Firstly I quote Frank Bellamy's letter to Mike Tiefenbacher and Jerome Sinkovec of Menomonee Falls Gazette
Thank you for the complimentary remarks about my work. You are very kind. It means a lot to me to find acceptance in the United States. I was very interested to read about Al Williamson. As I am a great admirer of his work it gives me great pleasure to know that he is familiar with at least some of my work. Taken from Bellamy's letter to Menomonee Falls Gazette  Published in no.81, July 2nd, 1973.

Oh he certainly was Frank! The page above contains the following panel which we will see was a definite favourite of Williamson's!

Bellamy foliage from Eagle 7 Nov 1959 Vol.10 No38

Al Williamson's Flash Gordon #1, 1966 p.4
Note the shape of the foliage

Williamson à la Bellamy

UPDATE: I thought that was it until Bill Storie mentioned he'd see Bellamy's explosion appear in another Williamson work and he's sent it to me!

Al Williamson Star Wars

Al Williamson's Flash Gordon #5, 1967 p.28
Below an enlarged panel

Hmm, that foliage looks familiar

The most frequently spotted of Williamson's 'recycled' Bellamy pieces is the spaceship "Nimbus 2" Bellamy created in the "Dan Dare" story "Project Nimbus". Frank Hampson (Don Harley, Gerald Palmer, Keith Watson inter alia) created "Dan Dare" over a 10 year period before Bellamy, Harley and others took over. Bellamy, unfairly I think, gets a lot of criticism by those who were reading "Dan Dare" at that time because he was asked to upgrade things. Fortunately he agreed from the start to do it for one year and that's what his contract stated.

Bellamy's art on "Dan Dare"
Eagle 16 April 1960 Vol.11 No16

Al Williamson's Flash Gordon #1, 1966 p.1

...and Bellamy's Nimbus 2!

Williamson loved the craft so much he used another panel

Bellamy's art on "Dan Dare"
Eagle 7 May 1960 Vol.11 No19

Enlarged panel by Bellamy

Al Williamson's Flash Gordon #1, 1966 p.15 - see below for full page

An interview mentioned in Gopherville Argus (a short-lived fanzine on Bellamy, put out by Bill Storie and Terry Doyle) quotes an interview with Williamson (original source unknown)

From Gopherville Argus #3

Off I went...tanks?...Tanks...Ah, TANKS! Take a look at the tank on the right in the first panel and then....

The well renowned Blazing Combat (1965) #2

take a look at the tank on the right above Monty's profile - to the right of the page!

Eagle 21 April 1962

While I was researching this article, I found something very interesting. Remember I said I thought there was an article in Fantasy Advertiser, Dez Skinn's fanzine of the 70s, well my memory says it included this page by Bellamy but you know what memory is like - especially after 40 years!

Bellamy's art on "Dan Dare"
Eagle 9 April 1960 Vol.11 No15

Here's the panel in question I wish to highlight

Bellamy's unique hardware

Well whilst re-reading Flash Gordon comics I tripped over this page by the wonderful Wally Wood

The Phantom #18, 1966
"Flash Gordon and the Space Pirates"

One moment what's that hardware there? It looks familiar! So Wally Wood copied Bellamy, or did Williamson sketch for Wood to ink his work. Personally I don't think this looks like a Wood original despite the excellent Grand Comics Database entry. The figure of Gordon does not look 'Wood-y' enough for my liking.

Wally Wood copies Bellamy

 And before we round off Williamson's recycling of Bellamy art, I should point you to Bellamy's art above which shows the launch of the Nimbus 2. The first panel of that page looks very similar to this one:

The Phantom #18, 1966
"Flash Gordon and the Space Pirates"

The figure here certainly looks like Wally Wood's work but the spacecraft? I don't think it was his original idea!

UPDATE (17 May 2022): Lastly "HarryDobermann Esq" pointed out a later image I missed completely in the same Wood story! Look closely at the bottom right hand panel! Thunderbird One is go!

The Phantom #18, 1966
"Flash Gordon and the Space Pirates"

TV21 #77 has the following image which I'm guessing formed the basis for Woody's image. But who knows? TB1 launches with wings 'in', maybe that's why this copy doesn't look too true to the original. 

TV21 #77 cropped

Bear with me as I round off this article with two more examples of Williamson's use of the Eagle comic, although I must emphasize this is not Frank Bellamy artwork. the first is one of my favourite comic covers of all time by the UK's other Frank...Hampson.

Frank Hampson's art for Eagle 28 March 1959 Vol.10 No13
"The Galactic Galleon"

Take note of the rounded base of the craft. Williamson used the bottom of this craft as positioned in the above image, below!

Frank Hampson and Don Harley's art for Eagle 12 March 1960 Vol.11 No11

Al Williamson's Flash Gordon #1, 1966 p.15 -
see above for enlarged panel by Bellamy
and Hampson's gorgeous ship
Notice these three panes are all 'recycled'!

The craft, "Tempus Frangit" is so iconic in later "Dan Dare" stories as drawn by Keith Watson, I thought it worth showing this recycling by Williamson too. Take a look at the following - my post . Some of this is also mentioned here

Eagle Vol 14:41 12 Oct 1963
Keith Watson artwork

Creepy #112
Al Williamson art

Thanks to Eric Mackenzie's article in Spaceship Away #3 I also see now I have a copy, that Willimason borrowed from Don Harley and Bruce Cornwell

Eagle Vol 11 #52

One of a few adverts which Williamson
drew for various magazines for Union carbide

If you can add anything, let me know! And I must emphasise that I love a lot of Williamson's work and am in no way criticising his practice. Even Bellamy used reference photographs...more on that another day.

 

READ THIS FAR AND WANT MORE? Part Two is here

Frank Bellamy at Kettering exhibition ended.

I managed to get to the Comics Unstripped Exhibition at the Alfred East Gallery, Kettering previously mentioned a few weekends ago.  I must apologise for the blurry photos. I must get in the habit of cleaning my phone's camera before taking photos!

Paul Holder and I met Alan Davis - yes that Alan Davis! - on Saturday 30 July, more about this meeting another time, promise! We both went in to look around the exhibition, this being the first time I had been to the gallery, despite its history of showing Bellamy's work one way or another.

The gallery has two large very open exhibition spaces and all walls had artwork on them.

Biography of Bellamy

The biography is uncredited unfortunately but is substantially correct. It mentions Bellamy's call-up during WWII to "Auckland" - this being West Auckland, near Bishop Auckland - Deerbolt Camp to be exact. And it implies John [sic] Pertwee was a collector of Frank's artwork which is incorrect, although Jon Pertwee did write to say how nice the cover Bellamy did for the Radio Times January 1972 was.

Bellamy nearly takes up a wall

 One of the regrettable features of the exhibition was the labeling. I fully understand some fans might not want to be identified as owning the artwork, but some art were evidently prints, not originals and these were not differentiated. "Montgomery of Alamein" appeared to be prints, as did "Heros the Spartan" and the Disc Garth features. "David the Shepherd King" were originals. Bellamy photos were peppered around artwork and included the photo of Nancy Bellamy tied up as Lady Penelope for the Thunderbirds 6 film poster as well as a school photo - Bellamy is not identified. A glass cabinet displayed various magazine and comics in which Bellamy's work appeared.

Gallery Sales table and the right hand side of the 'Bellamy' space

Paul Holder who helped to set up a lot of the Bellamy artwork produced a booklet, with permission from John Morrow, using Paul's chapter from True Brit [Link to paper edition. Note the digital version is full colour and much cheaper - see below!]. The chapter is a biography of Bellamy with some nice accompanying artwork and photographs. You can still buy the digital edition of the whole of True Brit: A Celebration of the Great Comic Book Artists of the UK via Twomorrow's site (as outlined by John Freeman below).

From Garth: The Mask of Atacama (G182)

From: Garth: Bride of Jenghiz Khan (H301-303)
Owned by the Gallery

The three strips above are also reproduced in Alfred East Art Gallery: The Permanent Collection Guide, p.90. It also comes with a small biography (with a few unfortunate typos) but the guide also mentions Bellamy's involvement with the Kettering And District Art Society. It seems odd that the Gallery did not buy some of Bellamy's artwork which, in print form, were also on show here.

Various from Garth: The Wolfman of Ausensee

I enjoyed seeing the placement of oil paintings from the Alfred East collection alongside some comic covers, raising the perennial question of what is 'fine art'. Original art prices for comic covers are at a premium and in my head I was wondering which artwork I would take for a few thousand pounds, if they were for sale!

Placing original paintings from the collection with comic artwork

Overall, I have to say I'm a bit jaded having already seen a lot of what was on display of Bellamy's work, but it is so good to see his work being celebrated locally.

John Freeman has an article about True Brit and how to order high quality prints of original art by Bellamy and Colin Noble reviewed the exhibition for John's Downthetubes site.