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

Eagle Vol.11:21 (21 May 1960) p1

INTRODUCTION

I've now examined the first "Dan Dare" story which involved Frank Bellamy "Terra Nova"  and the second tale "Trip to Trouble". This time we look at the third and last story "Project Nimbus". As I have a lot to say, I hope you'll bear with me as I decided not to split this final part into chunks!

The Eagle comic was going through a tough period with corporate takeovers. Yet they still believed that publicity aimed at the retailer could get numbers up. 

Retail Newsagent Bookseller and Stationer 5 March 1960

It looks obvious from the above advert that Bellamy had drawn (at least the top-half of) the first episode of "Project Nimbus" (of the SPA-1, a space station - like no ship seen before in "Dan Dare") before the trade magazine's publication date of 5 March. The published copy of the comic arrived dated 19 March, two weeks later, and it no longer had the top-left corner "Eagle" logo but had a standard masthead across the top of the comic incorporating the old and fondly remembered logo. All change! Also Keith Watson was now gone (his last work on the 'Bellamy year' was Vol.11:8). As we'll see this was also the story in which Bellamy was told to alter the whole look of Spacefleet craft and uniforms, as he related in the long interview with Dez Skinn and Dave Gibbons!

David Jackson pointed out to me that 

The redesigned Spacefleet is, in fact, made passing reference to almost as editorial sleight-of-hand in the previous week's concluding storyline final panel of the crews' thoughts (Vol.11No.11) - i.e. before the readers knew what had hit them.

PROJECT NIMBUS: Who drew what?

Nimbus 1	19/03/1960	11	12	✔	✔	FB signed x2
Nimbus 2	26/03/1960	11	13	✔		FB signed
Nimbus 3	02/04/1960	11	14		✔	FB signed
Nimbus 4	09/04/1960	11	15		✔	FB signed
Nimbus 5	16/04/1960	11	16		✔	Not signed
Nimbus 6	23/04/1960	11	17		✔	Not signed
Nimbus 7	30/04/1960	11	18	✔		Not signed
Nimbus 8	07/05/1960	11	19		✔	FB signed
Nimbus 9	14/05/1960	11	20	✔		Not signed
Nimbus 10	21/05/1960	11	21	✔		FB signed
Nimbus 11	28/05/1960	11	22		✔	Not signed
Nimbus 12	04/06/1960	11	23		✔	Not signed
Nimbus 13	11/06/1960	11	24	✔		Not signed
Nimbus 14	18/06/1960	11	25	✔		Not signed
Nimbus 15	25/06/1960	11	26	✔		Not signed
Nimbus 16	02/07/1960	11	27	✔		Not signed
Nimbus 17	09/07/1960	11	28	✔		Not signed

If fans of Dan Dare moaned about the previous two stories not being as good as when Hampson was in control, then this story must have blown their minds. It has the Frank Bellamy stamp on it - in the design of the spaceships and also the aliens which look, well, very alien! The story is a bit all over the place and I personally feel that Bellamy was getting extremely tired and this might explain why he didn't sign many of this story's pages. In a 70s interview with the creator of Dan Dare, Frank Hampson, Alan Vince asked the question:

Alan Vince: Were you happy about the way Bellamy changed the look of Dan Dare?
Frank Hampson: No. I'm not saying that, as an artist, Bellamy wasn't doing a good job. He was as much a victim of the changing face of Eagle as I was.

PROJECT NIMBUS - Overview

Now we come to another story and another dilemma in identifying who did what. Bellamy signs 7 of his pages but drew a lot more. The story starts off with the confidence and clarity we saw in the last story - Bellamy signing his solo pages. But after the initial 4 episodes, it goes to pieces. We'll need to look at each page in turn so make sure you have copies from Hawk, Titan or one of the other many reprints - or even your original Eagle comics.

The first page (Volume 11: 12 (19 March 1960) shows Bellamy's use of colours to delineate objects thus negating the need to use heavy outlines. Worth remembering as we go on through the story.

The second thing to note is it is with this story that Bellamy introduces the re-designed uniforms for Spacefleet personnel. It wasn't his idea and many copies exist in photocopy form (2 of which can be seen here) and people often quote the change as if it happened at the start of Bellamy's run. It's interesting to see how no-one mentions it in the strip itself or explains any of it! 

On the second page of the first episode, we see Dan Dare in a green dress uniform (with new insignia) and then in the spaceship he appears in the red 'uniform', he wears most of the time afterwards. And poor Anastasia is just totally forgotten! I personally don't like many of Bellamy's designs for craft, whether space or earth-bound. A lot appear in a needle form, such as the Ferry mentioned in the strip below. But I know many love his craft!

Eagle Vol.11:12 (19 March 1960) p2

The credit at the bottom right of the page also made me wonder what was going on. Previously the copyright statement stated "All copyright of Dan Dare Pilot of the Future is vested in Hulton Press - then LongacrePress Ltd" but here we also get a credit for the workers! 

How did Don Harley, Keith Watson and Gerald Palmer feel about this? I'm afraid, I have no idea. But again it wouldn't enamour Bellamy to them, even though it wasn't his idea to do this!

Eagle Vol.11:15 (9 April1960) p.2

THE ARTWORK

Let's go back to Vol11:13 and look at this in detail. Bellamy had drawn and signed Vol11:12 plus the first page of issue 13. Let's look at issue 13's interior second page. 

Frame 1: Don Harley, Frame 2: Gerald Palmer

 

Frames 3-5: Don Harley

Frames 6 to 8: Gerald Palmer

Frames 9+10: Don Harley, Frame11: Gerald Palmer

Now although none of these make me think they are Bellamy (except perhaps Frame 2 due it being a ship designed by Bellamy), it's interesting to see how Palmer - in particular -  tries to mimic Bellamy (in Frames 2 and 6). [Thanks to David Slinn for the breakdown]

For the cover of Vol 11:14 (not shown here) Palmer handles the spaceships in both the title panel and panel 4, while Harley draws the rest.

After signing his individual pages for Volume 11 numbers 12 - 15 inclusive, Bellamy's next page is unsigned. Why?

Eagle Vol.11:16 (16 April1960) p.2

At first sight, it looks like Bellamy's artwork, but then another glance starts me wondering, some of the colours are 'off', some of the stippling doesn't match his usual work. But the layout, the figure work just ARE Bellamy. David Slinn suggested that " all the familiar traits of FB are present – tending to suggest that Frank had chosen to make a conscious effort [or as part of the “redesign” editorial briefing] to more closely match Don Harley’s (long-ingrained, Frank Hampson) treatment of ‘Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future’. 

The above (Eagle Vol.11:16 (16 April1960) is a good example that will stand in for others later in the story. Some of the background colour in the panels seem to be by someone other than Bellamy. They appear flat, lifeless somehow. In panels 2 and 3 the helmets, although his by design, appear to me to be crudely stippled as in the penultimate panel too. It's hard to compare the original art as it is faded but one panel shouts loudly to me. Look at panel 6 of the Nimbus 2 - the blue and grey. The background just isn't the way Bellamy would draw. He'd use stippling or colour variations. That green is just not a Bellamy green, the ceiling of the craft does not match the sort of thing Bellamy would do.

Original art

The next cover is by Don Harley and then page 2 of that issue again gives me a chance to pause. Eagle vol.11:17 (23 April 1960) at first glance, bits of it look very strongly as if they are Bellamy's work. But then we get panels 1 and 2 with a plain blue star-field - no stars! The fourth panel is strange in that the Nimbus 2 nose is outside the panel but not overlain as Bellamy might do. 

David Jackson said "11.17 p2 (unlike p1) is enough like FB to be FB as a page but  with unusual differences such as some background colour and word-balloon shapes.  The circular inset mini panel word balloon looks more FB than the previous one in shape but the one on the right is another more sausage shape and their outlines could be slightly thinner and wavering than usual FB, possibly retraced and reworded maybe, I don't know. " - thus showing how complicated this is! And then David Slinn stated: "The cleanly-shaped outlines and positioning of the speech balloons is typical FB, further advancing the foregoing as a feasible explanation... while the visual continuity of the sequence seems more comfortable"

The next issue has an unsigned cover and again has some of the same anomalies - the strange coloured star-field in panel 2; the way the major middle panel background is coloured and drawn.

Eagle Vol.11:18 (30 April 1960) p.1

Then the second page appears to me to be purely Harley but one panel looks to be by FB - the first one - see below - and this is confirmed in principle in a Bellamy interview - see the end of this article where he states he drew frames that introduced new characters [or designs, I assume]. David Slinn shared with me he thought by this point Bellamy was trying to attune his art to meld better with Harley and Palmer's - not an unreasonable conclusion, in my opinion. Take a look at Vol. 11:18 above and page 2 from that issue (below) and then the cover of the next issue (Vol,11:19) they certainly flow more smoothly.

Eagle Vol.11:18 (30 April 1960) p.2

The front cover page for the following week (Eagle Vol.11:19 (7 May 1960)) is by the team, but the next page,although signed and with strong Bellamy elements, I wondered about the purple background, the mixture of colours in panel 6 and elsewhere which is why this identification is so troublesome! David Slinn felt this was a "A clearer example of an apparent decision to improve the continuity, by aiming to have either FB or DH to be responsible for a complete page of artwork... and, where practical, then also handle the page immediately following it"

Eagle Vol.11:19 (7 May 1960) p.2

The next week (Vol.11: 20) has a cover which again at first glance seems to be Bellamy - but it is unsigned. The colours again don't feel right, the Dan Dare face in panel 2 seems awkward somehow, yet Bellamy-ish! 

Page 2 of this issue contains obvious Bellamy aliens and I have to say row 3 looks to be all Bellamy, (in addition to panels 1,2,and 5) - again he designs the alien.

Then we get to the alien spacecraft on the cover of Vol. 11:21 (see the image at the top of this article). Not only the spaceship but also that iconic Dan Dare and Digby shot. Then the team draw the second page but let's focus on one particular panel. Is it Frank Bellamy or not?

Eagle Vol.11:21 (21 May 1960) p.2 Detail

It comes just below the row with the alien robot, so I suspect it is his work but only a couple of panels might be his - as his work here is surrounded by Harley. David Jackson felt that the following frames are Bellamy - 4, 5,6,7,8,9 and I think I agree. This is a great example of how one page is chopped up between artists.  David Slinn put it nicely when he said to me "This appears to be DH making an effort to reciprocate Frank’s willingness to modify his established style and treatment."

After this the team draw the cover to Vol. 11:22 and then we get the following page.

Eagle Vol.11:22 (28 May 1960) p.2

It's not signed and again I think it's because most of it is Bellamy but not all. Most strange, to me, is the middle panel at the bottom. Look closely and you can see Bellamy's constructed face but the lines are definitely not his. The aliens look to be a Bellamy creation (my intuition as this is the big reveal shot!) so this really is confusing. It's almost as if Bellamy pencilled and someone else inked, which would be a first - but it doesn't look like the linework of Harley, Watson (who had left Eagle by this time and gone onto draw "Captain Condor" for Lion later in the year - see below) or Palmer!

As an aside I always wondered from where the inspiration came for the aliens and wondered if it was Virgil Finlay (another great artist whose stippling technique rivals Bellamy's!) - Compare his other alien designs that appeared on the BBC during his time on Dan Dare 

Virgil Finlay (1914-1971), ‘Gift Horse’, Worlds of IF, June 1958

Eagle Vol.11:23 (4 April 1960) p2 detail

Then we get to a similar situation with Volume 11:23. The cover is definitely the team and then the interior page is Bellamy-ish! It's again not signed and looks very confusing. I'd say it was Palmer imitating FB but I'm not convinced by that here or in the previous comic! In fact Bellamy signs no more of the Dan Dare pages for "Project Nimbus".  When Dan shoots the red-eyed alien machine, the explosion extends beyond the comic panel - a Bellamy technique - but the explosion colour is awfully crude for a Bellamy drawing and like the rest of the page, I can't believe it was Bellamy handing in inferior artwork. What went on here? If we examine the panels shown here, the lines on Dan and Digby's oxygen tanks are crude (1st panel) the rocks behind them are crude; the colour sketchy lines on Dan's helmet in the 4th panel are crude. It looks like a Bellamy composition but....

David Slinn felt that 

"perhaps, not a factor that’s taken into account, but “last-minute” amendments/corrections/clarifications would sometimes be carried out by a staff-artist under directions from Eagle editorial.  [On one occasion – while delivering a completed weekly assignment – due to temporary staff absences, I was tasked with cleaning-up and making minor alterations to the ‘Safari in Space’ episode for Eagle Vol. 10 No. 6 (7 February 1959).]"

And of course, as David was there this seems to me to be very plausible but still begs the question, why amend Bellamy's art?

Volume 11:24 has Bellamy handle the cover page and he's 'back on form' but again leaves the page unsigned. 

Eagle Vol. 11:25 (18 June 1960) p1 Original Art

The same with 11:25, a lovely cover by Bellamy - unsigned - followed by a lovely Harley  internal page.  This pattern is repeated until the end of the story in volume 11 number 28 on 9 July 1960. David again helps me out explaining,

As you’ve correctly identified, from Eagle Vol. 11 No.25 (18 June 1960) through to Vol. 11 No. 28 (9 July 1960), the covers are handled by Frank.  Now working on his own in Hulton House, Don completes each episode’s second page (Gerald Palmer having left by now)  – while also preparing for Bruce Cornwell’s arrival and the commencement of ‘Mission of the Earthmen’ (the next DD story).

BALLOONS

We know that Bellamy drew the balloon/ bubble shapes onto the board for letterers to complete. In Vol.11:13 panel 6 [see left panel below] we get not only a Bellamy-like drawing within an otherwise 'Team Hampson' page, (inked by someone other than FB perhaps?), but also the balloon looks different and also the lack of drawn border on the right hand side of the panel makes me wonder if this is an insert by Bellamy? David Jackson felt this is the only panel on this page by Bellamy.

Eagle Vol. 11:13 (26 March 1960) p2 detail

DON HARLEY'S MEMORIES

Don Harley (in Spaceship Away #22) explained that 

Frank Bellamy came to London each week. He took one page home with him and the ex-Epsom artists divided the other frames. He wasn't much help to us and didn't give us much advice. It was left to me to keep an eye on the other artists, but Frank was a delightful person. We looked forward to the days on which he came to London as he made us laugh so much that we could not get any work done. [...] The move to London was early 1959, and I went freelance at the end of the year. Keith, Gerald and Brenda [Kennington] were made redundant when I started work with Frank Bellamy ('Project Nimbus') after leaving the studio in London. I liked Bellamy's uniforms and spaceships, but not Dan Dare - the Dan Dare and crew of Venus 1996 were the only people of the future to the readers of the 1950's. When Bellamy left I took over as a matter of course. I decided to carry on with the original Dan Dare and Bruce Cornwell came to work with me.

So here's a clue as to who drew what when! But I suspect, like all of us, Don might be remembering only half the story. But he was consistent, as in a letter Richard Farrell kindly shared, Don states "Kieth (sic) Watson and I never saw Frank Bellamy at work as he worked at home and at this time, 1959, [..] Frank would deliver his part of the work and we tied it in with what we were doing and as the two styles were so different it looked like two different strips"

So does "and we tied it in with what we were doing" mean consistently drawn aliens? Or one page followed or preceded another properly as regards continuity? Or could it mean even half pages were handed over for Frank Bellamy to fill? In another piece (SSI Newsletter) Don stated:

As a friend and colleague I never saw him for more than a few hours a week [..] He would come up to Hulton House, where we had our studio on the top floor, for a few hours twice a week to make sure that our work tied up with the part of the strips that he had done.

In an interview with Terry Doyle (Eagle Times Winter 1994 (Vol.7:4)]:

TD:HOW DID BELLAMY COORDINATE THE WORK - DID HE PROVIDE ROUGH LAYOUTS, OR DID HE MERELY EXPLAIN WHAT HE WANTED YOU TO PRODUCE?
DH: I can't remember Frank producing a rough, I think he decided which page he wanted to draw and left the rest of us to get on with the other page. He then came into the office when he had finished, to tie things up.
We always looked forward to his visits as he had a great sense of humour.

DH: I think that Frank Bellamy was a bit worried about taking on Dan Dare and he didn't enjoy drawing it. His style of drawing was so different that he eventually re-designed everything in the Dan Dare strip to suit his own style of drawing. I know he was hoping to get a strip of his own.

Finally these are Frank Bellamy's own words from the Skinn/Gibbons interview

SKINN/GIBBONS: ON "DAN DARE" YOU WERE WORKING WITH SEVERAL OTHER ARTISTS. HOW MUCH OF THE STRIP DID YOU ACTUALLY DRAW?
FB: It varied from week to week. Sometimes, I'd draw half a dozen frames only, the following week I might draw both pages. But I'd always draw any frames that introduced new characters. It often depended where the awkward frames would appear. As senior artist in the studio, this was my problem. The eventual idea was that I would take over the whole strip and draw both pages by myself every week.
S/G: BUT YOU DIDN'T WANT THAT?
FB: No, not really. Although, as a temporary measure, I'd have preferred to draw "Dan Dare" in that way, complete, as Keith Watson did later. But the other artists were employed on a freelance basis to help me with fill-in frames and such. I never really have been happy working that way. If I look at Alex Raymond .art, I like to see pure Alex Raymond, not inked by Fred Bloggs. It's okay if Fred Bloggs is helping out with some research or rubbing out the pencils, but I like the drawing to be a personal thing.

DAVID SLINN on KEITH WATSON'S DEPARTURE

As with much of what went on, the accurate timing of Keith’s departure, presents its own difficulties.  In the context of these present discussions, having experienced the undoubted success of Frank Hampson’s studio method, he became somewhat despondent that – despite FB’s illustrative skills – the overall appearance of those episodes with linking sequences was often less than satisfactory.  Marcus Morris had passed over the reins to Clifford Makins around the end of September 1959, certainly placing Keith’s decision to actually hand in his own resignation nearer to late-autumn.  The actual outcome, I feel, reflects more on Odhams management’s determination to reduce staffing costs, than Clifford’s actual indifference, but Keith was left with a clear impression he’d likely have been given his cards in the upcoming changes.

An even bigger unknown – unless it’s been documented in Eagle Times or some other fanzine interview – is how Keith’s freelance existence initially fared; whether he sought agency representation – or, reprising his 1957 arrival at Bayford Lodge – went knocking on potential editorial doors with appropriate specimen artwork.  However, what’s extraordinary – and achieved in less than six months – he somehow managed to produce such accomplished finished artwork for ‘Captain Condor’ in Lion, right from the first episode. [As David sent me the "Captain Condor" story, I thought I'd share the first page! ~Norman]

Keith Watson's artwork for "Captain Condor"
(Lion 1 October 1960, p. 14)

SUMMING UP FRANK BELLAMY'S TIME ON DAN DARE

Many people have published their opinions on this very subject. Let me state my personal opinion which is based on 'retrospective reading' - I wasn't reading Dan Dare until c. 1963 and even then it was 'Fidosaurus' that attracted me more!

I always found the 1950s Dan Dare to be a real mish-mash of artistic styles and when Frank Hampson drew Dan Dare, it was fantastic - hands-down brilliant. When Don Harley drew the character, it was really good and I enjoy his straight-forward artwork here and elsewhere. I'm not surprised Hampson 'awarded' Harley the co-credit in the later 50s for the production. Later when Keith Watson took on the character by himself his bold and big designs were superb but the colouring strange - which we now know was perhaps due to his colour-blindness

However, mixing three artists' work on two pages just led to disaster, despite many innovative designs, interesting use of line and colour work. The idea could never work. But hindsight is an easy thing to use as a criticism. I wasn't there making decisions about who did what - after all Odhams wanted to reduce costs and Hampson's studio method was costly - the number of people involved as well as models and filing cabinets stuffed with previous information.

Bellamy alone would have produced something vibrant and different and more importantly consistent in style - despite not loving science-fiction. David Jackson made a comment when we were talking recently along the lines of great artists being able to construct art from their heads. They don't need to copy models and images, they take them on board and manipulate them as art. I've looked and looked for more years than I care to imagine to see if I could find a 'swipe' or Bellamy plagiarising anyone else's art: I haven't! I have found others copying Bellamy - amongst them, Al Williamson, Wally Wood, Gerry Haylock, Brian Lewis to name but a few. He was just so clever - especially as he was self-taught.

 ~ Thanks again to David Jackson, David Slinn and Paul Holder for looking over my musings. I am extremely grateful to many others such as Terry Doyle, Alan Vince, Phil Harbottle, and Don Harley for their published articles and interviews. I take full responsibility for the finished article - let me know if I need to correct or add/delete anything!

FOOTNOTE regarding the free gifts in Eagle at the start of "Project Nimbus"

As I did some extensive research I've added this here for others, to help them follow up (Richard Sheaf!). The first issue of "Project Nimbus" would have a free gift (a usual UK idea to garner extra sales), of a "Passport to Adventure". Inside the comic the editor Clifford Makins explains the "free passport wallet" to keep the "World Transport" supplement in, and the following three weeks would include "Space, The Real Wild West and Underwater World"  to add to the wallet. They are actually 4 page supplements that are folded to make small 16 page black and white booklets.  The Wild West supplement was produced by Frank Humphris, the regular artist on 'Riders of the Range'

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

Eagle Vol.10:41 (28 November 1959) pp1-2
Bellamy 1st page; Harley et al 2nd page

INTRODUCTION

In the previous article on the first "Dan Dare" story Bellamy drew, "Terra Nova", we examined exactly what was drawn by whom. This had been Bellamy's first attempt at Science-Fiction  (except for one-off illustrations in Outspan), and, not for the first time, he found himself carrying on another person's story - which he didn't like doing. Grab your copies of the stories and follow along!

This second tale "Trip to Trouble" shows Bellamy settling into a routine, despite the strange working conditions of having to oversee a team of Don Harley, Keith Watson and Gerald Palmer and also produce work himself. My friend David Jackson has written a bit about this time before (the "FB Dan Dare") - so I shan't repeat that - but make sure to read the accompanying comment on this link.

 TRIP TO TROUBLE

Trip to Trouble 1	28/11/1959	10	41	✔		FB signed
Trip to Trouble 2	05/12/1959	10	42	✔		FB signed
Trip to Trouble 3	12/12/1959	10	43	✔		FB signed
Trip to Trouble 4	19/12/1959	10	44	✔		FB signed
Trip to Trouble 5	26/12/1959	10	45	✔		FB signed
Trip to Trouble 6	02/01/1960	11	1	✔		FB signed
Trip to Trouble 7	09/01/1960	11	2	3 panels	✔	FB signed
Trip to Trouble 8	16/01/1960	11	3
Trip to Trouble 9	23/01/1960	11	4	✔	✔	FB signed x2
Trip to Trouble 10	30/01/1960	11	5
Trip to Trouble 11	06/02/1960	11	6	✔		FB signed
Trip to Trouble 12	13/02/1960	11	7	✔	✔	FB signed x2
Trip to Trouble 13	20/02/1960	11	8
Trip to Trouble 14	27/02/1960	11	9	✔	✔	FB signed x2
Trip to Trouble 15	05/03/1960	11	10
Trip to Trouble 16	12/03/1960	11	11

The first 6 episodes of this story have Bellamy drawing the cover slot and signing all 6. Then for Volume 11:2 something interesting happens

Eagle Vol.11:2 (9 January 1960) p.1

The very early Thunderbird 2 shape - the Gaz tank-like vehicle - on the front cover, was not designed or drawn by Bellamy; it's by Gerald Palmer - and a very competent 'ghosting' of Bellamy's art style too! Palmer was a staff artist at Hulton (dropping in "five-bar gates in Farmer's Weekly", as he told Eagle Times - Autumn 2004) but in mid-1958 he joined the Hampson studio working in Bayford Lodge, Epsom, taking over from artist Eric Eden doing backgrounds and vehicles on the Dan Dare strip. Palmer also mentioned how hard the move back to London was (once Odhams took over and dismantled Hampson's method of working)  as "the artist in charge [Bellamy] rarely visited us - even though he lived (and worked) in the London suburb of Morden". The cited article shows the above strip and captions it "Gerald's work in Bellamy-style".  

Looking at Vol11:2, notice the three panels below the 'splash' panel, being by Bellamy - the colours for the sky and the figures are very Bellamy. David Jackson mentioned:

The Gaz Tank cover does indeed look superficially as though it could all have been by FB, rather than only the lower three frames being by FB (the distinctively FB style zig-zag gutter space between the top and lower three frames being a misleading indication there) but the assembled facts allegedly say otherwise: someone said that seemingly Gerry Palmer drew the main frame at home without authorisation (and as lead artist FB was supposed to be responsible for all new designs into the story); Doc Garriock in his 1970s Comicon slide show cited the weaker colour in the main frame sky indicated it wasn't by FB; no FB sig, and the main frame ink small detail does not look like FB.

The following episode (Vol11:3) is left to the Hampson team and then Bellamy opens the following week (Vol11:4) with a very dynamic cover. 

Eagle Vol. 11:4, (23 January 1960 ) p1
Original art scan thanks to owner

The second page of Vol. 11:4 is his too, and you have to look very carefully for the signature in 5th panel. 

Eagle Vol. 11:5, (30 January 1960 ) p2
Harley, Watson and Palmer

The following week (Vol.11:5) on page 2 we have a great 'ghosting' of Bellamy - I suspect inspired by the above front cover! Then onto the next Bellamy cover (Vol. 11:6) with an explosion, done only as Bellamy can. 

Eagle Vol.11:6 (6 February 1960) p.1

In Vol.11:9 we have our Spacefleet heroes wearing their heli-kits chasing the escaping 'Grandax of Gaz'- the enemy overlord. Overleaf on page 2 he is toppled by Digby landing on him!

Eagle Vol.11:9 (27 February 1960) p.1

The next two week's 'Dan Dare' are by the team - I presume so Bellamy could work ahead on the next story - his last on 'Dan Dare'  - which needed new spaceship designs.

Who worked on which art board? 

Terry Doyle kindly replied to my query (some years ago) about which type of board was used for 'Dan Dare'

Hi Norman
Bellamy's solo DAN DARE boards (and I can only speak for the ones I've either owned or seen) were illustrated on CS10.  I doubt very much that he used anything else.
The Don Harley pages were illustrated on 'Diana' Fashion Plate Board.
Then there are an assortment of DAN DARE pages that feature a mix of Harley and Bellamy art (using cut-and-paste).
Harley was an old hand at 'cut-and-paste' way of working (where frames were illustrated separately, and later pasted onto a composite board). It was frequently used throughout the Hampson era.
With these types of originals, it's probable that the composite board could be one or the other (CS10 or 'Diana' Fashion Plate).  I suppose it depends who the main artist was.
Bellamy met up with Harley at least once a week, to co-ordinate the work.  From what I recall Don Harley telling me, Bellamy would then go away and work on his contribution to the week's episode alone (they didn't actually work together in the same studio). Bellamy liked his CS10, but Don Harley found it a difficult board to master.

Don Harley was asked his views on Frank Bellamy (by the Society of Strip Illustrators in 1981):

FRANK BELLAMY was a man with a great sense of humour but for some strange reason this never showed in his strips or illustrations. These were full of action, adventure and grand vistas as if seen through a Cinemascope lens, in his "Thunderbirds" strip the perspective of his drawings gave one the feeling of being up there with them.

This clean look of his originals left other artists, who saw them, with a feeling of awe. He always worked on a hard super smooth board called CS10 which I have discovered is very difficult to paint upon, especially with coloured inks, as it is like painting on ivory. But it makes black line work stand out crisp and clear. The use of this board was part of his technique as it is possible to scrape out colour with a razor blade to obtain spectacular effects without damaging the surface of the board. He never used more than the three primary colours, red, yellow and blue, from which he created the superb range of colours which we see in his finished work.

There is no doubt in my mind that Frank Hampson was the better draughtsman and pictorial humourist but that Frank Bellamy shone above all others for his visual effects.

As a friend and colleague I never saw him for more than a few hours a week, even when he took charge of "Dan Dare" and the team in 1959. He would come up to Hulton House, where we had our studio on the top floor, for a few hours twice a week to make sure that our work tied up with the part of the strips that he had done.

His visits were a joy and a great moral [sic] booster. In appearance he was small with rugged looks, dapper, agile, rather nervous, wearing Italian styled clothes with a preference for khaki-green from hat to crepe soled shoes.
    
(P.S. Have you noticed that his name probably comes from the French "Belle ami" - beautiful friend.)

Interesting to note how memories differ - Palmer says FB visited Hulton House rarely and Harley states "or a few hours twice a week".

SUMMARY

Terry Doyle makes an interesting observation (in Eagle Times Summer 1995 -vol.8 no.2, p.42), when discussing the debate (and responses) from previous parts of the series he produced. He makes the statement that Bellamy didn't like science-fiction, and despite admiring many of Bellamy's complete pages, Terry thought "Dan Dare was more than just an action orientated strip, wasn't it?" - from which I infer the s-f element was not of so much interest to Bellamy as the action and how that's presented - which I think I agree with. As we'll see in the next story, science-fiction designs play a very large part.

So for this story of 32 pages, Bellamy drew 10 covers and 4 internal pages (plus those 3 panels mentioned) - less than half the pages again. 

~ Thanks again to David Jackson and Paul Holder for looking over my thoughts and Terry Doyle for his published insights. The end result is mine - so shout at me if you disagree!

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

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

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

Adjusted face - by Harley

INTRODUCTION

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

WHO DREW WHAT?

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

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

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

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

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

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

TERRA NOVA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eagle Vol.10: 36 (24 October 1959)

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

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

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

When I asked David Jackson what he thought, he said 

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

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

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

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

SUMMARY

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

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

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

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

PART TWO: TRIP TO TROUBLE - To follow

ORIGINAL ART - Garth x 2 and Thunderbirds

 

Garth:  J135+J136

2 episodes of Garth: The Doomsmen story are up for auction at Anderson & Garland Ltd., Newcastle with an auctioneer's estimate of £250 - £450. The auction takes place over 3 September 2024 to the following day, and we're looking at Lot #333 in their "Comics Auction". The Garths are consecutive numbers which is nice. The auctioneer's description is:

Original artwork by artist Frank Bellamy for the Daily Mirror newspaper comic strip Garth, two episodes from a continuing story published June the 11th, June the 12st [sic] 1975, ink on boards, signed, 18 x 55cms, unframed, (a pair).

The average price paid over the last 12 years for one strip has been £326 so I'd expect these two nice examples of Bellamy's work to reach the upper estimate or more. Let's see how well my Cassandra powers are working. 

I happen to have a better photo of those two:

Garth:  J135+J136

For those interested there are also some Martin Asbury "Garth" too: Lot #334, Lot #335, Lot #336 and #337.  

"Thunderbirds" from TV21 #80

"Thunderbirds" from TV21 #80

"Thunderbirds" from TV21 #80

Secondly an eBayer has placed an episode of Thunderbirds which he has been trying to raise interest in via Facebook. It's a wonderful example of Thunderbirds  and thankfully not very faded, if at all - but that's hard to tell as this is mounted behind glass. It sold at auction in America two years ago - see my blog entry here - at £9000 which I considered a very high price - and if this has been 'posted' to the UK, the cost for that piece alone is high, but I suspect the buyer bought the other piece(s?) too! Is he now trying to recoup some of that outlay? norman

norman I deliberately kept a spreadsheet of sales on this blog after so many people asked me how much their Bellamy was worth. Please remember you can say anything with statistics.

Taking that sales data - excluding non-sales - and ONLY looking at double-page spreads (not 2 single pages of the same story) I think - including 5 faded boards which sold AND including the two sales mentioned on Heritage (which are outliers in my opinion) the average is £3,961. If we include those outliers and say we must exclude the faded boards, we get an average of £5,393.  If we only count all non-faded and exclude the outliers, we get £4,174 over  aperiod of 15 years!

The highest price paid for a double-page Thunderbirds prior to that Heritage sale was £8,300 so make of that data what you will! At the end of the day, if someone is willing to pay, that's how much a piece is worth! And don't forget on Sunday 1 September that Dan Dare page auction ends!

AUCTION SUMMARY

"Garth: The Doomsmen (J135 + J136)
WHERE?: Thesaleroom
STARTING BID: £
ENDING PRICE: £380
END DATE: Tuesday 3 September - Wednesday 4 September 2024

"Thunderbirds" TV21 #80
WHERE?: eBay seller: d.g100
STARTING BID: £8,000
ENDING PRICE: £UNSOLD - re-listed and immediately taken down
END DATE: Sunday 1 September 2024

 

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

Eagle  Vol10:33 (3 October 1959)

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

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

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

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

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

Eagle  Vol10:33 (3 October 1959) page 2

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

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

AUCTION SUMMARY

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

Frank Bellamy and Patty Hearst

 

Daily Mirror 20 March 1976, p9

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

Saturday 20 March 1976

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

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

From Wikipedia:

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

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

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

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

Text from southern version of Daily Mirror

Text from northern version of Daily Mirror

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

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