GARTH STRIPS ANALYSED: SUNDANCE

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

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

 

"Garth: Sundance" E150 John Allard art

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Garth: Sundance" Panel 3 of Garth E164

 

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

 

"Garth: Sundance" E175

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

David also pointed out:

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

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

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

David replied

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

Norman: "E222 = hills query?"

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

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

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

Garth: Sundance E218

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

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

 

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

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

Unknown Frank Bellamy #12: Astronaut

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

Used by permission of Alan Davis

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

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

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

Any thoughts please contact me. 

NEXT: Unknown Bellamy # 13 - Castrol GTX advert

ORIGINAL ART: Thunderbirds from TV21 #206 and some statistics

"Thunderbirds" page 1 from TV21#206

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

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

Here's Phil's description of the piece: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AUCTION SUMMARY

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

It's Frank Bellamy's Birthday

 

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

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

 Gone but never forgotten.  Happy Birthday Frank!

 

 

ORIGINAL ART: 8 Garths

 

Garth: People of the Abyss F246 and F266

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

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

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

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

Onto the Garth strips

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

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

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

Garth: The Women of Galba: G22 and G26

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

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

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

 

Garth: The Wreckers G280 and G283

GARTH: The Wreckers - 2 episodes: G280 and G283

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

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

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

Garth: The Bride of Jenghiz Khan H245 and H250

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

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

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

 

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

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

AUCTION SUMMARY

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

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

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

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

GARTH: The Wreckers - 2 episodes: G280 and G283 

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

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

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

Unknown Frank Bellamy #9: Comic strip

 UNKNOWN BELLAMY #9: COMIC STRIP

Used by permission of Alan Davis

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

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

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

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

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

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

Used by permission of Alan Davis - version 2

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

Let me know your thoughts!

NEXT: Unknown Bellamy # 12 - that astronaut picture

Bellamy Life Studies

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

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

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

Nancy Bellamy kneeling