Frank Bellamy Checklist Website and Blog

Sunday, 12 February 2023

ORIGINAL ART - Thunderbirds from TV21 #72

"Thunderbirds" from TV21 #72

I was speaking to my friend and fellow Frank Bellamy fan Paul Holder about the latest artwork to appear on eBay - a Thunderbirds episode from TV21 #72. We both mused what a shame it was that it's so faded. For those who don't know, Paul was the one who inspired me to get this blog and listing together when we first met in 2000. He has been scanning original artwork by Bellamy for many years and has assisted in many projects to display Bellamy's work at its best - (for example in my "Art of Frank Bellamy", still available, as they say, in good bookshops everywhere - or direct from The Book Palace.)

The shocking thing is Paul has a much better version of this piece, from the time before it faded. He photographed it on 10 x 8 inch large format film (which he subsequently had scanned), so was able to capture the artwork before it faded If any of you have Bellamy artwork you'd like scanned, he does a great job and we'd have artwork in its best condition to share with future generations when they mention the mythic Frank Bellamy and you'd have a true scan for your use.

Here's the version Paul photographed before it faded, you'll see clamps holding the artwork as there wasn't much room to hold it as it had been cut down for some reason, perhaps framing.

Transparency of TV21 #72 before fading

I suspect the last line of the seller's description gives us a clue why he's decided to sell now:

Stunning 1966 TV Century 21 comic Double page
THUNDERBIRDS. FRANK BELLAMY ORIGINAL ARTWORK.
Rare chance to own a piece of ORIGINAL artwork from this very poplar [sic] comic .
Frank Bellamy art is highly collectible
The image is amazing Thunderbird 1 Thunderbird 2 and Thunderbird 4 included in the action
Sadly this double page has gone the way of most pages with fading to the overall image. The artist used cheap inks which do fade over time

Fantastic artwork by the late GREAT Frank Bellamy
faded pages are rare and fetch premium prices
Two individual unfaded pages sold at Heritage auctions in US for over £10000 each last month

I have to mention that "The artist used cheap inks which do fade over time" isn't the case with Frank Bellamy at any time in his career. He was meticulous in using prescribed Pelikan inks for his work and even visited printers to ensure his work with those inks would remain true when printed.

David Jackson, helpfully sent me this:

John Grant & Ron Tiner's The Encyclopedia of Fantasy & Science Fiction Techniques says:

TIP The great advantage of coloured inks is their transparency; you can get clear, delicate effects by overlaying successive glazes of colour. But remember that artwork done in coloured inks is not lightfast. There is no way a picture in this medium can be preserved.

This piece is indeed faded and I'd warn everyone reading this - KEEP YOUR ART OUT OF SUNLIGHT. Art galleries cover display cases for a reason with cloths and museum glass (when added to a piece BEFORE fading occurs) works very well, but I still would treat any artwork carefully!

Here's the scan of the published comic to make a rough comparison.

"Thunderbirds" TV21 #72

AUCTION SUMMARY

THUNDERBIRDS TV21 #72
WHERE?: ebay - d.g100
STARTING BID: £1,950
ENDING PRICE: £2,500
No of Bids: 5
END DATE: Saturday 18 February 2023

Thursday, 9 February 2023

ORIGINAL ART: Dan Dare from Eagle

Eagle 14 November 1959 (Vol 10:39)

***UPDATE February 2023***

This original is in beautiful condition and not at all faded, thanks to the owner storing this out of the sunlight. A more action-packed scene would be hard to find. It comes from Bellamy's first story "Terra Nova" for the Dan Dare strip in the Eagle from 14 November 1959.

The artwork appears in this quarter's Compalcomics auction ending 26 February and already two bids have bumped this piece (which I personally think has been under-valued), to £1,380.

As usual the listings for the auction appears at both Compalcomics and TheSaleroom with the latter showing current bids.

Lot #65 is described as:

Eagle/Dan Dare original artwork (1960) drawn, painted and signed by Frank Bellamy. From the Eagle Vol. 10, No 39 page 2. The missing panel texts are pasted to the back board. Anastasia zooms down towards the mound city of the fearsome Nagrebs… Bright Pelikan inks on board. 14 x 12 ins

The estimate is £1,500-2,000 but I predict, it will go for more, as the last one to appear (mentioned here) went for £2,050 and I'd say this was a lot more iconic.

Below are both pages from the story as printed in Eagle - and you'll remember the famed American artist Al Williamson borrowed one panel from this very strip. The cover page with the Eagle logo looks to me to be drawn by Gerald Palmer (and a bit of Don Harley) but the second page is definitely pure Frank Bellamy whose middle initial was A - for Amazing?, no, just Alfred!

If you want to see more of Bellamy's "Dan Dare" use the blog search box (or Google, please search Norman's blog for "Dan Dare")

Eagle 14 November 1959 (Vol 10:39) Page 1

Eagle 14 November 1959 (Vol 10:39) Page 2

UPDATE: Bill Storie provided this amazing Star Wars strip. Have you seen this explosion anywhere before? For more of Williamson's love of Bellamy start here.

Al Williamson "Star Wars"

Anyway as Malcolm Phillips states:

Our UK artwork section continues with two action-packed Dan Dare boards, one by Frank Hampson, the other by Frank Bellamy. There’s also an iconic Daily Mirror piece from 1976 introducing the Garth comic-strip by Martin Asbury.

If anyone knows where the latter was published (if at all) I'd love to know as it's listed as having various art from the garth strip and being published in 1976 which is when Asbury took over from Bellamy, so seems unlikely to me, but who knows?

And don't forget there's a single Bellamy Garth strip on eBay that ends this weekend on the 12 February

AUCTION SUMMARY

DAN DARE: Terra Nova
WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom
STARTING BID: £1,360
ENDING PRICE: £2,650
END DATE: Sunday 26 February 2023

Monday, 6 February 2023

ORIGINAL ART: The Spanish Lady (K125)

The story Frank Bellamy illustrated for the Daily Mirror (17 March 1976 - 7 July 1976 - #K65-K160) was Garth: "The Spanish Lady"

Garth: The Spanish Lady" K125

Silver-Acre are selling another original art board. This time it's K125 of the "The Spanish Lady" which started at £6.99 and is - as of writing - at £29.

The rear of the artwork

The rear looks terribly messy but is mostly a wrapper that's been placed on it. The important thing is has the artwork suffered in any way? I suspect the wrinkles I can see on the front artwork are actually cellophane of some sort.

9 strips from this story have been sold since 2011 and the average price has been £283.15 for one strip. However another one didn't sell at auction - and it was this particular one. Anyway what does this price mean as it's based over 12 years? And this is Francis Drake warning Garth (sorry I mean "the roistering Elizabethan gallant John Carey"!) .

Autograph

Whilst talking of ebay auctions there's an unusual one there now. It's Bellamy's autograph and I have no reason to think it's not authentic. I'm guessing somebody got it back in the mid-1950s as Bellamy illustrated four strips before "Robin Hood" between 12 May 1956 and 17 August 1957 (as well as some illustrations) in Swift, the "junior" Eagle comic. I'm guessing the photo of Bellamy is for illustrative purposes. Before anyone asks, "is it worth anything?" I'd say no, not really, but there is a bid on it!. [UPDATE: Frank Bellamy's autograph is worth £48.00 (7 bids)!]

But it certainly made me asks some questions. Did FB ever attend the Hulton's Boys and Girls Exhibitions? See Getty Images who have a photo of the 1956 Exhibition - if the creation date can be reconciled with the dates in the image! And my friend Richard Sheaf has covered the topic well. But I suspect someone living in Kettering asked him for the autograph and Bellamy knew to give his signature some context by adding what his current assignment was.

AUCTION SUMMARY
GARTH: The Spanish Lady
WHERE?: eBay
STARTING BID: £6.99
ENDING PRICE:£240.89
No of bids: 24
END DATE: Sunday 12 February 2023

Sunday, 22 January 2023

ORIGINAL ART: Garth - Women of Galba

Garth: The Wolfman of Ausensee" G76

Silver-Acre on eBay are selling an episode of the story "The Women of Galba" which started at £6.99 and is - as of writing - at £125.

Rear of Garth strip

The back of the strip shows the owner made some notes of where "Galba" was reprinted. You, of course, know I have listed all reprints here and all international reprints of all Bellamy's work here.

7 strips from this story have been sold since 2020 for a total of £2,160.00, making the average price £308.57 for one. But average is just one way of measuring! So who knows? I'll update the spreadsheet as usual after the auction. Happy Bidding!

AUCTION SUMMARY

GARTH: The Women of Galba

WHERE?: eBay-
STARTING BID: £6.99
ENDING PRICE:£370
No of bids: 32

END DATE: Saturday 28 January 2023

Friday, 13 January 2023

Frank Bellamy's work in TV2000 - in the Netherlands

TV2000 #35 (31 August 1968)
Artist unknown (R. Franco?) -Image taken from Lastdodo

Over Christmas I thought I'd have a look through some long outstanding emails. I'm very good at acknowledging emails and answering them, it's just the actions from them, where I fall short. BUT I do try to make good and this article is one such instance.

TV2000 1966 #36

J. Lester Novros II, or Lester for short, has a superb website on Supermarionation which contains an overview of Gerry Anderson related materials and I'm concentrating on the comics section. Ronald Kroon gives a nice overview of the reprints in the Netherlands of TV21 and later comics. Famous Gerry Anderson collector Theo de Klerk has written an outline of the comic magazine TV2000 on Lester's site so I don't need to say much about that except browsing Lastdodo - from where I pulled a lot of these images - thus the 'L' watermark bottom right of some images - I could see how disjointed the comic must have seemed to any child reading it during its 3+ year run from #36 (1966) to #52 (1969) - when citing the comic each year is quoted and then the issue number so for example "66/32" would be the 32nd issue in 1966.

TV2000 began as a tabloid size (like TV21's first series) and then A4 and went from 16 pages to 32 in the following year and ending up with 40 pages in the third year. Bellamy's work started out being presented as it was in the UK in photogravure and over a centrespread, but later some double page spreads were shown as two pages within the comic (see #14 (1967 below) and then they reprinted some of the single Bellamy pages as they were in TV21, but then...!

There were also three Thunderbirds Extra published in Dutch.


TV2000 1967-#14 Note that the "Tommy Gun" advert has been replaced by an advert for a Thunderbirds Extra

I wrote to Lester for some clarification on some points, I believe Bellamy's art did *not *appear in Thunderbirds Extra 1 or Thunderbirds Extra 2 (except the cover!) but I wondered about TB Extra 3 (1967)? Is this his work or is it from UK TV21 Annuals?

Lester replied

I take it you are referring to the Dutch 'annuals' [as the Dutch did not have such a phenomenon in the strict sense of the word].

It's hard to say since, at that time, the Thunderbirds hype was dying down over here and so the third Extra album was made on the cheap. This involved some sort of redrawing of the artwork which makes it basically look like a six year old used tracing paper to produce these. Add to that the fact I'm no comics expert, Bellamy's or otherwise, but judging on my meagre skills I would say that Bellamy's brilliant work was spared this demeaning treatment.

What does Lester mean? Let me show you!:

TV21 168 vs TV2000 1968 #31

The painted cover below, I suspect is by R. Franco - see the part signature. The artist has used two panels by Bellamy to create the cover. But the internal artwork leaves a lot to be desired. Panels re-arranged, left out and simplified! Theo chipped in with:

Bellamy’s artwork was destroyed/re-traced/recoloured and refitted for the last set of small TV2000 issues printed in Italy in an -as cheap as possible- way.
The Extra albums (especially Extra 3) did not use Bellamy so his potential contributions were spared the debauchery it might have had. Although I don’t think any of the three Extra albums modified the page they originated from in the Specials of Annual 1966

TV2000 1969 #27 cover

TV2000 1969 #27 vs TV21 225

I mentioned earlier that there were three Thunderbirds Extra publications, which emulated those 'summer specials' we had in the UK. In fact, the first issue uses the same content as the one published with the same title in the UK and "Flight to Destruction" text story with Bellamy illustrations appears as "Vlucht naar vernietiging" on pages 52-54 with one image (of Jeff Tracy) replaced with a photograph of a hand holding a puppet head [Thanks to Theo de Klerk for the page numbers and the scan].

Thunderbirds Extra [#1]

Thunderbirds Extra [#1] p54
- Note photo of Jeff Tracy

The second one used the Thunderbirds Annual cover [1967] by Bellamy which I've talked about before. There is no Bellamy content otherwise.

Thunderbirds Extra 2

The third and final Thunderbirds Extra has no Bellamy strips, and most contents come from the Thunderbirds Annual [1967] therefore no Bellamy.Theo confirmed this for me.

Thunderbirds Extra 3

I've concentrated on the Thunderbirds reprints in TV2000 here but have listed other materials reprinted in the Netherlands on my International > Netherlands page. Feel free to suggest additions, amendments and deletions.

Lastly some Bellamy Thunderbird strips were published later on in 1994. Meerten Welleman let me know about how these Ravette albums were translated and published in the Netherlands:

Oberon as an individual publisher stopped altogether and so the staff of Eppo decided to go it alone in a new company, Big Balloon. They published the Dutch edition of four of the six Ravette albums, mainly with Frank Bellamy material.

I want to say a huge thank you to Lester, Meerten Welleman, Theo de Klerk, John Wigmans and Rob van Eijck for help with the facts of this article - any mistakes are mine. Also thanks to Thunderbirds Wiki.

Monday, 19 December 2022

Frank Bellamy and Win a Dalek

What a Christmas 1971 must have been! The Radio Times (with TV listings for 18 to 31 December 1971) on page 17 announced a competition.

Radio Times 18-31 December 1971 p.17

"Win a Dalek"?!?! What were they thinking? The competition is based on the announcement of the very fondly remembered Doctor Who story arc - "Day of the Daleks" with Jon Pertwee, the third Doctor. You can also see a preview in black and white of the best loved Radio Times work by Frank Bellamy - the cover of the next issue after this one, dated 1 January 1972 - 7 January 1972.

The Daleks had last appeared four years previously so this was a big event. If you read the TV21 comic, you'll know this was not the first time a Dalek was available to win.

The text:

Dr Who is back on BBC1 on Saturday 1 January, facing his most terrifying enemies — the Daleks! And RADIO TIMES will bring you the chance to win a Dalek of your own. In the next RADIO TIMES you'll find an entry form and details of how you can become the owner of a Mark 7 Dalek.

Start now
To give you a chance to start preparing your entry during the Christmas holiday, we are printing a preview of one part of the competition. It concerns a distant planet called Destron, which is described as : 'A place from our worst nightmares, with a totally alien landscape of unfamiliar colours, shapes and textures. There are plants that have the power to move, that hunt and feed upon each other. Hideous monsters large and small—and all-extremely savage. Buildings constructed by a long extinct race that look strange by our standards.'

The prizes
One part of your Win-a-Dalek entry will be a painting or drawing that shows a view of the Destron landscape. Why not start now? When you've finished, keep your illustration safe until you read all the details of this unique competition in RADIO TIMES dated 30 December [sic].

The competition will be judged by Terry Nation, inventor of the Daleks. Winners will get a Dalek and spend a day with Dr Who at the TV studios; there will be consolation prizes for the runners-up.

Terry Nation creator of the Daleks character
with competition entries

The competition was open to two age groups Under-10s and Over-10s! Full details of the competition appeared in the issue of the Radio Times with that famous Frank Bellamy cover

Radio Times 1-7 January 1972
"Marking the Dalek's return after four years absence, this cover by Frank Bellamy draws attention to a competition inside where the top prizes are two 'Mark Seven' Daleks and an expense paid trip to the BBC to see Doctor Who in production. To win, entrants are invited to complete a storyline for a Doctor Who Dalek adventure, the start of which is outlined by their creator, Terry Nation, in the feature article. Due to space restrictions no photograph of the Dalek prizes is printed only an artwork likeness".

Radio Times 1-7 January 1972, p.10

Radio Times prompted readers a few times leading to the close of the competition. The results were published in the issue of the 24th February 1972.

Radio Times 29 Jan-4 Feb 1972

Radio Times 19-25 February 1972

Radio Times 26 Feb -3 Mar 1972

The Radio Times website has another image of Terry Nation and the page from the Radio Times showing the winners and an article on Terry Nation has another.

So what's this got to do with Bellamy? Well, every entrant was sent a certificate The interesting thing from our point of view is the piece of art below.

Competition entrant certificate

There are a few versions of this certificate online. This is what it looked like before it was printed by the Radio Times.

Certificate with printed headings and text

The illustration was commissioned for use as a giveaway to entrants of the 'Radio Times Win a Dalek Competition 1972'. It shows Jon Pertwee and two Daleks. "This certificate has been awarded to [blank] for the entry in the Radio Times Win a Dalek Competition which was displayed in a special exhibition in London March - April 1972". I can't definitively say how much Bellamy was paid for it, but it may have been £20.

The exhibition of winning entries took place from March to April 1972 at the Ceylon Tea Centre in 22 Lower Regent Street, London which was a building designed by Sir Misha Black. The Ceylon Teac Board opened various Tea Centres around the world and the London one saw customers from 1946 through to the 1970s. There is even an image of the frontage with a Dalek at the web tribute to Vernon Corea, a Radio Ceylon and BBC broadcaster.

Who Dares Publishing (a company set up by Andrew Skilleter) issued reprints of a few Bellamy Doctor Who artworks as posters back in the 80s. This certificate was one of them.

Many thanks to Chris Hill (of the excellent Spacemuseum site) for permission to use some of his Radio Times cuttings and the Terry Nation image.

Wednesday, 16 November 2022

ORIGINAL ART: Montgomery and Garth

Copies of Montgomery plus original artwork

Well, this has been a busy month for me. Omega Auctions (of Newton-Le-Willows, Merseyside) c/o TheSaleroom are auctioning some original art and a collector's bound copy of Heros the Spartan and also Thunderbirds in their "TV, Film and Entertainment Memorabilia with Comics" auction.

MONTGOMERY OF ALAMEIN

"Montgomery of Alamein" Eagle Vol.13:21

Boards from the "Montgomery of Alamein" series in Eagle are very rare and this one is in pretty good condition considering its age. The last one sold that I recorded in nearly 15 years of keeping figures, was in November 2009 (from Eagle Vol 13:17) and that raised an impressive £2,849 for Comic Book Auctions Ltd. Here we are 13 years later with the episode from Eagle 26 May 1962 (Vol.13:21). The biography of Monty ran for 18 weeks from 10 March 1962 - 7 July 1962 and is one of my personal favourites, written by Clifford Makins.

The auctioneers descibe it thus:

An original artboard (60 x 44cm) with original art across various panels for 'Montgomery Of Alamein' by Frank Bellamy, published 26th May 1962 in 'The Eagle'. Marked to lower right hand 'Vol 13/21'. Also a set of 18 sheets of the strip from March to 17th [sic] July 1962.

I love the devices Frank Bellamy used in this series which appeared as shorthand for troop movements and the large lettering for "Operation Market Garden" (one of the airborne forces most famous operations). Then we have the cameo of Monty himself. When comparing the original as being sold I feel I must say that at this point in Eagle's 12 years of publication, the printing quality was nowhere near as good as it had been and looking at the original we can see that this well-preserved piece shines compared to the printed version. All of the text boxes which will have been glued in place by Eagle staff seem to have gone, but what a beauty! I'd love to see a hi-res scan of this, if the winner feels like sharing!

"Montgomery of Alamein" Eagle Vol.13:21 (my photo)

GARTH - THE DOOMSMEN (J180)

Garth- The Doomsmen (J180)

I suspect they do not have a comic strip expert at Omega Auctions, but nevertheless:

An original storyboard [sic] by artist Frank Bellamy, depicting a panel from a 'Garth' comic, published c 1975. Measures 54.5 x 17.5cm.

This is from a later story "The Doomsmen" and the auctioneer's estimate is £150 to £250 which suggests they haven't been reading my blog! But these are strange times so let's see!

The other three lots, of Bellamy interest, are "a large collection of Thunderbirds comic pages" described as

"A large quantity of bound colour pages from TV Century 21 magazines with art by Frank Bellamy. One volume with pages from Jan 15th '2066' to Oct 22 '2066', one from Dec 10th '2066' to July 8 '2067', More from '2067' to '2069'."

From the images, I'm guessing you are also getting some other Bellamy cuttings such as Doctor Who and I can't see how the different sizes are bound.

Then we have another group: "A bound collection of colour cover [sic] pages from 'Heros Of the Spartan' by Frank Bellamy, from 27th October 1962 to 26th Oct 1963. Good condition. "

It sounds like the first two Heros stories are here. I'll leave you to explore my comic listing to see what's missing from these volumes after you check with the auctioneers if required!