GARTH STRIPS ANALYSED: The Orb of Trimandias

The first episode of "Trimandias" Daily Mirror 28 January 1972

Garth Strips Analysed: 

• Sundance
• The Cloud of Balthus

David Jackson and I (with the help of Paul Holder) started this series by asking a few questions about specifically 'who drew what?' in the 'Garth' strip during Frank Bellamy years. Moving onto the third story "The Orb of Trimandias" we'll examine where John Allard contributed - beyond the lettering - and look at special things of interest. 

"The Orb of Trimandias" originally ran in Daily Mirror  (28 January 1972 -22 May 1972 - numbers  #F24-F121) and has been reprinted a few times  I've created another spreadsheet to show which panels we think are purely Frank Bellamy and which have John Allard's work.

We worked from any versions we could find including the original crudely printed newspaper cuttings! Many times throughout this story David, Paul Holder and I thought we couldn't be definitive without viewing the original boards. 

IF ANYONE HAS ANY ORIGINAL ART, please do get in touch

THE ORB OF TRIMANDIAS - An overview of the story:

Garth and Professor Lumière visit Conte Giovanni Cometti in the Palazzo Livorno in Venice and discover their host owns some amazing drawings by Da Vinci - including an exact likeness of Garth himself! The drawing is dedicated to "Lord Carthewan, my English comrade - in the certainty that we shall meet again". During his sleep Garth hears a scream from the basement and finds himself thrown back 500 years, rescuing a man being tortured on the rack. He escapes with the poor man to his waiting friend Sir John Mordant where the dying prisoner tells them of the whereabouts of the Orb. Lord Dick Carthewan (Garth) and Mordant find the Orb and hide it as men arrive who are employed by Cesare Borgia "prince,soldier statesman, scholar and cold-blooded tyrant". On their defeat Garth /Carthewan and Mordant appear before the tyrant, who wants the Orb. He sends them to be tortured but they escape and find a room with Leonardo da Vinci in it. He has a drawing of Garth's love, Astra, on his easel, and he helps them escape the Palazzo with a note for a ship's captain in the local tavern. Soon at sea the ship is met by boarders who capture the two men and destroy the rest. Bound for the slave market, Carthewan and Mordant soon are sold to Sheik Haroun El Said who is sending his daughter Naida to be betrothed to none other than the nephew of Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia. The woman orders Carthewan released to nominally "give her protection" but really to seduce him. Garth rejects her advances and is strung up by his thumbs as punishment.

The scene changes to Astra and Belial (representing good and evil) and Astra setting off to possess Naida and transplant the latter's mind into Naida's pet monkey. She and Garth plan to release the galley slaves and Astra promises to further help him in Venice. Meanwhile Sheik El Said's man Hassan plots against Garth by sending a note to Borgia about Lord Dick Carthewan. We learn that the Orb belonged to "Trimandias the Greek mystic and prophet" and it has "strange occult powers - it can even conquer death!" as he tells Lucrezia. Garth realises there's a trap at the quayside and engages the men he set free to assist him. Meanwhile Astra restores Naida's mind to her and promises to watch over Garth. Winning the fight Garth and Mordant are led by Da Vinci's friend to his plague bedside. Astra appears and suggests the Orb's power would help. The two men set off to the San Vittorio church and retrieving the Orb, encounter Borgia's men but successfully get the Orb to Da Vinci. But carrying the man into the streets they encounter Borgia himself leading his men. After a duel Garth uses Borgia as a human shield to get Da Vinci and Astra away. Later they meet up and Garth gives the Orb to Da Vinci as he returns to Florence. Astra tells Garth they will meet again but he must go to the Borgias. Arriving he tells Borgia his time has come and he disappears in front of Borgia and his men, waking up in the present day with nothing but memories and the assurance of Astra meeting him again.

 The opening title strip has Bellamy's work in the first title panel and then Allard's background in the second. Then we see a lot of Allard going solo on backgrounds in F25- F28 before Bellamy draws completely solo in F29 - F39. This scene shown below shows Bellamy wanting to make sure the dungeon appears as he wants it. It's interesting to note that the printed lettering has a different script. Look at the second panel where we can clearly see the word "Borgia's" which I guess might have said "Borgia's fiends". The we can see the caption between panels two and three looks to be an amendment too as it appears stuck on.

"Garth: The Orb of Trimandias" F31
Thanks to Ray Mutimer

The next piece I wanted to show was F38 which shows Bellamy's backgrounds in panels 1 and 3 with Allard's drawing of the San Vittorio Church in the intervening panel. This shows how different the art appeared from panel to panel and indicates where Bellamy felt he'd leave space for Allard's additions. This must have been such a frustrating way of working. Later stories show Allard's work diminishing...but that's for further future articles. 

"Garth: The Orb of Trimandias" F38

From F43 to F49 Bellamy handles all the art in our opinion. In F48 Bellamy shows 'Garth' meeting Leonardo da Vinci who has coincidentally drawn Astra, an old friend of the time-traveller!

"Garth: The Orb of Trimandias" F48

Interestingly in F51, although there is no word balloon for what the woman says, 'Garth' asks the ship captain, "what is she saying?". 

"Garth: The Orb of Trimandias" F51

The last bubble is the captain's way of saying "why should I care?" but why have her speak at all as she now just disappears from the strip? In F53 we see a the first panel has Allard's work in the background, as does the second and then in the third we have a complete frame by Allard. 

"Garth: The Orb of Trimandias" F53

In F59 the opening panel caption seems incomplete with "The slave mart in Algiers..." at the bottom of the caption. Was there a longer caption in the script which was amended? Later in F73 we see a starfield - it's likely by Bellamy but which might be by Allard but we'd love to see the original to check. 

"Garth: The Orb of Trimandias" F73

For F82 we get another Allard frame. Was Frank Bellamy short of reference for a drawing of a galley? He also left it to Allard to complete F53. Have I spotted a pattern? It so easy now to get references via the Internet but back then...?

In F90 the first panel appears as a FB background, certainly the stonework and even the prow in frame one. In frame 3 Allard appears to have drawn some shading lines. In F91 frames 1 and 3 look to have been John Allard's backgrounds. Also notice the opening text is also down in the panel like F59. 

We think that from F92 through to the end Bellamy draws complete strips - with the exceptions of F97 and  F103 where Allard has a hand in one panel in each strip. We also debated the water effect in the last panel of F112 - thanks to Ray Mutimer for the scan.  

"Garth: The Orb of Trimandias" F112
Thanks to Ray Mutimer

To finish this analysis of who drew what in this particular story, we see that Bellamy drew 71 (out of 98) complete strips. The penultimate strip (F120) shows 'Garth' fading away, leaving the world of Venice and the Borgias. 

"Garth: The Orb of Trimandias" F120
Thanks to Ray Mutimer

CONCLUSION

The inclusion of the Borgias and Leonardo da Vinci made this strip interesting. Nancy and Frank did actually holiday in Milan, Venice, Capri, Naples, Genoa, and Rapallo in 1957 so the architecture was not unknown to Frank. During the period Frank Bellamy’s "The Orb of Trimandia" strips were published, we also saw other work by him, particularly for the Radio Times including what I think is his most reproduced art - the front cover for Doctor Who "Day of the Daleks". He also drew the B&W 'cameos' which were headers for the individual Doctor Who stories in the Radio Times as well as tiny, but legible portraits of Dirk Bogarde, Trevor Howard, and Gregory Peck and a two page article on the Wright Brothers. Despite so much work on top of a daily strip (6 a week) his output never diminished in quality. 

AUCTION: LOTS OF ORIGINAL ART (Peter Hansen collection)

As part of the second auction of Peter Hansen’s collection, Excalibur Auctions have some original artwork by Frank Bellamy in amongst some fascinating pieces of UK comic history! I've spent a very pleasant hour browsing the whole auction. But here are the Bellamy highlights with links to the individual lots below this article:

Eagle Vol. 9: 47 (22 November 1958)

DAVID THE SHEPHERD KING (Lot #85) 

The auctioneers have described it thus:

FRANK BELLAMY - Original comic book art for EAGLE volume 9 #47 (1956 [sic]) by FRANK BELLAMY - ‘The Shepherd King’ Episode 11
56cm x 42cm (V) 

As you can see it's VERY faded. This appeared originally in Eagle Volume 9 number 47 (22 November 1958). Here are the other images Excalibur have provided:

SOUTHERN RAILWAY POSTER

Southern Railway poster c.1935

Described as:

FRANK BELLAMY - Southern Railway Poster Artwork, 'South for Sunshine' painted by Frank A Bellamy, for an RAAS competition, c.1935, original artwork in poster paint on hardboard, 42'' x 27''; as a competition entry, it is believed that this design was not used by the Southern Rail. This is an early example of Bellamy’s work, before he became a well known comic book illustrator. This poster underwent some conservation in 2013, and all the paperwork is still include[d] which details all the work undertaken. 

I've written about this back in 2012 and David Jackson guessed that this might be Olivia de Havilland in 2016! 

Here are the other photos supplied, preserved for posterity

Bellamy's home address before marriage

 ROBIN HOOD ILLUSTRATION

Robin Hood illustration

Described by Excalibur as:

FRANK BELLAMY - A character study of Robin Hood, a story which Bellamy drew for the weekly British comic book SWIFT throughout the 1950s, pen and ink on board, 29cm x 20cm

This certainly is familiar as I wrote about it in 2013, thanks to Simon Osborne, so I guess it sold privately to Peter Hansen as it looks the same! Where Excalibur say "throughout the 1950s", that should read, for the record, Bellamy drew the comic strip  "Robin Hood and his Merry Men" + "Robin Hood and Maid Marian" from 12 May 1956 - 23 February 1957 in the Swift comic.

Here are the other images shared 

AFFINITY MAGAZINE COVER 

 

Affinity #29 (June 1950)

Now this drawing for the Gerald Swan publication is a strange one. I've got scans of two artworks which are the same image but with differing lettering and details. The one in this auction states clearly this is for June 1950 publication; the other shows "June/July 1950". Affinity had two numbering runs: [No. 1] May 1946-no. 28 (May 1950); New series. no. 1 (April 1953)-no. 16 [Oct. 1954] which shows the June or June/ July issue was never published, so I think, till proven wrong - this is an unpublished Bellamy. David Jackson once suggested "it may have been a portfolio try-out never  intended for publication just a demo of FB's range of abilities, including lettering graphics". Anyway back to the auction:

FRANK BELLAMY - Original cover art for AFFINITY (Love Stories) #29 June / July 1950, a short running UK publication by Gerald G Swan, 40cm x 26cm 

Here are the other images from the auction:

 ROBIN HOOD COMIC STRIP from SWIFT Vol.3:49 (8 December 1956)

 

Swift Vol.3:49 (8 December 1956)

The auctioneers describe this artwork as:

FRANK BELLAMY - Original comic book art for SWIFT volume 3 #49 (1956, Hulton Press) by FRANK BELLAMY - ‘Robin Hood’ Episode 31 54cm x 39cm 

The blank spaces below the comic strip are there for the libretto text so Mummys and Daddys could read to their children whilst the kids looked at the images.  

Here are the other images

 

There's a Buyer's premium of 27% on each of these if bidding directly on Excalibur's site. When I see the results I'll add them here and also to the usual spreadsheet.

 

AUCTION SUMMARY

DAVID THE SHEPHERD KING- EAGLE Vol. 9:47 (Lot 85)

WHERE?: Excalibur Auctions
Estimate: £-
ENDING PRICE: £
END DATE: 9 May 2026

SOUTHERN RAILWAY POSTER (Lot 447)

WHERE?: Excalibur Auctions
Estimate: £-
ENDING PRICE: £
END DATE: 9 May 2026

ROBIN HOOD ILLUSTRATION (Lot 448)

WHERE?: Excalibur Auctions
Estimate: £-
ENDING PRICE: £
END DATE: 9 May 2026

AFFINITY magazine cover (Lot 449)

WHERE?: Excalibur Auctions
Estimate: £-
ENDING PRICE: £
END DATE: 9 May 2026

ROBIN HOOD  Swift Vol.3:49, 8 December 1956 (Lot 450)

WHERE?: Excalibur Auctions
Estimate: £-
ENDING PRICE: £
END DATE: 9 May 2026

Unknown Frank Bellamy: Save the children

 

Save the Children 

I have known Frank Bellamy drew something called "Save the Children" for years but never knew what it was...until I scanned the Polaroids Alan Davis kindly shared with me. On the rear of the above comic strip photo was the evidence that THIS is the piece I have been searching for.

But before we explore that further the following letter appeared in the Eagle Times (p.52 of the 2001 Summer edition)

Dear EAGLE TIMES,
In case anyone is worried by my claim that 'Fraser of Africa' was none other than Frank Bellamy himself, I should like to relate the following story.
In the late 60s, when I was employed by Century 21 Publications, I was contacted by some publicity guy who worked with the charity 'Save the Children Fund' and who was putting together a four-page or eight-page magazine which was sent out free of charge to schools and libraries. I was asked to put together a strip-continuity page. With a certain amount of twisting of arms I got Frank Bellamy to do the illustration. He did it for peanuts but it came out only every three months. It was during one of these issues that Frank enlightened me on the Fraser situation - that, as I wrote in Part One of my memoirs: 'Frank Bellamy was so besotted with the idea of going on safari that the main character in the series 'Fraser of Africa' was none other than portraiture of his own image.
So there;
Yours sincerely,
ROGER PERRY (Philippines)

 Roger Perry (1938-2016) worked, as he said, on TV21 and knew Frank well. 

The strip above might have appeared in Today's Children or The World's Children. The Save the Children Fund Archive material is held at the University of Birmingham, Cadbury Research Library, Special Collections at their Edgbaston Campus. So one day I might visit the place, but if any readers live nearby and want to spend an afternoon browsing SCF materials for me...! I'd love to know if this was published - especially as he signed the work- so should have been indexed on the Archive's database, but I couldn't see any reference to our Frank. I know that Frank Bellamy was paid for it but was it published?  

On the 3 October 1968 he was paid £40 for this job. Comparing what he got for a single 'Thunderbirds' page at the time - the same amount - I'm amazed the charity could afford Bellamy! The content looks entertaining and thrilling as usual but how it relates to Save the Children, I have no idea - even the rocket looks to be labelled "5AF" rather than "SCF".

Another mystery to be solved 

 

Unknown Frank Bellamy: Weather Satellite and Mirror Magazine

 

Mirror Magazine 1969 "Weather Satellite"

Thanks to Alan Davis saving some Polaroids from Frank Bellamy's studio after his death, we have been looking at various pieces of "unknown art" for want of a better title and have identifed some, but others remain - for now - a mystery.  

HISTORY OF MIRROR MAGAZINE 

In an attempt to cater to a different kind of reader, the Daily Mirror launched the "Mirrorscope" 4 page pull-out section on 30 January 1968. It was published ran on Wednesdays and Fridays, and was to deal with international affairs, politics, industry, science, the arts and business. Frank Bellamy drew for one special edition on the first Moon Landing.

In the Daily Mirror of 26 June 1969, Hugh Cudlipp, the Chair of IPC reported:

Our magazines, grouped into the new Magazine Division early in the year under review, enjoyed a turnover increase of £2 million to £49 million and a profit increase of 28%. Better facilities for advertisers, [etc.] 

and further he announced that:

In April we announced a major publishing development, the Mirror Magazine, a weekly colour supplement to be issued with the Daily Mirror newspaper every Wednesday from mid-September onwards. 

Well due to various circumstances, including an industrial dispute, the launch was delayed until 17 September. The cover was ready and it had a controversial image - even for the Seventies - and the British Poster Advertising Association was involved, as the size of the naked lady on a billboard was deemed too much. I suspect this encouraged the delay. Quarter page adverts in the Mirror proclaimed that the Mirror Magazine would start on the 1 October (a Wednesday) On Saturday 27th, a large column on the front page showed a Wednesday launch. On Wednesday 4 October 1969 the then Prince Charles appeared on the cover it was dated "Week Ending 4 October". The following issue then met the projected Wednesday deadline but retained the "Week Ending" date scheme.  Some later adjusted their issue dates due to Bank Holidays but basically came out free in the Wednesdays Daily Mirror. The Sunday Mirror advertised the magazine each week. Strikes still affected the production - particularly in March 1970when an announcement appeared apologising for the delay in getting the magazine out.

Weather satellite before colour panels added

FRANK BELLAMY'S [Non-] CONTRIBUTION 

The Argonne National Laboratory news-sheet of Wednesday 23 July 1969 was amongst papers Nancy Bellamy shared with us. The news outlined how Argonne's mass spectrometer would analyse returning Moon samples. Bellamy also owned a NASA press release of Nimbus II photos dated 13 September 1967 showing Hurricane Chloe and tropical storm Doris. Attached is a small scratchy sketch presumably by Bellamy,  showing what a satellite would communicate with. 

I wondered which satellite this image portrayed, and found a website, wrote to Gunter's Space Page and got a speedy reply: "The satellite shown is a meteorological satellite of the ESSA (a.k.a. Operational TIROS) series". and he added a TIROS 9 which apparently launched on February 26, 1969 which ties in more with a current article for a new magazine.

I suspect Bellamy was asked to draw this in the second quarter of 1969 as we know Frank and Nancy were expecting to be paid for the job in September 1969. However, a cheque was finally paid in on the 15 December 1969 - "Mirror Magazine Weather Satellite" £70-0-0. On the scribbled sketch Bellamy wrote:

Balloons, unmanned buoys, weather ships, satellites, dish aerials, unmanned stations on land, larger centres for data handling and computers". 

I'm guessing he scribbled this whilst talking to the person commissioning him, as he also added Peter Stubbs phone number at the New Scientist, presumably for information.  If we look at each of the items added, from top-right- we see an aircraft with a special nose-cone (anyone help?), tracking stations on the ground, ship, another antenna, landscape, a DC-3 (adapted for weather work?), a sea buoy, a blimp/balloon and a weather ship.  The final piece was coloured and 'spot colours' added (is that the right term for those shapes of overlaid colours?)

Were the delays around launching the magazine to blame? Did this article - whatever it was - get thrown out at the last moment? 

I checked all the Mirror Magazine from 4 October 1969 - 11 July 1970, the last copy and found no article to match this illustration. So I suspect it never saw print. Bellamy's notes regarding due payments includes a reference to the artwork and appears in September 1969. Generally the Mirror paid the next month, so I suspect Bellamy drew this and delivered in August 1969.

THE END OF THIS MIRROR MAGAZINE

Anthony Quinn tells us that  

Supplements had massive print runs on the country’s biggest gravure presses, and budgets to match because their economics were not the economics of a paid-for magazine. However, get it wrong on a supplement and the printing costs could kill you – as it did the Mirror Magazine. IPC launched the supplement but the massive 5 million print run was too long for the  copper cylinders on the gravure presses at Odhams Press in Watford. That meant two sets of very expensive cylinders – and the Mirror Magazine closed within a year having lost £7 million. 

Various papers reported on 4 July 1970 that losses on the magazine for the year to February 1970 were a staggering £1.5 million. Don Ryder was the new head of IPC and he said the magazine had been launched primarily to increase the sales of the Daily Mirror and to get fuller use of the Odham's Watford printing plant. "It was based on the expectation that the growth in the advertising industry would continue and that in the first year it would attract £7 million in advertising revenue."  

Daily Mirror 4 July 1970 FRONT PAGE

Later in the front page article the Mirror admits that £1,945,000 was lost in 1969 and that at the time of publication "the latest forecast for the present year indicates a loss at the rate of £3.000,000." It wasn't until 1988, the Mirror tried again with its Sunday Mirror Magazine.

Mike Molloy was at the helm of this new publication and shares in his autobiography "The Happy Hack":

During the planning stage of Mirror Magazine Cudlipp relinquished the chairmanship of the International Publishing Corporation and allowed Reed International to make a takeover. The men who controlled Reed were businessmen and to them the newspaper industry, with its festering union problems, diverted them from their real interest, which was simply to make profits. In the new Reed structure, Mirror Group Newspapers ceased to dominate. Paper manufacturers and packaging companies now called the shots.
Before the first issue of Mirror Magazine was printed, once again Dennis Hackett told me there was no way it could succeed financially.
'I was right: the unions have taken too much. It can't make a profit,' he said. Well, it lasted for a year before Dennis's prediction came true. But we had a hell of a good year. The readers and the advertisers loved us. The only people who hated Mirror Magazine were the majority of the Daily Mirror staff. Most of us on the magazine were under thirty, and so happy we could feel the jealousy in the air.
The last issue we produced but never printed was a Mirror Magazine guide to sexual knowledge. It was pioneering stuff then, but tame by today's standards. 

 

THE QUEEN COMIC STRIP

Using the data from Frank Bellamy's payments in and out, we can see reference to another mystery for the Daily Mirror.

In October 1970 a note was made that payment was outstanding for "Daily Mirror Queen" and then in January 1971, a cheque is paid in for £75/0/0d  for "Daily Mirror Queen strip"

As stated above, the Mirror normally paid within a month (confirmed by matching various entries against published works) so I searched from 1 September 1970 through to 31 October 1970 every page every issue and found nothing. I wondered if this might have appeared in Mirrorscope in the middle pages but no. Various topics were covered and artists such as Philip Castle, Alan Cracknell, Eric Austermann, and Les Gibbard drew caricatures, but no Bellamy.  I also checked the Sunday Mirror but that had the usual collection of cartoons, "Driving with Paddy Hopkirk" (drawn by Nick Faure) and "Andy Capp" as strips and also some illustrations accompanying larger articles, but no Bellamy!

Again I suspect he might have had to chase up payment as this was never used, but I'd love to be proved wrong!

AUCTION: Robin Hood page from Swift 1957

Lot#48 "Robin Hood" from Swift Vol4: 7 (16 February 1957)

Compal auctions have their latest auction up at TheSaleroom and their own webpage. This time we have a Robin Hood page from Swift (this latter links shows Current Bids).

It's a lovely page (the second of two from the comic) with an action-packed Bellamy panel.  And before anyone mentions it, those white movement lines are NOT likely to be 'white-out / Tippex fluid' as Bellamy states he never used it. They are more likely to be scratches made in the artboard. Whoever wins this, please let us know!

Scan from my copy of the comic of the action panel

Malcolm of Compal describes the lot:

Robin Hood original artwork (1957)
Drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy for Swift comic Vol. 4, No 7 1957 (comic included)
'Cool and steady, Robin Hood fitted an arrow to his longbow and took careful aim at the galloping Robert the Wolf…'
Indian ink and grey wash on board. 21 x 15 ins
£500-600

He doesn't mention that Bellamy lettered the piece and left space for the libretto text below each panel. For your delectation and delight (yes, the TV programme "The Goold Old Days" was watched in our house!) here are both pages from this issue of Swift scanned from my collection.

Swift Vol.4: 7 (16 February 1957) p.9

 

Swift Vol.4: 7 (16 February 1957) p.10

How have sales gone before? Well, they've been interesting:

In May 2022 "Robin Hood" in Swift Vol.3:41 (13 Oct 1956) was sold by Compal for £470.00; in August 2017 Swift 24 Nov 1956 sold for Heritage Auctions at £785.58 and in Novemeber 2011 a page from Swift Vol 4. No. 25 (dated 22 June 1957) was unsold with an estimate of £850 by Compal

As this page has such an iconic profile of the main man, I wonder how much this will sell for. The auction ends on Sunday 15 March when I'll add the end result below and add it to the spreadsheet.
 

 

AUCTION SUMMARY

"ROBIN HOOD" Swift Vol.4:7 (16 Febraury 1957) (Lot 48)

WHERE?: Compal/TheSaleroom
Estimate: £500-600
Opening Bid: £450
ENDING PRICE: £450
END DATE: Sunday 15 March 2026