Wednesday 22 February 2012

The Cloud of Balthus starts in the Daily Mirror today

Martin Baines let me know that the next reprinted and coloured Frank Bellamy Garth strip is "The Cloud of Balthus" starting today in the Daily Mirror

Wednesday 22 February 2012 © Daily Mirror

Once again he has been really kind and sent me the original digital copy for you to see. Interestingly, I had never noticed the fact that Bellamy has almost exactly the same pose for Lee Wan, the girl on the right, in both tiers. I must be kind and point out that we would never have seen them published like this, one above the other, as they were printed one tier each day back in October 1971. And as a friend said "well, that shows his continuity was good"!

I love some particular bits of the art in this story, you'll see undersea and space scenes as well as, if you can believe this, an explosion in black and white, in the original that takes up most of the strip for that day, oh, and the usual pretty woman for Garth! Ah, how times haven't changed! I have no direct evidence that Jim Edgar, the writer knew anything about art, but the name 'Balthus' may have been inspired by the artist by the same nickname.

This story ran originally from 12 October 1971 to 27 January 1972 (Numbers E237-F23) and has been reprinted quite a few times, but you won't hear me complaining: The Daily Mirror Book of Garth, 1975; Garth Book One: The cloud of Balthus Titan Books, 1984  and in the fan publication Menomonee Falls Gazette Numbers 52 - 67

Did you catch the visual clue in yesterday's advert?

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