Tuesday 20 November 2018

Original Art: Story of World War One


Frank Bellamy artwork for Look and Learn #437 (30 May 1970)

Look and Learn was an educational weekly comic/magazine, that was thought to be bought by grandparents and parents for children, rather than children themselves buying it! It contained fascinating articles, lots of illustrations and also comic strips. From issues 437 - 462 (30 May 1970 - 21 November 1970), Frank Bellamy illustrated a series of text articles on "The Story of World War One"

The original art for the first episode has appeared on eBay and looks to be well preserved - not faded.  It's curling but that can easily be rectified. It's a lovely example of how Bellamy had left the space for the text to be dropped in - such confidence by typesetters and the editor (Jack Parker)! The text was written by Mike Butterworth (and in the first episode had a page prior to this by Bellamy) and in most issues had accompanying photographs

I have written quite a bit about this series as well as the introduction to the brilliant reprint published by Book Palace - in fact, my profile image shows me at the book signing (yes me, signing a book!) where the real worker was Steve Holland who put the thing together!

I have added all the images the seller has put on the auction in order to capture them before the piece disappears into someone's private collection.









Links:
Centenary video
Overview with links
Additional unpublished image

Buy the book: http://bookpalace.com/acatalog/Frank_Bellamy_Graphic_Novels.html


AUCTION SUMMARY
WHERE?: eBay - wishingonarainbow
STARTING BID: £350
ENDING PRICE:£530
NO. OF BIDS:11
END DATE: Wednesday 21 November 2018

Sunday 11 November 2018

ORIGINAL ART: Thunderbirds and Garth from Bob Monkhouse Estate

Cover of TV21 #90 Monster built by Roger Dicken

The November catalogue at Comic Book Auctions Limited run by Malcolm Phillips has some amazing materials up for auction. Follow that link for his catalogue and illustrations and bid via The Saleroom here. He has been entrusted by Bob Monkhouse's Estate to sell some of this collector's extensive artwork and comics. As he says (without hyperbole in my opinion)

We are delighted to draw your attention to some magnificent artwork boards consigned to us from the Bob Monkhouse Archive. They comprise pieces from 1900–1974 and include Ally Sloper by W F Thomas, Film Fun’s Terry Thomas by Terry Wakefield, Erik The Viking, The Trigan Empire, both by Don Lawrence with Garth and Thunderbirds pieces by Frank Bellamy. The Thunderbirds double-page illustration is magnificent and one of his best boards ever to come up for auction.
Tom Derbyshire at Antiques Trade Gazette has written a piece on the auction, which in itself is going to raise some outside interest, in my opinion.

Original art - sans balloons - Thunderbirds from TV21 #90

The Thunderbirds strip comes from TV21 #90, from the story where TB3 crashes on Venus, after blasting some solar matter to pieces. The photo doesn't do this piece credit as I think the colours look very bright and preserved correctly.  What's interesting here is the lack of balloons and captions. This is very unusual to see and I'd love to know how Bob Monkhouse managed to get this like this. Alan Davis' collection of Polaroids and other photos show how Thunderbirds would have been delivered by Bellamy to the publisher, but the artwork I've normally seen for sale has balloons stuck on (or falling off!) so this is a wonderful sale.

Malcolm describes the artwork like this:

Thunderbirds original double-page artwork (1966) drawn, painted and signed by Frank Bellamy for TV Century 21 No 90 1966. From the Bob Monkhouse Archive. The front cover of the comic screamed, "Nightmare Splashdown for Crippled Ship - Monster Attacks Thunderbird 3!" And here is Bellamy's brilliant double-page artwork to prove it! The 'Thunderbirds' logo is an unattached laser colour copy, as are the word balloons with the original comic, all included in the lot. Bright, fresh Pelikan inks on board. 28 x 20 ins. 

Auctioneer's estimate
1,800 GBP - 2,300 GBP (opening bid 1,620 GBP)

The original with the word balloons and captions attached looked like this - bearing in mind it's a scan that's joined together, but you can still see how vibrant the original is.



The three Garth strips  that are being offered form the Bob Monkhouse Estate are from "The Wreckers" story that ran in from 26 October 1973 - 18 February 1974. These three (H26, H27 and H29) show a lovely action sequence in the water - not quite consecutively - and demonstrate how very clear Bellamy's art was for the Garth strip in the Daily Mirror.

Garth: 3 original consecutive [sic] artworks drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy from the Daily Mirror Jan/Feb 1974. From the Bob Monkhouse Archive. Garth saves Andromeda from Tallion's clutches … Indian ink on board. 20 x 8 ins (x3)

Auctioneer's estimate
350 GBP - 400 GBP - (opening bid 320 GBP)

H26, H27 and H29 "The Wreckers" Frank Bellamy
As part of the wonderful public service I offer, here's the missing H28 that would have made these consecutive. BUT you are still getting 2 consecutive strips plus one more from the same story from the same source!

H28 of The Wreckers story
I shall record the details as usual here and on my spreadsheet, when the auction ends

AUCTION SUMMARY

Thunderbirds - TV21 #90
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions Ltd
STARTING BID:£
ENDING PRICE: £4550 +16% VAT/Sales tax
NO. OF BIDS:
END DATE: Sunday 25 Nov 2018 14:00 GMT


Garth: The Wreckers
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions Ltd.
STARTING BID:£
ENDING PRICE: £1200 +16% VAT/Sales tax
NO. OF BIDS:
END DATE: Sunday 25 Nov 2018 14:00 GMT

Tuesday 6 November 2018

ORIGINAL ART: Sunday Times: Inside Racing

Original artwork for "Inside Racing"
published in Sunday Times Colour Magazine 25 April 1971

I found out about this auction too late to highlight it here for people to visit, but thought it worth adding here so you can see some lovely artwork

Previously I highlighted the article as it appeared in the Sunday Times Colour Magazine together with Tim Barnes' copies of the draft work "Devious ways to win" - the original unpublished title.

Roseberys auction house is based in London SE27 and they described the work as:
Lot 268 of 495:Frank A Bellamy, FSIA SGA FRSA, British 1917-1976- Racing strip for the Sunday Times Magazine; ink and watercolour on CS 10 line board, 46.3x70.5cm, (unframed) (ARR)

They had an estimate of £60-100 + fees (30% inc VAT) so I'd guess they were pleasantly suprised that it reached £880 which I'd say was a great bargain for such a unique piece.

AUCTION SUMMARY
WHERE?: Roseberys
LOT #: 268
STARTING BID:£60-100
ENDING PRICE: £880
END DATE: 3 November 2018

Original Art: Garth on eBay - The Bubble Man (J239)

J239 episode of  "Garth: The Bubble Man" Drawn by Frank Bellamy
There's another Garth strip on eBay - from the "Bubble Man" story (#J239) - many thanks to Chris Power for alerting me to it.  "sweet4action" is the seller who describes the item like this:
You are bidding on an original signed Daily Mirror 'Garth' Cartoon strip from 1975 by the late Frank Bellamy. Drawn in pen and ink on artboard the piece features many of the artistic flourishes Bellamy was famed for.

DIMENSIONS: Approximately 54.5cm x 15.5cm.

ITEM DETAILS: The strip carries the date 10-10-75 in pen, in the top right corner, and the number J239 denotes that it is from 'The Bubble Man' series from that year (1975). Considering that the strip is over 43 years old it is in extremely good condition, being bright and clean with no staining, yellowing and only minimal wear to board corners (see photos). The pen-work is crisp and clear with only the odd pencil outline visible. It has the Daily Mirror copyright stamp on the back (see photos).
This auction is due to end  on 12 November 2018 and the bidding starts at £225.

The seller put up these images too which show the lovely detail




The last episode from this story that sold went for only £255 in March this year. I suy 'only' because I'm surprised that it didn't go for more!

The Bubble Man story has been reprinted in the following places:
  • Garth: The Bubble Man All Devon Comic Collectors Club Daily Strips: Collectors Club Editions No.28 [No date]
  • Garth: The Bubble Man Spaceship Away Issue 19, October 2009, to Issue 23 March 2011 Coloured by John Ridgway
  • Daily Mirror Wednesday 9 November 2011 to Friday 30 December 2011 - Two tier reprint coloured by Martin Baines

AUCTION SUMMARY
WHERE?: eBay
SELLER: sweet4action
LOT #: 223215051163STARTING BID:£225
ENDING PRICE: £376
NO. OF BIDS: 10
END DATE: 12 November 2018