Monday 22 August 2022

ORIGINAL ART: Heros the Spartan - faded

"Heros the Spartan" Eagle Vol.16:12 (20 March 1965)

 This is just a quick entry to record the sale of a "Heros the Spartan". This escaped my alerts in 2019 and therefore I didn't get to see it until now.

Drewatts Online sold it for the reserve price of £130 (and the estimate was £150) in November 2019. Their description was accurate in parts:

Description
Double page format, circa 1962/63, framed and glazed pen, ink and tinted comic page, Episode 4 for The Eagle, lettering with corrections, signed, image 39 by 63 cm, framed and glazed with cropped mount detailing details of publication, 55 by 77.5 centimeters (2).

Status report
Fading in the sunlight, colors now very muted, unexamined outside the frame.
Boy oh boy is it faded! It has almost become an interesting outline of the blacks that Bellamy used! The date is completely wrong. It's from the fourth and last story Bellamy drew in the comic (there was one more Heros in the Eagle Annual) "The Slave Army" and it is indeed episode 4 of that story.

Want to see HOW faded it is:

"Heros the Spartan" Eagle Vol.16:12 (20 March 1965)

Faded original

You're welcome! Such a shame it has been allowed to get that faded! That central panel is just gorgeous and so memorable. And just in case anyone thinks Bellamy used "white-out", contrary to what's been said, that's the balloon letterer's mess!



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember seeing this many years ago for sale at a comic mart in London. It looked ok then so it’s probably been framed in direct sunlight since then. As well as the fading is the yellowing of the board. Although not in great condition that’s price is less than you pay for a Garth these days. (Jeff H)

Norman Boyd said...

Hi Jeff, Yes, I was astonished what an interesting study of Bellamy's inkwork this now makes, but what a shame the colours are gone