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| The first episode of "Trimandias" Daily Mirror 28 January 1972 |
Garth Strips Analysed:
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.
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| "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.
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| "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!
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| "Garth: The Orb of Trimandias" F48 |
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| "Garth: The Orb of Trimandias" F51 |
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| "Garth: The Orb of Trimandias" F53 |
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| "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.
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| "Garth: The Orb of Trimandias" F112 Thanks to Ray Mutimer |
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| "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.
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