Comic Cuts

I've been dropping hints about publishing some books for some time without actually giving any details. Over the past couple of weeks I've promised news soon and I'm pleased to say that I've almost got my ducks in a row. So... next Friday I'll be announcing the first two titles that will be appearing under the Bear Alley Books imprint. That's Friday the 12th. There, I'm committed to it now. Can't go back. Big announcement. Next Friday.

Until then, 'fraid it's Project One and Project Two. I have a printer's proof in front of me for the former which looks pretty damn good. A few things to tweak before the book is printed but not far to go at all. Project Two... well, I received a cover sketch on Wednesday and it blew me away. I can't wait to see it in colour. I think you'll love it, too.

I've still got other commitments to work on. We're on the very final stages of finishing the Frank Bellamy's World War 1 book and I finished cleaning up the pages of 'Wells Fargo' on Tuesday. It's going to be a hell of a book: Don Lawrence's artwork is stunning. And it doesn't end there as I'm about to start on the second part of the book, 'Pony Express'. Between them they run to around 200 pages so it's going to be a bumper book when it appears. Unbelievable to think that the neither strip has been reprinted in full before now. In fact, I don't think 'Pony Express' has ever been reprinted in the UK at all.

My new book from Carlton (under their Prion imprint) is out next week. I received a copy earlier this week and I'll be posting some information on the contents in the next day or two. As a teaser, I thought you might like to see the original artwork clean of lettering—it's at the head of the column above. The artist was Graham Coton, one of the greats from the era of the War Picture Library. David Roach called him "The king of vehicles, machines and weaponry," in his book The Art of War, and I'd have to add that Coton was at his best with aircraft in aerial action. Dogfights never looked so exciting. Coton was still painting aircraft long after the closure of the war libraries and deserves to be more widely known as the fine artist he was.

The latest issue of Paperback Fanatic (#10, June 2009) arrived this week, and continues to improve with every issue. It's now designed by Glenn Fleming (whose name you might recognise from Crikey!) who provides good clear layouts. With a huge range of paperback covers providing the artwork it's a great-looking magazine. Central to this issue are interviews with author John Harvey and artist John Holmes plus articles on Barry Sadler's Casca series of mercenary novels, the occult novels of Gerald Suster, the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series (not that kind of adult!), German Frankenstein novels and British sex education paperbacks of the 1960s and 1970s. You can't get more diverse than that. Further information and how to obtain copies of the magazine can be found at the Paperback Fanatic website.

Last thing through the post this week, a copy of the latest Commando book, which I'll review below. The monthly Commando books are also celebrating D-Day with a run of themed issues in June. The first batch of four titles (#4203 The Jailbreak; #4204 Fight Fire With Fire; #4205 D-Day Plus; #4206 Beach-Head Battle) are on sale from the 11th and the second batch (#4207 To Lead the Way; #4208 Close Support!; #4209 Terror on the Battlefield; #4210 Dead Man's Boots) follow a fortnight later. "Had we not had the benefit of the selfless efforts of a huge number of soldiers, sailors and airmen involved on that day, history would have been much blacker," says editor Calum Laird. "Our eight stories, though fictional, are our way of saluting that generation while spreading the story of what they did and what we owe them."

Interesting side note: apparently, Commando had their best ever sales during the 1970s and sales peaked when, one month, they sold 750,000 copies (over 90,000 copies of each of the 8 issues that month). When you consider that both War Picture Library and Battle Picture Library were both still going (and producing 20 titles a month between them), Combat Picture Library was still going and various other pocket library titles were being published—romance and schoolgirls regularly, plus a variety of science fiction, horror, western and thrillers at various times—a regular sale of 1½ to 2 million of these pocket books a month isn't an outrageous guess. Ah, those were the days!

Well that's cleared the desk a bit! Next week we have a new "Eagles Over the Western Front" story for your entertainment, plus that announcement next Friday. And anything else I can squeeze in.

Commando: D-Day Fight or Die!

Another excellent Commando collection has hit the shelves recently. With over 4000 issues to select from, it's no surprise that the editors—I'm not sure if George Low (ex-Commando editor) or Calum Laird (current Commando editor) is now making the selections—can produce huge volumes on certain themes. In this instance... well, the title rather gives it away.

D-Day was probably the single most significant day of World War 2: on 6 June 1944, Allied forces landed on a 50-mile stretch of Normandy coastline in northern France and fought their way up the beaches and into Europe, four years after the British Expeditionary Force had been pushed back by the German advance and evacuated from Dunkirk.

Collecting twelve stories covering the same event risks repetition but, as they said of The Naked City, "There are eight million stories in the Naked City; this has been one of them." Of the 160,000 troops landed on D-Day, I doubt if any two shared exactly the same experiences and in the fictionalised world of Commando, that translates into hundreds of thousands of different viewpoints from which to view the events of the day. Scriptwriters from historian Eric Hebden to current Commando favourite Ferg Handley have all stepped up to the plate and found new ways to approach the same topic.

For many fans, the key issue will be the artwork and Denis McLoughlin will be the name that stands out. However, I'm a contrary bugger and I'm going to say that if you buy the book for its artwork, buy it for the two pairs of stories by Victor de la Fuente and Sanchis Cortes. De la Fuente was one of the best war artists to have worked in the UK and Cortes has long been a favourite of mine ever since I stumbled across his work in Tiger. He worked at one time for Luis Bermejo and the Bermejo/Ortiz style rubbed off. A fantastic, almost unknown artist.

Contents

Ambush at Dawn (333, May 1968) Art: C. T. Rigby; Script: Staff
The Strongpoint (1807, Jun 1984) Art: Blasco; Script: David Motton
Normandy Drop (4011, Jun 2007) Art: Garijo; Script: Ferg Handley
Wrong Time, Wrong Place (2279, May 1989) Art: Ibanez; Script: Alan Hebden
Big Joe (203, Mar 1966) Art: Alfredo Sanchis Cortes; Script: Fitzsimmons
Blood of Heroes (259, May 1967) Art: Eustaquio Segrelles; Script: Eric Hebden
D-Day Drop (511, Nov 1970) Art: Victor de la Fuente; Script: Ken Gentry
Operation Bulldog (413, Jul 1969) Art: Victor de la Fuente; Script: A. Carney Allan
Wolf Pack (329, May 1968) Art: Alfredo Sanchis Cortes; Script: Crawcroft
Man of Iron (358, Sep 1968) Art: Eustaqio Segrelles; Script: Fitzsimmons
Big Guy (92, Nov 1963) Art: Castro; Script: Eric Hebden
The Footsloggers (2365, Apr 1990) Art: Denis McLoughlin; Script: Alan Hebden

(* artwork by Ian Kennedy, Victor de la Fuente, Sanchis Cortes respectively (c) D. C. Thomson.)

Gulliver's Adventures in Lilliput part 2

(* artwork © Look and Learn Ltd. Reprinted by permission.)

Gulliver's Adventures in Lilliput part 1

(* artwork © Look and Learn Ltd. Reprinted by permission.)

Comics Firsts: C. L. Doughty

Something a bit special today. C. L. Doughty has become one of my favourite comics artists and illustrators. I have to confess that I knew little about his work (beyond reassurances from David Ashford and Norman Wright that it was great) until I started working for Look and Learn. Studying the pages of Look and Learn, it seemed that Doughty illustrated every other feature and the more I saw of his work the more impressed I was. His colour covers and illustrations were gorgeous and his black & white comic strips for the paper were almost without peer.

Given the high quality of his work in the 1960s, it may seem a little odd to travel right back to the beginning of his career. In 1948, Doughty was already in his mid-thirties but fresh to comics. His first known comic strip was the following Buffalo Bill yarn published in Knockout Comic #489, dated 10 July 1948. Over the next two days we'll follow his next strip, an adaptation of part of Gulliver's Travels drawn for The Children's Newspaper and published in weekly parts in 24 July to 11 September 1948.

I'll be reprinting one of Doughty's later strips in the near future. But, to see how far he had come, I thought it useful to have something to compare it to and these early strips are almost impossible to find. And definitely of historical interest, being Doughty's first, so I hope you'll indulge me.

(* Buffalo Bill artwork © IPC Media; illustration at top © Look and Learn Ltd.)

Cora Minnett

I usually blame my mate John Herrington for getting me started on these wild goose chases. This time it was another John entirely, book dealer John Eggeling, and a simple request asking whether anyone knew anything about Cora Minnett.

Minnie Warren Jones was born in 1868 in New South Wales, Australia, the daughter of James Jones and his wife Eliza (nee Warren). She had at least one sister, Ruth Jones, who was an artist.

After leaving school at 19, and using the name Cora Minnett Vane (mis-reported in The Times as Baynes), she took to the stage in 1888. She was married to Adolphus J. Braggett (1864- ) in Sydney in 1892, whom she left a few years later. She returned to the stage as Cora Minnett and "took companies round in Australia". Her advance agent for her theatrical companies was a Mr. Cowell and he subsequently became her secretary and manager.

Cora came to England in January 1910 and was listed in the London telephone book as a Journalist and Author living at 117 St. George's Square. In England she began writing novels under the names Cora Minnett and Pellew Harker and articles for Answers, the Ladies' Home Journal and the Ladies' Home Companion.

A subsequent newspaper report during a court case in which Minnett was accused of receiving stolen money noted:

She had views with regard to emigration, and she conceived the idea of forming a company to buy land in Australia and induce people who had not much capital to settle out there. When she arrived in England she began writing about the subject. She took offices at 110, Strand, intending to take larger offices later. She got many eminent people interested in her schemes, some of whom found money for them.

When Miss Minnett came to England her profession was as a writer and society entertainer. She placed an advertisement in the Daily Telegraph as a clairvoyante. She had cards prepared which described her as a mystical and dramatic entertainer and an aurapathic delineator—an occult study involving the aura emanations from the human body.

In April 1911, she opened a banking account at the Bank of England. She was in Australia for seven months to take up land in anticipation of forming her companies. She arranged for options over sugar-cane lands in Queensland and oil concessions near the Blue Mountains. At that time she opened an account at the Sydney office of the plaintiff bank [Commercial Bank of Australia] in the name of Pellen (sic) Hawker. When she returned to England in May, 1912, she transferred that account to the London office of the plaintiff bank. She continued to write books and pamphlets on the subject of her schemes. In September, 1912, she went to Canada to compare the prospects in Canada and Australia.

(It was later revealed that she had travelled to Canada with an introduction from Lord Strathcona for, she said, the purpose of studying life in Canada and writing a novel about it.)

Minnett produced a pamphlet entitled Australia, the Land of Golden Opportunity, and had plans to set up a company to be called The Anglo-Australasian Development Company. However, eventually only one company appears to have been established, The Federated Mining Development Company (West Africa) Ltd., in September 1913, which owned a £25 option in West Africa. An advertisement stated "Full security offered in land, palm oil, and concessions." Minnett claimed she had received many replies when she advertised for financial assistance and for gentlemen with capital to invest. One advertisement said "north country men preferred." That was not, she would later say, because she found north country men more likely to part with their money. She also took advantage of the women's suffrage movement by inviting women to her house, talking about the vote and then turning the conversation to business and persuading them to put money into her companies.

She received £400 from a Miss Miles and £500 from a foreign countess. A Mrs. Dale paid £250 on the promise that she would be made a director of one of Minnett's companies. A further £700 came from the Hon. W. G. Spence, an Australian M.P., who was a friend of her father.

A Mr. White invested £373 and subsequently sued her for the return of his money. Letters from Minnett to White referred to him as "Dearest"and "Darling", although she denied having done so in court. Nor did she recall signing herself "your loving partner, Cora" nor writing "Yet, dearest, in the interest of our mutual business and actual future happiness, I must ask you for more money, and a considerable sum—at least £350."

Another investor was to prove Cora Minnett's downfall. Walter Robson was a cashier in the London office of the Commercial Bank of Australia. In 1912, Miss. Minnett loaned him one of her books and, as they later talked, she told him about her proposed company. In February 1913, Robson loaned her £500, expecting the money to be repaid in 1914 along with a share of the profits from her company; he then provided her with other sums of money in bank notes—£700, £1,000, £500, and £100.

What Cora Minnett was seemingly unaware of was that Robson was stealing the money and, despite Minnett and Herbert Cowell moving the money to various accounts, one in the name of Cora and Bertie Minnett, the money was tracked down. When confronted with the fact, Cora and Herbert, still presenting themselves as brother and sister, claimed that they had spent all but £100 (which Herbert wrote out a cheque for). The Commercial Bank of Australia took them to court in February 1914 in order to bring an injunction restraining the defendants from dealing with the accounts.

In deciding the case, Mr. Justice Pickford noted that Robson had been stealing from his employers before meeting Cora Minnett; however, she must have known that something was wrong but refrained from making any inquiry. When asked to attend a meeting by the Commercial Bank of Australia, the couple had immediately withdrawn £500 and deposited it in Herbert's name at another bank. The day after, they had withdrawn another £500 from another account and tried to set up an account in a company name, without success. The accounts were frozen.

The Judge also noted that it was not part of the case to decide whether the defendant's schemes were only intended to get money out of her friends, although Mr. Shearman, K.C., for the plaintiffs, was of the opinion that the whole of Minnett's career in England was on the borderland of criminal enterprise. Minnett subsequently went to the Court of Appeal but her application was turned down as she could not offer security for the costs of her appeal and a request for an extension of time was refused.

Cora Minnett was listed at her London address until 1918. What became of her after that I have no idea.

Books as Cora Minnett
The Haunted Selection and other verses (verse). Melbourne, Victoria, McCarron, Bird & Co., c.1900.
The Day After To-morrow. London, F. V. White & Co., 1911.
Lucky, with Pellew Hawker, illus. A. MacNeill-Barbour. London, F. V. White & Co., 1911.
The Model Millionaire. London, W. J. Ham-Smith, 1911.
Fortune-Telling by Numbers. London, C. Arthur Pearson, 1912.
The Girdle of Kaf (verse). London, W. J. Ham-Smith, 1912.

Books as Pellew Hawker
God Disposes. London, Stanley Paul & Co., 1911.
Lucky, with Cora Minnett. See above.

Harry Winslade

Harry Winslade, sometimes known as Redvers Blake, was born Harry Redvers A. Winslade in Farnham, Surrey, on 1 December 1901, the son of Albert Arthur Winslade and his wife, Isabella (nee Williams), who had married in Farnham in 1898. The Winslade family had roots in Farnham dating back at least a couple of generations, Albert's father, Taplin Winslade, working there as an engine driver. The odd Christian name (Taplin) would appear to derive from the marriage of Stephen Winslade and Harriet Taplin in nearby Crondall, Hampshire, in 1840.

Harry second name, Redvers, is rather less exotic than I realised (and shared with another artist, Raymond Redvers Briggs). I imagine the third initial probably stands for Albert or Arthur, after his father.

It would appear that young Harry was raised in Aston, Warwickshire, where his parents were living at the time of the 1911 census. The family may also have spent some time in the Rochford area of Essex, where Harry's father died in 1919.

That same year, Harry and his mother, Isabella, visited Niagara Falls, where Harry's sister, Mrs. E. Hagen, was living. At that time, Harry's occupation was already described as artist. Harry returned from Canada in August 1920, although his mother returned to Canada soon after. In 1925, another trip by Isabella to Canada reveals that her nearest relative in England is her son, whose address is given as c/o J. Haddon & Co., Salisbury Square, Fleet Street. John Haddon & Co. was a printers and booksellers who later became an advertising agency and it seems likely that Harry was on the staff as an artist. (Haddon & Co. were still active until at least the 1970s)

By 1939 he was living at 44 Amberley Gardens, Stoneleigh, Surrey, where he was to live for the remainder of his life. His death was registered at Surrey Mid E. in 1980.

Joining these dots together to make some sort of coherent life story is almost impossible. However, I was fortunate enough to correspond recently with Pauline Fynn, who remembered Harry Winslade from her days working as an office junior at the Temple Art Agency in Chancery Lane in the early 1960s.

At the time Temple Art was run by Dan and Pat Kelleher and consisted of two old fashioned, small office rooms with a connecting door between them. The office was on the second floor of the building, opposite Northams, a tailors business.

"As office junior my duties were to open and also to send off the post, act as receptionist, make the tea and collect and deliver parcels, sometimes to or from railway stations such as Kings Cross or Charing Cross," recalls Pauline. "On occasion, I also delivered to the artists homes. I remember delivering some artwork to Peter Jackson in South Kensington and Gerry Embleton, who was in Ilford. I used to know a lot of the artists' addresses by heart because I did the post every day, but I've forgotten most of them now. I remember Stephen Chapman's address in Westcliff on Sea, mainly because I have a book he gave me on 'Horse Anatomy' and his name and address is written inside.

"I didn't have a lot to do in the office. There were only me and my two bosses. I was really there to mind the shop and answer the phone when the Mr. Kellehers were out on their business meetings. I was told I could draw or read while they were out or when I had nothing to do. A cushy job, really! I used to sit and draw a lot. I loved art.

"Harry Winslade used to call in fairly regularly. He would have been about sixty at that time and seemed very old to me. He also taught art at one time and was very good to me, advising me on my drawing. He showed me how to use pen and ink to draw.

"Dan Kelleher treated me very well. I was only fifteen when I went to work there and, after viewing my artwork, he gave me a reference to St. Martin's School of Art. He offered to take me on his books if I completed Art School studies to become an illustrator and advised me to attend evening General Drawing classes, which I did for a year. I didn't carry on with it, though. I left Temple Art in 1963 for another office job with higher pay."

In 1961, Pauline would spend much of her time drawing. "I used to produce these little poses out of my head and attempt to emulate the comic strip style of pen and ink," she says. When visiting, Harry Winslade would assess her work. "You will see pencil drawings by Harry on the two boards [see above], next to my pen and ink ones, and some blue biro sketches at the sides also by Mr. Winslade [see below]. He encouraged me to try pen and ink and even told me what to buy and where to buy it (Mappin & Webb). The illustration boards were off cuts sent in by the artists as packing for their pictures."

Harry Winslade's career in comics would seem to begin in 1950 when he began producing illustrations for Eagle. His first illustration appeared in the third issue (in production before the first was even out) and he would supply a number of illustrations between 1950-52, including the illustration that accompanied the Arthur C. Clarke story, "The Fires Within", published under Clarke's pen-name Charles Willis, in August 1950.

Winslade drew "Judy and Pat" for Girl in 1951-52. Over the next few years he drew various features for Eagle, "Don Conquest" for Mickey Mouse Weekly and illustrations for Rocket. In early 1958, he began drawing two strips, "The Brainy B's" for Zip and the "Battle Brothers" for Express Weekly, although it was for the former that he was to draw his longest-running strip. This featured the adventures of explorer Sir Nigel Tawny which began in Zip in 1958, switched to Swift the following year and continued until 1962.

Winslade was not considered amongst the top flight of artists but found steady work on a number of different papers. In the early 1960s he illustrated the "Danger Man" text stories in Express Weekly, various features in Boys' World and "The Big Shot" in Valiant, before finding a far steadier home in the pages of Hornet, contributing to that paper's very first issue with a feature on "The Youngest V.C.". Winslade drew dozens of strips and covers for Hornet over the next few years. Winslade also contributed to Diana and Wizard in the 1960s and 1970s.

By then he, too, was in his seventies and well past retirement age. Harry Winslade died at the age of 79.

(* Nigel Tawny / Eagle illustration © IPC Media; "The Diggers Were There" © D. C. Thomson. My thanks to Pauline Fynn for sending copies of her sketches and prompting this bit of digging.)

Modesty Blaise: The Lady Killers

Modesty Blaise: The Lady Killers, the fifteenth collection of Modesty Blaise stories from Titan, is as fresh as the first, proving once again the incredible talent author Peter O'Donnell had for creating storylines that could keep you on the edge of your seat for five months. Once you step beyond the very basics of good guys vs. bad guys—the conflict at the heart of most stories, not just Modesty Blaise—O'Donnell kept readers hooked through meticulously worked-out plots and ever-interesting characters and situations. Central to most of the stories is to have the odds stacked against Modesty or Willie to the point where escape seems impossible and death inevitable. How they turn these situations around is always exciting and incredibly satisfying.

In "Dossier on Pluto", Modesty's working holiday in Mexico helping researcher Steve Taylor (a semi-regular in the strip) study dolphins is interrupted by intruders in the pay of the K.G.B. out to steal Taylor's scientific data; in "The Lady Killers", Modesty does a favour for a former Network colleague and accidentally intercepts the ransom being paid for a young girl who has been kidnapped; and in "Garvin's Travels", Willie and his girlfriend, Maude Tiller, are kidnapped and brainwashed as part of a scientific experiment.

All three stories are drawn by Neville Colvin, whose style is a call-back to the original Jim Holdaway art. He's not as stylish as John Burns, nor as slick as Romero, but his artwork is excellent throughout and his six years on the strip are all worth seeking out.

The Titan run of Modesty has now reached the halfway mark and still manages to pull a few surprises: Laurence Blackmore's introduction reproduces a number of strips that appeared in the Glasgow Evening Citizen on bank holidays when the Evening Standard was not published. 15 scarce Jim Holdaway strips are reproduced nationally for the first time, including the last Modesty strip he ever drew (redrawn by Romero for its appearance in the Standard); meaningless to readers in terms of plot and story but gold dust to fans of Jim Holdaway.

Modesty Blaise: The Lady Killers. Titan Books ISBN 978-1848561069, 24 April 2009.

Commando: Battle of Britain

The next volume of Carlton's Commando series, Commando: Battle of Britain Scramble!, has been announced for October. Here's the blurb...

For everyone in Britain, these were the darkest days of the Second World War. Our army, or what was left of it, had been withdrawn from France via the beaches of Dunkirk, disabling and abandoning arms and equipment during the desperate evacuation. While they reorganized and re-equipped there was no effective fighting force to stand against Hitler's Wehrmacht should they choose to invade. Crossing the channel with an invasion fleet was, however, not an operation to be contemplated without complete control of the sky, otherwise the transports and landing craft would be blown out of the water by the RAF. The Nazis' answer? Neutralise the RAF. Destroy its runways, destroy its aircraft on the ground, destroy its support networks and, most of all, kill its pilots. The RAF, of course, had other ideas and during the summer of 1940 the Battle of Britain was fought in the skies over southern England. The courage and skill of the RAF pilots and ground crews during those few hectic weeks has formed the backdrop to some of the most outstanding Commando tales ever published. Stories like "Ace Without Honour", "Island of Heroes" and "Brigand Squadron" as well as "Blind Courage", "Fly Fast-Shoot Fast" or "Spitfire Spirit" bring the atmosphere of the battle spinning into the 21st century. Presented 25 per cent larger than when originally published, this special edition drops you out of the sun into the midst of the dog fights, the howl of the Merlin engine on full boost almost drowning out the roar of the Brownings thundering away in the wings either side of your cockpit. Whether you are a novice 'sprog' comic book pilot or a seasoned veteran, the fantastic aero art created by the Commando artists and the compelling stories will leave you gasping for the next 'Scramble'!

Comic Cuts

Unbelievable to think a week has already passed since my last Comic Cuts column. I spent the bank holiday working on the Bear Alley book in the hope that I'd get the whole thing wrapped up and ready for a printed proof by Monday. I missed that deadline by 24 hours and sent it off on Tuesday. Then spent Wednesday and Thursday doing some last minute work on the Frank Bellamy's World War 1 book and today I'm working on Bear Alley project three (the numbering come basically from the order in which I start them). More artwork to clean up. Oh, boy.

I'm shortly going to be upgrading Bear Alley. A couple of week's ago I mentioned that I was running short of space on Blogger and, thanks to a couple of generous donations (and another this very morning), I can now buy myself some more storage space rather than edit out images from old pieces to make room for new pictures. When I get a chance I'll try to give BA a bit of a tidy up, too, and update a few more of the illustrated bibliographical listings over there on the right (under the heading Comics Bibliography).

Early next week I'll repost the latest, updated listings of recent releases and upcoming titles. There's some great stuff coming up soon, including Aces High: Air Ace Picture Library Vol. 1, out in about a fortnight. Also some great titles from Rebellion. I tend not to note them as they don't seem to send out review copies and digging around in the attic looking for my old copies of 2000AD isn't something I want to do—it's not so much getting them down as getting them back up afterwards. It never happens and before you know it they're scattered all around the house. But they deserve a mention, especially in a month when you have John Wagner & Arthur Ranson's Button Man: Harry's Game and the latest volume of Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files coming out. You'll find plenty of ways to spend your money.

I'm not sure what strip I'll be running next week. I'll see what I can dig out for scanning over the weekend. The next "Eagles Over the Western Front" is a 4-parter so I'll try to make sure I've got something interesting written to fill any gap that leaves. I've got the urge to actually write something as I've written a grand total of one obituary, a few e-mails and the above this week.

Giorgio Bellavitis (1926-2009)

Giorgio Bellavitis, a prolific artist for the British market in the 1950s, died on Thursday, 21 May 2009, of undisclosed causes.

Bellavitis, born in Venice in 1926, began drawing at an early age and illustrated some books for the publisher Montuoro and drew vignettes for the humorous weekly Sior Tonin Bonagrazia whilst still at school. He was educated at grammar school and entered the Institute Cavanis, only to have his further education interrupted by war after only a few months. Like all Italian teenagers he was forced into uniform each weekend ("Il sabato fascist" – "fascist Saturday"), something he quickly rejected. With the surrender of Italy to the allies in 1943, Bellavitis travelled to Pordenone with his mother and brother (Michele) to join the partisans, using the nom de guerre 'Walt Disney' (Topolino having been his first great interest in comics) as well as drawing for Vento di montagna [Mountain Wind], a weekly for Venetian partisans.

As the war came to an end, Bellavitis was able to return to his education and his plans for a career in architecture. However, he did not abandon his interest in comics and, after the conflict ended, he resumed his relationship with Mario Faustinelli, who was already established in the world of comics and cartoons. The two had previously thought of working together to put out a comic book and, to that end, brought together a group of Venetian artists and writers to create Uragano Comics Inc. [Hurricane Comics Inc.], best known for the publication of Albo Uragano, later changed to Asso di Picche, something of a legend in Italian comics as it brought together the talents of Hugo Pratt, Dino Battaglia, Alberto Ongaro and others.

Bellavitis produced his first comic strip for Albo Uragano, 'Robin Hood e gli Allegri Compagni della Foresta', based on the legendary British character. At the time, Bellavitis was signing his work with the pseudonym George Summer.

The venture did not last long and, in 1948, the Venetian Group (as they had become known) split: the majority left to take up an invitation from Argentinian publisher Cesar Civita; only Bellavitis and Dino Battaglia remained in Venice.

Battaglia made contact with the publisher Ave, based in Rome, for whom he went on to draw a number of stories in 1949-50. He subsequently contributed many stories to the newspaper Il Vittorioso, beginning with "Il piccolo domatore" (no.35/1950). These stories stand out particularly because of Bellavitis's passion for architectural design which was visible in much of his work. In 1953, before departing Il Vittorioso, Bellavitis also produced the first 8 pages of the story "La Strada senza Fine" [The Road Without End] for Il Corriere dello Scolaro, completed by Leone Frollo.

Bellavitis then became art director of Cosmopolitan Artists, an agency headed by Enzo Plazzotta who had moved to London and made contacts with various publishers. Bellavitis himself was one of the first exports, drawing "Paul English" for Swift (1954-55), "Mark the Youngest Disciple" for Eagle (1954-55) and illustrations for Junior Express Weekly. When Cosmopolitan collapsed amidst accusations of financial irregularities in 1955, Bellavitis travelled to the UK and helped set up another agency. In 1955, he had taken the artwork of "Storm Nelson" in Eagle and, in 1956, worked on "Rodney Flood" (Junior Express Weekly) and filled-in briefly on Eagle's "Riders of the Range". A strip planned for Rocket came to nothing when that title was incorporated into Express Weekly after only 32 issues. After this briefly prolific output, and apart from some contributions to Pearsons pocket libraries and to Fleetway's nursery titles, Bellavitis subsequently departed from the British market.

During this time, Bellavitis had retained his fan base in Italy through the reprinting of Storm Nelson in Il Giorno dei Ragazzi where his artwork for "La regina d'oro" (originally "The Quest of the Golden Queen") storyline began appearaing from 4 June 1958. The first storyline was set in Venice and Bellavitis was able to give the strip an added authenticity.

In 1962, he translated the 1906 book Garden Cities of Tomorrow by Ebenezer Howard as L'idea della citta giardino for Bologna-based publisher, Calderini. This marked the end of Bellavitis's career as a comic strip artist. Instead, he concentrated on a career as an architect and designer after gaining a scholarship to IBM, only occasionally producing illustrations for scholastic books and encyclopedias. He travelled to Aspen, Colorado, and travelled out to Chicago to visit the Robie House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright which had a profound affect on the work that he has dedicated himself to for the last forty years.

In 1968 he was involved with a Unesco project to survey and structurally analyse the palaces of Venice. The restoration and restructuring of the Grand Canal had begun in 1966, and the work has continued ever since with the recent (2005) restoration of Giustinian Palace. Bellavitis has also been involved in the restoration of the Church of S. Nicolò dei Mendicoli, of the Loggetta in Piazza San Marco designed by Jacopo Sansovino and the garden at the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni. He was Thomas Jefferson Foundation Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia School of Architecture in 1979 (where he had taught art history in 1973) and has given many talks in his native country.

PUBLICATIONS

Non-fiction
Difesa di Venezia. Contributi per una azione di conoscenza e di difesa di Venezia e della sua Laguna, ed. Giorio Bellavitis. Milano, Centro Culturale Pirelli / Venezia, Alfieri, 1970.
Palazzo Giustinian Pesaro. Vicenza, Neri Pozza, 1975.
Megalopoli mediterranea, with others. Milano, Franco Angeli, 1978.
Venezia (Itinerari per Venezia). Roma, Editoriale L'espresso, 1980.
Il Palazzo Leoni Montanari di Vincenza della Banca cattolica del Veneto, with Loredano Olivato. Vicenza, Neri Pozza, 1982.
L'arsenale di Venezia. Storia di una grande struttura urbana, photographs by Antonio Martinelli. Venezia, Marsilio, 1983.
Venezia, with Giandomenico Romanelli. Roma, Laterza, 1985.
Palazzo Montereale-Mantica. Pordenone, Camera di commercio industra artigianato e agricoltura, 1987.
Venice. The islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello and the villas of the Riviera del Brenta by Bellavitis and others; translated and adapted by Anthony Shugaar. Basingstoke, AA Publishing, 1999.

(* artwork from Eagle © IPC Media; artwork from Swift © Look and Learn Ltd.; photo from Il Gazzettino (21 May))

Stingray Inflatable

A somewhat random addition to the post below. Norman Boyd recently sent me over the above scan of a Stingray advert drawn by Ron Embleton from July 1965. For you youngsters, 15/6 was fifteen shillings and sixpence, or 77 1/2 pence in "new money". That's pretty cheap as the retail price index is probably only 14 times greater today in comparison to 1965, making the cost of the inflatable around £10.75 today if we were only to consider average price increases.

You can see what the inflatable looks like here.

ITV Annual for Boys and Girls 1964

I borrowed a copy of this from a mate as it had a Mike Western comic strip. And, as I always do with annuals, I jotted down the contents, which I'll list below. As annuals go I actually found it rather uninspiring although there are some items of interest once you wade through the sports and various photo features. Two short stories based on American TV shows (77 Sunset Strip and Hawaiian Eye, neither of which I remember), one comic strip (based on No Hiding Place) and a feature on Fireball XL5. I don't know if this is widely known amongst Gerry Anderson fans so I've posted scans of the article below. It was a poor follow-up to an earlier annual, TV Crimebusters, from the same publisher a year earlier, which also featured some of the same elements (stories based on 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye [also written by Alan Fennell], but also including Danger Man, Dixon of Dock Green and The Avengers, all of which I watched when I was growing up. I guess you have to be in your fifties to appreciate the ITV Annual and stars like natural history filmmaker Aubrey Buxton, roving reporter Bute Hewes and guitarist Bert Weedon. As someone desperately clinging onto his forties my first guitar hero was Hank Marvin (especially after The Shadows appeared in Thunderbirds Are Go).

Incidentally, I notice that Network are releasing a special edition Fireball XL5 DVD this June. The previous (2003) release had no extras to speak of: this one has a 60-page book, a brand new documentary and various other features including a home movie by artist Bill Mevin, who drew the contemporary "Supercar" comic strip for TV Comic.

ITV Annual for Boys and Girls 1964, ed. Huw Thomas (TV Publications, 1963, 102pp, 8/6, cover by ?)
* [Misc. Material] * (front endpapers; television studio) * ms; illus. photo
4 * Thomas, Huw * (Introduction) * ed
5 * [Misc. Material] * Survival (elephant) * il; illus. photo
6 * Buxton, Aubrey * The New Ark * ar; illus. photos
14 * Anon. * Here and Now * ar; illus. photos
23 * Anon. * The Cabah Caper * ss [77 Sunset Strip]; illus. photos
31 * Hewes, Bute * News Behind the News * ar; illus. photos
36 * [Comic Strip] * No Hiding Place * cs; illus. Mike Western
44 * Williams, Gerwyn * Rugby * ar; illus. photos
48 * Weedon, Bert * My Guitar and Me * ar; illus. photos
52 * Anon. * The Lilliput World of Fireball XL5 * ar; illus. photos
56 * Anon. * Police 5 * ar; illus. photos
60 * Fennell, Alan * Hawaiian Eye: Danger in the Deep * ss [Hawaiian Eye]; illus. photos
68 * Mills, John * Painting Club * ar; illus. photos
73 * Burrell, Roger * Man Overboard * ar; illus. photos
77 * Matthew, Brian * Thank Your Lucky Stars * ar; illus. photos
83 * Anon. * Telstar * ar; illus. photos
88 * [Misc. Material] * TV Picture Quiz * qz; illus. photos
90 * [Misc. Material] * Spot the Stars * qz; illus. photos
91 * [Misc. Material] * TV Crossword * pz
91 * [Misc. Material] * Seeing Sport * qz; illus. photos
92 * Gover, Alf * Cricket * ar; illus. photos
96 * Anon. * I’m Going to be a… Television Technician * ar; illus. photos
* [Misc. Material] * (rear endpapers; mobile camera) * ms; illus. photo

Grant Morrison: The Documentary

On 16 May, a trailer appeared over on YouTube for a documentary on the life and work of Grant Morrison. Sequart, publisher of the book Grant Morrison: The Early Years, and Respect! Films are the companies behind it.



Heidi MacDonald at Publishers Weekly's The Beat, quotes a notice that appeared on YouTube:

Sequart and Respect! Films are producing a documentary about legendary comic book writer Grant Morrison. Morrison has written virtually every major comic book franchise, from Batman to Superman to X-Men, and created many new properties, including the seminal comic book series THE INVISIBLES. This documentary is the first in depth look at his life and work in film, and features unresricted access to the man himself.
___A significant amount of material has already been shot, with more shoot dates to come. Look for the film to be released sometime in 2010. It is directed by Patrick Meaney, shot by Jordan Rennert and produced by Amber Yoder.
___If you would like to become a producer on this project, send an inquiry to sequart@gmail.com

A further note signed SequartTV says: "We're super excited about it. We still have to film him in San Diego at the con. Plus we're hoping to visit Scotland and shoot some more there. It's gonna be great!" The Sequart website is currently down due to "catastrophic server failure".