The Daily Mirror Book of Garth

(GARTH ANNUAL 1975)

The Daily Mirror Book of Garth

By Jim Edgar & Frank Bellamy (IPC)
No ISBN

This wonderful Softcover book was released whilst the amazing Frank Bellamy was still alive and astounding fans with his phenomenal illustration and design on the Mirror’s long-running time-travelling adventure strip (for fuller background you could Google ‘Garth’ or even check out our own archives for Garth: The Cloud of Balthus – ISBN: 0-90761-034-X or The Mirror Classic Cartoon Collection – ISBN: 0-948248-06-8).

This large tome is printed on thick newsprint and if you’re at all moved by the physical nature of comics as artefact, as well as the power of the work itself, the texture and even smell of such an item is as effective a time travel method as any used by our burly hero. Also, for some reason the art just seems to look better on off-white, gritty paper rather than the admittedly more durable slick and shiny stock favoured these days.

So if you can track down this book – and there are still a few out there – you can luxuriate in the majesty of Bellamy and Jim Edgar’s masterful, sexy thrillers with the first collection of The Orb of Trimandias, Ghost Town, The Cloud of Balthus, Women of Galba, Sundance (which Bellamy inherited from artist John Allard three weeks in) and Wolfman of Ausensee. I will digress and admit that the all-original cover created for this last story was a major factor in reviewing this annual. It’s a sight every comic art fan ought to be familiar with.

© IPC Magazines 1974.

3 Replies to “The Daily Mirror Book of Garth”

  1. I wish to view a garth story that was published between 1960 and 1963 I think, I have sketchy memories of the begining of the story.

    can anybody help

    martin

  2. Hi Martin

    I’ll probably need a little more to go on; but if you have the dates right, the story is one of:
    The Big Game
    The Living Mountain
    The Long Sleep
    Warrior World
    The Static Zone
    When Venus was Born
    The Hounds of Skarn
    The Islands of Kaa
    The Troll
    The Golden Slayer

    All of these were written by Peter O’Donnell and illustrated by Steve Dowling and Jim Edgar.

    Unfortunately as far as I know none of these have been collected in book form in English, so you’d need to go to the British Library Periodicals Archive.

    Hope that helps.

  3. Jim Edgar is the writer who took over when Peter O’Donnell left Garth. The other artist who worked with Garth creator Steve Dowling was John Allard, who continued to draw Garth alone after Steve Dowling retired in 1969 (He passed away in 1986).

    Pete

    PS That was also the time I started reading Garth, great stories by a great writer. The Troll is a classic, as is The Rebels which is the story that follows The Golden Slayer.

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