{"id":35558,"date":"2026-05-21T08:00:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T08:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=35558"},"modified":"2026-05-20T17:48:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T17:48:18","slug":"garth-the-women-of-galba-volume-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/05\/21\/garth-the-women-of-galba-volume-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Garth: The Women of Galba (volume 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Frank Bellamy<\/strong> & Jim Edgar<\/strong> (Titan Books)
\nISBN: 978-0-90761-049-6 (Album TPB)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

A bold and daring blond giant and physical marvel, Garth was Britain\u2019s answer to the blockbusting sensations of Superman, with the added advantage that the feature was officially aimed at adults rather than kids of all ages.<\/p>\n

Originally released in 1985, this second Titan Books collection of Garth\u2019s Frank Bellamy era spans 7th<\/sup> September 1972 to 25th<\/sup> October 1973 with the artist shown at the absolute peak of his powers, and opens with eerie chiller \u2018The People of the Abyss\u2019 <\/em>wherein Garth and subsea explorer Ed Neilson<\/em> are taken prisoner by staggeringly beautiful (what other kind are there?) naked women who drag their bathyscaphe to a city at the bottom of the Pacific. The undersea houris are at war with horrendous aquatic monstrosities and urgently need outside assistance, but even that incredible situation is merely prelude to a tragic love affair with Cold War implications…<\/p>\n

Next up is eponymous space-opera romp \u2018The Women of Galba\u2019<\/em>, wherein an alien tyrant learns to rue the day he abducted a giant Earthman to fight and die as a gladiator. Exotic locations, spectacular action and oodles more astonishingly beautiful females make this an unforgettable adventure for what the editors of the era still believed was a strip only grown men read…<\/p>\n

\u2018Ghost Town\u2019<\/em> is another western tale, and a very special one. When Garth, vacationing in Colorado, rides into abandoned mining outpost \u201cGopherville\u201d, he is irresistibly drawn back to a past life as Marshal Tom Barratt<\/em> who lived, loved and died when the town was a hotspot of vice and easily-purloined money. When Bellamy died suddenly in 1976 this tale – long acknowledged as his personal favourite – was rerun until Martin Asbury (who painted both Titan Book album covers here) was ready to take over the strip.
\n\"\"
\nThe final adventure re-presented here – \u2018The Mask of Atacama\u2019<\/em> – sees Garth & Lumiere in Mexico City. Whilst sleeping, the blonde colossus is visited by the spirit of Princess Atacama<\/em> (also beautiful, of course) who escorts him through time to vanished Aztec city Tenochtitlan<\/em> where, as the Sun God Axatl<\/em>, Garth attempts to save their civilisation from the voraciously marauding Conquistadores of Hern\u00e1n Cort\u00e9s de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano<\/em> (as shortened for these brief 3-panel strip episodes to far more manageable Hernan Cort\u00e9s<\/em>)…<\/p>\n

Tragically, neither Garth nor the Princess have reckoned on the jealousy of the Sun Priests and their High Priestess Tiahuaca<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Adding extra value to this volume are a draft synopsis and actual scripts for \u2018The Women of Galba\u2019<\/em>, all liberally illustrated.. There has never been a better comic adventure strip than Garth<\/strong> as drawn by Bellamy: a daily rip-roaring romp combining action, suspense, glamour, mystery and the uncanny in a seamless blend of graphic wonderment. In recent years, the comic strip colossus has fallen from memory as well as favour, but I\u2019m still fervently praying that one day, Garth<\/strong> (and while I\u2019m dreaming, Jeff Hawke<\/strong> too) will make the jump to curated complete archive editions. Go on, make on old man happy why don\u2019t you? There\u2019s certainly a grateful, appreciative and vast audience waiting…
\n\u00a9 1985 Mirror Group Newspapers\/Syndication International. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n

This day in 1915 Henry<\/strong> Sunday page illustrator Don Trachte<\/strong> was born, followed two years later by British legend Frank Bellamy<\/strong> (Fraser of Africa<\/strong>, Dan Dare<\/strong>, Garth<\/strong>, Heros the Spartan<\/strong>, Thunderbirds<\/strong>) and Mancunian \u00e9migr\u00e9 Lee Elias<\/strong> (Beyond Mars<\/strong>, Black Cat<\/strong>, Flash<\/strong>, Green Arrow<\/strong>, Eclipso<\/strong>, Luke Cage<\/strong>, Human Fly<\/strong>, Goblin<\/strong>, Rook<\/strong>) in 1920.<\/p>\n

In 1943 French writer-artist Jean-Claude Fournier<\/strong> (Spirou and Fantasio<\/strong>, Bizu<\/em>) was born as was writer\/publisher Gary Reed<\/strong> (Sherlock Holmes<\/strong>, Deadworld<\/strong>, Saint Germaine,<\/em> Baker Street<\/em>, Caliber Comics) in 1956.<\/p>\n

We lost pioneering Canadian cartoonist and animator Vital Achille Raoul Barr\u00e9<\/strong> in 1932 and in 1977 gained a UK animal icon when Gnasher\u2019s Tale<\/em> (by David Sutherland<\/strong>) began, launching the manky mutt into his own Beano<\/strong> series detailing his life as a puppy before being adopted by Dennis the Menace<\/strong>…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Frank Bellamy & Jim Edgar (Titan Books) ISBN: 978-0-90761-049-6 (Album TPB) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. A bold and daring blond giant and physical marvel, Garth was Britain\u2019s answer to the blockbusting sensations of Superman, with the added advantage that the feature was officially aimed at adults rather than … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Garth: The Women of Galba (volume 2)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,42,78,75,122,66,105,396,225,148,107,385,169,99],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-best-of-british","category-comic-strip-classics","category-crime-comics","category-historical","category-horror-stories","category-mature-reading","category-monsters","category-mystery","category-romance","category-science-fiction","category-sea-stories","category-spy-stories","category-westerns"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-9fw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35558"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35563,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35558\/revisions\/35563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}