Frank Bellamy was a self-taught artist, best known for his adventure comics. He began his artistic career working for an art agency in Kettering, where he made paintings for a local cinema. After serving in the Royal Artillery during World War II, he returned to the agency until 1948, when he left for London, becoming a freelance illustrator for several magazines. For Eagle magazine, he created the comic 'Commando Gibbs', an advertising comic for Gibbs toothpaste, which marked the start of his career in comics. Often collaborating with writer Clifford Makins, he created a considerable number of comics for several magazines during the 1950s and 1960s.
His work for Mickey Mouse Weekly includes 'Monty Carstairs', 'Secret in the Sands' and 'Walt Disney's Living Desert'. For Hulton Press' Swift, he made a series of historical adventure strips, 'Swiss Family Robinson', 'King Arthur' and 'Robin Hood'. In 1957, he drew a biography of Winston Churchill for Eagle, called 'The Happy Warrior'. In 1960, he took over the famous series 'Dan Dare' from its creator, Frank Hampson.
During the sixties, he created several comic adaptations of great books, and he also published in The Sunday Extra, Boy's World, Look and Learn, Joe 90 and T.V. Century 21. He also drew the 'Thunderbirds' in a dramatic two-page format for the weekly comic TV Century 21.
Text (c) Lambiek
