Sneaked onto the Daily Mirror web site with very little publicity is something pretty momentous for British comics fans -- the return of the adventure strip Garth!Artist Huw-J called us earlier last week to tell us of its long-awaited arrival but this is the first chance I've had to report on it, so apologies to him and the team at Hayena Studios for the tardy reporting.
The new Garth project, revamping the often time and space travelling hero who first appeared in the Daily Mirror in 1943, has been in the offing for a while. (some readers will recall advertisements for the new Garth in Comics International many months ago. The Gold of Ragnorak, what will eventually be a 64-page story (which will be collected by an as-yet-unannounced publisher on completion), is now up and running, with Garth summoned to the Arctic for a mission of dangerous exploration.
Quite apart from the lack of fanfare -- unless it was noted in the Mirror itself -- publicity for the return of one of Britain's finest comics heros, previously drawn by the likes of Frank Bellamy and Martin Asbury, has been sadly lacking, so pass the word around and perhaps the Mirror will give it some better promotion in due course. The presentation of the strip is also a little disappointing but it's great to see the strip back. (The Mirror also offers online presentation of its other comics such as Andy Capp and Scorer).
The art for the new version of Garth is by Huw-J, who has his studio over at the Animation Art Gallery in the Movieum of London at County Hall, Westminster, also home of the Masterclass where he teaches the foundations of character and comic related art and storytelling.
Huw says he lives on a diet of old Edgar Rice Bourroughs, Arthur Conan-Doyle , Jack Kirby and an unhealthy dose of Silent Bob. "I draw everything with my 1 favorite clutch pencil and have a strange attraction to snow globes," he reveals via his MySpace site.
"One of my favorite comic book mini series was Hero Bear and the Kid by Mike Kunkle, because it took me back to the newspaper funnies and Calvin and Hobbes."
• Read Garth at: www.mirror.co.uk/fun-games/cartoons/garth
• Read other Mirror strips such as Andy Capp and Scorer
• More about Garth on and more links on the downthtubes site
1 comment:
the mirror group should have tried to get some one like Alan Davis to bring back GARTH sadly on what i've seen the relaunch of garth will sink rather than swim to success ,i can't see this appealing to manga kids or old school old farts like me.
shame as GARTH is a great character and concept which would work as a tv show or computer game where the hero can travel through time and space .
i guess when you've seen the brilliant frank bellamy and when he was on top form martin asbury the re launch doesn't flex the same kind of muscle .
i'm a big fan of garth so i'm sad that i don't like the reimagined look of him
i just hope titan will bring out a new collection of old garth strips in the near future .
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