Garth (comic strip)

"Garth" was a comic strip in the "Daily Mirror" British newspaper from July 24, 1943, to March 22, 1997. The strip belonged to the action-adventure genre and recounted the exploits of the title character, an immensely strong hero who battled various villains throughout the world and many different chronological eras. "Garth" was widely syndicated throughout English-speaking countries during its long run.

Description and authors

"Garth's" time-travelling adventures lasted for over 50 years and covered 167 stories. The backstory of the character was that Garth washed ashore in the Shetlands and was adopted by an elderly couple. Garth developed almost superhuman strength and eventually became a naval captain and all-round military genius. Garth travelled through many eras and confronted villains such as Madame Voss and Apollo. His true love was the ancient goddess-like figure, Astra. Garth's sidekick and mentor was Professor Lumiere, who psycho-analyzed the hero and recovered memories of his previous experiences. The strip was loosely based on the American "Superman" series.

Steve Dowling was the originator of the Garth character, and at the time, took on 15-year-old John Allard, who stayed with the strip for its entire lifetime. After 59 adventures Dowling retired and handed "Garth" over to Allard, which he carried on until 1971 when Eagle comics' Dan Dare artist, Frank Bellamy, took over the art with Allard writing the scripts. "Garth's" longevity had been established by Don Freeman, who created almost every basic "Garth" plot on which the saga was built. Peter O'Donnell, Jim Edgar and Angus Allan also wrote extensively for the strip during its decades-long existence. Philip Harbottle is a leading "Garth" expert and collector of the strips, and he wrote several of the stories during the 1990s. Martin Asbury became "Garth's" artist after Frank Bellamy's death, drawing the strip until its final episode.

In 1993 Bill Storrie produced perhaps a dozen or so sixty-page photocopied magazines titled "The Gopherville Argus Special Edition No. 1 featuring Garth" as a tribute to the writers and artists who had been involved with the strip. Most if not all "Garth" strips are now owned by King Features.

As of Wednesday 13th august 2008, "Garth" has reappeared on the website of the Daily Mirror. Drawn by the artist Huw J. Davies. the character is starting to make a comeback as he will soon start to appear again in the Daily Mirror paper.

Episode list

Bibliography

"Garth" strips were reprinted in book form on a number of occasions:
*"Garth in "The Last Goddess" and "Romeo Brown", Daily Mirror c.1960
*"The Daily Mirror Book of Garth 1975", Fleetway Publications 1975 ISBN 0850371392
*"The Daily Mirror Book of Garth 1976", Fleetway Publications 1976
*"Garth Book One: "The Cloud of Balthus", Titan Books 1984 ISBN 0-907610-34-X
*"Garth Book Two: "The Women of Galba", Titan Books 1985 ISBN 0-907610-49-8

External links

* [http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/g/garth.htm Internationalhero.co.uk page on "Garth"]
* [http://www.tegneserier.org/indexer/mb_eng.html Tegneserier.org chronological "Garth" index]
* [http://www.downthetubes.net/resources/comics_links/comics_characters/british_comics_characters2.html Downthetubes.net page with "Garth" entry]