Comics UK

I photocopied the first strips of the "Belle of the Ballet" stories published in 'Line' - as well as the two "Belle and Mamie" - in the hope that someone can identify the artists?

Editing (24/09/2023) : adds names of designers that have been found so far.

John Worsley


June Mendoza



June Mendoza



June Mendoza

June Mendoza (opening act)
Stanley Houghton (in second part)


Stanley Houghton


Stanley Houghton


Stanley Houghton


Stanley Houghton


Stanley Houghton


Stanley Houghton


Stanley Houghton

Harry Lindfield


Harry Lindfield


Harry Lindfield


Harry Lindfield


Harry Lindfield


Harry Lindfield

In the last two appeared in 'Line', Belle and her friend Mamie have become television journalists, so it is necessarily "Belle and Mamie".

Editing (17/09/2023)

Harry Lindfield



Harry Lindfield

I’m no expert at this, but here’s the best I can do from these examples, taken in order:

“Secret de la Ballerine”: can’t tell this one from the example

“Sensation Studio”: possibly Mendoza, but can’t be sure from the example

“Scandale á la Cour”: can’t tell from the example, might possibly be Mendoza, or might be Stanley Houghton

“Genie de La Lampe”: looks like June Mendoza

“Chausson d’Or” to “Casino de Port-Joly”, and “Course au Succès”: Stanley Houghton. (“Place aux Jeunes” was the story I referred to earlier, called “The Rebel” in English).

“Romance Royale”, “On Recherche” and “École sur les Bras”: can’t tell for sure from the examples, but most likely to be Stanley Houghton

“La Duchess” to “Trophee de la Victoire”: Harry Lindfield

“L’Ecole á Vendre”: not sure; may be Harry Lindfield, but also possibly Gwen Tourret

“Les Fourrures Ensorcelées”: can’t identify this one

“Cendrillon Volante”: probably Laurence Houghton

These are only my unsupported opinion, of course. Identification of the earlier stories is made more uncertain because Mendoza and Stanley Houghton were evidently following a style for the series which had been established by Worsley - or perhaps all three were following an earlier artist.

can't see any of those images - sorry!

Thank you very much Goof!!! Thanks to you, I now know which artists drew most of the stories.

Goof wrote: 31 Dec 2022, 21:52 (...)
“L’Ecole á Vendre”: not sure; may be Harry Lindfield, but also possibly Gwen Tourret
(...)

For “L’Ecole á Vendre”, I can confirm that it is indeed Harry Lindfield, thanks to this page - absolutely magnificent :
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S_cJ-LpOgY0/ ... s_0002.jpg

(Found here : http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2018/01 ... s-due.html )

Happy New Year 2023, Goof! From a Frenchman to whom you have rendered a great service

Richard S. wrote: 01 Jan 2023, 10:00 can't see any of those images - sorry!

Hello and Happy New Year, Richard S.

If I put the links to the image host?

Le secret de la ballerine
https://i.goopics.net/apaqw8.jpg

Sensation au studio
https://i.goopics.net/wh0bdq.jpg

Le Génie de la lampe
https://i.goopics.net/3jmxno.jpg

Scandale à la cour
https://i.goopics.net/7vdjd7.jpg

On cherche l'Héritière
https://i.goopics.net/i7u79v.jpg

Le chausson d'or
https://i.goopics.net/vvpdef.jpg

Place aux jeunes
https://i.goopics.net/qedxoc.jpg

Le joyeux camp volant
https://i.goopics.net/ait15v.jpg

Le casino de 'Port-Joly'
https://i.goopics.net/351gkw.jpg

Romance royale
https://i.goopics.net/mxww48.jpg

La course au succès
https://i.goopics.net/te2k19.jpg

Une école sur les bras
https://i.goopics.net/62lt6t.jpg

La Duchesse
https://i.goopics.net/336c84.jpg

Théatre secret
https://i.goopics.net/jdn526.jpg

Troisième chance
https://i.goopics.net/7mghei.jpg

La nouvelle vague
https://i.goopics.net/vu1ma4.jpg

Le trophée de la victoire
https://i.goopics.net/ggqb82.jpg

l'école à vendre
https://i.goopics.net/coo773.jpg

Belle and Mamie - Les fourrures ensorcelées
https://i.goopics.net/yr0ura.jpg

Belle and Mamie - La Cendrillon volante
https://i.goopics.net/334twq.jpg

Goof wrote: 31 Dec 2022, 21:52 (...)
“Romance Royale”, “On Recherche” and “École sur les Bras”: can’t tell for sure from the examples, but most likely to be Stanley Houghton
(...)

For "On cherche l'Héritière", I just found a photocopy where it is June Mendoza who is credited ('Chris Garvey')



On the other hand "Romance royale" and "Une école sur les bras" were indeed drawn by Stanley Houghton

Thanks very much, Vautour.

Regarding “The Lost Heiress” (and perhaps one or two of the others), it may be worth considering the possibility that the head of Belle in the title panel might have been drawn by a different artist from the story – copied, perhaps, from another story header. As you can see, the style for Belle’s head looks rather more like the way it was drawn by Houghton than by Mendoza.

My best wishes for a Happy New Year.

It's very possible, I have also seen this kind of situation in the Franco-Belgian comic strip

Happy New Year Goof

Good evening

For your information, I point out that a story of "Belle and Mamie" had also been published in the small format French magazine "Frimousse" (Unlike "Line" - which had kept the English prefixes - 'Mamie' will be renamed 'Denise' and she and 'Belle' became French)










"Frimousse" n°147



"Frimousse" n°148

In case you don't already have an artist name, i think the story artist here was Harry Lindfield, although the covers were done by somebody else.

This isn't quite his usual style, and I wonder now if he may also have done Belle et les Fourrures Ensorcelées from Line.

Also, do you happen to know where this story was first published? As far as I know, the stories in Frimousse mostly came from Schoolgirl Picture Libraries, with a few coming from School Friend or June comics. I'm pretty certain that this one did not come from a Princess Picture Library, and Girl didn't have a Picture Library series. I don't think School Friend or June ran any Belle and Mamie stories.