JOHN MCLUSKY
FRAMED ORIGINAL IAN FLEMING COMMISSIONED PUBLISHED STORY BOARD ART FOR “JAMES BOND’S, NO”, Ca. 1959 UK Daily Express Newspaper
“Under The Hideous Threat of The Flame Thrower”
Features James Bond, Honey Ryder, and The Flame-Thrower (The Dragon of Crab Key) -just after Quarrel was burned to his death
Ian Fleming commissioned John McLusky to illustrate a daily comic strip for his James Bond character and stories. In 1958 the original face of James Bond was born and graced the UK Daily Express newspaper as an on-going series while Ian Fleming continued to write his novels. The James Bond daily comic strips, each illustrated by by John McLusky originated in 1958 commencing with Casino Royale. McLusky worked from a story script, provided to him on a sheet of typed paper, outlining each frame. The pieces are rendered in graphite, pen, ink and tone “Zippatone”, which came in sheets in various shades and textures. Lettering on all the panels of comic art was done entirely by hand, with some being hand lettered paste ups. This is an original one-of-a-kind published piece.
One of the most memorable scenes from Dr. No! The original artwork offered here was one of the strips for “Dr. No”, which ran in the 1960’s. This superb three panel piece has two main characters in an important famous scene, depicting The Flame-Thrower machine (The Dragon of Crab Key) artistically presented in the background, with Honey Ryder’s silhouette to the foreground, and James Bond by her side. Both being confronted to surrender just after the Flame-Thrower burned Quarrel to death. Bond had asked Quarrel to boat him to Crab Key. Quarrel feared the island because it was rumoured to contain a dragon and he had known friends who went and were never seen again, but he ultimately agrees to go. They arrive on the island at night, and when they wake up in the morning they meet Honey Ryder, a girl diving for rare shells. The island’s “dragon” turned out to be a machine run on diesel and it drove through the swamp after them. Bond decided to take out the lights while Quarrel took out the drivers. Quarrel couldn’t find an opening in the bush, so he moved forward to the next one and started shooting at the drivers. The “dragon” was too well protected however and Quarrel came to a gruesome end when the flamethrower burned him to death. In this scene both Honey and Bond were confronted to come out and surrender. The Flame-Thrower is shown again in the second panel alongside an incinerated bush, the third panel shows Bond and Honey Ryder. See how this scene is presented in the movie at the bottom of the listing in the you tube video.
Condition:: The art is in excellent condition with the expected age toning. Presented in a new silver tone frame, the art was double matted, framed and glazed to a completed size of 23.75″ x 11.25″. The artwork by sight is 17.5″ x 5.25″. The piece has a stunning presence on the wall.
PROVENANCE: Ex. The McLusky estate by descent. The art will be accompanied by a Letter of Provenance from the estate.
FRAMED SIZE: 23.75″ x 11.25″
***PLEASE INQUIRE FOR INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING RATES***
BELOW IS A YOU TUBE CLIP FROM DR. NO OF SEAN CONNERY PLAYING BOND, AND ENCOUNTERING THE “DRAGON OF CRAB KEY” (THE FLAME-THROWER)
