Strip dates given are those of their original appearance in the British newspaper the Daily Mirror, first compiled by Geoffrey Wren and Ann Holmes and updated by Ant Jones and Philip Harbottle. With thanks also to Lee Grice and Ron Tiner for some images featured in this section of downthetubes
See Also: Garth: An Introduction
• Garth – Strip Checklist – Part One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight (Reprints)
The Golden Sphere
Story Number: 26
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 6th May 1954 – 4th December 1954 (N107 – N289)
Number of Episodes: 183
After their ordeal in Gascony, Garth returns to London with Lumiere, and takes him for a medical check-up. Their doctor perceives that he has been under a great mental strain, and prescribes that Lumiere needs to take a long holiday, with plenty of fresh air and rest. Garth takes him with him on a long sea cruise, and we join them as their ship is crossing the Pacific Ocean…
• Read a synopsis by Philip Harbottle
• “The Golden Sphere” was reprinted in five parts in Comics Revue, beginning in the April 2020 issue and continuing in the June, August, October, December issues. Check with your local comic shop for back issues – and subscribe here
The 13th Man
Story Number: 27
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 5th December 1954 – 2nd July 1955 (N290 – O135)
Number of Episodes: 155
Some six weeks after their return from Kazahn, Lumiere and Garth are playing chess in a London Club, unaware of being observed and discussed by two men: Colonel Starke, and Tallon. The next day, a meeting chaired by Starke is held behind closed doors. The twelve men present agree that Garth is a suitable candidate for some unstated purpose – undoubtedly sinister, as they go on to discuss killing someone.
• Read a synopsis by Philip Harbottle
• “The 13th Man” was reprinted in three parts in Comics Revue, beginning in the February 2021 issue and continuing in the April and June issues. Check with your local comic shop for back issues – and subscribe here
The Stone of Solomon
Story Number: 28
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 4th July 1955 – 25th January 1956 (O136 – P21)
Number of Episodes: 173
The Stone of Solomon opens with Garth finding himself in a desert valley beneath a twin-peaked mountain, and entering an ancient temple in a vaulted cavern. Beyond and between two carved stone columns is an altar, and Garth finds himself being drawn towards it, seeking he knows not what…
• Read a synopsis by Philip Harbottle
• “The Stone of Solomon ” will be reprinted in Comics Revue, beginning in the August 2021 issue. Check with your local comic shop for back issues – and subscribe here
The Fantastic Doctor Quyn
Story Number: 29
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 26th January 1956 – 2nd July 1956 (P22 – P156)
Number of Episodes: 135
Garth and Lumiere are sought out by a frightened young girl who works as a servant for the mysterious Quyn. She has surreptitiously witnessed fantastic feats of strength from him, and he is never seen to eat or sleep.
• Read a synopsis by Philip Harbottle
The Hand of Attila
Story Number: 30
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 3rd July 1956 – 1st January 1957 (P157 – Q1)
Number of Episodes: 155
Lumiere receives a cable from Homer Lucas, a former scientific colleague who had left science for commerce many years ago. Lucas was now the multi-millionaire Vice-President of Lucrane Incorporated, a huge construction company in New York. He has begged Lumiere to fly out – at his expense – and help protect him, because his life is being threatened by a man known only as ‘Attila’.
Since Attila was an Asiatic barbarian dead for fifteen hundred years, both Garth and Lumiere are intrigued, and make arrangements to fly to New York.
• Read a synopsis by Philip Harbottle
The Last Goddess
Story Number: 31
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 2nd January 1957 – 26th June 1957 (Q2 – Q151)
Number of Episodes: 150
The Last Goddess begins as an apparent supernatural thriller, with devil worshippers and pentacles, opening out into more scientific fantasy, Lumiere commenting that black magic rituals can be a means of focusing the immense powers of the human mind, for good or ill. “There are entities of evil… beings on a different plane to man… who can give supernatural powers to those who serve them.”
• Read a synopsis by Philip Harbottle
The Captive
Story Number: 32
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 27th June 1957 – 15th January 1958 (Q152 – R13)
Number of Episodes: 172
On returning from a scientific convention, Lumiere is perturbed to find that Garth is not at their home. On checking with his friend Jimmy Trent, he learns that the grieving Garth had told him that “he’d get away from people for a bit, till he was fit to live with.” In fact, Garth is camping by himself in the Welsh hills. One warm night, he is swimming in a lake, and being observed by someone on a tele-screen. Suddenly an enigmatic semi-transparent globe rolls toward him, and when Garth tries to bat it away, it seems to have no substance. Again we see the gloating watcher on the tele-screen; this time he is accompanied by another odd-looking figure. Garth is enveloped by the globe’s yielding mass, and his mind blanks out.
• Read a synopsis by Philip Harbottle
The Sorcerer
Story Number: 33
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 16th January 1958 – 31st July 1958 (R14 – R181)
Number of Episodes: 168
• Read a synopsis by Philip Harbottle
The Mask of Chang Ku
Story Number: 34
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 1st August 1958 – 3rd February 1959 (R182 – S29)
Number of Episodes: 158
• Read a synopsis by Philip Harbottle
The Crystals of Camelot
Story Number: 35
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 4th February 1959 – 16th August 1959 (S30 – S195)
Number of Episodes: 166
• Read a synopsis by Philip Harbottle
The Big Game
Story Number: 36
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 18th August 1959 – 15th March 1960 (S196 – T64)
Number of Episodes: 179
• Read a synopsis by Philip Harbottle
The Living Mountain
Story Number: 37
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 16th March 1960 – 24th August 1960 (T65 – T202)
Number of Episodes: 138
• Read a synopsis by Philip Harbottle
The Long Sleep
Story Number: 38
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 25th August 1960 – 9th March 1961 (T203 – U58)
Number of Episodes: 167
• Read a synopsis by Philip Harbottle
Warrior World
Story Number: 39
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 10th March 1961 – 26th August 1961 (U59 – U203)
Number of Episodes: 145
The Static Zone
Story Number: 40
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 28th August 1961 – 21st February 1962 (U204 – V45)
Number of Episodes: 151
When Venus was Born
Story Number: 41
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 22nd February 1962 – 15th September 1962 (V46 – V221)
Number of Episodes: 176
The Hounds of Skarn
Story Number: 42
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 17th September 1962 – 23rd February 1963 (V222 – W47)
Number of Episodes: 136
The Islands of Kaa
Story Number: 43
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 25th February 1963 – 3rd August 1963 (W48 – W184)
Number of Episodes: 137
The Troll
Story Number: 44
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 5th August 1963 – 27th November 1963 (W185 – W283)
Number of Episodes: 99
Reprinted: 1968
The Golden Slayer
Story Number: 45
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 28th November 1963 – 16th May 1964 (W284 – X117)
Number of Episodes: 144
The Rebels
Story Number: 46
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 18th May 1964 – 16th November 1964 (X118 – X274)
Number of Episodes: 157
The Teenager
Story Number: 47
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 17th November 1964 – 17th April 1965 (X275 – Y91)
Number of Episodes: 128
The Big Joker
Story Number: 48
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 19th April 1965 – 28th August 1965 (Y92 – Y205)
Number of Episodes: 114
The Time Couriers
Story Number: 49
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 30th August 1965 – 24th December 1965 (Y206 – Y306)
Number of Episodes: 101
The Invaders
Story Number: 50
Writer: Peter O’Donnell
Artist: Steve Dowling/ John Allard
Published: 28th December 1965 – 23rd April 1966 (Y307 – Z96)
Number of Episodes: 100
Note on strip codes / serial numbers, etc: Each code letter (running A to Z, excluding the letter I) represents a year’s worth of Mondays to Saturdays, the days on which The (Daily) Mirror newspaper of London is published. Thus, in any given year, there will be a maximum of 314 numbers assigned to a serial code.
Before 1982, the Mirror was not published Sunday, Good Friday, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. From 1982 it was published every day except Sunday and Christmas Day. The later stories, “The Picture” (1996), “Dam Drivers” (1997) and “Z File” (1997) only appeared in the Mirror‘s Northern Ireland edition.
Thick writing = leap years
1943 = B (310)
1944 = C (310)
1945 = D (308)
1946 = E (309)
1947 = F (310)
1948 = G (311)
1949 = H (310)
1950 = J (309)
1951 = K (310)
1952 = L (310)
1953 = M (310)
1954 = N (310)
1955 = O (308)
1956 = P (310)
1957 = Q (310)
1958 = R (310)
1959 = S (310)
1960 = T (311)
1961 = U (309)
1962 = V (310)
Garth © Daily Mirror