There's a bit of a myth that pops up now and then with some people claiming that British comics never featured creator credits until 2000AD broke the taboo in the late 1970s. While it's true that forced anonymity was generally the rule, there were comics long before 2000AD appeared that published credits. Some comics allowed signatures, even if the writers remained anonymous, but in the case of the original Eagle in the 1950s, and its "sister" publication Girl, writer and artist credits appeared alongside most strips. At least for a while. Odhams put paid to that when they took over Eagle in the early 1960s, but from the evidence here, they still allowed writer/artist credits in Girl up to 1962 at least.
Like Eagle, Girl was a tabliod-sized glossy publication and its photogravure print quality allowed artists to produce painted strips in colour or grey wash. The standard of artistry was extremely high. Let's take a look...
Belle of the Ballet, written by George Beardmore, drawn by Harry Lindfield. The artist would later illustrate strips for Polystyle's Countdown comic...
All the strips here are scanned from Girl Vol.11, No.43, dated 27th October 1962. Click the pages to see them full size.
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