WELCOME

Welcome to the web home of THE EAGLE SOCIETY.

THE EAGLE SOCIETY is dedicated to the memory of EAGLE - Britain's National Picture Strip Weekly - the leading Boy's magazine of the 1950s and 1960s. We publish an A4, quarterly journal - the Eagle Times.

This weblog has been created to provide an additional, more immediate, forum for news and commentary about the society and EAGLE-related issues. Want to know more? See First Post and Eagle - How it began.

Friday, 4 April 2025

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EAGLE - SEVENTY FIVE YEARS OLD

It is now seventy five years since EAGLE was launched, on April 14th 1950. A huge success for its first decade, it ran until 1969, when it was absorbed by its rival paper Lion. Created by the Rev. Marcus Morris, a Southport Vicar, its early success was primarily due to the work of artist Frank Hampson and his creation 'Dan Dare Pilot of the Future'. The popularity of Dan Dare cannot be overstated. The strip made science fiction acceptable and respectable at a time when many older people dismissed it as ridiculous and EAGLE was read by a lot of older people as well as its principal audience of 7 - 16 year olds. It also promoted interest in outer space and the possibility and credibility of space travel. Stephen Hawking cited 'Dan Dare' as the reason he became a Cosmologist. The early issues of EAGLE also included the popular radio character 'PC 49', initially drawn by Strom Gould but for most of its seven year run by John Worsley. There were three other strips by Hampson: 'Rob Conway', 'Tommy Walls', an advertising strip for Walls Ice Cream and the life of St. Paul. 'Captain Pugwash' by John Ryan also made his first ever appearance in EAGLE. The centre pages featured 'cutaway drawings' of aircraft, cars, ships and other technological marvels. The most prolific 'cutaway' artist was Leslie Ashwell Wood. Over the next few years, other strips joined 'Dan Dare'. 'Riders of the Range' was by Charles Chilton and was based on his radio series about cowboys in the American west, This strip was illustrated for most of its life by Frank Humphris. 'Luck of the Legion' was written by Geoffrey Bond and illustrated by Martin Aitchison, 'Jack O' Lantern' told the adventures of a boy in the early nineteenth century and was by George Beardmore, with illustrations by Robert Ayton. 'Storm Nelson - Sea Adventurer' was written by Guy Morgan and drawn by Richard Jennings and 'Harris Tweed Extra Special Agent' by John Ryan, replaced his 'Captain Pugwash' who went on to greater success in books and on television. Another comedy strip was the three frame weekly 'short' 'Chicko' by Norman Thelwell. The famous Belgian cartoon hero Tintin also made his first ever appearance in English in EAGLE. The back featured biographies of saints and famous Britons, including Saint Patrick, Saint Louis of France, Alfred the Great, Lord Nelson, David Livingstone and Baden Powell, illustrated by Norman Williams. Many of these biographies were written by the Rev. Chad Varah, who founded the Samaritans. Later, Frank Bellamy illustrated the life of Winston Churchill and King David for the back page, before taking over the 'Dan Dare' strip for a year and subsequently drawing 'Fraser of Africa', the life of Field Marshal Montgomery and finally the celebrated 'Heros the Spartan' strip in the early 1960s. In 1960 - 61, Frank Hampson illustrated the story of Christ for the back page. Sadly, this was his last major work for EAGLE.  

EAGLE featured more than strip cartoons. It had its own 'Special Investigator', Macdonald Hastings, who performed several dangerous feats to amuse the readers. George Cansdale wrote many half page strips about wildlife and Anthony Buckeridge created Rex Milligan's prose adventures for EAGLE, which would later serialise some of his 'Jennings' stories. Peter Ling wrote school based stories about 'The Three 'J's' before creating Crossroads and writing a Doctor Who adventure for television. EAGLE had its own club for readers, arranged trips to sports matches, Adventure Holidays with the Y.H.A. and an annual national Table Tennis competition, along with its companion weekly 'Girl'. Every Christmas it invited readers to Carol Services, held around the country and usually led by Marcus Morris. It gave rise to many books on a range of interests in addition to its annuals and even produced novels about several of its characters. Its popularity gave rise to a great deal of licensed merchandise with everything from toys to clothing based on its most popular heroes. It even had its own weekly radio programme. There was also a daily Dan Dare radio serial, which ran for five years on Radio Luxembourg. In the 1950s it was not so much a comic, more a way of life. 


Although it fell into decline in the 1960s, there were still shining moments. In addition to 'Heros the Spartan', which was written by Tom Tully, there was 'Blackbow the Cheyenne', written by Edward Cowan and drawn by Frank Humphris and 'The Guinea Pig', written by various hands and drawn by Gerald Haylock.  'Dan Dare' continued with stories by David Motton and art by Keith Watson. EAGLE's downfall was primarily due to changes of publisher and cuts to its budget at the end of its first decade. Marcus Morris left in 1959 and his successor Clifford Makins left in 1961. A new editor, Bob Bartholomew arrived in late 1962 and managed to make improvements, but the downhill slide had set in. 

 Despite its decline and fall, EAGLE made such an impression that a new version was launched in 1982 and ran until 1994. At a time when comics were generally in decline, it was a notable success for many years. EAGLE fandom survives to this day with the EAGLE Society celebrating the anniversary year with a Gathering in Plymouth, later in April. Our quarterly magazine EAGLE Times celebrates its own 150th issue this year too and Spaceship Away magazine, which began in 2003 continues to feature new adventures of Dan Dare.              





Thursday, 23 January 2025

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 52



 
This post comes thanks to Geoff Harrison who administers the 'New Zealand Comics' page on Facebook, who posted the episode of 'Under the Golden Dragon' shown above and alongside from Comet weekly and to Philip Rushton who posted an equivalent reprint episode from EAGLE shown below. Philip's page is the original recoloured page before the words of the captions were added. 'Under the Golden Dragon' was the story of King Harold II, the last Saxon King of England, which first appeared in Comet in 1954. Written by Mike Butterworth and illustrated by Patrick Nicolle, it was re-edited and re-coloured for EAGLE in 1961, taking the title 'The Last of the Saxon Kings', following the takeover of EAGLE and its companion papers by the Mirror Group. It occupied the centrespread and had a mixed response from readers. It was not as historically accurate as most of the back page biographies that readers had been accustomed to and it was much more heavily captioned than traditional EAGLE strips. Nevertheless, it was an entertaining story and was fondly recalled by the historian Michael Wood. I enjoyed it too.  

Below is the next episode as it appeared in EAGLE, which completes the episode from Comet shown above. The strip was partly redrawn and recoloured from a black and white original for EAGLE by Nicolle himself. This was possible because an uncoloured original had been retained for a black and white digest that was published shortly after 'Under the Golden Dragon' ended in Comet. 


  



Friday, 27 December 2024

EAGLE TIMES Vol. 37 No. 4 WINTER 2024


The final EAGLE Times of 2024 is out now. It features articles about the text series 'The Three 'J's', the late American artist Ramona Fradon and the back page biography of Abraham Lincoln. Also included are a 'Collector's Corner' and instructions on how to make Dan Dare and Mekon masks, from Southport's Atkinson Arts Centre, an EAGLE quiz, the final part of the Archie Willoughby story 'The Case of the Big Bang Theory'and a short introduction to Plymouth, where the EAGLE Society seventy fifth anniversary Gathering will be held in April.  Contributors to this issue are David Britton, Jim Duckett, Derek Wilson, Darren Evans, David Gould and myself.   
Details of subscribing to EAGLE Times are printed on the right and now is a good time to subscribe for the coming year when members will be eligible to attend our Plymouth Gathering. 

Tuesday, 17 December 2024

THE SEVENTY FIFTH ANNIVERSARY GATHERING

The EAGLE Society will be celebrating the seventy fifth anniversary of EAGLE at our next Gathering, which will be in Plymouth, running from Monday April 28th - Wednesday April 30th 2025. Our principal guest will be the 'Dan Dare' artist Keith Page, who has enjoyed a long career in strip illustration, with his other credits including 'MASK', 'Ring Raiders', 'Wildcat', 'Thunderbirds' and 'Commando' Picture Library. 
The event will be held in the New Continental Hotel. Attendees MUST be members of the EAGLE Society, subscribing to EAGLE Times. New members will be sent details of the costs of the Gathering, but please act quickly if you wish to join us for deposits must be paid by 15th January. 
Membership of the Society for 2025 is £30 for UK members and £50 for overseas members. Members receive our quarterly magazine. In 2025, we will also be celebrating the 150th issue of EAGLE Times. Subscriptions should be sent to Bob Corn, Mayfield Lodge, Llanbadoc, Usk, NP151SY.     

 



Monday, 2 December 2024

THE THIRD CHRISTMAS EAGLE by John Culshaw

Having spent the first Christmas issue of EAGLE on Venus and the second on Mars, Dan and Digby were on Mercury for the third, dated 24th December 1952. As in 1951, there was just a single reference to Christmas in the strip. Dan and Digby are prisoners of the Treens and Digby comments on the fact that it is Christmas back on Earth in a single frame on page two. Dan Dare's creator Frank Hampson was suffering from a breakdown caused by overwork, so this story was illustrated by his team, led by Harold Johns and written by Chad Varah. The issue itself acknowledges Christmas in the title box, which has a decorative Christmas trim across the top and down the left hand side. There is a circular picture of stars behind the eagle image and the title letters are in yellow, instead of the usual white and have snow on them. This layout is exactly the same as the previous year's Christmas issue. 

The start of a new 'PC 49' adventure on page three provided the opportunity to reference Christmas strongly, with the episode devoted to the Boys' Club Christmas party and including a seven verse poem about the party extending down the middle of the page. Written by Alan Stranks and illustrated by John Worsley, the strip would run in EAGLE until 1957, although the radio series would end in May of 1953. Page four and a quarter of page five are occupied by the latest episode of the text serial 'The Adventure Club' by the prolific veteran writer J. Jefferson Farjeon, which does not relate to Christmas. However, there is a small 'EAGLE Window' advertising box in the bottom right hand corner of page seven which highlights the 'EAGLE Window' stand at the Schoolboy's Exhibition, being held in the Horticultural Hall in Westminster. Each week for several years, EAGLE included an 'EAGLE Window', which highlighted a different EAGLE related product. This one is number 77 and there were many more to go, indicating the vast amount of merchandising that the weekly spawned. The 'EAGLE  Window' stand at the exhibition featured many of the toys, clothes and other merchandise that were available. The rest of page five is occupied by a Christmas puzzle corner, an advertisement for a book about stamps, a request for donations to the N.S.P.C.C. and a short information piece sponsored by the tyre manufacturer, Dunlop. This is actually the seventeenth issue of the 'Dunlop Dispatch' and includes very short articles about Barrage Balloons and Paddle Wheels (from Paddle Steamers). It is not Christmas related. 

The next page is the 'Sports Page' and under the headline 'This was my Thrill of the Year', several of EAGLE's sports contributors have written about their most memorable sporting moments during 1952. These include E. Macdonald Bailey's recollection of Jamaica's success in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the Helsinki Olympics and Geoff Paish's celebration of Colin Gregory's fine performance in Tennis' Davis Cup  in the final set against Yugoslavia to give Great Britain victory. Gregory was actually replacing Paish, who was injured. Kenneth Wheeler, who was EAGLE's Sports editor recalled a fine performance by Arsenal's reserve defence to beat 'star studded' Blackpool and Jack Crayston witnessed the 1952 F.A. Cup Final from among a 'cross section' of Newcastle and Arsenal fans, a situation that would sadly be unthinkable today. Newcastle won, but Crayston's praises were heaped on Arsenal, who played much of the game with ten men. Although it was created by northerners, EAGLE was necessarily based in London, which is presumably why so many Arsenal supporters were employed on the Sports Page! The page also managed to include a small advertisement for the first EAGLE Sports Annual. 

Page eight is the first of the four colour centre pages and is occupied by 'Riders of the Range'. Now illustrated by its most celebrated artist, Frank Humphris, the heroes, Jeff , Luke and Jim Forsythe are in the early stages of 'Jeff Arnold and the Lost Bonanza', about an ornate Mexican saddle that Jeff buys which leads him and his friends into a series of perilous adventures. There was no Christmas reference in this episode. Written by Charles Chilton, at this time, 'Riders of the Range' was still on the radio, but it would finish there before next Christmas. However, Jeff's adventures in EAGLE would run for another nine years, produced by Chilton and Humphris. 

The top half of the centrespread is a 'cutaway' drawing by L. Ashwell Wood of the stage and backstage area of a theatre during a Christmas Pantomime. Like all Ashwell Wood's cutaways, it is highly detailed and obviously provides another Christmas element to the issue. Below the cutaway is 'Luck of the Legion', featuring in only his second serial adventure 'Death by the Dawn'. Written by Geoffrey Bond and illustrated by Martin Aitchison, the story is set in Syria and in this episode, Luck and his men narrowly escape death, when a bridge ahead of them is blown up by rebels or freedom fighters, depending on your point of view. As an ongoing serial, there is no mention of Christmas in this episode. 

Page eleven is split into two informative strips. The first is 'Their Names Made Words' and this is about William Banting, a nineteenth century undertaker who ate so much that he became unhealthily overweight, so he gave up beer, milk and all fatty foods, eating only meat, fish and dry toast. Christmas is quite cleverly contrived into this strip which begins by showing how many people ate huge Christmas meals in Victorian times and then leading in to Banting's dieting. Banting gave his name to dieting and the strip says "Women still say they are banting when they diet to get slim".  But this strip was produced in 1952 and while the word survived till then, it is no longer used today. The lower half of the page features a strip called 'Strange Animal Adventures' and references G.K. Chesterton's poem 'The Donkey' about the donkey that carried Mary to Bethlehem and then after the birth of Jesus, to safety in Egypt. As in Chesterton's poem, the strip ends with the same donkey being the one that carried Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, thirty three years later. When I first read Chesterton's poem, I looked up the life span of donkeys to find out if this was credible and it is. Donkeys can live for over forty years. Apart from the star of Bethlehem behind the eagle on the cover and a brief reference in the 'Banting' strip to Christmas meals celebrating the birthday of Christ, this is the first significant reference to Christmas being about Jesus' birth in this issue, but it is not the last. The Editor's Letter from the Rev. Marcus Morris, on the next page promotes a strong Christian message: We should give and receive presents, but we do it in remembrance of Christ. After referencing the other Christmas elements in the issue, the Editor goes on to introduce the new back page biography, which begins in this issue. This is the life of St. Vincent De Paul, the sixteenth century French priest and champion of the poor and Morris uses his example to promote his 'muscular Christianity' ideal. He says "there is nothing namby-pamby about being a Christian.... it's a man's job." He goes on to quote St. Paul, so this editorial is unequivocal in its message. 

The rest of the page is split into several sections as usual. There is a Christmas crossword competition with prizes of Ingersoll 'Dan Dare' pocket watches, a 'Readers' Letters' section, with one from Roy Dinning of Glasgow, suggesting that EAGLE Club badges should be polished daily. There is more news of the Schoolboy's Exhibition in Westminster, where there was an EAGLE stand in addition to the 'EAGLE Window' one mentioned earlier. This was the largest stand in the exhibition and was built in the form of Dan Dare's spaceship! EAGLE was not just a boy's weekly. It was a major part of juvenile culture in the 1950s. Also on the page is a short report on an EAGLE Club visit to Chessington Zoo, some photographs of prize winners from a previous competition, an advertisement for Marcus Morris' record about the forthcoming Coronation and the three picture humorous strip, 'Chicko' by Norman Thelwell. This had a Christmas theme. Chicko notices a sign in a shop window, saying 'We wish You a Merry Christmas' and he writes underneath 'Thank You! The Same To You!'

Page twelve and a quarter of page thirteen contains a complete text story 'Ron's Christmas' which is about a boy who finds a bag of stolen jewellery. Knowing that his widowed mother cannot afford to buy him and his siblings the presents they would like for Christmas, he toys with the idea of trying to sell them before his conscience leads him to take them to the Police. Worried that he will be punished for his delay, he is finally rewarded by the Jeweller who gives him enough money to buy presents for the whole family. The writer was Guy Daniel, an Anglican clergyman, who later scripted 'The Road of Courage' (the story of Jesus) and the life of Sir Walter Raleigh, for the back page. While these strips would be attributed to Marcus Morris, the scripting was by Daniel. No less than three Anglican vicars contributed to this Christmas issue, with Morris as editor and Chad Varah as scriptwriter of 'Dan Dare'. A corner of page twelve contains an advertisement for a small 'Ever Ready' hand held vacuum cleaner, while the rest of page thirteen includes a self examination Christmas quiz about unselfish behaviour, with three possible answers to each question, only one of which is correct. The rest of the page contains adverts for a club run by Cadbury's chocolate manufacturers, Newmark watches and 'Golden Arrow' stamp albums.

The last three pages are all strips, with 'Harris Tweed Extra Special Agent' occupying page fourteen. This humorous strip has a Christmas theme, with Tweed accidentally thwarting a robber's plan to use an anaesthetic gas to put everyone to sleep so that he can steal their jewels at a Christmas party. Tweed's whole page stories must have been a challenge for cartoonist John Ryan, for they each contained five rows of detailed strip artwork and they were consistently funny. Page fifteen featured 'Tommy Walls', the strip sponsored by Wall's Ice Cream. Since May, the strip had become a serial story instead of weekly self contained stories and it had also become extremely popular with readers. Illustrated by Richard Jennings and often written by him as well, this episode makes a brief reference to Christmas in the final frame of the strip, when Tommy, swimming in the Thames in an attempt to stop an evil megalomaniac from destroying the Houses of Parliament, thinks "What a way to spend Christmas Eve," and imagines himself succeeding and celebrating Christmas with a Wall's ice cream. With the introduction of serial stories, the 'Tommy Walls' strip moved into Dick Barton Special Agent territory, with fast paced action, which made it more difficult to honour its contract to include Wall's ice cream in every episode. Nevertheless, it did and the unlikely plots involving evil geniuses and secret service commandos proved a major success. Wall's must have been delighted. 

The final page marks the start of 'Man of Courage' about St. Vincent De Paul. Written by 'R.B. Saxe' whose real name was Francis John Dickson, it was illustrated by Norman Williams. Like most back page biographies, the strip begins with incidents from the subject's boyhood. These were usually fictional and in the case of Vincent, it gave Dickson the opportunity to include Christmas. The story begins on Christmas Eve and Vincent and his family go to the "Christmas Eve Service at Church" (presumably Midnight Mass) and they look at the crib before returning home. Vincent was an ideal subject for EAGLE, because he led an eventful life, which involved being captured and enslaved in North Africa, before escaping and later volunteering to take another man's place as a rower on a prison galley. He created an order of nuns to serve the poor that still functions to this day and he inspired a lay person's group which also provides for the needy and again is still active all over the world. Dickson wrote three back page biographies for EAGLE and although all three led genuinely action packed lives, he embellished them all with fictional villains and events in the finest traditions of Hollywood. 

This issue focuses quite successfully on the religious and charitable aspects of Christmas and avoids a strong emphasis on merchandise, despite the fact that EAGLE initiated so much. However, the issues leading up to Christmas were full of advertisements for EAGLE related products and other potential presents for boys, with special four page advertising supplements from late November to mid December. 

With the arrival of Frank Humphris and 'Luck of the Legion' and the change of 'Tommy Walls' to a serial story, EAGLE was continuing to improve. Despite the temporary absence of Frank Hampson from the 'Dan Dare' strip, the publication as a whole was far better than it had been at its launch two and a half years earlier and it would continue to improve for several years. 

Thursday, 7 November 2024

ROD BARZILAY

We were sorry to read of the death of Rod Barzilay, who passed away in August. Rod was a founder member of the EAGLE Society. He nurtured a long time ambition to produce a new 'Dan Dare' story in the style of the original, which he finally achieved at personal expense, writing a story himself set in the 'Sargasso Sea of Space' featured in the 'Dan Dare' story 'Reign of the Robots'. He engaged the services of former 'Dan Dare' artist Keith Watson, who sadly died after completing preliminary artwork and the first episode of the strip, which was called 'The Phoenix Mission'. Rod then engaged Don Harley to complete the ten part adventure, which led into a sequel called 'Green Nemesis'. After Rod struggled to find a publisher, he eventually decided to publish it himself and did so in a new high quality full colour publication called Spaceship Away! which began in 2003, a decade after Keith Watson had completed the first episode. Spaceship Away! also carries other science fiction strips and features. Charles Chilton's 'Journey Into Space' strips from Express Weekly were reprinted there. 

Don Harley also worked on 'Green Nemesis', but other commissions delayed him, so Tim Booth, an Irish artist who had submitted a new 'Dan Dare' strip of his own to Spaceship Away! helped to complete it. The strips copy the format from the original EAGLE, with each episode being set out as the first and second pages of the weekly, carrying the red title block with the flying eagle. I met Rod on several occasions during the many years he was working on the story and having heard about all the problems and setbacks he suffered, I never believed it would be completed and see the light of day, but it did and in Spaceship Away! which is now produced by Des Shaw, his dream and legacy live on. Rest in peace Rod and thank you for your perseverance and determination.     

Saturday, 26 October 2024

EAGLE TIMES Vol. 37 No.3 Autumn 2024

The latest EAGLE Times includes articles on the strip stories 'Riders of the Range', 'Danger Unlimited' and 'Lincoln of America'. There are also features on 'The Royal Oak Tragedy' in the Second World War and the Post war American artist Marie Severin. My latest Archie Berkeley-Willoughby adventure is 'The Case of the Big Bang Theory'. The issue also includes short pieces about Donald Campbell's Bluebird K7, the art of Roy Cross, a Collector's Corner, an EAGLE Queries page, an 'In and Out of the EAGLE' page and an EAGLE Mastermind Quiz. Finally there is a tribute to our late member Ron French. The contributors to this issue are David Britton, Eric Summers, Darren Evans, David Gould, Jim Duckett and myself.