EAGLE TIMES Vol. 38 No.2 SUMMER 2025

 

The 150th edition of EAGLE Times is out now. Featuring a cover by Graham Bleathman showing Dan Dare's spacecraft 'Anastasia' and several other craft flying over a future London and the back page with black and white studies of EAGLE characters by Keith Page, it celebrates the occasion in style. The contents include articles about 'Jack O' Lantern' and his creator George Beardmore, by Eric Summers; 'Blackbow the Cheyenne' by David Britton and 'Montgomery of Alamein' by myself. Reg Hoare's report on our  recent Gathering in Plymouth and my own speech about EAGLE and the radio from the Annual Dinner are also featured, along with the final part of the latest Archie Willoughby story 'The Case of the Elusive Elvis'. Copies can be obtained from Bob Corn at the address on the right.  

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 53

From its first issue, dated 26th January 1963 until its last, dated 3rd October 1964, EAGLE's companion paper Boys' World ran a full colour strip based on Greek Mythology called 'Wrath of the Gods'. Illustrated first by Ron Embleton and later by John M. Burns and written by Willie Patterson, it joined EAGLE when the two papers were hurriedly combined and it ran for six more issues, until the current serial story was completed in the issue dated 14th November. There were four 'Wrath of the Gods' serials in total. The hero was a young Greek called Arion, who was sent on perilous quests by the gods and faced gods and monsters in his adventures. The first, third and fourth adventures occupied the middle page spread and the second occupied the back page. 

The Book Palace have recently produced a high quality reprint album which includes all the 'Wrath of the Gods' serials and the science fiction strip 'Ghost World', also from Boys' World. This single page weekly serial was illustrated by Frank Bellamy and written by the celebrated science fiction novelist Harry Harrison. The album is available in two versions - a De-luxe hardback Collectors' Limited Edition of 450 copies, retailing at £75 and a Super De-Luxe Collectors' Limited Edition of 50 copies, retailing at £130, which is enclosed in a hardback clamshell case and also includes a sixteen page booklet, which reprints the three 'Wrath of the Gods' strips from Boys' World annuals as well as prints scanned from original artwork by both Burns and Bellamy. These include a print of an original unpublished pencil sketch of Arion by Burns. The high prices reflect the high quality of the books, which reproduce all the double page spreads as fold outs, to avoid the problems caused by the guttering between pages which invariably result in a loss of art from the middle of the spread in other reprint books. The reproduction quality of the pages is excellent. The books are available from: 

https://bookpalace.com/info_ghostwrath

https://bookpalace.com/info_ghostwrathclam

 

EAGLE TIMES Vol. 38 No. 1 SPRING 2025

The latest edition of EAGLE Times is out now. It has a strong Frank Bellamy theme, with the first parts of articles by myself on both 'The Happy Warrior', about Winston Churchill and 'Montgomery of Alamein' about the famous wartime General. Both strips were illustrated by Bellamy and written by Clifford Makins. The issue also includes articles by David Britton about 'Blackbow the Cheyenne', 'Riders of the Range' and the artist June Mendoza, Peter Barr's latest piece on 'EAGLE's Sporting Heroes', two of Jim Duckett's 'In and Out of the EAGLE'  pieces and the first part of a new Archie Willoughby story by myself. With a cover by Carol Tarrant, the issue can be obtained from Bob Corn at the address alongside. As the first issue of the year, this is a good time to subscribe for four issues and to join the Society.   

EAGLE SOCIETY GATHERING AT PLYMOUTH

The EAGLE Society celebrated the seventy fifth anniversary of EAGLE in Plymouth this week. Our guests were Ray O'Donnell from the Devonport Naval Heritage Centre, who spoke about the Devonport Naval Dockyard and the artist Alan Langford, who contributed to the 1980s EAGLE, 2000 A.D. Warlord and Supernaturals and has provided cover art and illustrations for many fantasy game books. Now specialising in equestrian subjects, he has recently returned to comics, producing a graphic novel The Secret of the Aesir, which combines science fiction with Norse mythology. He demonstrated the techniques he uses by producing an inked illustration of Conan the Barbarian mounted on a horse. Our member Eric Summers gave a talk on the EAGLE character, 'Jack O'Lantern' and I gave talks on the Eddystone Lighthouse and radio shows of the 1950s and 60s. A group of us visited the Royal Citadel overlooking Plymouth and the sea and another group took a cruise around the harbour and the River Tamar. We were blessed with warm sunny weather and well served at the New Continental Hotel. Our anniversary cake was supplied by the 'Cake Box' in Plymouth. Thanks to Keith Page, who was sadly unable to attend but sent a piece of original artwork featuring the main EAGLE characters from its first year, which was auctioned for EAGLE Society funds and will be featured in our second issue this year.  

A full account of the Plymouth Gathering by Reg Hoare will also appear in our second issue of EAGLE Times.  

 

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. EAGLE also made comics acceptable to many adults, although it would never admit to being a comic! The fact that the editor was a Vicar and that EAGLE promoted a 'muscular Christianity' in its pages brought parents and teachers onside. The early issues of EAGLE also included the popular radio character 'PC 49', written by Alan Stranks. Initially drawn by Strom Gould it was illustrated for most of its seven year run by John Worsley. There were three other strips by Hampson in the first issue: 'Rob Conway', 'Tommy Walls', an advertising strip for Walls Ice Cream and the life of St. Paul, but he quickly passed these on to other hands to enable him to focus on the runaway success of 'Dan Dare'. 'Captain Pugwash' by John Ryan also made his first ever appearance in the first EAGLE. The centre pages featured 'cutaway drawings' of aircraft, cars, ships and other technological marvels. The most prolific 'cutaway' artist was Leslie Ashwell Wood. The 'cutaways' would run for the entire life of  EAGLE and Ashwell Wood illustrated the first and the last. The early issues also included an informative science strip called 'Professor Brittain Explains' and a regular sports page, which featured contributions from well known sportsmen. Over the next few years, other popular 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 began in the Christmas issue in 1950 and was originally illustrated by Jack Daniel and then by Angus Scott, before Frank Humphris took over in 1952. The strip ran until 1962. 'Luck of the Legion' (1952 - 61) was written by Geoffrey Bond and illustrated by Martin Aitchison, 'Jack O' Lantern' (1955 - 59) told the adventures of a boy in the early nineteenth century and was written by George Beardmore, with illustrations by Robert Ayton. 'Storm Nelson - Sea Adventurer' (1953 - 1962) was written by Guy Morgan and drawn by Richard Jennings and 'Harris Tweed Extra Special Agent' (1950 - 62) 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' (1950 - 62) by Norman Thelwell. The famous Belgian cartoon hero Tintin also made his first ever appearance in English in EAGLE (1951 - 52). 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' (1960 - 61), the life of Field Marshal Montgomery (1962) 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 wrote articles on a wide range of subjects and even 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 engaged well with readers. It featured reader's letters and organised competitions. Douglas Adams' first published work was a poem he sent to EAGLE and Gerald Scarfe and David Hockney won prizes in an art competition. EAGLE encouraged acts of charity, selflessness and consideration for others with monthly awards for nominated readers. It ran 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'. Each year readers voted for their 'Sportsman of the Year'. Every Christmas EAGLE invited readers to Carol Services, held around the country and usually led by Marcus Morris. It produced many books on a range of interests in addition to its annuals and even published 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. 

EAGLE fell into decline in the 1960s. Its steady downfall was primarily due to changes of publisher and cuts to its budget. It dropped all its reader activities, except the 'Readers' Letters' page and the Y.H.A. Holidays. 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 in sales was impossible to stop. Nevertheless, there were still shining moments. In addition to 'Heros the Spartan' (1962 - 1966), which was written by Tom Tully, there was 'Blackbow the Cheyenne', written by Edward Cowan and drawn by Frank Humphris, which joined EAGLE when it absorbed Swift in 1963 and ran until 1969. There was also 'The Iron Man' by Ken Mennell and others, which joined in 1964 when Boys' World was absorbed and ran until 1969. It was illustrated by Martin Salvador and later by Miguel Quesada. 'The Guinea Pig', (1965 - 1969) was written by various hands and drawn by Colin Andrew, Brian Lewis and finally by Gerald Haylock.  'Dan Dare' continued with stories by David Motton and art by Keith Watson. The 1960s EAGLE also featured some new informative features, including 'The Futurescope' which began in 1967 and speculated about life in the future. It was written by Dr. Lyall Watson, who would later write the bestselling book Supernature.  

 Despite its decline and fall, EAGLE made such a strong 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. Fans of the 1980s EAGLE have a podcast 'Where EAGLES Dare' and a Facebook page. Dan himself featured in a B.B.C. radio series in 1990 and an audio series in 2021 and 2022, which was later broadcast on B.B.C. Radio Four Extra and a CGI television series which was broadcast on Channel Five in the U.K. in 2002.             

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. 

  

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.