Eagle Times Vol 30 No 1

Spring 2017 Contents

• 'The Shepherd King': part 1 of a three-part examination of Clifford Makins' and Frank Bellamy's strip about the biblical King David, comparing the strip with biblical accounts of his life. The strip began on Eagle's back page in September 1958. 
• 'Alan Stranks under closer investigation': some other facets of the rare life of the writer who created PC49 for radio, then brought him to Eagle, and wrote the 'Dan Dare' adventure 'Prisoners of Space' for Eagle in 1954
• 'Blunderbirds are Go!': continuing a look at Eagle strips of the 1960s with this send-up, drawn by Brian Lewis, of the TV series Thunderbirds
• The Original ‘Rider of the Range’: an examination of the life of Cal McCord, who starred in the first three Riders of the Range radio serials
• Dan Dare: The 2000AD Years, Volume 2: a review of the second volume of reprints of 'Dan Dare' from 2000AD comic 
• 'He Tried to Stop You Reading Eagle', part 2: an adjunct to the series, 'They Helped to Bring You Eagle', this continues the story of Leonard Matthews, General Managing Editor of Fleetway 
• 'Martin Aitchison (1919-2016)': a personal recollection the artist Martin Aitchison, particularly the Eagle years, written by Nick, his only son; illustrated with some of Martin's non-Eagle work 
• 'In and Out of the Eagle': a further instalment in the series presenting collections of Eagle-related snippets
• 'Harris Tweed, Eagle and 1950s Coffee Culture': an exploit of Extra Special Agent Harris Tweed in  an espresso bar inspires a look at this lost social scene of the1950s  
• 'Space Fiction Movies in Eagle's Times', part 1:  a look at films about space exploration and alien visitations to the earth, the bread-and-butter of the Eagle's Dan Dare's adventures between 1950 and 1969. This part covers 1950-1953, from Rocketship X-M to War of the Worlds
• 'Hulton's Boys & Girls Exhibition, 1958': a look at the programme of the third Hulton's Boys and Girls Exhibition, held at London's Olympia in 1958.    
• 'Yet More Eagle Miscellany' - a further collection of notes on Eagle history
• 'In Defence of Comics 1953' - reviewing an article that appeared in the Daily Express in 1953 defending comics as a route to the love of reading. The original article was authored by Lady Pakenham who did much to promote literacy in the young
• 'They Helped to Bring You Eagle: No 3 Brian Blake' - the resident artist and art restoration specialist who worked on Eagle in the 1960s