IN AND OUT OF EAGLE 26

 

The classic railway poster above was painted by the Italian artist Fortunino Matania and shows patrons leaving the Garrick Theatre in Southport, mentioned by Dan Dare in the original ‘Venus’ story in 1951. Matania’s work never appeared in EAGLE, but in 1973, four years after the original weekly folded, Fleetway published The EAGLE Book of Amazing Stories (dated for 1974) which was full of illustrations he had originally produced for Look and Learn. Matania's original painting can be seen in Southport's Atkinson Arts Centre.

After a decade when the only EAGLE related books were the EAGLE Annuals, 1973 also brought the 1974 Dan Dare Annual. Why Fleetway unexpectedly produced these books is unknown. Both were reprints, with the Dan Dare Annual consisting of heavily edited versions of The Red Moon Mystery and Safari in Space. The Dan Dare Annual was put together by former EAGLE editor Bob Bartholomew, who probably also edited the Amazing Stories volume. After EAGLE, he had edited World of Wonder magazine for Fleetway and would certainly be most familiar with and have access to Matania’s work. Amazing Stories only contains artwork by Matania, although all the pictures are black and white. The book also reprints the articles that accompanied them, which are famous events from history.  

Matania died in 1963, while still working on A Pageant of Kings for Look and Learn. In a busy life he had originally made his name producing illustrations for magazines in Italy and France and later Britain and America. He became famous for his detailed pictures of life in the trenches during the First World War and later for a range of historical scenes and his paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy.