IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 56

 

One of the many 'Dan Dare' products produced during the 1950s was the Wallis Rigby 'Anastasia' Presso Book. This provided press out cardboard parts which made up into a model of Dan's spaceship, named in honour of Digby's Aunt Anastasia, who was instrumental in preventing the Treens from conquering Earth. Brian Hayes, an EAGLE Society Member and collector recently acquired a copy of this book and has made up the model as shown below. Brian placed a Kentoys 'Dan Dare' figure for scale.  

Normally when these books become available, collectors are reluctant to spoil the book by making the model, but Brian found a poor quality book with browned and brittle text pages, but perfect metallic model pages, so he was happy to make up the model.  

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 55

This is the front page of D.C. Thomson's Hotspur story paper dated August 23rd 1947 and the 'eagle' picture is notably similar to our own EAGLE symbol which adorned the weekly from Issue One in April 1950. Our own symbol was created by Frank Hampson and was based on an 'eagle' shaped inkwell on Marcus Morris' desk. The choice of the name EAGLE for the weekly was inspired by the 'eagle' lectern in Morris' parish church, St. James' in Birkdale, Southport. 

The Hotspur was launched in 1933 as a weekly for boys, which contained text stories, not comic strips. It was the last of D.C. Thomson's 'big five' boys' story papers, after Adventure (1921), Rover (1922), Wizard (1922) and Skipper (1930) to be launched The first issue sold over 350,000 copies and my father bought one, which I still have. During the Second World War it became a fortnightly publication due to paper rationing, increasing to three issues a month in 1946 and back to a weekly in 1949. It ran for 1,997 issues until October 1959, when it was relaunched as a comic strip paper and initially retitled The New Hotspur. It then ran for another 1,110 issues until it merged with Victor in January 1981. 

Like many boys' papers, The Hotspur stories and later strips covered school, sports, detective, war, spy, science fiction and historical adventure stories. 
 

EAGLE TIMES Vol. 38 No. 3 Autumn 2025

The new EAGLE Times is out now. In this issue are articles about Willie Patterson, Ron Embleton and John Burns' strip 'Wrath of the Gods', which joined EAGLE when it absorbed Boys' World; Luis Bermejo's work on 'Heros the Spartan', and the second part of the back page strip about Winston Churchill 'The Happy Warrior'. There is also the latest part of David Britton's 'Me Too' series about female artists of the 1950s, which looks at the art of Daphne Bevis Rowles, whose work included the 'Nicky Nobody' strip for Swift. The issue also includes two more 'In and Out of the EAGLE' pages by Jim Duckett, the first part of a new Archie Willoughby story 'The Case of the Brand New Hat', a page looking at some of the readers' letters that appeared in EAGLE and four pages of our own readers' letters. Copies can be obtained from Bob Corn at the address on the right. 

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 54

Although there were EAGLE Annuals every year, several character annuals and several novels about EAGLE characters, 1954 brought a unique book. This was a 'Riders of the Range' strip book, Jeff Arnold and the Bozeman Trail which today would be called a graphic novel. Written by the strip's creator and regular writer Charles Chilton and illustrated by Pat Williams, the book featured the war with the Sioux and Cheyenne in the 1870s and the Battle of the Little Bighorn. It was published by Juvenile Publications, who also published the early Riders of the Range Annuals. Just three and a half years later, the same events would be covered in the weekly EAGLE in the 'Riders' serial 'The War with the Sioux', but there were significant differences between the two stories. The later version was much longer than the strip book and featured many more historical characters and exciting action. The biggest difference was Jeff Arnold's involvement in the battle itself. In The Bozeman Trail , Jeff was not with Colonel Custer's group who were massacred, but with Major Reno's group, who were forced to take up a defensive position away from the fight with Custer and survived. In 'The War with the Sioux', he was with Custer to the end and escaped the massacre by being knocked unconscious and saved from death by Running Bear, a Sioux warrior who he had beaten in single combat some months earlier and spared his life. While these events were more exciting for readers, the Bozeman version is more credible. Both versions contain historical inaccuracies, but both are more accurate than Hollywood film versions of the events. The weekly serial was illustrated by Frank Humphris, who researched and captured accurate likenesses of General Crook, Major Reno, Custer, Sitting Bull and others. In a previous post on this blog, Steve Winders wrote about the different studies that Humphris illustrated in different media of the battle, after he visited the battlefield and saw an original painting of it by Humphris, in the Trading Post next to the site. David Britton also examined the weekly strip in his detailed series for EAGLE Times. 

Despite the differences, Charles Chilton wrote both versions of the story. Pat Williams' artwork is much more stylised than Humphris' and some of his backgrounds are sketchy. While he produced accurate likenesses of General Crook and Custer and a reasonable likeness of Sitting Bull, other historical characters were not accurately portrayed. His work is nevertheless appealing. He captured movement well in many frames and he created vivid images which captured the epic scale of the events in his large frames. The book is entirely in colour and contains several full page and double page images. Juvenile Publications also produced another strip book, illustrated by Williams the same year. This was not EAGLE related, but an adaptation of the 'Biggles' novel, Biggles and the Cruise of the Condor. 

Below is a frame by Williams from The Bozeman Trail, showing the Sioux and Cheyenne attack on Custer's Seventh Cavalry. It is taken from the original artwork.

(The owner of this artwork is willing to sell it for an offer in the region of £400. He also has the original of the wrap around front cover which he is willing to sell for around £600. If you are interested then message me on Facebook or in the comments section here and I will put you in touch with him.) 

 

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 Mayfield Lodge, Llanbadoc, Usk, Monmouthshire, NP15 1SY.  

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.