IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 14

The very first Dan Dare story had no individual title, but when Titan Books reprinted it in 2004 they called it Voyage to Venus. In 2008 Orion Publishing produced an audio dramatisation of the first half of the story and gave it this title and then in 2012, Michael Shipway’s electronic music album inspired by the story took the title too. By 2016, when B7 Audio Productions dramatised several Dan Dare adventures, Voyage to Venus was the automatic title for the first adventure. Although it took fifty four years for this title to formally appear, it seems an appropriate one. Frank Hampson, like many of Eagle’s other contributors, favoured alliterative titles, giving us Marooned on Mercury, Reign of the Robots and Safari in Space, not to mention Dan Dare himself. Voyage to Venus was previously used as the title of the second book of C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy about Earth, Mars and Venus. As in Dan Dare this title was added later. First published in 1943, Lewis’ book was originally called Perelandra, which was the story’s name for the planet, but it was altered to Voyage to Venus when published in paperback in 1953. C.S. Lewis was one of several notable theologians who contributed articles for Marcus Morris’ Anvil magazine in the late 1940s and not surprisingly his book has strong religious connotations. The plot concerns the hero from Earth trying to prevent the fall of man (as described in the Book of Genesis) from being repeated on Venus. Lewis went on to write the famous Narnia series of children’s books, beginning with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in 1950.

The original Voyage to Venus was Achille Eyraud’s 1865 book, published the same year as Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon. Eyraud’s book is the first to describe rocket powered interplanetary travel. However, despite its prophetic importance, it has only been available in an English edition since 2011.  

EAGLE SOCIETY GATHERING - DUNDEE - 9th - 11th APRIL 2019

This year's annual gathering was held at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Dundee. Twenty six members attended the successful event which was organised by Eric Summers, ably assisted by Jeremy Briggs. Guests included Chris Murray, Professor of Comics at the University of Dundee, Calum Laird, the former editor of Commando magazine and Ian Kennedy, the celebrated Dan Dare artist on the new EAGLE. Members visited Captain Scott's Antarctic Survey Ship Discovery and other landmarks in the city, such as the new Victoria and Albert Museum, the McManus Gallery and the various statues of comic characters around the city. We are grateful for the generosity of the publishers D.C. Thomson and Co. who provided items for the Welcome Packs. A full report by Reg Hoare will appear in the next EAGLE TIMES. The picture above shows Jeremy Briggs interviewing Calum Laird and the picture below shows Ian Kennedy with interviewer Phillip Vaughan.

EAGLE TIMES: Spring 2019

The first edition of EAGLE TIMES for 2019 is out now. Featuring articles on T.E. Lawrence, Marco Polo, Cutaway Drawings from the 1990s EAGLE, Look-In Magazine and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, it is a varied and interesting issue.
CONTENTS
Was Dan Dare Instrumental in Russia's Contribution to the Space Race? by Chris Stock
Lawrence of Arabia - The Backpager That Never Was by Andrew Coffey
A Look at Look-In by Jim Duckett
The Travels of Marco Polo (Part One) by Steve Winders
New Eagle's Cutaways - The Centrespreads by Jeremy Briggs
Drawing the Centrespreads - An interview with artist Peter Sarson by Jeremy Briggs
Dan Dare - Acting His Age - a short piece about actors mooted to play Dan on TV
Charles Chilton and the Indian Wars (Part Four) by David Britton
The Case of the Counterfeit Constable - A new Archie Willoughby adventure by Steve Winders

HAFORN: THE ICELANDIC EAGLE

BY BJORN AGEN-CHRISTENSON
From 1954 -59 the most popular comic in my country of Iceland was 'Haforn', our own version of Britain's 'Eagle'. Many of the popular strips from 'Eagle' were featured in 'Haforn' in translation. The front and second pages starred Lars Larsson, better known to British readers as Dan Dare and the comic also included 'Hjaris Tvede - Extra Special Agent', 'Sturm Nielsson Sea Adventurer' and briefly the ice cream promotional strip, 'Tomi Walls'. However ice cream is not as popular in my country as in Britain and this strip was soon replaced with one about a boy who loves Grimsson's Smoked Mackerel.


There were also several home grown Icelandic strips in the comic, notably 'Sven Bloodaxe: Viking Marauder', who occupied the colour centre pages. These stirring tales of looting and pillaging made Sven one of the most popular strips in the paper. Many original Icelandic features replaced the British ones, including articles on skinning seals, removing frostbitten toes and whaling for beginners. Stories of famous Icelanders replaced the lives of the saints and famous Britons on the back page.
Haforn was edited by a Lutheran Minister, Marcus Marcusson and proved so successful that the publishers released Icelandic versions of several of Eagle's companion papers. My sister Bjork took 'Gella' and my little brother Bjarki read 'Lundi', which means 'Puffin' as there are no robins in Iceland.

Like 'Eagle' in Britain, Haforn also spawned many other products. These included 'Lars Larsson' jigsaw puzzles, pyjamas and snow shoes and 'Sven Bloodaxe' knives, swords, clubs, spears, hammers and axes. There were also 'Sven Bloodaxe' novels by Gunnar Gunlaugsson: 'Bloodaxe Learns to Pillage', 'Bloodaxe Pillages Again', Bloodaxe Buries the Hatchet' and Bloodaxe Takes a Hand'. The comic closed in 1959, only because they had run out of famous Icelanders for the back page.

BOURNE HALL EXHIBITION

A free exhibition to celebrate the centenary of Frank Hampson's birth is being held at the Bourne Hall Museum in Spring Street, Ewell in Surrey. Running from December 4th 2018 until March 12th 2019,  the opening times are: 
Monday 9am - 10:30pm

Tuesday 9am - 11:30pm
Wednesday 9am - 10:30pm
Thursday 9am - 10:30pm
Friday & Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday Closed

Contact name: 

David Brooks

Telephone: 

+44 20 8394 1734

Contact email: 

dbrooks@epsom-ewell.gov.uk

Bourne Hall
Tel: 020 8393 9571
Email: BourneHallMailbox@epsom-ewell.gov.uk
Website: www.bournehall.org

PRESS RELEASE
The 100th anniversary of the birth of Frank Hampson is to be marked by an exhibition at Bourne Hall Museum. Frank Hampson came to Epsom in the early 1950s and was soon established in Bayford Lodge, which served as his home and his studio.  There, for a decade, he created the cartoon strips that held the nation's schoolboys (and others!) enthralled, as they waited eagerly each week for the latest edition of Eagle to learn whether Dan Dare, the intrepid space explorer, had survived his most recent mission. An exhibition about the life of the gifted illustrator will be put on display at Bourne Hall Museum from 4th December until 12 March 2019.The display will include original artwork which has been loaned by Peter Hampson, Frank’s son, including a front page of the Eagle – drawings of Treens, Therons and other alien characters from the comic – and covers drawn by Frank for the popular Ladybird books. Also on display will be the annuals which were such eagerly awaited Christmas presents, and comics which will bring back memories of trips to the newsagents to get a new copy, running back home to read the latest adventure. 

Museum curator, Jeremy Harte, says "There will be many people locally who remember, for example, the staged fights with ray guns outside Bayford Lodge, as Frank Hampson gathered material for the next instalment to go up on his drawing board."

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 13

Jack O’Lantern was originally another name for the strange phenomenon of light hovering over peat bogs, also known as a Will o’the Wisp. Carved out pumpkins with faces are often called Jack O’ Lanterns. This old name provided an excellent title for George Beardmore’s popular Eagle strip about a boy’s adventures in the early nineteenth century, but Jack Yorke is not the only Jack O’ Lantern in comics. Both Marvel and D.C. Comics in America have used the name several times. Beginning in 1977, D.C. used the name for three superheroes who each took the name following the death of their predecessor. These ‘Jacks’ did not operate alone, but as members of super hero teams. Conversely, from 1981 Marvel featured four villains who took this name, with each one again replacing an earlier version in turn and providing enemies for Spiderman and Captain America.

This brings us nicely to Willo The Wisp, the 1981 B.B.C. TV cartoon series made by Nicholas Spargo, who may be recalled by Eagle readers as the creator of The Legend of the Lincoln Imp, which featured on the centre pages below the cutaway drawing, back in 1951. Soon after his work for Eagle, Nicholas worked for Halas and Bachelor on Britain’s first ever cartoon feature film Animal Farm. He also ran his own animation company which principally produced cartoon advertisements and educational films, sponsored by companies, but his main claim to fame is Willo The Wisp, a series of five minute films for children, featuring the voice of Kenneth Williams. The character of Willo actually originated in an educational film he made for British Gas in 1975.  

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 12

The Man From Nowhere was an intriguing and appropriate title for the story of Dan Dare’s first encounter with people from another solar system, but there are several other ‘men from nowhere’ in books and films. 


In 1959 the famous western writer T.V. Olsen used it as the title of his latest western novel and just seven years later it was the title of an unconnected ‘spaghetti’ western. Most recently, in 2002 it was the name of a Korean contemporary action film, which also enjoyed a successful release in Canada and the U.S.A.

But before we congratulate Frank Hampson on using the title first, we need to look right back to 1915 to a silent film starring William S. Hart and this too was a western and unconnected to the others!