THE FIRST CHRISTMAS EAGLE by John Culshaw

Not surprisingly, EAGLE always celebrated Christmas and particularly so in the 1950s when it was edited by the Rev. Marcus Morris. The very first Christmas EAGLE set an impressive precedent, with the front page bordered with holly and the action in Dan Dare's long running Venus saga taking a short break as the characters aboard the Ranger spaceship reflected on the fact that it was Christmas, which led into scenes back home on Earth. The strip, produced by Frank Hampson and his studio team, continued on page two where Sir Hubert Guest, Digby and Professor Peabody also reflected on Christmas back home, despite the fact that they were prisoners of the Mekon. The episode ended with Dan himself in the land of the friendly Therons, planning a rescue mission.   

Inside the issue, PC 49 continued his adventures on page three and made no mention of the season as it would have clashed with the storyline, where 'Fortynine' is on the trail of a dangerous gang who have killed a fellow officer. PC 49 originated as a weekly radio series by Alan Stranks, who also wrote the EAGLE strip, which was then drawn by Strom Gould and would later be drawn by John Worsley, who took over in August 1951 and drew the strip until it ended in March 1957. On pages four and five, the text serial Thunder Reef , about smuggling on the Brittany coast, written by Adrian Seligman continued and again, not surprisingly, there was no mention of Christmas. The 'drop in' illustrations for this story were by John Worsley. Page six was divided into a half page Football Hints strip by Billy Wright, the England captain, which focussed on proper maintenance of kit and two short features on collecting. The first provided ideas for making scrap books and the other was for stamp collectors, with neither relating to Christmas. 

The colour page seven marked the very first episode of Riders of the Range, from the popular radio serials by Charles Chilton. Although Christmas played no part in Jeff Arnold's first episode, his arrival in EAGLE was quite special. The strip would run for more than eleven years. The first episode was drawn by Jack Daniel, who would illustrate the first two adventures before Angus Scott took over for the next three until Frank Humphris became the regular artist from 1952 to the strip's end in 1962, later illustrating Blackbow the Cheyenne until EAGLE's merger with Lion in 1969. The cutaway drawing on the top half of the centre spread was of the underground railway operated by the Post Office to carry mail between Paddington and Whitechapel, with the text emphasising the Christmas mail. The cutaway was drawn by Leslie Ashwell-Wood, who was the most prolific of EAGLE's cutaway artists. On the bottom half of the centrespread was an imported French strip called Skippy the Kangaroo, which had no connection with the later Australian TV series. This Skippy, drawn in a basic cartoon style, was a continuing story and did not relate to Christmas. It was credited to Danay, Dubriscay and Genestre and described as an Andre Sarrut production, which seems like a lot of people to produce such a simple strip, but this team were then in the process of making a cartoon feature film in France based on a Hans Anderson story, with the hope of building up a cartoon film studio to rival Disney. Unfortunately problems beset the company and while the film was shown unofficially against the director Paul Grimault's wishes in 1952, disagreements between Sarrut and Grimault resulted in it not being released properly until 1980! Consequently it never had the opportunity to succeed. Possibly Skippy was to have been their next film project. 

On the next page (ten) also in colour, two half page strips told the story of the Glastonbury thorn bush which reputedly flowers on Christmas Day and the origin of the Christmas tree, which was brought by Prince Albert from Germany, but was actually originated by an English missionary St. Winfred (also known as St. Boniface). Page eleven included the Editor's letter to readers and Marcus Morris used it to wish them a happy Christmas. He apologised that the issue was unable to provide more pages than the usual sixteen, writing that paper was still very scarce and continuing: 

"..but we have done what we can to give it a Christmassy look and to include a number of features telling you about Christmas traditions and customs. Most important of all, you will find on the back page the reason why we keep Christmas at all - the story of the birth of Jesus Christ over nineteen hundred years ago in the stable at Bethlehem." 

He was referring to The Great Adventurer, the long running serial on page sixteen about the life of St. Paul, where Christmas was cleverly included in the strip as Paul told his audience at Philippi the story of Jesus' birth. This strip was still being produced by Frank Hampson's team, with Jocelyn Thomas as principal artist. They would hand over briefly to Alfred Sindall early in 1951, before Norman Williams took over as the regular back page biographies artist in February 1951. 

Meanwhile, back on page eleven still, Norman Thelwell's weekly three frame Chicko comedy strip featured Christmas and there was also a half page Competition Corner with a series of Christmas based puzzles and activities. Due to paper shortages EAGLE never wasted space and Readers' Letters also appeared on this page, although none related to Christmas. Page twelve was a one off Christmas text story Bagpipes for the Gallant, about a young Scots lad who gets the set of bagpipes he had always wanted after saving his sister's life and his family cottage by putting out a fire. It was written by E. Vincent, who was Ellen Vincent, the Assistant Editor of EAGLE. The 'drop in' pictures were by Will Nickless, who had illustrated the Worzel Gummidge books of Barbara Euphen Todd during the 1940s and would later produce illustrations for many children's books, including EAGLE and Swift Annuals. The top half of page thirteen was a Sporting Personalities strip about the showjumper Lt. Colonel Harry M. Llewellyn O.B.E. This was drawn by 'Ross' who we now know was really Ron Smith, who would go on to have a long career in comic strip illustration. His future work would include many strips for D.C. Thomson's comics and Judge Dredd in 2000 A.D. weekly thirty years later. 'Ross' had also illustrated the short strip about the origin of the Christmas tree in the same issue. The bottom half of page thirteen featured advertisements for Rolo, Subbuteo Table Soccer and Philidyne Cycle Dynamo Lighting Sets. 

On page fourteen, John Ryan's Harris Tweed Extra Special Agent 'solves' (if that's the right word!) The Case of the Two Father Christmases in a complete whole page adventure and on page fifteen Tommy Walls, a full page strip sponsored by Walls Ice Cream also had a one off Christmas adventure about turkey thieves, illustrated by Richard Jennings and despite the cold weather, Tommy continued to encourage readers to eat ice cream. Although this was essentially an advertising strip, Tommy Walls was extremely popular with readers, especially after it changed from one off stories to continuing ones in May 1952. Tommy was actually granted a four page colour strip in the second EAGLE Annual, produced for Christmas 1952 - the only occasion that he didn't eat or refer to Walls Ice Cream. First drawn by Frank Hampson in Issue One, the strip was later drawn by Eric Parker (of Sexton Blake fame), John Worsley, Walter Pannett, Harold Johns and Richard Jennings. Jennings also wrote many scripts for Tommy Walls and he would continue working for EAGLE after Tommy Walls ended, drawing and eventually writing the Storm Nelson-Sea Adventurer strip. Later he would be well known for his Dalek strips in TV Century 21 and Dalek books. 

In subsequent years the issues leading up to Christmas would feature a lot of adverts for EAGLE related merchandise, but despite its overnight success, EAGLE's publisher, Hulton Press and other companies were not yet ready to cash in, although Hulton did release an EAGLE Diary for 1951 and The EAGLE Book of Adventure Stories, but there was no EAGLE Annual until the following year. This might suggest that Hulton and Britain's toy companies were slow off the mark,  but there were still shortages of many commodities as a result of the War and some rationing was still in progress. EAGLE's success had exceeded all expectations and annuals were significant publications in the 1950s and 60s, so additional staff had to be appointed to build on the initial success. In fact Dan Dare would be Britain's first heavily merchandised fictional character, with toys, clothes, filmstrip projectors, books, tooth powder, brushes, watches, cups, card games, Easter eggs and transfers being produced.    

Although EAGLE's huge popularity ensured that commercialism seemed to dominate the publication, in later years, the religious significance of Christmas was always promoted in the Christmas issues throughout the editorships of Marcus Morris and his successor, Clifford Makins. Perhaps ironically, it was only in the 1960s when the declining popularity of Dan Dare and EAGLE meant that they were no were no longer being heavily merchandised, that the religious aspect was overlooked. 

I am grateful to Lew Stringer for allowing me to use his scans of the front page of the Christmas EAGLE and the Chicko strip and to Richard Sheaf and Steve Winders for providing and clarifying some information.

EAGLE TIMES Vol.35 No.4 Winter 2022

The Winter issue of EAGLE Times is out now. This edition contains a tribute to our late Queen Elizabeth II by David Britton, who also contributes the final instalment of his series about the Canadian Pacific Railway and the final part of his detailed examination of the Riders of the Range adventure Last of the Fighting Cheyenne. Also in this issue is EAGLE and the Changing Face of Christmas by Andrew Newman, The Day I Met Frank Hampson by John Liffen, another In and Out of the EAGLE by Jim Duckett, the final episode of my latest Archie Willoughby adventure and my short appraisal of the third Luck of the Legion novel Carry On Sergeant Luck. The issue also contains details of our next annual gathering, which will be held at York from April 11th - 13th. 

JOAN PORTER (1926 - 2022) A tribute to the late EAGLE artist by Steve Winders

Joan Porter (nee Humphries), the last surviving member of Frank Hampson's original team who worked on the creation of Dan Dare and several other strips for the EAGLE has died aged 96. Joan was employed as a colourist, photographer, researcher, secretary and costume maker. She was there at the beginning, from late 1949, when Frank and his team worked in the old Bakehouse in Churchtown, Southport and there at the end of his time on EAGLE, remaining with him in 1959 when he gave up the Dan Dare strip to assist him on his final strip for the paper, The Road of Courage, which ran in EAGLE until Easter 1961. An unassuming versatile lady with a fine sense of humour, I met her only once and then briefly, at the opening of the 1990 Dan Dare Exhibition in the Atkinson Arts Centre in Southport. However I did converse with her by e-mail when I was researching an article for EAGLE Times on Frank's back page strip The Great Adventurer and she was most helpful and enthusiastic, kindly providing me with many details of its production. In his quest for perfection, Frank used members of his team to pose in costume for photographs of scenes that could then be drawn more accurately and on The Great Adventurer, Joan made costumes, coloured pages, assisted with research and filed information garnered by the research. Her role in the production of the Dan Dare strip was the same. In the interests of accuracy and consistency, significant research was carried out and references for all aspects of the strip were kept and Joan organised and catalogued this. She also became the principal photographer. Her organisation was a key factor in the high quality and success of the strip. 

She will be greatly missed. Her passing marks the end of an era in the Dan Dare story.

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 33

Dan Dare encountered the 'Sargasso Sea of Space' in Reign of the Robots  and The Ship That Lived, but two years earlier in 1955, the American writer Alice Norton,under her pseudonym of 'Andrew North', wrote a novel which used the name, although not the idea. Dan Dare's Sargasso was a dead zone in space where damaged spaceships drifted and gathered. Norton's book features a planet from which a group of wreckers use sophisticated equipment to pull in ships, so that they can capture and loot them. The book was later reprinted and credited to Norton's more familiar 'nom de plume' of Andre Norton. Her book was not the first Sargasso of Space though. 

A 1931 novelette by Edmond Hamilton also used the title and in Hamilton's story the Sargasso is a dead zone in space full of wrecks of damaged ships. A ship commanded by a Captain Crain drifts into the zone when its fuel tanks leak and just like Dan Dare, Crain and his crew escape by taking fuel from another ship in the zone. It is quite possible that this story inspired the Sargasso incident in Reign of the Robots. Hamilton's story first appeared in the American Astounding Stories magazine which was imported into Britain and Australia before the War, so either Frank Hampson or the writer Alan Stranks (in Australia) might well have read it. The real Sargasso Sea is an area of the north western Atlantic where several currents meet and deposit marine plants and refuse. It is named after the Sargassum seaweed, which is found there in abundance. An old tradition of sailing ships becoming becalmed there is merely due to the calm winds of the Horse Latitudes. 

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 32

In 1982, the year that the new version of EAGLE was launched, a pop group called Loose Talk released a single called Dan Dare, about our hero. Written by band member Ray Walton, it was heavily promoted in EAGLE and was played on Radio One, where it was Tony Blackburn's Record of the Week. A video was made featuring the band wearing costumes previously used in the James Bond film Moonraker and the TV series Space 1999 and incorporating frames from the Return of the Mekon strip from EAGLE, drawn by Oliver Frey and Ian Kennedy, but it was not a hit. Although associated with Dan's Great Great Grandson as featured in the 1980s EAGLE, a reference in the  song to 'Satellite XQY' recalls the original Dan's adventure Prisoners of Space which Ray Walton had read when it was reprinted in EAGLE in 1967. 

The group followed the song up with one about 2000 A.D.'s  Judge Dredd. However I.P.C. Magazines were unhappy with some of the lyrics and placed a High Court Injunction on the record. I.P.C. lost the subsequent case and the record was eventually released. The phrase that particularly offended IP.C. was 'Judge Dredd, he's bad'. It was argued that 'bad' actually meant 'good' in the context of the song. 

Another song entitled Dan Dare was recorded by the Punk Rock group The Mekons in 1978 and featured on their debut album The Quality of Mercy is Not Strnen (not a misprint!). As the group's name indicates, they were fans of Dan Dare. Although they have undergone significant changes in personnel and musical styles over the years and ceased activity for a while, they still perform to this day, with their latest album being released in 2020. 

Back in 1975, Elton John released his own Dan Dare song, written by himself and Bernie Taupin, on his Rock of the Westies album. Elton wanted to release the song as the album's first single, but he was overruled and Island Girl was chosen instead. His Dan Dare was never released as a single, but it resurfaced in 2002 when it was used as the closing music for the computer generated Dan Dare TV series.  

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 31

The Web of Fear was a ten part Dan Dare adventure which began in EAGLE in the issue dated October 20th 1962. Written by David Motton and illustrated in black and white by Keith Watson, it featured an invasion of Earth by giant spider-like creatures which covered huge areas with dense destructive webs. Not one of Dan's most memorable adventures, it nevertheless had a memorable title, which was taken up six years later by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln for a six part Doctor Who serial, beginning on February 3rd 1968. 

Set principally in the London Underground, it did not feature spiders, but the Yeti creatures they had created for their Abominable Snowmen serial for Doctor Who some months earlier and which were controlled by a being that called itself 'The Great Intelligence'. The 'web' of the title referred to a deadly web-like fungus which engulfs much of London, necessitating a mass evacuation of the city. This story is regarded by many Doctor Who fans as a classic. It marks the first appearance of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (then a mere Colonel) who would prove to be one of the Doctor's longest serving and most popular companions. The title was used again three years later, for an episode of another B.B.C. science fiction series - Doomwatch. This story was broadcast in February 8th 1971 and did include spiders. A vaccine experiment goes out of control and results in hundreds of spiders carrying a deadly virus. It was written by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, who had also contributed stories for Doctor Who and would certainly have encountered the title when used on that programme. Whether they had encountered Dan Dare's Web of Fear is not known, but Kit Pedler had been a Dan Dare fan in his boyhood. 

In the interests of completion, there was also a Spanish/French contemporary thriller film called Web of Fear, directed by Francois Villiers in 1964, but clearly David Motton used the title first on Dan Dare.  

EAGLE TIMES Vol.35 No.3

 The Autumn issue of EAGLE Times is out now. Articles cover Dan Dare's lesser known rivals, girls in EAGLE, Luck of the Legion, the Canadian Pacific Railway and a report on our 2022 Gathering in Greenwich. There are also tributes to our late member, Adrian Perkins, who was greatly involved in Dan Dare fandom for over forty years, including being a key member of the EAGLE Times editorial team. There are two instalments of In and Out of the EAGLE, about the artist Fortunino Matania and the radio hero Dick Barton. A Letters' Page, the first episode of a new Sergeant Archie Berkeley-Willoughby adventure and the text of Steve Winders' talk at the Society's Gathering complete the issue.