WENCESLAS THE GOOD

THIS ARTICLE BY STEVE WINDERS APPEARED IN THE CHRISTMAS ISSUE OF EAGLE TIMES IN 2016.

Francis Dickson, alias ‘R.B. Saxe’ died in February 1953, having written three back page ‘real life’ serials for EAGLE. He had also written strips about the lives of Elizabeth Fry for GIRL ANNUAL and Wenceslas of Bohemia for EAGLE ANNUAL and these were his final published works, appearing many months after his death when the annuals were published ready for Christmas 1953. In his strips for EAGLE, Saxe never let the truth get in the way of a good story and he sometimes placed events at the wrong time and outside their proper context to make his story flow better. Wenceslas the Good is no exception. Running for just six pages in black and white, it tells the story of a Duke of Bohemia from the tenth century who was a champion of Christianity. Although greatly venerated in England in the years following his death, Wenceslas would have been unknown in contemporary Britain but for a popular Christmas carol written in 1853 by an Anglican clergyman John Mason Neale  who was a prolific writer of hymns. The hymn was set to the melody of a thirteenth century Spring carol called Tempest Adest Floridum, which he had found in an old Finnish song collection. The words themselves are believed to be based on a Czech poem by Vaclav Alois Svoboda. 

In both the strip and the carol, Wenceslas is described as a King although he was actually a Duke. However, after his death, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto the First posthumously conferred the title of King on him. Born in 907, Wenceslas was heavily influenced by his pious grandmother Ludmila, while his younger brother Boleslas was more influenced by their mother Drahomira, a nominal convert to Christianity with strong pagan sympathies. Saxe correctly recounts all this in the strip omitting only Wenceslas’ year of birth. The strip wrongly reports the death of his father as 926 while most authorities place his death in 921. If he had died as late as 926 then Bohemia would not have needed a regent as both the strip and reality show. Wenceslas is still depicted as a young boy. The strip says that his mother was made regent, but Saxe omits to say that she was obliged to share authority with Ludmila and that Drahomira had her killed! A frame shows Wenceslas telling his mother that now he is ‘King’ he will build more churches and convert his people to Christianity. She reminds him of her authority and says that no churches will be built as it would offend the pagan barons.

According to the strip, Wenceslas’ mother persuades the barons to carry out raids into what Saxe describes as ‘the German Empire’ led by Boleslas, prompting his older brother to warn her of the folly of this as Henry of Germany is strong. His mother dismisses his fears saying that neighbouring states will help if the Empire attacks. Henry invades Bohemia ‘the very next day’ and is soon besieging Prague. To overcome this crisis, Wenceslas abolishes the regency and takes control. He makes peace with Henry which brings Bohemia into his Empire and having to pay an annual tribute, but the treaty is described as fair. As usual in Saxe’s stories, the truth is far more complicated.

What actually happened was that Wenceslas’ father Vratislaus had secured an alliance with the Bavarian Duke Arnulf, an opponent of Henry, to avoid being absorbed by his Empire, but in 921, the year of Vratislaus’ death, Arnulf and his forces were besieged by Henry in Regensburg and Arnulf was forced to sue for peace, making the alliance worthless. Wenceslas assumed leadership of his Duchy in 924 or 925 when he came of age and exiled his mother. As in the strip he began to build churches and schools, including a rotunda church dedicated to Saint Vitus in Prague Castle, which exists to this day as Saint Vitus’ Cathedral. It was not until 929 that the joint forces of Arnulf and Henry attacked Prague in a sudden attack and forced Wenceslas to pay a regular tribute, so the events as described in the strip are misleading. However some historians believe that when Drahomira was regent she had opposed accepting the Christian Henry as overlord of Bohemia, whereas Ludmila who strongly influenced Wenceslas was believed to support Henry’s authority. Although Wenceslas did not subsequently ally himself with Henry until he was forced to, Arnulf began raiding Bohemia in 922, which put him in a difficult position and his banishment of his mother may have been partly due to her enmity towards the powerful Henry. Saxe was correct in showing that Henry and Wenceslas had great respect for each other. They recognised their shared aims in spreading Christianity.    

The strip goes on to show rebellious barons objecting to Wenceslas sending out missionaries to convert their serfs into ‘rebellious dogs of Christians’ and the missionaries and their converts are forced to worship in hiding. This was certainly a period of tension in Bohemia as Christianity steadily replaced paganism and given Drahomira’s objections to Wenceslas’ promotion of the Christian faith, there was clearly a resistance to it in high places. Wenceslas is then shown giving gifts to the poor and Saxe follows this with the story told by the famous carol. On the Feast of Stephen (December 26^th) Wenceslas sees a poor old man out in the snow gathering twigs for his fire and asks his page if he knows where the man lives. The page tells him that he lives a good ‘league’ away (the distance specified in the carol which equates to about three miles) and Wenceslas instructs him to gather wood and food for the old man. They then trudge through the snow to the man’s cottage and surprise him with the wood and a feast. The story is based on old stories of Wenceslas which tell how he went out at night, assisted only by his chamberlain to take gifts of food and money to the poor. Given that the carol is the only reason that most readers would have heard of Wenceslas, it is inevitable that the story is told in the strip.

Saxe’s account ends with the barons persuading Boleslas that his brother must be killed and he is ambushed by Boleslas and two others on his way to Church. The date is given as September 28^th 926. The date is correct but the year has been misprinted. Earlier the strip had incorrectly given his father’s death as 926! The correct year of Wenceslas’ murder is given on the next page as 936, although many authorities say 935. It was a long time ago! In the strip Wenceslas is stabbed to death by one of his brother’s companions. Tradition holds that he was indeed killed by his brother, aided by three other men. Although not mentioned in the strip, his body was dismembered and buried at the scene which immediately became a place of pilgrimage and many miracles were reported there. Subsequently his body was moved to St. Vitus’ Church in Prague by a repentant Boleslas. The strip concludes with Boleslas feeling remorse for his brother’s murder and dedicating his newborn son Stratchk to the Church. This is true. Stratchk grew up to become Bishop of Prague, although sadly he died suddenly on the day of his consecration. 

After his martyrdom a cult grew up around Wenceslas, particularly in Bohemia and England. The Anglo-Saxon English identified with his struggles against paganism, having faced similar experiences with their pagan Viking neighbours, who were now gradually converting to Christianity. They were probably also influenced by the esteem in which he was held by Henry and later his son Otto, who were the leading Saxon rulers in Europe, with Otto becoming Holy Roman Emperor in 962. Wenceslas was hailed as a saint and his death significantly promoted the cause of Christianity in Bohemia, not least because of his brother’s remorse.

The strip provides readers with a flowing and well-constructed account of Wenceslas’ life. In simplifying the complex political situation after his father’s death it contains inaccuracies and there is some confusion about dates, but it gives a reasonably accurate portrayal of a saint who everyone has heard of but few really know anything about. As in all Saxe’s EAGLE strips Wenceslas the Good was drawn by Norman Williams, although in black and white whereas his back page weekly stories were in colour. Unable to make use of his skills in using contrasting colours to show characters’ emotions, he nevertheless uses fine and heavy lines most effectively. He also uses a lot of dark shading which gives the images depth and sharpness.

Wenceslas the Good was a most appropriate strip for EAGLE ANNUAL. Telling the story of a hero most closely associated with Christmas, it appears in a book that most readers would receive at Christmas, which is also why it is featured in this blog at Christmas. Almost uniquely among Christmas carols, Good King Wenceslaus makes no reference to the Nativity of Jesus, yet its theme of giving binds it firmly to the season.  

EAGLE TIMES - WINTER 2019

The Winter EAGLE Times is out now and contains a range of articles about our favourite weekly.
Luck of the Legion and the Phantom Story by David Britton. A planned story about the Foreign Legionnaire that was never published. 
Pop Goes The EAGLE by Will Grenham. A look at Pop music in EAGLE.
Patrick- Fighter for Truth by Steve Winders. An examination of EAGLE's back page strip from 1951.
EAGLE's Annuals by Joe Hoole. The first of a three part series about all the EAGLE Annuals.
Sergeant Luck's Christmas Quiz. 
Charles Chilton and the Indian Wars Part Seven by David Britton. A look at the Riders of the Range story The Cochise Affair.
The Case of the Counterfeit Constable by Steve Winders. The final part of Steve's Archie Berkeley- Willoughby story about art forgery.
In and Out of the EAGLE (40) by Jim Duckett. This edition focuses on Harris Tweed .
Tailpieces by David Britton.
Postbag: Readers' Letters. 
     REGULAR SUBSCRIBERS ALSO RECEIVED A FREE EAGLE TIMES CALENDAR FOR 2020.

EAGLE TIMES Vol. 32 No.3 Autumn 2019

The Autumn edition of EAGLE Times is out now. Tintin appears on the cover and in an article about his Moon adventure inside, which highlights the similarities between Frank Hampson and Herge's working methods. Of interest to readers of the 1980s EAGLE is a feature on the photo strips which were such an important element of the early issues.
IN THIS ISSUE:
*Charles Chilton and the Indian Wars: Part 6 of David Britton's in depth look at the Riders of the Range Adventure The War With the Sioux and the real story of the war.
*Dan Dare Mint and Boxed: A look at the impressive Dan Dare toy collection in the MINT Toy Museum in Singapore.
*Dan Dare Radio: A document from the B.B.C. archives about Radio Luxembourg's Dan Dare radio series.
*The Shell: The Motor Mechanic's Own Strip Cartoon Magazine: A look at an educational comic magazine produced by the Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company in the 1950s with several similarities to EAGLE by Jeremy Briggs.
*Destination Moon: Tintin's Moon Adventure examined by Jim Duckett.
*The Case of the Counterfeit Constable: Part 3 of Steve Winders' latest adventure of Archie Berkeley-Willoughby.
*In and Out of the EAGLE: Another page in the series of short EAGLE related items.
*Smile Please! You're in EAGLE: Steve Winders examines the photo strips from the 1980s EAGLE.
*Tail Pieces: A short piece on the Yugoslavian comic Plavi-Vjesnik which featured Dan Dare.   

EAGLE TIMES Vol. 32 No. 2 SUMMER 2019

The latest EAGLE TIMES is now available. Running to 48 pages, it features a wide range of articles:
*Charles Chilton and the Indian Wars (part five) by David Britton. 
*The Dan Dare studios Ideas Book
*Pogo Possum: The Early Years. Eric Fernie examines the American newspaper strip.
*The Travels of Marco Polo (part two) by Steve Winders
*The Case of the Counterfeit Constable (part two). Continuing Steve Winders' latest Archie Willoughby adventure.
*Come Fly With Me: Steve Winders' talk to the EAGLE Society Gathering at Dundee in April.
*In and Out of the EAGLE by Jim Duckett. Looking at EAGLE reprints in books.
*Chris Abbott Remembered: Memories of a much missed former member of our editorial team who died in March.
*Report on the EAGLE Society Gathering by Reg Hoare.

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 17

Sadly the well known character actor William Simons, who played P.C. Alf Ventress in the long running TV series Heartbeat died last week. As a boy William had two unusual links with the 1950s EAGLE. He was the subject of the article Schoolboy in the African Bush in Eagle Vol.2 No.39 (dated 4^th January 1952) when as an eleven year old he featured in the film Where No Vultures Fly. The article describes his experiences of filming on location for four months in Kenya. His other link with EAGLE was that he played Alfie Cutforth in the B.B.C. TV adaptation of Anthony Buckeridge's Rex Milligan stories, which had been specially created for EAGLE. 

Where No Vultures Fly was the second most successful film at the box office in Britain in 1952 and led to a sequel West of Zanzibar, released in 1954 in which William also featured. Both films starred Anthony Steel as a Game Warden who sets up a Wildlife Reserve in Kenya and both feature villainous ivory poachers. 

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 16

 Douglas Adams, the creator of the popular radio series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which was later televised, novelised and filmed, had his first work published at the age of twelve, on the letters page in EAGLE! His letter appeared in Volume 16 no. 4, dated 23rd January 1965. Douglas wrote:

"The sweat was dripping down my face and into my lap, making my clothes very wet and sticky. I sat there, waiting, watching. I was trembling violently as I sat, looking at the small slot, waiting - ever waiting. My nails dug into my flesh as I clenched my hands. I passed my arm over my hot, wet face, down which sweat was pouring. The suspense was unbearable. I bit my lip in an attempt to stop trembling with the terrible burden of anxiety. Suddenly, the slot opened and in dropped the mail. I grabbed at my EAGLE and ripped off the wrapping paper. My ordeal was over for another week!"

Another reader later to become famous, whose first published work appeared in EAGLE, was the cartoonist Gerald Scarfe. His drawing of EAGLE characters in the wrong clothes appeared in Volume 3 no.31, dated 7th November 1952, when he was sixteen. Entitled 'EAGLE Artist's Nightmare', his picture surely inspired Frank Hampson's strip 'The Editor's Christmas Nightmare', which appeared in the Christmas issue in 1954. Gerald also won a competition to design an advertisement for Ingersoll Dan Dare watches, which appeared in Volume 3 no. 37, dated 19th December 1952. Listed among the runners up in the same competition was David Hockney of Bradford, who went on to become one of Britain's foremost painters!

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 15

Herge's famous 'boy reporter' Tintin first appeared in English in EAGLE in a translation of his adventure King Ottokar's Sceptre, printed on the lower half of the middle page spread below the Cutaway Drawings, beginning in the issue dated 3rd August 1951 and ending in the issue dated 2nd May 1952 - a total of forty episodes. This story tells of Tintin's efforts to save the throne of the fictional Balkan kingdom of Syldavia for its rightful King and was inspired by Anthony Hope's novel The Prisoner of Zenda. The unknown translator, who was engaged by Tintin's Belgian and French publisher Casterman, retained the original names of all the characters except for the incompetent detectives Dupond and Dupont, who they renamed Thompson and Thomson. Hence Tintin's dog is called Milou in the EAGLE version, not Snowy. When Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner translated Tintin's adventures for book publication by Methuen commencing from 1958, they kept the Thompson names and anglicised many others.

EAGLE's version describes Tintin as a French boy, despite his Belgian origins and was an edited version of the revised colour album of the story produced by Herge, assisted by Edgar P. Jacobs in 1947. The story had originally been produced as a serial for the children's supplement of the newspaper Le Vingtieme Siecle between 1937 and 1938 and then released in album form in 1939. Its plot contains a strong topical element from that period, because Syldavia is threatened by its Faschist neighbour Borduria, echoing the threat posed to smaller countries by Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy. The 1947 album ran to sixty two pages of strip, compared to EAGLE's forty spreads, but EAGLE fitted more frames in each episode, often as many as four or five, so there was little removed from the original. Three of the album's pages were presented as a brochure describing the Geography and History of Syldavia. In EAGLE these were omitted and the key elements summarised in two text boxes, each containing an illustration taken from the brochure. Several humorous incidents involving the Thompsons or Milou (Snowy) were edited out of the EAGLE version, notably a vignette where Milou steals a large dinosaur bone from a museum and some single frames, including the four large half page pictures from the album were also left out.

In EAGLE the strip was titled The Adventures of Tintin and not King Ottokar's Sceptre and although Tintin's name was written as one word in the title, he is referred to as Tin Tin in the text boxes and speech bubbles. The speech bubbles themselves were written in a neat style using upper and lower case letters quite similar to that used in the French and later English albums, whereas the other strips in EAGLE  were all written in upper case letters.

The strip was not a great success in EAGLE and no further adventures were serialised. In my opinion there were several reasons for this. The 'ligne claire' style of artwork used by Herge more closely resembled styles used in overtly humorous cartoon strips in Britain than the more realistic style of British adventure strips. The style seemed to call for broad comedy whereas Tintin's adventures combine their humour with strong storylines. While EAGLE's adventure strips often contained a little humour and their comedy strips sometimes contained perilous situations, as in Harris Tweed, there was a clear distinction between adventure and comedy stories. EAGLE readers struggled to relate to this unfamiliar territory and this was not helped by Tintin's anachronistic image. A familiar icon in Belgium and France for more than two decades, Tintin's trademark plus fours and raised quiff only added to the unusual nature of the character and the strip for EAGLE readers in 1951. Also, the pace of the story was slightly slower than other strips in EAGLE at the time, with longer scenes in some locations. The Adventures of Tintin did not suit EAGLE's style. Finally the rather cold translation lacked the fun provided by the later ones where Lonsdale-Cooper and Turner replaced wit that could not be translated with wit of their own.

Thankfully Tintin did break into the British market when Methuen began to publish the books and they were able to find their own market. Every Tintin book has been translated into English and we have seen Tintin films, TV series, a B.B.C. radio series and three English language plays, most  notably a musical version of Tintin in Tibet by the National Youth Theatre in 2005. The bookshop chain Ottakar's, founded in 1987 but absorbed by Waterstone's Bookshops in 2006, took its name from King Ottokar, despite the different spelling and many branches displayed Tintin murals on their walls. Tintin's adventures have been translated into almost every language on Earth, including Cornish, Welsh, Gaelic and Catalan. In his native Belgium, Herge is celebrated in a purpose built museum dedicated to his work. Scenes and characters from the Tintin adventures are displayed on several murals in Brussels and Tintin is even featured on a Brussels Airlines plane which has been painted to look like the 'Shark' submarine from his Red Rackham's Treasure story.

(This article is derived from several of my 'In and Out of the Eagle' posts in 'Eagle Times'  with some additional factual information taken from Eric Fernie's article about 'King Ottokar's Sceptre' in Eagle from the 2016 Spring Issue of 'Eagle Times'. The opinions expressed in this article are mine - Jim Duckett.)