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New Eagle Times magazine offers “PC 49” artist John Worsley focus and more

By John Freeman on December 14, 2015

The latest Eagle Times is out now, the twenty eighth Christmas issue of the magazine published by the Eagle Society, an organisation dedicated to the bestselling boys adventure comic of the 1950s and 60s best known for its “Dan Dare” strip.

The new issue features a piece by Alastair Crompton, author of the Frank Hampson biographies Man Who Drew Tomorrow and A Celebration of the Life and Art of Frank Hampson – Tomorrow Revisited, which explores some of the myths and realities of space travel, an article by Derek Wilson about the ‘Dan Dare Rocket Builder Kits’ and their resemblance and compatibility with Meccano, an article by downthetubes contributor Steve Winders about Marvel’s Tales of Asgard reprints in Eagle and two of the regular ‘In and Out of the Eagle’ columns by Jim Duckett.

There’s also a long and informative letter from the author and designer and always interesting Roger Perry, writer of our “Eagle Daze” posts, which is really an article in itself.

Here’s the full contents:

‘John Worsley.. Man of many talents’: a brief review of the career of Eagle‘s best-known ‘PC49’ artist, and concluding the article begun in the previous issue of Eagle Times on paintings by John Worsley shown in 2015 at the War Artists at Sea Exhibition in Greenwich
‘PC49 and the Case of the Gypsy’s Warning’: part 2 of the latest Eagle Times adaptation of a PC49 radio story, originally written by Alan Stranks
‘The Eagle Society Annual Dinner 2015′: a review of the Eagle Society Gathering and Annual Dinner, which was held at Bletchley, Buckinghamshire in September 2015, and included a visit to Bletchley Park, the wartime site of the UK’s Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS)
‘Cruising Speed’: featuring a game devised and drawn for Supercar Annual by Eagle writer and artist Eric Eden

The Dan Dare Rocket Builder Set comprising: Metal Component Kit. <a href="http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/mullocks-specialist-auctioneers-and-valuers/catalogue-id-srmu10013/lot-6ca5531b-6b07-4c69-8d98-a42600816539">This set was sold at auction in 2014</a>. The kits were similar in principal to Meccano, Nuts & Bolts and came with an Instruction Booklet with Plans to Construct eight different models.

The Dan Dare Rocket Builder Set comprising: Metal Component Kit. This set was sold at auction in 2014. The kits were similar in principal to Meccano, Nuts & Bolts and came with an Instruction Booklet with Plans to Construct eight different models.

‘Dan Dare Rocket and Space Ship Builder Sets – The Meccano Connection’: on the construction sets produced in the 1950s by A & M Bartram of Birmingham (If you’re interested in seeing how this kit looks, have a look at this post on “Girders and Gears“)
‘PC49 and the Case of the Stolen Christmas Presents’: a seasonal short story from Alan Stranks, in which PC Archibald Berkeley-Willoughby plays detective
‘Mark, The Youngest Disciple’: the third, and final, final part of an examination of the background to Chad Varah’s version of the events surrounding the Passion of Jesus, which appeared in Eagle between November 1954 and June 1955, drawn by Giorgio Bellavitis. (This strip was last reprinted by Titan Books in 2010 alongside Frank Hampson’s Road of Courage in Classic Bible Stories)
‘Christmas Annuals of the 1960s’: following last year’s ‘From Under the 1950s Christmas Tree: Christmas Annuals’, this article takes a look at the range of children’s annuals and similar publications produced through the 1960s
‘The Gay Corinthian’: a comparison of the Eagle’s (1961-62) reprint/adaptation of the 1924 novel by Ben Bolt with its earlier (June 1953) comic-strip adaptation in Thriller Comics
‘In and Out of the Eagle‘: some more episodes in the series presenting collections of Eagle-related snippets
‘Thanks to… Arthur Roberts (and other art editors)’: David Slinn recollects his career in illustration and lettering, including his contributions to Eagle and its companion papers, and his involvement in Eaglecon80, when he interviewed Chad Varah
Marvel Comes to Eagle: on the reprint of Marvel Comics’ Tales of Asgard, which appeared in Eagle in 1968
‘Where did you get those crazy ideas about space? From Hollywood probably, or sci-fi books and maybe just a few from Dan Dare’: on some of fiction’s less-plausible ideas about space travel and exploration
‘Who said Lego could put men in space?’: on the inclusion of a number of Lego astronauts on a recent visit by Danish astronaut Andreas E Morgensen to the International Space Station

• Membership of The Eagle Society is via Annual Subscription to Eagle Times magazine, which is published four times annually. The Subscription rate for 2015 is: UK £27; Overseas £38 (in £s Sterling, please). Postal applications to Keith Howard, 25A Station Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 2UA. If you wish to pay by Paypal (from your Paypal account to the eagle-times hotmail address given below) we request an additional payment of £1.50. Enquiries: eagle-times@hotmail.com Web: http://eagle-times.blogspot.co.uk

Thanks to Steve Winders for the heads up and main pic

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.