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Latest Eagle Times travels well with Dan Dare, Marco Polo, Pogo and more

By John Freeman on August 6, 2019

The latest issue of the Eagle Society magazine Eagle Times (Volume 32 No. 2 -Summer 2019) is now available and offers another great mix of articles on both Eagle and other comics, not only offering further insight into the Eagle strip “The Travels of Marco Polo” by Chad Varah, Frank Bellamy and Peter Jackson, but this time dipping its toes into the history a great comic strip from across the Atlantic – “Pogo” by Walt Kelly.

First published in 1941 (for issue #1 of Dell’s Animal Comics in the story “Albert Takes the Cake”), at its peak Walt Kelly’s “Pogo” appeared in nearly 500 papers in 14 countries, and sold close to 300 million copies of books about Pogo and his friends. Kelly died in 1973 and his widow, Selby, continued the internationally syndicated comic strip until July, 1975. Eric Fernie tales a look at the the strip, its characters and themes in a fascinating article, drawing on two early books, Pogo, published in 1949, and The Pogo Papers, published in 1953.

Alongside this, we get a fascinating insight into just ow much work went into designing the worlds of Dan Dare for Eagle with a look at some of what remains of the Dan Dare Studios Ideas Book. It’s incredible even now to see just how much work went into a character or vehicle design that might eventually appear in just one or two panels – an indication of the attention to detail the team put into the original strip.

However, I think my favourite feature this issue has to be a transcript of Steve Winders talk at the recent Eagle Society dinner in Dundee, which jabs some wonderful sticks into the “joys” or travel, that seems so easy in comics such as Eagle or Tintin, but never in real life. The links to comics are a little tenuous, but it made me laugh!

Running to 48 pages, Eagle Times Volume 32 No. 2 also features “Charles Chilton and the Indian Wars” (part five) by David Britton; “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; “In and Out of the EAGLE” by Jim Duckett, looking at Eagle reprints in book; a tribute to much-missed Eagle Society member Chris Abbott, a former member of the Eagle Times editorial team who died in March; and a great report on the Eagle Society Gathering in Dundee by Reg Hoare.

• Membership of THE EAGLE SOCIETY is via Annual Subscription to EAGLE TIMES magazine, which is published four times annually. The Subscription rate for 2019 has been frozen at the 2018 rate: UK £29 | Overseas £40 (in £s Sterling, please).

Postal applications to Eagle Society Membership Secretary Bob Corn, Wellcroft Cottage, Wellcroft, Ivinghoe, Bucks LU7 9EF. If you wish to pay by Paypal (from your Paypal account to the eagle-times hotmail address given below) – the Society request that you make your payment as a GIFT). Enquiries:eagle-times@hotmail.com | Full details can be found at eagle-times.blogspot.com

• Dan Dare books on Amazon UK (Affiliate Link)

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.