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Latest Issue Of Eagle Times Now Available (Volume 24, Number Three)

By John Freeman on October 13, 2011

Leslie Ashwell Wood was Eagle’s premier cutaway artist providing over 600 different painted cutaways for the weekly comic between 1950 and 1969. While some of these paintings have been reused in the recent Eagle reprint books published by Orion to date none of Wood’s original pencils for these Eagle cutaways have ever been published.

Earlier this year downthetubes’ Jeremy Briggs discovered the pencils for Leslie Ashwell Wood’s cutaway of the Royal Navy destroyer HMS St Kitts which was published in Eagle Volume One Number 46 dated 23 February 1951. These pencils are published for the first time, alongside the final version of the cutaway as printed in Eagle, as an A3 centrespread in the new issue of Eagle Times. In addition to the centrespread, Jeremy supplies a detailed article on Leslie Ashwell Wood’s 19-year career with Eagle comic.

HMS St Kitts by Leslie Ashwell Wood

Amongst other features in this new issue of Britain’s longest running comics fanzine are the first part of “A Look at Luck” examining Eagle’s Luck of the Legion, the French Foreign Legion strip written by Geoffrey Bond and drawn by Martin Aitchison, an examination of the real XCH-4 hydrofoil which inspired Frank Hampson’s hydrofoil designs in the Dan Dare story The Man From Nowhere, and writer Alan Vince’s memories of working for David Hunt, the first editor of new Eagle in the 1980s.

Autumn 2011 Contents

A Look at Luck – the first in a series examining ‘Luck of the Legion’, the French Foreign Legion strip written by Geoffrey Bond and drawn by Martin Aitchison, that ran in Eagle from 1952 – 1961
The XCH-4 Hydrofoil – the real-life flying machine that inspired Frank Hampson’s futuristic designs for the Turmoiland the Poseidon, which appeared in the ‘Dan Dare’ strip, ‘The Man From Nowhere’
Wulf the Briton conquers them all – a close look at the Palace Books’ reproduction of the 1950s strip from Express Weekly, drawn (or, rather, painted) by Ron Embleton
PC49 and the Case of the Frightened Flower Girl – the beginning of a new adaptation from one of Alan Stranks’ radio plays
Eagle Times Window, taking a look at The Dan Dare Space Journal, Orion Books’ latest Eagle-inspired publication
L. Ashwell Wood – Cutaway Maestro, taking a look at the life and career of Eagle‘s most prolific Cutaway artist
Journey into Space with Auntie’s Charlie – a report on the combined Book Launch for Charles Chilton’s autobiography and the first of his Journey into Space novels.
Working with David Hunt, memories of working on ‘Dan Dare’ projects for the “new” Eagle editor in the early 1980s
Rivals of Jeff Arnold – Kit Carson part 8 of an ongoing series looking at the real and fictional Wild Western characters that appeared in British comics in the 1950s
The David Pugh ‘Dan Dare’, part three: continuing an examination of the ‘Dan Dare’ stories drawn by one of the artists who took on the resurrected “original” Dan Dare in “new” Eagle 1989-1994
Spotted in the Press – “Now I’ll Never be Dan Dare”: on the the demise of the Space Shuttle
Remembering ‘Reign of the Robots’ – a re-look at Dan Dare’s adventure on a Mekon-subjugated Earth, after the return from Cryptos
Eagle‘s Wanderers: an examination of two fictional football strips that appeared in Eagle. Part 2 The Circus Wanderers

• There are more details about Eagle Times Volume 24 Number 3 on the Eagle Times Blog.

• An annual subscription to Eagle Times magazine, which is published four times per year, is via membership to the Eagle Society. Details of how to subscribe are also on the Eagle Times Blog.

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.