Jeremy Briggs brings us a special look at a spin-off Eagle annual feature by artist Bruce Cornwell, as it was originally intended to appear…
Original comic artwork is much sought after by ardent collectors, no doubt due to its visual nature making it eminently displayable. By contrast, handwritten or typed scripts for comic strips are inevitably much less desirable. While we may bemoan the loss of so many completed comic art pages over the decades, comic scripts were even more disposable, however despite many fewer surviving, rarity does not equate to value. Yet the scripts and other paperwork being sold by long time comics writer David Motton over the last year or so show that there is an, albeit limited, market for such items. For most the interest may be in seeing any differences between the scripts and the final printed strip or, for those scripts featuring a familiar character that never managed to reach an artist, just what the comic’s readers may have missed out on.
The Summer 2026 issue of Eagle Times, the journal of the Eagle Society and, in its 39th year of continual publication, the longest running comics’ fanzine in the UK, contains two Dan Dare synopses from 1956, entitled “Space Pirates” and “The Missing Controller”, that never saw publication in the weekly Eagle comic,mnor its annuals or specials. Credited to Mr Leslie Brent, an otherwise unknown name in comics, they were actually written by Mrs Peggy Cornwell, the wife of Dan Dare, Kemlo, and Tas artist, Arthur Bruce Cornwell.
Bruce Cornwell (1920 – 2012) was part of the original team that Frank Hampson recruited in 1949 to create Dan Dare and his futuristic worlds for the launch of the Eagle comic in April 1950, and therefore he had an intimate knowledge of the characters, buildings, and vehicles that he had illustrated for “Dan Dare”, a knowledge that would have been beneficial to Peggy for those two synopses.
They were recently rediscovered by Bruce and Peggy’s son, also called Bruce, and along with those synopses was a script entitled “How To Build A Model Boat”, the sort of practical hobby article that could have been included in an Eagle annual. This script is directly attributed to Bruce Cornwell, who was a skilled model maker and had built various models used for reference in the Dan Dare studio. It was dated 2 April 1958 in a handwritten note stating that it had been delivered to Mike Gibson of Hulton Press.
Michael Gibson was the art editor on the weekly Eagle comic and by 1958 had become the editor of the Eagle Annuals and the comic’s spin-off books including the on-going series of the Eagle Book Of…
There are more details of Michael Gibson’s career on Judy Greenway’s site.
While it is not in the Eagle Annual 8 published in 1958 for 1959, the first edition of Eagle Book Of Hobbies was also published in 1958, with a cover price of 15/-, and it has one of the two boys on its painted cover working on a model boat. The article, along with two pieces of black and white artwork by Bruce Cornwell illustrating it, is featured in the book under the title “How To Build A Harbour Launch”.
As a professional artist, Bruce Cornwell was not well known for having written scripts, either fictional or factual, and it is entirely possible that this article was polished by his wife Peggy, whom their son Bruce has described as “the writer of the family.”
With a list of items to buy, and then details of how to actually build the boat from scratch, there is not a lot of room to make editorial changes to the script without missing out anything vital to the build. However it does appear that there was not quite enough space allocated in the book for all the original script text, as the printed version stops quite abruptly after highlighting that the speed of a motorised version of the boat could be increased by adding an additional battery and how that could be wired in and hidden within the hull. In addition to this “Extra Speed” section, the original script has an end section which smoothly concludes the article by suggesting where the launch could be used and how to join a model boat club.
The original editorial decision for Eagle Book Of Hobbies was not to include this end section but, since Bruce Cornwell retained a copy of the original submitted script, downthetubes is able to publish this missing section of the article the way that he originally intended it to be read almost 70 years ago.
“You should have a super boat to sail on the nearest pond, and the more care you have taken in the building, the more proud you will be. If there is a model boat society or club near your home it is well worth contacting the secretary and joining for a small fee. Any club will be glad to have you as a member and by swapping ideas with other members you can avoid a lot of snags in building future models. If you don’t know of a club or society get in touch with your local Citizens Advice Bureau. Bon voyage!”
With thanks to Bruce Cornwell (Jr) and Ray Carnes
• Copies of Eagle Book of Hobbies 1958 regularly turn up an AmazonUK (Affiliate Link), Abe Books, and eBay at fairly affordable prices, and charity and secondhand bookshops, too
Membership of The Eagle Society is via Annual Subscription to Eagle Times magazine, which is published four times annually. Please make cheques payable to the ‘Eagle Society’. The current subscription rate is UK £30, Overseas £50 (all payments required in £s Sterling)
Postal applications to: Eagle Society Membership Secretary, Bob Corn, Mayfield Lodge, Llanbadoc, Usk Monmouthshire NP15 1SY | Web: eagle-times.blogspot.com | Enquiries: membership@eagle-society.org.uk
If you wish to pay by Paypal (from your Paypal account to the e-mail address above) – The Society request that you make your payment as a GIFT)
Head downthetubes for…
• The EAGLE Society is online at eagle-times.blogspot.com
• Bear Alley: The Cutaways of Bruce Cornwell – The Ship’s Crew by Jeremy Briggs
• Bear Alley: The Eagle Cutaways of Bruce Cornwell by Jeremy Briggs
• In Memoriam: Bruce Cornwell – downthetubes Tribute by Jeremy Briggs
• Bear Alley: Bruce Cornwell (1920-2012) – Obituary by Steve Holland
• Galactic Journey: Special Delivery! (Getting Your Mail via Rocket)
Includes a mention for E.C. Eliott’s Tas and the Postal Rocket, a juvenile science fiction adventure that revolves around a rocket mail service based at the Woomera Rocket Range, in South Australia
Eagle and Dan Dare ©️ Dan Dare Corporation
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News, reviews, interviews and features for print and on-line: Spaceship Away (since October 2005), Bear Alley (since February 2007), downthetubes (since June 2007), and Eagle Times (since October 2008). Plus DC Thomson’s The Art Of Ian Kennedy, Titan’s Dan Dare and Johnny Red reprints, Ilex’s War Comics: A Graphic History and 500 Essential Graphic Novels, and Print Media’s The Iron Moon and Strip magazine.
Categories: Art and Illustration, Books, Features, Other Worlds
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