The Summer issue of Eagle Times, published by The Eagle Society, is available now for members, offering another fine mix of features, including a report on their recent annual gathering and a short tribute to “New” Eagle Group Editor Barrie Tomlinson, who passed earlier this year – but one intriguing feature stands out.
The highlight of this issue, however, has to be Jeremy Briggs’ feature alluded to earlier this week: a look at the synopses of two “lost” Dan Dare adventures, “The Space Bandits” and “The Missing Controller”, written by Peggy Cornwell, under the pseudonym “Leslie Brent”, wife of artist Bruce Cornwell, one of the original team to work on the “Dan Dare” strip under Frank Hampson.
Submitted for consideration to the publishers of Eagle in 1956 through an agent, copies of the story pitches were discovered by Peggy’s family. Both are included in full in this issue of Eagle Times, and make for fascinating reading, Eagle fans left wondering, however, why they were submitted under a pseudonym.
This discovery also prompts the question: what other lost gems created for Eagle might still be lurking in the personal archives of the title’s creators, waiting to be discovered by heirs?
This issue also, as mentioned, includes Reg Hoare‘s coverage of the annual meeting of The Eagle Society in Peterborough, and the text of Steve Winders entertaining speech at the event, sharing his thoughts on being a collector, sometimes tongue in cheek. We’re also treated to the second part of his latest adventure, “The Case of the Funny Money“, featuring Scotland Yard detective Archie Berkeley-Willoughby.
David Britton also continues his features on “Riders of the Range” and his series on reader letters published in EAGLE in the 1950s, while Peter Barr revisits the contents of a series of articles on sports heroes, updating their biographies.
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
• Scripting the Harbour Launch Build in the Eagle Book of Hobbies by Jeremy Briggs
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as 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.
Categories: British Comics, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Magazines
Are You Ready for Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker? 
Time ripe to promote comics and magazines in literacy push? 
Unearthed: “Cliff Mayhew”, a short-lived comic strip drawn by Jim Holdaway 
Rebellion partners with Sneak Energy to launch Judge Dredd sugar-free drinks 
I live in Peterborough (if you now call it living) and I knew nothing about the event in the Cathedral. Since I’m not in the Eagle society, I do not regard this as their fault (more mine) but I have to suggest that Peterborough is totally rubbish at publicising things – Dave
It wasn’t a public event. Well worth joining the Society if you’re a Dan Dan or Eagle fan