After a month’s delay, the latest Eagle Times is out now from the Eagle Society, with several features focusing on the work of one of Britain’s finest comic artists and illustrators, Frank Bellamy, whose amazing and much-admired work included “Dan Dare”, “Heros the Spartan” (profiled in the issue) and “Fraser of Africa” for the Eagle, and “Thunderbirds” for TV Century 21.
Here’s a rundown of the contents:
- Frank Bellamy – Trademarks and Techniques – on the development of the skills of one of Britain’s greatest illustrators and comic strip artists
- The Two artists of “Jack o’Lantern” – comparing Robert Ayton, the artist who drew the majority of the “Jack o’Lantern” strip, and Cecil Doughty, the artist who replaced him for the last 30 or so episodes
- In and Out of the Eagle – another couple of doses of the series presenting collections of Eagle-related snippets
- “PC49 and the Case of the Rajah’s Ruby” – a text story adaptation from one of Alan Stranks’ original BBC radio plays telling the adventures of an East End “copper”.
- Comics Unmasked – a review of the exhibition, subtitled ‘Art and Anarchy in the UK’, which was held at the British Library from 2nd May – 19th August 2014
- Bellamy at home – some rare pictures of Frank Bellamy, donated to the Eagle Society by Frank’s widow, Nancy Bellamy, some years ago and published in Eagle Times for the first time
- A Table of Cutaways – a member ranks and discusses his favourite centrespreads from Eagle
- More Art of Tacconi – as an addendum to the recent series on the artist Fernando Tacconi, some more examples are shown from his prolific output for comics and magazines
- Remembering “Mission of the Earthmen” – a re-look at the “Dan Dare’ story from Eagle in the early 1960s, drawn by Don Harley and Bruce Cornwell
- Colin Pillinger – farewell to a starman – the life of the Cambridge planetary science professor, best known for Britain’s Beagle 2 Mars mission, as reported by the local press, and recollections by a member of the Eagle Society of the professor’s talk to the Eagle Society at Manchester in 2004
- Frank Bellamy’s “Heros the Spartan” – a review of the recently published book, which reprints all Bellamy’s “Heros the Spartan” strips from Eagle
- Eric Bemrose, Sun Printers and Eagle – on the part apparently played by Sun Printers (Watford) in the early days of Eagle, before the Bemrose photogravure presses were ready to take on production
- Eaglewall kits in Eagle – downthetubes stalwart Jeremy Briggs on the advertising carried by Eagle for the aircraft and naval plastic construction kits produced by Eaglewall Plastics Limited in the late 1950s – early 1960s, including their appearance in ‘Eagle Window’. This is a follow-up to an earlier Eagle Times book review by Jeremy that also appeared on Steve Holland’s ace “Bear Alley” site
- Rivals of “Jeff Arnold”: No. 14 – “The Cisco Kid” – recalls the origin of “The Cisco Kid” in a story by O. Henry, through movies, a 1950s TV series (the first filmed in colour) and into comics
• Membership of The Eagle Society is via Annual Subscription to Eagle Times magazine, which is published four times annually. The Subscription rate for 2014 is: UK £27, Overseas £38 (payments 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) they request an additional payment of £1.50 Enquiries: eagle-times@hotmail.com Web: http://eagle-times.blogspot.co.uk/
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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, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Magazines
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