We’re currently running a series of articles by Jeremy Briggs on attempts down the decades to either relaunch Eagle, or create a comic on similar lines. In that spirit, here’s a couple of pages from a lost Dan Dare project,… Read More ›
Eagle
Replacing Eagle: The Comics That Didn’t Make It – Part 1 Lost Eagle and Lightning
April 1950 saw the publication of the first issue of the weekly boy’s comic, Eagle. It was an immediate success with its mixture of historical, modern-day and futuristic adventure strips with some humour plus factual articles and cutaways, and, unlike… Read More ›
How Do You Write About Comics That Were Never Published?
I have been writing articles about old British comics for websites, fanzines, magazines and books for over 10 years now and I know that it is best done when you have physical copies of the comics in front of you… Read More ›
Don Harley “Dan Dare” art from early Spaceship Away up for auction
A page of Don Harley‘s original art featuring Eagle‘s Dan Dare, from the story “The Phoenix Mission” published in Spaceship Away Issue 3 published back in 2004, is up for sale on eBay. Offered by Des Shaw, the publisher of… Read More ›
Re-discovering Vintage Cereal Packets, and how one Star Trek memory still plagues my fuzzy brain
This week’s “Rabbit Hole” mission across the web started with memories of Letraset’s marvellous “Action Transfers” – specifically, Joe 90 “instant transfers” which if memory serves, I acquired through an offer on the back of a cereal packet… and ended… Read More ›
Eagle Times springs into 2019 with looks at Look-In, New Eagle cutaways
The first edition of the Eagle Society’s Eagle Times for 2019 is out now, and offers an exclusive interview with cutaway and comic artist Peter Sarson, plus features on the The New Eagle cutaways – and the long-running weekly comic, Look-In.
Compalcomics offers first issue Beano, Black Panther art and more in March auction
Compalcomics has launched its March auction catalogue of British and US comics, and a huge amount of great comic art, including Black Panther art for Marvel UK, Thunderbirds and Garth art by Frank Bellamy and some other rarities from the Bob… Read More ›
Creator Spotlight: Eagle’s PC49 artist John Worsley
We’re used to thinking of John Worsley as the artist on the “The Adventures of PC 49” strip in the original Eagle comic, but of course he was a professional illustrator who worked in a number of different fields –… Read More ›
In Pictures: Frank Hampson Centenary Exhibition at Bourne Hall
For anyone who’s not managed to make it to Southport’s The Atkinson gallery for their superb Frank Hampson – The Man Who Drew Dan Dare exhibition, then you might try and make it to Bourne Hall in Epsom, Surrey, instead. Their… Read More ›
When Ron Smith drew for Eagle
2000AD and DC Thomson artist Ron Smith may not have been a name immediately associated with the original Eagle comic, best known for “Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future” – created by Frank Hampson and his team – “Riders of… Read More ›
Whatever Happened to Eagle’s “Skippy the Kangaroo”?
Not to be confused with the TV show of the 1960s (or its associated comics), “Skippy the Kangaroo” was an odd little humour strip that ran in the first volume of Eagle, and has been dismissed by some fans of… Read More ›
“Dan Dare” art and more in Chris Beetles Gallery 2019 Sale
A number of original Eagle comic “Dan Dare” artworks by Frank Hampson and the art team who worked on the earliest incarnation of the strip are currently being offered by the London-base Chris Beetles Gallery, as part of its “2019 Sale” of cartoons and illustrations.
Do comics still inspire future scientists and engineers?
Here’s a curiosity from the days of the original Eagle, comic, released around 1959 – an Eagle Presents British European Airways supplement given away with the title, which prompted me to wonder if the comics of today still inspire readers… Read More ›
New “Eagle Times” tracks down New Eagle’s “Data File” artist, Lionel Jeans
The new Eagle Times– Winter 2018 Vol. 31, Number 4 -is now available and is packed with some entertaining material on both the original and 1980s Eagle comics – including two great items on the “Data Files” cutaways that ran in the… Read More ›
Dan Dare Abroad: The Story of “Dan Dair” in France
downthetubes contributor Richard Sheaf has written features on Eagle‘s Dan Dare excursions beyond the UK, which include appearances in an Australian version of Eagle, as “Daan Durf” in the Netherlands, an all-new take on the character in Spain, Diego Valor,… Read More ›
Dan Dare creator Frank Hampson centenary exhibition opens in Ewell, Surrey
One hundred years after his birth, another exhibition commemorating Dan Dare creator Frank Hampson‘s work has just opened at Bourne Hall Museum in Ewell, Surrey. The museum just a hop and a skip from Bayford Lodge, Epsom, where he lived… Read More ›
In Pictures: The Frank Hampson – The Man Who Drew Dan Dare Exhibition
An exhibition of art by Dan Dare creator Frank Hampson at The Atkinson, in Southport, Lancashire – where both the character and Eagle comic were “born” in the 1950s – is on now until March, and it’s well worth a visit. The exhibition covers all aspects of… Read More ›
Exclusive: Missing episode from 1950s Dan Dare radio show uncovered!
Following up on the addition of a new “guide page” to The Adventures of Dan Dare radio show, which aired on Radio Luxembourg in the 1950s, downthetubes is pleased to present one of the much-sought after episodes, reproduced with kind permission of the… Read More ›
New “Eagle Times” continues to expand coverage of British comics
The latest issue of Eagle Times, the magazine of the Eagle Society (Volume 31 No.3 – Autumn 2018), is out now and includes a number of great features, including one by downthetubes contributor Jeremy Briggs on Eagle‘s extended family – Girl,… Read More ›
When Dan Dare went Pop: Loose Talk’s first single from 1982
Back in the 1980s, pop-rock group Loose Talk produced a song based on Eagle‘s Dan Dare (in his 1982 re-launch incarnation, not the 1950s original). But there’s a tip of the hat to another SF saga too, in the promotional… Read More ›