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The ''Eagle'' was a British weekly Comic , which ran in two main incarnations over the period of 1950 to 1994 (with accompanying annuals). It is strongly associated with its flagship character, '' Dan Dare , Pilot of the Future'', (created and Illustrated by Frank Hampson in the earlier Photogravure format), doing battle against The Mekon and other Interplanetary foes. In the gender gap tradition of the Amalgamated Press's weekly story papers dating from the 1920s, Magnet for boys, ''Schoolgirls Own'' for girls, followed post-war by comics such as Lion , Tiger {boys} and ''School Friend'' {girls}, the ''Eagle'' and '' Girl '' ( 1951 – 1964 ), clearly aimed at different markets. ORIGINAL VERSION 1963 , art by Keith Watson]] The Eagle was the creation of the Reverend Marcus Morris , then vicar of St James' church, Southport , Lancashire, who intended it as a Christian antidote to what he saw as the bad influence of American Comics during the post-war period. He strove to produce high quality, inspirational literature unlike any existing at the time, involving the work of teams of graphic artists such as Frank Hampson and Frank Bellamy - even creating mockups of spaceships to use as reference for Dan Dare. The ''Eagle'' and its sister papers '' Girl '', '' Swift '' and '' Robin '' were designed by renowned typographer Ruari McLean , and were read by millions throughout the 1950s and 1960s . ''Eagle'' became the most popular comic in British history, selling over 2 Million copies per week. The studio first used by the Eagle team was in a former bakehouse in Botanic Road, Southport , Lancashire, and the town's Botanic Gardens Museum has a display about the town's part in the Eagle story. This first version ran from 14 April 1950 to 26 April 1969 , when it merged with '' Lion ''. Originally published by Hulton Press , it was taken over in 1960 by Odhams, which was renamed Longacre Press. The following year Odhams was taken over by the Daily Mirror Group (now IPC ), who produced ''The Eagle'' until 1969 , during which time the editorial assistants included Max Clifford . Strips during the original version included:
The back page of The Eagle was usually devoted to depicting the life story of a (usually) historic character, told in the normal strip format over many months. These included ''The Happy Warrior'' (the life of Winston Churchill ), ''The Shepherd King'' (the life of the biblical King David ), ''Gordon of Khartoum'' (the life of General Gordon ), ''Montgomery of Alamein'' (the life of Lord Montgomery ), all drawn by Frank Bellamy; and ''The Road of Courage'' (the life of Jesus Christ ), drawn by Frank Hampson. As well as strips there was heavy factual content, including regular reports from The Eagle's own "Special Correspondent", former War Correspondent Macdonald Hastings (father of Max Hastings , the Newspaper Editor ), cutaway drawings of vehicles and machinery (by artists such as L. Ashwell Wood , reader contributions, and items of interest such as how to perform Magic tricks. There was also a series of text stories entitled ''The Three J's'', written by Peter Ling , about the adventures of three schoolboy friends whose first names all began with that letter. A number of 'Eagle Novels' were published by Hulton Press in the late 1950s. These included:
REVIVED VERSION The Eagle was re-launched by IPC (later Fleetway ) on March 27 1982 , aiming for the same quality end of the comic-reading market. The marketplace had matured considerably over the intervening years since the first Eagle, with readers seen as disenchanted by a largely stagnant boy's comic industry. John Purdie had recently revitalised Photo Stories ( Photographic -based strips) in Fleetway's girls comics, and this tactic was extended to create the relaunched Eagle's Unique Selling Point ; most of the early strips were produced in photographic form, extending the medium to include Science Fiction , Football , Westerns , and so on. This second volume ran from March 1982 until January 1994 , with several relaunches/incarnations, however the comic had become a monthly Anthology by this point with little new material. Initial photo-strip incarnation As stated above, originally many strips were produced in photographic format, and printed on heavy-duty magazine paper. This had the double-edged effect of increasing a strip's visual impact, but not only was it more expensive than producing drawn strips, the medium limited the range of stories, and led to unconvincing action sequences. Dez Skinn characterised this period as ''"Photo strips and action stories are an ill-met pairing. No extremes, no tension. Just embarrassed amateur actors (ie office staff) wearing silly expressions and even sillier masks."'' {Link without Title} The strips were accompanied by factual articles, cartoons, and reader contributions similarly to the first volume. Strips during this period included:
Revert to drawn format With issue 79 (dated September 24 1983 ), Eagle reverted to a more traditional drawn-strip format, which allowed the use of cheaper Paper Stock , and also gave the strips more creative freedom. Some existing photo-strips continued in the drawn format, and the non-strip elements were largely removed. This was Eagle's most stable and successful period; although in 1987 a mini-relaunch occurred, as the comic's size and paper stock was again changed (resembling the original incarnation) and several strips were replaced. During this period, Eagle absorbed several other titles:
original ''Eagle'' merged into ''Lion'', which then was absorbed by ''Valiant'', which in turn merged into ''Battle''. So the January 1988 merger brought things full circle. Original strips during this period included:
Strips reprinted from the back catalogue of Eagle's sister title, 2000 AD included:
Strips absorbed from Scream! included: Strips absorbed from Tiger included:
Strips absorbed from Battle included:
Strips absorbed from M.A.S.K. included: Strips absorbed from Wildcat included: Glossy relaunch With the issue dated May 5 1990 , Eagle relaunched yet again due to falling sales caused by the changing market. The relaunched comic contained fewer strips, all in colour, with large amounts of Celebrity and Pop Music -related content. Oddly, strips seemed to either be aimed at infant school children, involving Slapstick and simplistic humour, or mature adolescents similar to 2000 AD's Crisis tackling homelessness, sex, and Profanity . Strips during this period included:
Monthly anthology Around 1992 , Eagle moved to a monthly anthology format after being unable to shore up sales. There was very little new content, consisting mostly of reprinted Eagle strips. Publication quietly ceased in January 1994. EXTERNAL LINKS
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