Eagle Times v.33 no.1 (Spring 2020)

Eagle Times begins its 33rd year with an especially strong issue. I've been around long enough to have read a lot of comics' fanzines that cover the same ground time and again. It's a tribute to the writers that they can still bring something new and original in the magazine that concentrates for the most part on a single comic title.

The issue kicks off with a review of the latest Titan Dan Dare reprint, The Evil One, which gathers together five series that appeared in 1962-63 that have never been reprinted before. There are still at least a couple of volumes worth of stories that need to be collected, but Titan are well on their way to producing the first set of complete Eagle Dan Dare stories.

Perhaps the best article in the issue is Richard Sheaf's look at the career of Vernon Holding, who was a circulation and distribution manager at Hulton Press before and after the Second World War. Holding's name is virtually unknown and Sheaf's article is heavily illustrated with newspaper cuttings and some behind the scenes photographs that have never been seen before.

'The Story of Eagle's Annuals' reaches part two (covering the 1970s), as does David Britton's look at Charles Chilton's story 'The Cochise Affair', although this is the latest episode of his ongoing series about the historical accuracy (or not) of Chilton's Jeff Arnold stories relating to the Indian wars.

Jeremy Briggs then offers a look at the wartime exploits of Beth Featherstone, whose name may not be known to any of you (it was new to me!). She was Marcus Morris's secretary, and it turns out she recently spoke to Britain at War magazine about her service as a Wren.

The latest article from Steve Winders covers the background of the early Eagle strip about Cortes – Conqueror of Mexico, and how history compares to the strip written by Ronald Syme.

The issue is rounded out with another look inside the ideas book of the Dan Dare Studio, the first part of a new P.C.49 tale, and a look at a planned Macdonald Hastings' Eagle feature on the Canadian Pacific Railway that was written but did not appear. The thirteen surviving episodes will be published in future issues of Eagle Times.

The quarterly magazine is the journal of the Eagle Society, with membership costing £29 in the UK, £40 (in sterling) overseas. You can send subscriptions to Bob Corn, Wellcroft Cottage, Wellcroft, Ivinghoe, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire LU7 9EF; subs can also be submitted via PayPal to membership@eagle-society.org.uk. Back issues are available for newcomers to the magazine and they have even issued binders to keep those issues nice and neat.