The latest issue includes a look back at how Eagle celebrated the season between 1963 and 1968 (author Andrew Newman covered previous years in earlier Xmas issues for 2020 and 2021). The religious aspect to Eagle had all but disappeared, Marcus Morris having stepped down as editor in 1959 and Clifford Makins, who tried to keep the tone of Eagle the same, leaving in 1961. Bob Bartholomew was editor by the time this article opens and was already struggling with a falling circulation. Newman also notes the decline in advertising over those years.
Most Christmas issues made mention of the celebrations, but often loosely in puzzles and features. 1965 and 1966 both had Christmas-related features, while 1967 and 1968 featured strips that incorporated Christmas parties. The final Xmas number appeared that year, with a cutaway celebration of 'Dick Whittington on Ice' drawn by Leslie Ashwell Wood, whose contributions had appeared since the very first issue.
Elsewhere in this issue, David Britton celebrates the long association of the late Queen Elizabeth with the Eagle, charting her appearances, especially around the time of her Coronation, while Peter Liffen describes his meeting with Frank Hampson, through his work at London's Science Museum, and how Dan Dare has been the focus of a number of exhibitions reflecting on how the future and future technology was depicted.
A number of features are continuations from earlier issues, including Steve Winders' look at the 'Luck of the Legion' novels written by Geoffrey Bond, this time concentrating on Carry On Sergeant Luck from 1956, which sounds like it might be a prequel to the Carry On Sergeant movie that appeared two years later. In fact, it is a novelisation, with more detail and additional scenes, of the very first story serialised in Eagle in 1952 (despite the note on the dust jacket that says "None of his adventures in book form have appeared in Eagle"). Winders is also behind the second and final part of 'The Case of the Perfect Alibi', a PC49 adventure that weaves a real event into the storyline: the 1957 Royal Variety Performance.
Two features by David Britton come to an end, as he concludes his look at the 'Last of the Fighting Cheyenne' storyline from 'Riders of the Range' and how Charles Chilton's tale matched with the true history of the Native American breakout at Fort Robinson in January 1879. The series will continue in future issues, as the story of the Cheyennes did not end there, continuing in 'The Fugitive Indians'.
The fourth and final episode of his history of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 'The Story of a Train That Went Somewhere (eventually)', which reveals how King George VI visited Canada in 1939 and invented the 'royal walkabout'.
Britton also pops up again to reveal how a bust of Dan Dare has completed its travels and is now housed at Bourne Hall in Epsom. Finally, Jim Duckett's 47th episode of 'In and Out of the Eagle' looks at a trip taken by Rupert the Bear in a spacecraft that looks suspiciously like the Kingfisher.
The quarterly Eagle Times is the journal of the Eagle Society, with membership costing £30 in the UK, £45 (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.
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