Eagle Times v36 no1 (Spring 2023)

It's always a shame to begin a new year of Eagle Times with a tribute, but editor Darren Evans draws a brief but useful picture of the life of Joan Porter (nee Humphries), who died last December. She was Frank Hampson's long-standing assistant, working with him from the earliest days in The Bakehouse and following him to Epsom, where she survived the closing down of Hampson's studio and accompanied him as he researched 'The Road of Courage'. She retrained as a teacher and worked as such and as a mental health nurse, and in later life contributed to both Eagle Times and Spaceship Away!, answering countless questions from Eagle fans.

The issue begins with a long and interesting quest 'In Search of Eagler Books', which takes as its jumping off point a series of reviews from Eagle readers published in 1952, ranging from the classic John Buchan novel The Thirty-Nine Steps to Glenn Balch's western Indian Paint, with non-fiction, schoolkids adventure, smuggling war-time adventure and science fiction. Eric Summers offers some entertaining insights into the books and their authors and along the way proves what a shame it is that we have today lost the mid-list, where many of these authors would have sat, cheerfully turning out a couple of novels a year, now long-forgotten.

More books are reviewed as Steve Winders reaches Luck of the Legion's Secret Mission, the next in his trawl through Geoffrey Bond's novels starring Luck, Trenet and Bimburg. The interesting thing here is that the book references real events as the legionnaire pals' mission is to recover the missing wooden hand of Captain Danjou.

David Britton continues to explore the realities of Indian history behind the work of Charles Chilton, shifting his focus to the story of the fugitive Dull Knife, while Peter Barr examines the life of sporting hero Freddie Mills. Steve Winders begins a series on the life of Lord Baden Powell, the subject of a biography by Luck of the Legion author Geoffrey Bond, and Steve also pens the opening chapter of a new PC49 yarn, this one set at the Earls Court Motor Show.

A few additional fillers mean the issue runs to the regular 48 pages, always interestingly filled and the magazine is definitely worth your support.

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.