Eagle Times v36 no2 (Summer 2023)

A very pleasant early arrival, Eagle Times has the usual mix of articles that relate to the older Eagle of  the 1950s and 1960s. The magazine may have been celebrating that famous comic for over a third of a century, yet it still manages to find something new to say four times a year. The only worry is that, should Steve Winders break his typing fingers, we might be seeing some slim issues until he recovers.

Winders opens the issue with two very different offerings. The first is a look at 'Cavendish Brown, M.D.', the comic strip that ran for two stories in 1958-59, written by Bill Wellings and drawn by Patrick Williams (son of Eagle's regular back cover artist Norman Williams). The first tale sets up a mystery by having the doctor find a sick man by the side of a road; attempts are made to prevent Brown from delivering the man to hospital... and the story is off to a running start. Unfortunately, the storyline has a number of flaws and, while not the worst thing to appear in Eagle, it hasn't received much love from Eagle fans, who rejected the strip after a second, very short yarn.

The Eagle Society's York Gathering in 2023 takes centre stage, with Winders' opening address and a report on the event by Reg Hoare. Although I have never managed to get to one of these annual dinners, I did attend (many years ago) one of the Eagle Days, so I know how much fun it can be to mix with fans and dealers all dedicated to one subject. It sounds like it was a most enjoyable 3-day event.

More from Winders... this time the second part of his coverage of 'The Baden-Powell Story', picking up from last issue with Robert now in the middle of the Boer War and involved in the defence of Mafeking. It is interesting to note that Geoffrey Bond, who wrote the comic strip biography, researched his subject deeply, contacting his subject's widow and gathering enough detail and information to later write two books on B-P. (Incidentally, the artwork was by previously mentioned Norman Williams.)

David Britton's epic study of 'Charles Chilton and the Indian Wars' reaches episode 19, picking up the story of 'Jeff Arnold and the Fugitive Indians' and exploring the story of Little Wolf and his band of Cheyenne, who offered his services to the army as a scout, later living in exile after drunkenly making inappropriate advances to an Indian girl and shooting her father. (The latter isn't the subject of the 'Riders of the Range' strip, by the way.)

Britton also pens an interesting look at rocket ships from Buck Rogers to Dan Dare. He mentions a cover by Ed Valigursky for the American SF magazine If (April 1955) perhaps being inspired by a Hampson-drawn Treen fighter, but I doubt this is the case as Valigursky was painting generically similar ships earlier for the same magazine.

Back to Steve Winders for the second episode of a P.C.49 story, set at the International Motor Show at Earl's Court and involving the Crown Jewels of the Netherlands being stolen and smuggled to Britain. A new article, 'The Great Charlemagne', continues Winders' look at the back cover biographies of Eagle, the latest from 1956 and drawn (again) by Norman Williams. The article points out that nothing was recorded of Charles' childhood, so Chad Varah had to invent some scenes to get the story started and Charlemagne's wars with the Saxons can begin.

The contents should be diverse enough for all tastes.

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.