Eagle (comic)

The Eagle was a British weekly comic, which ran in two main volumes over the period of 1950 to 1994 (with accompanying annuals). It is strongly associated with its flagship character, Dan Dare.

Contents

First Volume

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Eagle_volume_1_logo.gif
Logo of the 1950s Eagle

The Eagle was the creation of the Reverend Marcus Morris, 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 read by millions throughout the 1950s and ’60s and it became the most popular comic in British history, selling over 2 million copies per week.

This first volume ran from 14 April 1950 to 26 April 1969, when it merged with Lion.

Strips during this volume included:

As well as strips, there was heavy factual content including from cutaways of vehicles and machinery, reader contributions, and items of interest such as how to perform magic tricks.

Second Volume

Missing image
Eagle_volume_two_cover_issue_1.jpg
Cover of Eagle's second volume, issue 1

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 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. " [1] (http://www.comics-international.com/QandA/qa138.html)

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 a slew of strips were replaced.

During this period, Eagle absorbed several other titles:

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

Around 1991, 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.

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