In the twentieth century it was standard practice in the British comics industry to merge a comic into another one when it declined in sales. Typically, a few stories from the cancelled comic would continue for a while in the surviving comic, and both titles would appear on the cover (one in a smaller font than the other) until the title of the cancelled comic was eventually dropped. In this way, two comics were merged with the original Eagle, Swift in 1963 and Boys' World in 1964, before the Eagle itself came to an end when it was merged with Lion in 1969. [5] For what it's worth my current opinion is that it doesn't quite reflect FB's style from circa 1964/65 era - it's not quite dramatic enough IMHO and the suit doesn't look as sleek and "Bellamy-style-futuristic" as it should - too clunky around the hips , knees and boots - and the pose is just not ...well not like the way I'd imagine FB would have done it.

Norman Boyd BLOW! I see what you're saying. I have no other evidence to support either case unfortunately. My records that could have helped start about Sept 1964 and as this is likely to be painted before Sept 1964 (due to David Roach" It's not absolutely typical of his sort of pose, but the painting style is very like him. I'm sure we'll come up with the definitive answer soon though.Evans, Janet (1998), "What's in the picture?: responding to illustrations in picture books", Early Childhood Education Series, London: Sage, ISBN 978-1-85396-379-7 a b Dan Dare and the Birth of Hi-Tech Britain, sciencemuseum.org.uk, archived from the original on 21 July 2010 , retrieved 19 June 2010 Hulton Press was renamed Longacre Press, after being taken over in 1960 by Odhams Press, which itself was bought soon after by the Daily Mirror Group (now IPC). [55] Gill, Alan (8 August 1989), How Eagle brought Christianity to the newsstands, The Sydney Morning Herald, p.14 , retrieved 25 June 2010

The above illustration shows the spaceship, the fins on the trousers and the connecting line to the ship that are all featured on the 1965 Annual cover. I'm not suggesting the Annual art is by Watson but his art is obviously the inspiration for the cover whoever drew it! And it's gorgeous too! The Anvil was last published in September 1950, by which time its production costs had forced its new owners to cease production. [21] A modified Dan Dare was briefly featured in IPC Media's 2000 AD (1977–1979). The public reaction to this, along with news of a planned television series, persuaded IPC's comic arm Fleetway to relaunch Eagle in 1982, as a weekly comic edited by Dave Hunt. The first issue was dated 27 March 1982. I am sure that the success of Eagle (a sell-out of 900,000copies of its first issue) was due to the insistance [sic] on quality. Where Eagle was concerned, the quality of the paper, printing, artwork and writing set a new standard. There were bright colours, well-drawn pictures and exciting stories. Technically, the Eagle strips marked an advance on the standards of that time (standards that had stood still for years) when most strips were not true strips but merely pictures with captions underneath.

The same could more or less be said for Dan Dare's Space Annual 1963 except for less apparent Bellamy influence. Over the last few years he has been browsing around numerous second-hand book shops re-creating his collection and also buying the newer volumes which he did not have the first time around. As he did, he discovered there were many companion annuals, which he has begun to collect.

Techno Delic" Steven, may I ask what the source of your information regarding Walt Howarth doing those two Eagle covers is please? In an attempt to emulate the success that Fleetway had had with girls' magazines, the relaunched Eagle initially contained a large number of photo stories such as Doomlord, Sgt. Streetwise, Manix and Walk or Die, but this style was soon replaced by the more traditional comic-strip format. Other stories included Bloodfang, The House of Daemon, Computer Warrior and Detective ZED. if a character's popularity can be assessed by the amount of merchandising they attract then there can be no doubt that during the 1950s Dan Dare was far and away the most popular character going. [69] Eagle was founded by John Marcus Harston Morris (1915–1989). Morris was born in the Lancashire town of Preston, and in 1918 moved to Southport. He graduated from Brasenose College, Oxford with a second-class degree in Literae Humaniores, and at Wycliffe Hall gained a second in theology in 1939. He became a priest the following year, and served as a chaplain in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve from 1941 to 1943. [6]These guys (and Paul Holder) inspired me to work a bit harder (and the previous embarrassment mentioned above!) and I trawled through my Eagle comics to see where this unusual spaceship was used...and guess what? Conroy, Mike (2002), 500 great comicbook action heroes (illustrateded.), London: Collins & Brown, ISBN 978-1-84411-004-9 Morris was instrumental in launching the short-lived Society for Christian Publicity, formed to take control of The Anvil and to perhaps produce further Christian publications, [13] and in January 1949 the Daily Mirror published an optimistic piece about the rumoured publication by the Society of a "new children's comic". This intrigued local journalist Norman Price, and the following month he met Morris, and helped him express his desire to see such a magazine by co-writing with him "comics that bring horror to the nursery", published in the Sunday Dispatch. [10] [14] Morris's article provoked a strong reaction from its readers; letters of support flooded into his home. [15]