Frank Hampson art for sale

Image from The Art of Frank Hampson site.

Peter Hampson, the son of Frank Hampson, the creator of Dan Dare, has launched a website and gallery of his late father's work. Some of the classic Dan Dare pages from Eagle are up for sale, as are some pages that Mr.Hampson illustrated for Ladybird books. 

The Dan Dare pages are not cheap but after all they are important works in the history of comics and the quality of the illustration is so superb. There are few UK comic characters as iconic as Dan Dare, and Eagle changed the face of British comics forever.

There's also a gallery of original pages that are not for sale, such as The Road of Courage artwork telling the story of Jesus. 

Image from The Art of Frank Hampson site.

You can take a look for yourselves over at The Artwork of Frank Hampson at this link:
http://www.frankhampsonartwork.co.uk/index.html

Dan Dare celebrated in his Southport birthplace

My thanks to Sara Teiger for this information and for the photographs.....

This imposing metre tall fibreglass Mekon peers down at visitors to a new local history museum in Southport.

The Mekon and his nemesis Dan Dare were of course created in the Merseyside seaside town by artist Frank Hampson.

The new permanent exhibition at The Atkinson celebrates Hampson and his work alongside other local notable figures, including Frank Hornby, the inventor of Meccano, Dinky toys and Hornby model trains.

Memorabilia on display includes artists’ models of some of the main character heads, including a large colour bust of Dan Dare. The models were used by the artists when they were drawing the cartoon so that they could accurately draw the heads from all angles.  Other artists’ models on permanent loan to the museum number a space ship and a Mars space station.

Much original artwork is on show, alongside Dan Dare merchandise from the 50s and 60s and an Eagle artists’ spraygun.

Peter Hampson, son of Frank said: “The idea to produce a new sort of comic for boys was the brain child of Marcus Morris, an Oxford-educated vicar with a parish in Southport.

“Morris deplored the influx of cheaply produced American 'horror comics' with their crude and senseless violence, and he wanted to combat their influence with a high quality strip cartoon publication, promoting wholesome, Christian values.

“But that his great idea was ever realised - and with a brilliance that must surely have exceeded his wildest expectations - was due entirely to the creative genius of Frank Hampson. My father always stated that the title, story, drawings and inventions were all his and that my mother christened the new publication Eagle.

“Production began in 1950 in a studio set up in a ramshackle old bakery in Churchtown, near Southport and my father set about assembling a team of artists: Joan Porter, Greta Tomlinson, Harold Johns, Jocelyn Thomas and Bruce Cornwell. 

“My grandfather, soon known to everyone in the studio as 'pops', now retired from the police force, became a willing general helper, as well as the very recognisable model for the Controller of the Space-Fleet, Sir Hubert Guest.”

Between Land and Sea – 10,000 years of Sefton’s Coast

New permanent exhibition opened February 2015

The Atkinson, Lord Street, Southport PR8 1DB

http://www.theatkinson.co.uk/

Trade Ads for Sixties Comics

My thanks to Shaqui Le Vesconte for discovering these ads for 1960s comics that appeared in the magazine National Newsagent Bookseller Stationer for the retail trade. I've always been fascinated by stuff like this; the way comics were promoted to retailers in adverts that we as readers would never have seen. 

The ads speak for themselves so I'll post them without comment, - except to say that promoting "The comic the children have asked for" with what might be perceived as a picture of a naked man with a logo covering his modesty might not have been the wisest choice. (Yes, we know it's the Sub-Mariner and he's wearing trunks behind that banner but would the old lady running the corner shop know that? Still, it was the 1960s. Crazy times, man!) 

Blunderbirds (1966)

In the previous post I looked at Thunderbirds comic strips from over the years but there was also a parody strip, Blunderbirds, which ran in Eagle weekly for a short time in 1966. 

Illustrated by the excellent and versatile Brian Lewis, the one page humour strip only lampooned the basics of Thunderbirds rather than being a detailed spoof but it's still worth noting I think. And anything drawn by Brian Lewis is always worth a look.

This example is from Eagle and Boys' World  Vol.17 No.33, dated 13th August 1966, published by Odhams. Click on the image above to see it larger.   

Christmas Comics: EAGLE (1965)

Reg Parlett's Fidosaurus makes an appearance on the masthead of this Christmas edition of Eagle from 1965, relating to the cover strip about the poor dogs who were forced into a human's war. Those dogs did good work and I'm not sure if the story of them receiving a party in 1945 is true or not but they certainly deserved it. 

This issue's 20 pages featured a variety of adventure strips, not all of them festive, so I've only chosen some of the Christmas-themed ones. Here's a lighthearted Can You Catch a Crook? episode, drawn by Paul Trevillion. Can you spot the clues?

Next up, Fidosaurus by Reg Parlett. These strips were reprinted a few years later in Buster, and retitled Pongo The Prehistoric Pooch...

To place this issue in some sort of historical context, here's an ad it contained for the first film Norman Wisdom did in colour, The Early Bird...

A seasonal true war story in Bids for Freedom. I don't recognise the art style so I can't tell you who drew it unfortunately. If anyone out there knows, please post a comment.

The Guinea Pig, with artwork by Gerry Haylock, has nothing whatsoever to do with Christmas until the final panel when suddenly it's party time! I suspect some slight editorial amendment to the script was involved...

Finally, the back page strip isn't festive whatsoever, but it's such a barmy plot that I couldn't resist including it here. I haven't read too many episodes of Blackbow the Cheyenne but I don't recall this Western strip having science fiction elements in it before. A giant plant-hand tears its way through town, - and that 'Professor Relson' is a dead ringer for William Hartnell's Doctor Who! Brilliant artwork by Frank Humphries. 

Where's the next stop for the Blimey-Timey Christmas Time Machine? Find out soon! 

Spaceship Away 34

A new issue of Spaceship Away was published recently and it's another enjoyable edition. Nice cover art by veteran Eagle and TV21 artist Don Harley (who also illustrates the centre spread poster). He's still got it!

At £8.50 the comic isn't cheap, and some critics said it would never last, but here we are at issue 34. The price is down to its limited print run of course and its high production values, which I'm sure its readers appreciate. It's great to see the mag surviving as it always offers interesting and well produced content. 

Spaceship Away is published three times a year and as this issue will be the current one over the winter months the all-new Dan Dare lead strip kicks off with an authentic 1950s style Christmas Eagle cover. 

The artwork on the two Dan Dare serials is by Tim Booth (who also writes the scripts). Tim puts a lot into his work and the pages are evocative of classic Eagle. I just wish Spaceship Away didn't use Comic Sans for the lettering as it's not a good font and distracts from otherwise fine work. 

There's a complete 8 page reprint of a Jet Morgan strip by Charles Chilton and Bruce Cornwell from an unspecified annual (presumably Express Annual). Sadly this has been re-lettered with Comic Sans. Don't let that put you off though.

The issue contains some excellent features too. An illustrated review of the Dan Dare strips from the Eagle Annuals of the sixties and seventies, a fascinating account of the attempts to produce a Dan Dare TV series, an article on the evolution of Ron Turner's Space Ace strip, a fantastic new cutaway illustration of a Treen Interceptor by Graham Bleathman, and photographs of a 1950s 'Dan Dare Remote Control Helicopter' kit. 

There's a free gift with this edition too, in the form of a new 24 page Dan Dare prose story by Denis Steeper. 

To find out more about Spaceship Away and to buy your copy, visit the official website here:
http://spaceshipaway.org.uk/

Return to The Thirteenth Floor

Mainstream British publishers may seem cautious about bringing their classic material back into print but thankfully Egmont have allowed independent outfit Hibernia Comics permission to reprint some great material from the past. Previously we've seen collections of Doomlord, The Tower King, and The Thirteenth Floor Volume 1, and this week saw the publication of The Thirteenth Floor Volume 2. 

The Thirteenth Floor was a serial that ran in the very short-lived Scream! weekly in the 1980s. When Scream! was canceled due to a combination of industrial action and a publisher nervous of its horror content, The Thirteenth Floor continued in Eagle comic.

The Thirteenth Floor was written by Alan Grant and John Wagner and illustrated by José Ortiz. It told the story of Max, a sinister sentient computer installed in a tower block, who led criminals and bullies to their fate on the non-existent 13th floor - an apparent gateway into nightmare scenarios.

The superb The Thirteenth Floor Volume 2 is now available to order in print from Hibernia Comics at their online store. It reprints the strips from Scream! Nos.12 to 15 and Eagle Nos.128 to 139. Visit here to buy your copy:
http://www.comicsy.co.uk/hibernia/

1969: Final flight of the EAGLE

Final issue of EAGLE, April 1969.

Exactly 45 years ago today, the most famous adventure comic in Britain ended its 19 year run. The final issue of Eagle bowed out on Wednesday April 23rd 1969 (cover dated April 26th) with Vol.20 No.17.

When the publishing giant IPC took control of the Odhams and Fleetway comics they ruthlessly cut through the poorer selling titles. The period from late 1968 to early 1969 saw the end of Fantastic, Pow!, Jag, and Eagle, and Smash! was revamped beyond recognition. (IPC had their own ideas for adventure comics, as the following years would prove... but few had longevity.)

Eagle had been on the decline for years, and ended in a poorer state than its high quality beginnings. Yet even its final edition still contained good artwork. Let's take a look...

I'm sure the cover above must have raised a wry smile with older readers. "The  modern paper for the modern boy" led with a 1950s Dan Dare reprint! Having treated Dare's creator Frank Hampson disgracefully (see Alistair Crompton's book Tomorrow Revisited for the full story) and replaced him on the strip years earlier, the publishers had then added more insult by replacing the new artists with reprints of Hampson's work (without paying him of course).

The first strip inside the issue was The Waxer. A creepy serial about living waxworks, it was illustrated by Reg Bunn, famed for his work on The Spider for Lion. 

The wheelchair-bound crimebuster Lightning Stormm was clearly inspired by TV's Ironside. Art by Barrie Mitchell.

By 1969 Western strips were nowhere near as popular than in their 1950s heyday, and this was the final bow for Blackbow the Cheyanne. Art by Frank Humphries.

Ancient gladiators vs Nazis! Only in comics...

The Circus Wanderers had been given the full colour centrespread for some reason. A somewhat silly strip of circus performers becoming footballers, it never made the leap to the merged comic.

What's that? Merged comic? Yes, the next page explained it all, with a typical "Great News, Pals!" announcement. Eagle was merging with Lion! Ironic, considering they were originally by rival publishers, and that Lion was the younger upstart, initially a poor imitation of Eagle. 

Over the page, The Day the World Forgot, with art by Tom Kerr, may have been a reprint from somewhere. 

Wild of the West was certainly a reprint. (Perhaps from Top Spot?) I think the art was by Ted Kearon but I'm unsure.

Finally, The Iron Man's last adventure. Yes, Eagle had its own Iron Man superhero, although this version was a robot and bore no similarity to Marvel's character. The strip had originated in Boy's World in 1963 before moving over to Eagle. Art by Martin Salvador.

The following week, readers were greeted with Lion and Eagle, with poorer paper quality and less colour than they were used to. Admittedly the title was revived with much publicity in 1982 and ran for several years, but the true original Eagle ended in 1969. 

Mono version of the cover by Geoff Campion.

Spaceship Away 32

A new issue of Spaceship Away has recently been published and contains a good mixture of material. Firstly it boasts a cover, centrespread, and back cover newly drawn by veteran Dan Dare artist Don Harley, reproducing memorable scenes from the original Eagle weekly. It's pleasing to know that Don is still drawing and can produce such excellent pieces of work. 

Inside, the 40 page issue kicks off with episode 13 of Parsecular Tales, a brand new classic style Dan Dare strip written and drawn by Tim Booth. As always, the first page is designed in a nice homage to the 1950s Eagle, - fourpence ha'penny price and all. The six page story has impressively detailed artwork but I felt it needed a resumé caption at the start to clue readers in on the story so far. Spaceship Away is only published three times a year and it's asking a lot for readers to remember the plot of a serial at such infrequency. I've missed a few issues and I found myself struggling to understand all the whys and wherefores of the story.

The same applies sadly to Shadow Over Britain, a reprint of a 1950s serial from (I think) Express Weekly. It's episode ten, but no resumé, so again a big drawback. Considering the price of each issue is £8.50 it would take the sting off a bit just to help new readers along. 

I would also question the use of Comic Sans as a lettering font. Notorious in the comics industry for being a poor font. There are many far better comic lettering fonts available. 

OK, that's the downside of the comic. There are many positives which easily outweigh those negatives. It was great to see an early Ron Embleton science fiction strip from the 1950s. (Original source not given.) Newly coloured by Martin Baines (and lettered with a better font that Comic Sans) it's a cracking 8 page story with a great twist. 

There are also three well researched articles in the issue. The first looks at the 2000AD version of Dan Dare from the 1970s, which is often unfairly dismissed by Dare purists. The strip had a lot going for it, particularly the strong artwork by Massimo Belardinelli and Dave Gibbons, so it's good to see it being given its due.

There's also an article on the later years of the Garth comic strip and the various attempts to revive it over the years. (It's currently being reprinted in the Daily Mirror, but will new stories ever appear?)

Rounding out the issue is a great feature on Norman Light's comic strip work of the 1950s. This is very welcome, as independent comics from this era are sometimes overlooked by comic enthusiasts. 

In addition there are photo features on the Dan Dare Rocket Gun and a superb Phant model. 

As mentioned earlier Spaceship Away is not cheap, but remember that the more limited a print run is, the higher the unit cost is to produce each issue. Also, the printing standards are top notch, with a laminated cover and full colour glossy interior stock. Although a fan publication, it actually looks better quality than many High Street magazines. 

Spaceship Away is not available in newsagents. To order your copy, visit the official website here: http://spaceshipaway.org.uk/