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 character of Dare is described by author Ann Lawson Lucas as embodying "many of the qualities associated with the male hero of nineteenth-century boys' adventure stories, while displaying others which arise from the ideological discourses of postwar Britain". [35] Authors Dudley Jones and Tony Watkins describe Dare as being part of the "'powerful sense of beleaguered hope' that characterised not only the campaign against horror comics but other aspects of British post-war culture". [36] Nicholls, Peter; Clute, John (1999), The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, London: Orbit, ISBN 978-1-85723-897-6 Amidst a takeover of the periodical's publisher and a series of acrimonious disputes, Morris left in 1959; Hampson followed shortly thereafter. Although Eagle continued in various forms, a perceived lowering of editorial standards preceded plummeting sales, and it was eventually subsumed by its rival, Lion, in 1969. [5] Eagle was relaunched in 1982 and ran for over 500issues before being dropped by its publisher in 1994.

The same could more or less be said for Dan Dare's Space Annual 1963 except for less apparent Bellamy influence.I read them from cover to cover time and time again,” he reveals, “then when I thought I had had enough of them I passed them onwards again to another delighted recipient.

The original Dan Dare was no longer a feature of the comic, his eponymous great-great grandson taking on the mantle of space explorer instead. Drawn by Gerry Embleton, and later Ian Kennedy, and set 200years after the original story, the first story-arc featured the return of Dan Dare's earliest nemesis, The Mekon. IPC were unable to recreate the popularity of the original strip, and in 1989 the original Dan Dare returned to the comic, in a six-part story illustrated by original Eagle artist Keith Watson. [56] [57] 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 Techno Delic" Thank you Steven. I have to confess I would not have put either of those down to Walt Howarth - the 1965 one looks like someone trying to emulate Frank Bellamy's style, and the 1963 one, possibly a cross between Frank Hampson and Don Harley. It is also odd that the 1963 annual credits all the internal illustrators but omits any mention of Howarth?Learn illustration of Captain James Cook’s coming ashore. Forgive me for assuming nobody else has asked 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 Not to be outdone, Dan Dare's Uncle Ivor, an archaeologist, plays a major part in the second 'Dan Dare' adventure 'The Red Moon Mystery', informing Dan of the last visit of the deadly 'Red Moon', many thousands of years earlier, when it destroyed civilisation on Mars. He also appears briefly alongside Aunt Anastasia at the end of 'Marooned on Mercury', but plays a bigger role in 'The Phantom Fleet', where he is one of a group of V.I.P.s on a new spacecraft which is captured by an aquatic race who wish to settle in one of Earth's oceans and he becomes involved in successful peace talks with them. He makes his last appearance in EAGLE in the final frame of 'The Menace From Jupiter'. He also appears in Basil Dawson's 1956 novel Dan Dare on Mars.Three other relatives of Dan also feature in the saga. His nephew, Alastair features in 'The Double Headed Eagle' in EAGLE Annual Number Three,when he competes in the Interplanetary Olympic Games on Venus. Another nephew, Nigel, appears in the weekly EAGLE in the 1964 adventure 'The Big City Caper'. He is a member of a group of disaffected youths who the villain Xel tries to recruit to his cause, but is too sensible to be influenced by the evil megalomaniac. We never learn whether Nigel and Alastair are brothers. The eccentric Uncle Ivor comes across as a confirmed bachelor, which suggests that Dan must have at least one more Uncle.