What comics did you buy today?

[big bad bri]

That's weird, I distinctly remember ordering the book plate edition of One Eyed Jack because I thought it was hardback.

i think the extra fiver is for the signed thing,i was hoping it was hardback too as i intend to order the marney the fox and faceache hardbacks.but i will eventually get all the paperbacks too as i have monster and want to support the resurgence or hopeful resurgence in british comics once more.

[Lew Stringer]

That's weird, I distinctly remember ordering the book plate edition of One Eyed Jack because I thought it was hardback.

i think the extra fiver is for the signed thing,i was hoping it was hardback too as i intend to order the marney the fox and faceache hardbacks.but i will eventually get all the paperbacks too as i have monster and want to support the resurgence or hopeful resurgence in british comics once more.

The softback format they're using should be quite sturdy anyway, as the covers have flaps that fold in, so the edges of the covers will be twice as thick as their usual softback style.

It's late and I can't remember the proper term for it but here's a small reveal of the flattened out covers and end flaps to show you what I mean:

[seanphillips]

French flaps, Lew.

[big bad bri]

Striker vol 2 the complete collection thamesford to warbury 1990-1994 arrived.Lovely book it is too

[Lew Stringer]

French flaps, Lew.

That's it. Thanks, Sean.

[koollectablz]

Bought the first five volumes of Eagle.

Strangely I've never really had them before just to sit down and read through.

For a comic that heralded in a sea change in comic production and that influenced so much...

Its not actually very good is it...

I'd take Lion or Valiant any day.

Think i'll try and sell them ASAP.

[Adam Eterno]

Bought the first five volumes of Eagle.

Strangely I've never really had them before just to sit down and read through.

For a comic that heralded in a sea change in comic production and that influenced so much...

Its not actually very good is it...

I'd take Lion or Valiant any day.

Think i'll try and sell them ASAP.

I've never read them before either but I've heard the same. I'll one day buy #1 as I don't have it but I think I'll give the rest a miss. Really enjoying reading Warrior still!

[koollectablz]

Oh Warrior is all killer no filler!

[paw broon]

Assuming koollectablz isn't talking about the Rural Home Eagle - the American comic, is it collections of the original, landmark, innovative Eagle which appeared in 1950? If so, I'm surprised at his reaction. Apart from the printing and paper which were streets ahead of Lion and Valiant, the quality of art and, depending on your ability to put up with the regular "niceness", the stories is excellent. No need to mention the high standards of Dan Dare, but a look at P.C. 49, especially when John Worsley took over the art, must surely excite any reader. Riders of the Range was a really good western strip after the art settled down and Harris Tweed was, and still is to me, a very funny, highly entertaining humour strip. Martin Aitchison on Luck of the Legion was also very good and gave the reader very colourful stories.
I realise some of the above is subjective but the quality shines through and, after all, most of the art in Lion, while being very competent, never approached the quality of that in many Eagle strips.
Now, if it's later incarnations of the comic, I'd have to agree with koollectablz.

[koollectablz]

Yeah its Vol 1 #1 right through to the end of Vol 5.

I've got no issue with the quality of the actual comic production and yes Dan Dare is good (when it gets going). I guess my overall gripe is that its proclaiming itself to be a great comic strip magazine right there on the cover.

Personally I disagree, its not.

The actual amount of strips as compared to 'filler' articles is really low. I found myself turning page after page looking for even slightly interesting content (and that's coming from a cutaway fan!)

Also I guess I'm coming to it from the angle of having read comics all my life and always hearing older people wax lyrical about it from the 50s - so maybe I'm having overly high expectations crushed. But yea... Compare it to a 60s comic like TV Century 21 and its a completely different animal.

[paw broon]

Hope you don't mind me coming back to this. I've had a read at Eagle #1 and Lion #1 and you're right, there are more comic strip pages in Lion. Lion # 1 was 2 years after Eagle #1. Happily owning up to being a big Captain Condor fan and a bit of a nut for Robot Archie, there is a distinct difference in the art between Dare and Condor. Can't see any notice on the cover of early Eagles that says it's "a great comic strip magazine "
As we move on with Eagle and Worsley takes over on PC 49, that alone almost makes the comic worth buying and, I would suggest between that and Dan Dare, it's streets ahead of anything else at the time. Meanwhile, Lion plods on and I looked at an issue from 1954. Quite an exciting chapter of Cap. Condor but Sandy dean is still getting up to his schoolboy tricks. I've always had a soft spot for Brett Marlowe but that strip doesn't cover the quality gap between the 2 titles. Only my opinion, of course
I'd have to have a serious dig to uncover some TV Century 21, so I wont comment right now, but we're talking many years later and styles, and tastes change. I never bought TV C 21, preferring American comics by that time.
I'm really curious to know what you make of Harris Tweed 'cos it makes me laugh, still, after all these years.

[Phoenix]

In all the trailers for the first issue of EAGLE in newspapers at the time the main selling point they were pushing was Dan Dare. However, Marcus Morris wasn't being remotely stupid when he settled on PC 49 and Riders Of The Range as support strips because both were already well known as popular radio series. The former had been running since October 1947, and the latter from January 1949.

[koollectablz]

Yeah sorry i typed that at work, I'm looking now and they call it 'Britains national strip cartoon weekly'.

Taking vol 1 #35 for instance, as that's the one on top of the pile. 16 pages of which we have (actual strip cartoon) Dan Dare, PC 49, Cortez Conqueror of Mexico, Skippy the Kangaroo, Harris Tweed and lastly The Great Adventurer. That's 6 strips. Of those I'd consider Dan Dare and PC 49 to be good. Harris Tweed I'll concede I find myself reading and enjoying as I do love that style of artwork and it's all round good fun. The rest is very much meh. And there's page after page of articles on really quite mundane subjects - even for then.

Less than half is actually strip cartoon.

I'm not trying to do it down here, it's just that after all these years of being told how good it is I'm thinking quite a few people are remembering it through rose tinted spectacles.

[philcom55]

Personally I preferred Eagle during the late 1950s and early 1960s when Frank Bellamy joined the line-up of artists (and before he defected to TV21). However as far as the early text pages are concerned it's worth bearing in mind that writers such as Macdonald Hastings were among the top journalists of the day, and in many ways those features filled a niche that was only later taken over by TV programmes such as Blue Peter. Also, remember that even when you exclude story papers like Rover it was normal for most British comics before 1950 to maintain a pretty even split between text and strip content.

[Phoenix]

Also, remember that even when you exclude story papers like Rover it was normal for most British comics before 1950 to maintain a pretty even split between text and strip content.

I think it's important to bear in mind that where comics were concerned, in 1950 children didn't have the same great choice of comics that they had had in 1939 due to the paper shortage that led to the demise of lots of their favourites. Thriller, Modern Wonder, Puck, Boys Cinema, Butterfly, Jester, Joker, Larks, Magnet, Schoolgirl, Tiger Tim's Weekly, Triumph and Gem all bit the dust in 1940. Those titles that managed to soldier on did so with an ever-decreasing page count. Pre-war issues of Thomsons' text story papers had 28 pages but during the war they were progressively reduced to twelve pages, and even ten on occasions. Even after the war ended they were only appearing every alternate week, although the company did mitigate boys' disappointment by producing two titles one week, the other two the following week. They didn't manage to publish three of the four in any one week until November 1946. It was to be April 2nd 1948 before four were produced in the same week. Naturally the Amalgamated Press had similar problems. In the light of the above, it should be possible to imagine the level of excitement produced when Hulton Press announced their plans for Eagle in 1950. To look back at Eagle from the here and now, and criticize it, is simply silly. If you were a child at the time, and had lived through air-raid warnings, blackout curtains, gas masks, powdered milk, and Virol, you would have greeted Eagle with joy in your heart and a big smile on your face.