Now I know Christmas has arrived when my copy of the Eagle Times falls through the letter box.
Forget dressing the tree, wrapping the presents along with choosing what to do with the Christmas cards, and arguing over which compilation of Perry Como Sings Christmas to play, the news that the festive season has truly begun is that magazine.
It comes quarterly from the Eagle Society, and celebrates all things to do with the Eagle comic.
It began 30 years ago and I have been pretty much a member of the Society and reader of the journal from the beginning, missing one year because if forgot to pay the subscription and another during the mad inflation hike of the 1980s when economies had to be made.
It is a fascinating magazine which offers up not only the traditional fanzine material but articles about the 1950s and early 1960s when the comic was at its best.
The publication of Eagle was quickly followed by three companion papers, which were Girl, Swift and Robin and all four had their Christmas annual and spin off books all of which I have written about in the past.**
To read any one of the four is to be transported back to my childhood, and given that we still run open fires there is nothing better than sitting beside the flames on a winter’s afternoon as the light is fading and flipping the pages.
After sixty odd years of reading them I am well aware of what is coming but that doesn’t stop me.
So there you are ........ you were warned to turn away if Muffin the Mule, the Goons, and Sputnik are but just names.
But for those who remember listening to Sheep may Safely Graze on the big portable school radio, groaned at those little red and orange capsules you drank with your break time milk and watched the Potter’s Wheel and London to Brighton in five minutes, Eagle Times may just be for you.***
Location; 1950-61
Picture; cover from Eagle Times, Vol 30 No.4 Winter 2017
*Eagle Times; https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Eagle+Times
**Comics of the 1950s, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Comics%20of%20the%201950s
*** Eagle Times, Annual subscription UK £29, overseas £40, and as a start you can visit the site https://eagle-times.blogspot.co.uk/
It comes quarterly from the Eagle Society, and celebrates all things to do with the Eagle comic.
It began 30 years ago and I have been pretty much a member of the Society and reader of the journal from the beginning, missing one year because if forgot to pay the subscription and another during the mad inflation hike of the 1980s when economies had to be made.
It is a fascinating magazine which offers up not only the traditional fanzine material but articles about the 1950s and early 1960s when the comic was at its best.
The publication of Eagle was quickly followed by three companion papers, which were Girl, Swift and Robin and all four had their Christmas annual and spin off books all of which I have written about in the past.**
After sixty odd years of reading them I am well aware of what is coming but that doesn’t stop me.
So there you are ........ you were warned to turn away if Muffin the Mule, the Goons, and Sputnik are but just names.
Location; 1950-61
Picture; cover from Eagle Times, Vol 30 No.4 Winter 2017
*Eagle Times; https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Eagle+Times
**Comics of the 1950s, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Comics%20of%20the%201950s
*** Eagle Times, Annual subscription UK £29, overseas £40, and as a start you can visit the site https://eagle-times.blogspot.co.uk/
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