CHURCHTOWN: WHERE THE EAGLE LANDED

Not long ago I thought I'd take a few photos of Churchtown village and  the 'Old Bakery', the birthplace of the Eagle comic and Dan Dare

Churchtown is just under 3 miles away from where I live, and I regularly drive through it , but it had been a while since I checked out it's famous landmark.

When I saw it I hadn't realised just how dilapidated it had become. It looks fairly close to literally falling down, but considering its age I shouldn't be that surprised. Even when the Eagle team worked there it looked in poor repair then.

The plaque is still attached though to remind those who visit it that between 1949 and 1950, the early editions of Eagle comic were created.

In those early days, the Anglican vicar of St James' church in nearby Birkdale, the Reverend Marcus Morris wanted to see a wholesome comic with Christian ethics, rather than the American Horror comics on sale to youngsters at the time.

 He enlisted the help of local artists, Frank Hampson and Harold Johns to produce dummy copies in an attempt to interest publishers.

During the Eagle's initial creation,  the Rev. Morris, keen on pushing the Christian values wanted the lead character was to have been a Chaplain working for the Inter-planet Patrol.

However, believing that a space padre might have limited appeal, Dan Dare - Pilot of the Future was born.

This is a dummy showing the proposed second edition of Eagle, which was found hidden amongst a collection of  ten volumes of Eagle comics of unknown  provenance which was bought by the London Cartoon Museum.

After Hulton Press took the Eagle on, only the first dozen or so editions were drawn in the Old Bakery, before the team moved on to a studio in Epson, Surrey, but every time I drive past, I do like to remind myself of where the Eagle pioneers first started.