Thursday 2 April 2020

British Illustrators 12: Frank Hampson and Eagle Comic


If I’m talking about British illustrators whose work has graced the fiction I read as a kid, then I mustn’t ignore the field of comics.

The Eagle Comic, which was originally published in the UK from 1950 to 1969, was a little too early for me to catch it first time round. In fact, it was something my father read in its early years. However, old Eagle comic annual books were a staple item in dentists’ and doctors’ waiting rooms throughout the 70s , and this is how I came to fall under the spell of Frank Hampson.

The comic was actually founded by Marcus Morris, an Anglican priest, who collaborated with graphic artist Frank Hampson. The idea was to promote the Christian values of the Church of England, although I’d argue that proselytizing very much took a back seat to telling stories of action and adventure. The Eagle, which had expensive production values for that time in post war Britain was an instant success, and a lot of this was due to chief artist Hampson. I’ve copied a picture from one of his front covers featuring the Eagle’s most famous strip, Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future. If you read many of the stories now it might be difficult to grasp the excitement a boy of my father’s generation might have felt, but it’s not at all difficult when you look at Hampson’s artwork.

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