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Above is the cover of the first combined issue of LION & EAGLE, dated 3rd May 1969. The week before had seen Eagle's final solo issue, though there seems to be some ambiguity as to precisely what number it was - either 987 or 991. You'd think the 'powers-that-be' would've let it reach it's 1,000th issue, eh? Alas, 'twas not to be, and after a long run of just over 19 years*, Eagle was no more, relegated to a supporting act (with second billing) to the comic that had been created to directly compete with it.
Lion may have won that particular circulation battle, but ultimately it lost the war when, a mere 5 years later, it was subsumed by VALIANT, which compared to Eagle and Lion, was a relative newcomer, having first appeared in 1962. Valiant didn't have long to go itself, being merged into BATTLE in 1976, thus breaking the last link in the chain connecting back to MARCUS MORRIS's and FRANK HAMPSON's vanished dream.
A new version of Eagle took flight in 1982, but although it managed to survive (barely) into 1994, it was never the comic that its predecessor had been.
(*Strange to think that WHIZZER & CHIPS [launched in October '69] surpassed Eagle's run by two years, but doesn't seem to be regarded with the same iconic reverence as DAN DARE's weekly home.)
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