Or could someone be 'Lion'...?
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| Copyright REBELLION |
Oh dear! I'm afraid my increasingly poor memory means that I've inadvertently deprived all you Crivvies of your Christmas treat. I bought the above Yuletide issue of Lion & Eagle a few months back, intending to feature some of its contents in a post or two on the run-up to the big day - but, alas, I forgot! Never mind, there's always next this year - I hope.
However, one of the letters in the issue attracted my attention. Take a look at it below and see if you can see why.
What I find so interesting is the name - Mrs. M. Morris. As you'll all know, it was Marcus Morris who, along with Frank Hampson, created Eagle comic, which, around 8 months earlier, had been subsumed by Lion. And here is a letter from someone effectively praising the merger, a sentiment that would surely have been at odds with that of most ardent Eagle readers.
It's credited as being sent from Leominster, which I find ironic, seeing as how it's printed on 'Leo's Merry-Go-Round' and that the word 'minster' means 'a community of clergy', Marcus Morris being a clergyman. Could this be a made-up letter by Lion & Eagle's editorial staff, as a mischievous way of answering any criticism of Eagle's 'demise', or was it genuine?
The one thing that gives me pause is the letter-writer's age - 65. Marcus Morris was 74-ish when he died in 1989, so it's unlikely that his wife (or mother) would've been 11 years older than him 20 years earlier. It's always possible that I'm over-analysing things, but how likely is it that a 65 year old woman would be buying a comic for boys since the age of 46 or so?
There can be only two possible explanations; one being that the letter is entirely genuine and the name merely coincidental, or that it was a sneaky editorial way of saying that the merger had improved Eagle's status, cheekily using the co-creator's name in an ironic twist to lend it an extra bit of 'oomph'.
What do you think? Oh, and in case you were concerned about the lad on the cover, see how he got out of his predicament, below.
10 comments:
Probably a made up letter as I know no one who cared for the Eagle once it shrank in size and folded into Lion.
I left the UK in 1974, however my parents remained in London and carried out buying comics to put aside for me. So in effect my mum was buying comics from 1954 until 1994 and if you count Dr Who Magazine until 2006.
I'd say you're right, T47. If she'd been reading Eagle for 19 years before it was merged, she must've liked something about it, so you'd hardly expect her to see the combined result as an improvement. (Assuming she was real, which seems unlikely.) Having said that, the words used were 'more interesting', which can be interpreted either way I suppose.
1974? Seems like only yesterday to me.
That letter rings a very distant bell Kid either that or one or a similar letter in another UK comic. I would certainly say it was a made up letter as although adults read comics back then I doubt they would write in. I loved the Lion comic great memories.
I'd say it's definitely dodgy, McS. A name the same (more or less) as the comic's co-creator, who read Eagle from the very beginning? It doesn't ring true. And I know for a fact that comics sometimes made up letters because the depute editor of Buster once told me.
Hope you are all well. Loved comics with snow on the title and Lion was a firm favourite along with Valiant, Thunder and Jet. US comics were the best but I read much more British comics during 1960s and 70s and have very happy memories. We had the best of both worlds and were richer for it! Happy New year to everyone.
Happy New year to you too, TF. UK publishers seem to have moved away from the tradition of snow on a comic's masthead these days, which is something I miss. I wonder if it was seeing snow on loads of comic covers that gave us the impression that we had a white Christmas every year when we were growing up?
A woman named Morris bought Eagle from the age of 46 and is still reading comics till 1969! In modern parlance, ROFL!! Well done you for spotting it!
It jumped right off the page at me, NB. Perhaps it would've been more plausible had they used a different name (in which case it likely wouldn't have attracted my attention), but someone obviously thought they were being clever.
The Christmas double issue of Radio Times has snow on the masthead every year but I know that's not a comic. And Panini's Spider-Man CE had snow on the masthead a couple of years ago but I don't know if it still does.
Yeah, but it's not the regular occurrence that it used to be, CJ. Having said that, there's not as many weekly comics around that there used to be. The Christmas Beano has sometimes had snow on the poly bag or cardboard 'envelope' it's sold in, but not on the logo of the actual comic inside. I can't remember when the last time was.
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