Marcus Morris and Eagle: Approved reading for boys in the 1950s & 1960s

The National Art Library of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London's South Kensington held an exhibition in the first five months of 2012 devoted entirely to British adventure comics of the  1950s and 1960s, many taken from its own collection. For reasons that will become clearer as you read on, the display was called ‘On Eagle's Wings'. Primarily because the much-admired Eagle (1950-1969) comic discussed below was the first provider of brightly coloured and exciting adventure strips on really good quality paper. The outstanding British boys' comic of the last century, it featured on the front page Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future -a very English space hero. Many other equally iconic and fondly remembered strip cartoons could be found inside, such as The Adventures of P.C. 49, Luck of the Legion, Harris...