When the first issue of
Eagle was published in April 1950, tucked away at the bottom of page five was a strip called
Captain Pugwash which was written and drawn by John Ryan (1921 - 2009). It was considered too young for the readership and was dropped after only 19 issues. That was not the end for the good captain however and he later appeared in other comics, books, the
Radio Times and, most famously, a BBC series that used cut-out figures and real-time animation.
Despite the "failure" of Pugwash, the editors of
Eagle obviously liked Ryan's work and a new strip appeared in issue 16 and ran for the next twelve years -
Harris Tweed, Extra Special Agent. Tweed was a bumbling, accident-prone M.I.5 agent who usually managed to come up trumps thanks to his unnamed young assistant who was only ever referred to as "Boy". These two examples from 1957 show Tweed and the boy in some underwater action (click for larger images).
John Ryan also created
Lettice Leef, the Greenest Girl in the School for
Girl (and later
Princess) which ran for 15 years, and
Sir Boldasbrass for
Swift. His other TV work includes
The Adventures of Sir Prancelot and
Mary, Mungo and Midge.