Reg Eves
Encyclopedia
Reginald T. Eves was a British editor and writer of comics and story paper
s for the Amalgamated Press. He joined the company in 1908, and during the First World War was assistant editor, under editor John Nix Pentelow, of the boys' story papers The Magnet
and The Gem
, also writing many of the stories. He was impressed by the letters he received from female readers of The Magnet, and after the war, when AP were seeking to expand into new markets, he launched the girls' story paper School Friend in 1919, becoming its first editor. However, he primarily used the male writers he was familiar with from the boys' papers, like Charles Hamilton
.
In the 1920s he took charge of a group of papers, including The Champion, The Rocket and The Triumph. In 1954 he was the editor of Lion, a new weekly comic launched to compete with Hulton Press' Eagle
. Despite having no interest in science fiction, he was under orders from management to have a space hero to compete with Dan Dare
, and commissioned "Captain Condor" from writer Frank S. Pepper
. He retired in 1959 and died some time later.
Story paper
*This article is about British Story papers. For the U.S. version, see Dime novel.A story paper is a periodical publication similar to a literary magazine, but featuring illustrations and text stories, and aimed towards children and teenagers...
s for the Amalgamated Press. He joined the company in 1908, and during the First World War was assistant editor, under editor John Nix Pentelow, of the boys' story papers The Magnet
The Magnet
The Magnet was a United Kingdom weekly boys' story paper published by Amalgamated Press. It ran from 1908 to 1940, publishing a total of 1683 issues. Each issue contained a long school story about the boys of Greyfriars School, a fictional public school located somewhere in Kent, and were written...
and The Gem
The Gem
The Gem was a story paper published in Great Britain by Amalgamated Press in the early 20th century, predominately featuring the activities of boys at the fictional school "St. Jim's". These stories were all written using the pen-name of Martin Clifford, the majority by Charles Hamilton who was...
, also writing many of the stories. He was impressed by the letters he received from female readers of The Magnet, and after the war, when AP were seeking to expand into new markets, he launched the girls' story paper School Friend in 1919, becoming its first editor. However, he primarily used the male writers he was familiar with from the boys' papers, like Charles Hamilton
Charles Hamilton (writer)
Charles Harold St. John Hamilton , was an English writer, specializing in writing long-running series of stories for weekly magazines about recurrent casts of characters, his most frequent and famous genre being boys' public school stories, though he also dealt with other genres...
.
In the 1920s he took charge of a group of papers, including The Champion, The Rocket and The Triumph. In 1954 he was the editor of Lion, a new weekly comic launched to compete with Hulton Press' Eagle
Eagle (comic)
Eagle was a seminal British children's comic, first published from 1950 to 1969, and then in a relaunched format from 1982 to 1994. It was founded by Marcus Morris, an Anglican vicar from Lancashire. Morris edited a parish magazine called The Anvil, but felt that the church was not communicating...
. Despite having no interest in science fiction, he was under orders from management to have a space hero to compete with Dan Dare
Dan Dare
Dan Dare is a British science fiction comic hero, created by illustrator Frank Hampson who also wrote the first stories, that is, the Venus and Red Moon stories, and a complete storyline for Operation Saturn...
, and commissioned "Captain Condor" from writer Frank S. Pepper
Frank S. Pepper
Frank Stuart Pepper was a British writer of comics and story papers for Amalgamated Press, best known as the creator of "Roy of the Rovers" and "Captain Condor"....
. He retired in 1959 and died some time later.