The Eagle was one of the best known and loved boys' comics in the 1950s and 60s. In fact began as a Christian comic. Its founder, Marcus Morris, was a vicar from Lancashire. Dan Dare began life as Lex Christian, a tough 'fighting parson' in the slums of the East End of London. He then became airborne as a flying padre, the Parson of the Fighting Seventh - before finally becoming Dan Dare, 'Pilot of the Future'.

The last story which he and illustrator Frank Hampson did together (in 1961) was The Road of Courage which told the story of Jesus. Not many children's comics today feature such revolutionary narratives.

Here, appropriately for this season of expectation, is John the Baptist from that final strip….