{"id":32661,"date":"2025-04-20T16:59:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-20T16:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=32661"},"modified":"2025-04-20T16:59:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T16:59:16","slug":"the-dan-dare-dossier-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2025\/04\/20\/the-dan-dare-dossier-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dan Dare Dossier"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Norman Wright<\/strong>, Mike Higgs<\/strong>, Frank Hampson<\/strong>, William Patterson & Don Harley<\/strong>, Keith Watson<\/strong> & various (Hawk Books)
\nISBN: 978-0-94824-812-2 (tabloid HB)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

Launching on April 14th<\/sup> 1950 and running until 26th<\/sup> April 1969, Eagle <\/strong>was the most influential comic of post-war Britain, and possibly in our nation\u2019s history. It was the brainchild of a Southport vicar, the Reverend Marcus Morris, who was increasingly concerned about the detrimental effects of American comic-books on British children and wanted a good, solid, middle-class Christian antidote.<\/p>\n

Seeking out like-minded creators he peddled a dummy edition around British publishers for over a year with little success until he found an unlikely home at Hulton Press, a company that produced general interest magazines such as Lilliput<\/strong> and Picture<\/strong> Post<\/strong>. The result was a huge hit which soon spawned age and gender-specific clones Swift<\/strong>, Robin <\/strong>and Girl <\/strong>which targeted the other key demographic sectors of the children\u2019s market.<\/p>\n

A huge number of soon-to-be prominent creative figures worked on the weekly, and although Dan Dare<\/strong> is deservedly revered as the star, many other strips were as popular at the time, with many even rivalling the lead in quality and entertainment value. Eagle<\/strong>\u2019s mighty pantheon included radio and film star attraction P.C. 49<\/strong>, soon to be TV sensation Captain Pugwash<\/strong>, (BBC) radio cowboy Jeff Arnold\/Riders of the Range<\/strong> and the inimitable Harris Tweed<\/strong> – who swiftly became stars of other media and promotional tie-in like books, puzzles, toys, games, apparel and comestibles as well as and all other sorts of ancillary merchandising.<\/p>\n

At its peak Eagle<\/strong> sold close to a million copies a week, but inevitably, changing tastes and a game of \u201cmusical owners\u201d killed the title. In 1960, Hulton sold out to Odhams, who became Longacre Press. A year later they were bought by The Daily Mirror Group who evolved into IPC. In cost-cutting exercises many later issues carried cheap(er) Marvel Comics reprints rather than British-originated material. It took time but those Yankee Cultural Invaders won out in the end. With the April 26th<\/sup> 1969 issue Eagle<\/strong> was subsumed into cheap \u2018n\u2019 cheerful iron clad anthology Lion<\/strong>, eventually disappearing altogether. Successive generations have revived the title, but never the success.<\/p>\n

There is precious little that I can say about Dan Dare<\/strong> that hasn\u2019t been said before and better. What I will say is that everything you\u2019ve heard is true. Vintage Dan Dare<\/strong> strips by Frank Hampson and his hand-picked team of dedicated artists are a high point in world, let alone British comics, ranking beside Tintin<\/strong>, Asterix<\/strong>, Tetsuwan Atomu<\/strong>, Lone Wolf & Cub<\/strong> and the best of Kirby, Adams, Toth, Noel Sickles, Milt Caniff, Roy Crane, Carl Barks and Elzie Segar.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t like this stuff, there\u2019s probably nothing any of us can do to change your mind, and all we can do is hope you never breed.<\/p>\n

Accepting that there is a part of national culture which is Forever Dare, here\u2019s a long overdue second peek at an item which will delight all boys (and many girls, even though they had their own comics back then!) of a certain age which – despite its own vintage – is happily still readily available through internet vendors. In fact there\u2019s a true abundance of books to read out there, all economically priced, so why not go hog-wild in this 75th<\/sup> anniversary year?<\/p>\n

The boldly colourful, magnificently oversized (333 x 242 mm), resolutely hardbacked Dan Dare Dossier<\/strong> was published in 1990 and offers everything any devotee could wish to know and see. It is completely packed with mouthwatering artwork and photos, tantalising examples of memorabilia, classic strips and even unseen\/unpublished material by a phalanx of the original creators.\"\"<\/p>\n

Heavily illustrated throughout, it all begins with \u2018The Rise of Dan Dare\u2019<\/em>, detailing the history of science fiction, development of comics – especially Eagle<\/strong> – and by offering a potted biography of Hampson, his team and Dan\u2019s serried exploits. Simultaneously, those great big pages present unseen monochrome strip adventure \u2018Dan & Donanza\u2019<\/em> by the master himself, wherein our doughty heroes go haring across the solar system in pursuit of a fallen dictator who has turned the moon into a giant bomb…<\/p>\n

Following is an expansive itinerary of the major characters involved over the years in \u2018Actors against a Solar Backdrop\u2019<\/em> before \u2018The Hardware File\u2019<\/em> offers an eye-popping selection of plans, designs and extracted strip illustrations displaying the vast wealth of ships, kit and tech invented over the decades by the assembled strip-creators, paying especial attention to Space Transports<\/em> and Dan & Digby\u2019s venerable runabout Anastasia<\/em>.<\/p>\n

More bravura virtuosity is celebrated in \u2018Aliens & Their Worlds\u2019<\/em> as pertinent and beautiful clips and snippets highlight the amazing variety of extraterrestrial races and species.<\/p>\n

Sharing a few pages with new black-&-white comedic strip \u2018Digby – the Guinea Pig\u2019<\/em> is a rundown of some of \u2018The Artists\u2019<\/em> who toiled collaboratively to produce the stunningly painted 2-pages-per-week (Hampson, Harold Johns, Eric Eden, Don Harley, Bruce Cornwell, Desmond Walduck, Frank Bellamy, Keith Watson and more); followed in turn by a fascinating trivia- and memorabilia-stuffed appreciation of the dauntless chaps\u2019 five years on radio in \u2018Dan Dare, Pilot of the Airwaves\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Wisely taking a break from all that factual stuff, \u2018Full Colour Adventure: Dan Dare in The Planulid\u2019<\/em> reprints a rousing tale of a monstrous invasion of Earth (first seen in The Dan Dare Space Annual 1963<\/strong>) before the rousing envy\/glee-fest resumes with a grand examination of the breathtaking wealth of \u2018Merchandise & Ephemera\u2019<\/em> the strip generated. On view is a procession of numerous ray guns and rocket pistols (none of which ever paralysed or disintegrated any of MY<\/em> enemies worth a damn!); games; puzzles; buttons; badges; stencil-kits; clothing; models; action-figures; home picture-film strips and projectors; walkie-talkies; all manner of books and print novelties and so much more…<\/p>\n

Adjacent and in parallel with a full \u2018Dan Dare Chronology\u2019<\/em> is the immensely rare and sadly unappreciated newspaper strip \u2018Mission to the Stars\u2019<\/em> by William Patterson & Don Harley, which ran every Sunday in The People<\/strong> from April to October 1964, all capped off by the demise of the dream thanks to changing tastes and commercial mismanagement, as detailed in \u2018Changes – the Long Decline\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Downhearted spirits are properly revived by another \u2018Full Colour Adventure\u2019<\/em> from The Dan Dare Space Annual 1963<\/strong>, specifically \u2018The Planet of Shadows\u2019<\/em> wherein our gallant lads uncover a lost civilisation on a new world, after which \u2018Dan Dare – to Date\u2019<\/em> describes our hero\u2019s 1977 resurrection in the pages of apocalyptic, sardonically dystopian 2000 AD<\/strong>. The article tracks Dan\u2019s reboot as a bombastic rebel, slow rehabilitation and transition to the newly revived 1982 Eagle<\/strong>, before neatly segueing into a delightful reprint of one of those 80\u2019s retro-exploits as \u2018Dan Dare by Keith Watson\u2019<\/em> depicts a hazardous mission by the Space Fleet stars to transport Earth\u2019s radioactive waste stockpiles to the depths of the void. It\u2019s hard enough as is, but things get particularly dicey when arch-nemesis The Mekon<\/em> raises his great big green head…<\/p>\n

Big, bold, beautiful and ruthlessly nostalgia-driven, this epic tome will utterly enchant survivors and veterans of the baby-boomer years and sci fi fanatics in general, but it\u2019s also packed with enough top-flight comics material to beguile any kid or newcomer to our medium in search of a little simple, awestruck wonder…
\nThis edition \u00a9 1990 Hawk Books Ltd. Dan Dare \u00a9 1990 Fleetway Publications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Norman Wright, Mike Higgs, Frank Hampson, William Patterson & Don Harley, Keith Watson & various (Hawk Books) ISBN: 978-0-94824-812-2 (tabloid HB) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. Launching on April 14th 1950 and running until 26th April 1969, Eagle was the most influential comic of post-war Britain, and possibly in … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Dan Dare Dossier”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,42,173,119,31,127,107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-best-of-british","category-british-annuals-and-albums","category-comicsacademic","category-dan-dare","category-nostalgia","category-science-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-8uN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32661"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32664,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32661\/revisions\/32664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}