A photograph of Dan Dare creator Frank Hampson with his son Peter in the Star Sound Recording Studios, from Eagle cover dated, 10th April, 1952 (Volume 3, No. 1).

Let's not forget the 2000 AD stories. Dan was far more of a gung-ho bruiser who'd prefer to kill then talk things out. a b Badham, Matthew (17 August 2011). "Four-Colour Classics: Dan Dare - Comic Strip of the Future". Judge Dredd Megazine. No.314. Rebellion Developments.Sondar was a Treen, a reptilian inhabitant of northern Venus. Originally a servant of the Mekon, he reformed after Dan spared his life during a traumatic episode that also caused his first experience of strong emotion, which the Treens suppressed. He became governor of northern Venus when the planet was placed under UN rule at the end of the first story, but nevertheless joined Dan on later adventures. He was also a talented spacecraft designer, and designed Dan's personal spaceship. Joker Immunity: The Mekon almost always gets away. On the rare occasions he doesn't, the heroes capture him and put him in prison, from which he eventually escapes. Averted in the case of every other villain, who tend to be around for one story and die at the end of it. A full list of Dan Dare comic strips, compiled by the DownTheTubes team, covering the original Eagle comic, 2000AD, New Eagle and Spaceship Away features on GoogleDrive here There is evidence that the Spacefleet spaceport on Earth is west of Formby in Lancashire on a semicircle of land built into the Irish Sea by landfill. Venus also had several races, equally human in appearance, but neither Treen, Theron, nor Atlantine. They also pursued an independent line. “These additions served to increase the scope of the plots and action enormously,” Philip noted. “The acting and casting of the principal characters appeared – to my youthful ears at any rate – to be first rate.” The stories were certainly influence enough for Philip to draw his own adventures based on the series. THE STORIES

Many of Dan's exploits took place on Venus, a divided planet, inhabited by the emotionless Treens and and their meglomaniac leader The Mekon in the north, and the peaceable Therons in the south. A wizened, tiny figure who traveled on a personal flying saucer, The Mekon was physically feeble, but made up for this with his huge intelligence - shown by his enormously enlarged head. Wright, Norman; Higgs, Mike (1990). The Dan Dare Dossier: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future. Hawk Books. ISBN 978-0948248122. A Father to His Men: Sir Hubert, as Dan explicitly pointed out to some politicians who wanted to destroy a space station he was on at the time. Dan himself was more of a Brother to his Men. A porcine pastiche, Ham Dare: Pig of the Future, written by Lew Stringer and with art by Malcolm Douglas, appeared in Oink! comic. [23] During the 1980s Dan Dare starred in three computer games for the Commodore 64/128, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Atari computers. The first was a different game on each system; the second and third were shoot'em-ups. All three were based on the 1950s strip rather than the contemporary comics:Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe: Dare was sometimes seen smoking a pipe, perhaps as a Shout-Out to the pipe-smoking RAF officers of the Second World War on whom the character was based. Obfuscating Stupidity: Digby is no genius, but neither is he the idiot he allows the villains to think he is. I used to listen to Dan Dare every night as a boy in the early 1950s, as did a number of my friends,” one downthetubes reader recalls. With interviews with those in front of and behind the microphones along with information from the BBC Archive and contemporary magazines, Charles has put together an in-depth history for the four radio dramas as well as detailed episode listings of each.

The Morrison/Hughes Revolver series has been collected by Fleetway in 1991 as Dare: The Controversial Memoir of Dan Dare ( ISBN 1853862118). Read an interview with Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine conducted by Matt Badham about this project, published in November 2007

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Commercially, Dan Dare became the Star Wars of his day. Products included toothpaste, pyjamas, toy ray guns, slideshow projectors and countless other spin-offs. In Space, Everyone Can See Your Face: Every planet to have invented space travel has also invented a space helmet with a completely transparent visor. Here are some more interesting blogs to read: Life in Thailand, by Sureephon Inns, Life, Stuff and Things, Flash Online Games News and Peter Inns's Blog