Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future: The Biography Review

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Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future: The Biography ReviewProbably every boy in post-war Britain, now grown to manhood, remembers The Eagle, and its unforgettable space hero, Dan Dare. The reminiscence which opens Dan Dare: The Biography, however, may seem a bit unusual, as it's by Monty Python member Terry Jones. There are also bits by, since it's a British book, "Sir" Elton John and "Sir" Richard Branson, although US readers may shrink from the honorary titles. But that may just be the price of admission for former colonists seeking to enter the world of post-war Britain, and to unearth the fascinating story of the Eagle and Dan Dare.
Absent the appendix, this hardback runs about 200 pages, with seven sections of sewn in color plates, equaling roughly 60 pages of color photographs, along with black and white photos in the text. The author also edited the Eagle Annuals, 1950 Eagle Annual: The Best of the 1950s Comic*Features Dan Dare, the Greatest Comic Strip of All Time and 1960 Eagle Annual: The Best of the 1960s Comic: Features Dan Dare, the Rolling Stones, the Space Race and World Cup 66 Previewed. The Eagle was a boy's paper, in the parlance of the time, (later there was a companion girl's paper) begun in 1950 by Marcus Morris, a Royal Air Force (RAF) chaplain, and Tatarsky reveals that Dan was originally conceived as a chaplain for the Inter-Planet Patrol, as illustrated in color pics of the first Eagle dummy sheets. Another set of plates compares characters from the comic, which ran on the front page of the Eagle, as drawn by the Eagle's four principle artists: Frank Hampson, the originator of Dan Dare; Frank Bellamy; Don Harley; and Keith Watson. All were top-notch artists, and each has his fans.
The comic ran in cliff-hanger form, with long story arcs, and appendix one gives a synopsis of each story, from 1950-1967 (there are 33 story arcs, if I counted right). Hampson created a multi-storied world of the sort that would later come to life in TV SF series like Star Trek in the US and Dr. Who in the UK. No wonder Dan Dare is slated for the big screen. Large, color hardback collections of the Dan Dare stories have been published by Titan Books in the UK, beginning with "Voyage to Venus", which Tatarsky notes, is another name for the first story, "Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future"Classic Dan Dare: Voyage to Venus, Part 1, and which currently run to numerous volumes.
Eight color plates are devoted to Dan Dare merchandise, which accompanies the chapter, "Selling Dan", but it's the tip of the iceberg. A great deal more DD paraphernalia is shown in the Dan Dare chapter of the dazzling collector's book, Blast Off! Blast Off! Rockets, Robots, Ray Guns, and Rarities from the Golden Age of Space Toys along with more recounted tales of the era of Dan Dare in the UK. One reason Dan Dare comics look so realistic and detailed is that Hampson and later artists worked from live models, and the sets look like props from a Gerry Anderson Supermarionation show (another unique SF contribution from the UK).
The appeals of Dan Dare are endless: US readers will be amazed to discover this vital stream of post-war Britain. The work of all four artists will enchant any fan of comic art; the endlessly engaging, multi-faceted story arcs will captivate any SF fan; and maybe part of the appeal is what Dan Dare represents: the hope that somehow good guys can make a difference.Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future: The Biography OverviewA major comic book hero-soon to be featured in a major Hollywood film-gets the star treatment in this lavishly illustrated biography. Dan Dare is the creation of legendary artist Frank Hampson, and for more than 50 years his interplanetary adventures captured the imagination of readers around the world. The success of films like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow demonstrate the massive appeal of Dan's kind of retro-futurism. The author, with access to the original writers and illustrators and the entire Dan Dare archive, captures all the excitement of the original strips, while painting a portrait of a bygone age of comic book history.

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