Dan Dare by Frank Hampson (Part Four)

Classic Dan Dare (Titan Reprints, Hardback)

Vol 11: The Phantom Fleet – ISBN: 9781848561274

Vol 12: Safari in Space – ISBN: 9781848563728

Vol 13: Trip to Trouble – ISBN: 9781848563667

Phantom Fleet continues a fantastic run of art by Frank Hampson and Don Harley. At this point in the Dare strip the art has reached it’s peak. The story concerns a total communications and radar blackout covering a large section of the Solar System. When the lights come back on, so to speak, there are several high ranking political leaders missing and Sir Hubert Guest is amongst them.

The race is on for Dan and Dig to locate the missing leaders, but all is not as it seems, and the rescue mission turns into diplomatic negotiations. And a larger threat revealed.

This volume offers everything a Dan Dare story should, great art, a well crafted mystery and finally a cover credit for the superb Don Harley.

Safari in Space is the final volume of the Dan Dare reprints that has Frank Hampson’s involvement. It really is bitter sweet, the art, design and storytelling are as good as any comic you will ever read and better than most that are published. The story concerns Dan’s journey into deep space in search of an Earth like planet and, possibly, his Father. This volume contains the stories Safari in Space and it’s continuation, Terra Nova, it has all the gang from previous stories and in many ways could have been the perfect ending to Hampson’s ten year run on Dan Dare.

Unfortunately, it isn’t a perfect ending, in fact Hampson isn’t able to provide us with an ending at all. Frank left the strip part way through the Terra Nova story, with the plot far from resolved (it isn’t tied up until half way through the next volume) It was left in the hands of others, and as skilled as those hands are, they do not have the same vision as Mr. Hampson.

Originally, I didn’t intend to purchase the 13^th volume, Trip to Trouble, but when I realised that

a) it completed the story that began in the previous volume, and

b) by owning it, I would have all of the Dan Dare stories produced by Hampson’s successor, Frank Bellamy,

there really was no choice I had to own it.

But it gets complicated. The first part of this volume completes the story from Safari in Space and the second part tells a complete tale called Project Nimbus. The writing of trip to Trouble is weak, Hampson set up a great many plot threads and mysteries which are either ignored or resolved all too quickly, which is all the more bitter as this could have ended as one of the greatest Dan Dare epics in the history of the strip. Combine this with the jarring visuals and this volume is a difficult story to read.

I need to make it clear that Frank Bellamy is one of the top five illustrators of comics ever, there are few people able to match his skill, and whilst there are those that would disagree, I think that the Dan Dare strips he produced are some of the finest work that he has ever done. But, the style changes dramatically between every page, and that isn’t an exaggeration. As you may know, Dan Dare was produced as two pages every week, one of those being the front page/cover of the comic. The front page was produced in the old, Hampson style, the second page looks as though it was drawn entirely by Bellamy in his own manner and whilst both pages are gorgeous, they do clash, particularly the look of Dan himself, Bellamy’s Dan looks very different indeed and I found it very distracting.

Unfortunately, with Hampson gone, a change of ownership for the Eagle’s publisher and the end of the story arc finishing with Trip to Trouble, it was decided that the Dan Dare strip needed a shake up. The editorial decision was made to “update” the Dan Dare world, this was easily accomplished by having Dan and crew return to Earth some considerable time after leaving it without having aged themselves (a probable effect of Near FTL travel as imagined in 1959) and also handing the artistic reigns to Bellamy, along with the order to modernize the look of the strip.

Everything is different. It is a shock, it’s like reading a totally different strip. It is impressive, it is beautifully drawn and interestingly designed, but combined with the solid, but not quite Hampson quality writing, the story flounders and I believe the readership were unhappy with the results.

It’s worth noting that after completing Project Nimbus, the only story that could be described as pure Bellamy, Bellamy was no longer drawing the strip, hence my earlier comment regarding owning the complete Bellamy Dare. I have no idea whether he left by choice or was forced out. It doesn’t matter, the Golden Age of Dan Dare was over, never to be recaptured again.

Dan Dare by Frank Hampson (Part Three)



Classic Dan Dare (Titan Reprints, Hardback)

Vol 08: Man From Nowhere – ISBN: 9781845764128

Vol 09: Rogue Planet – ISBN: 9781845764135

Vol 10: Reign of the Robots – ISBN: 9781845764142

Classic Dan Dare Volume 8: The Man From Nowhere provides example after example of the genius of Hampson and his staff. Aside from the mystery of the Man From Nowhere, above all it is the incredible design applied to this strip which is just astounding. It doesn’t do justice to the creators to describe the designs as “ahead of their time”. In just the first two images reproduced below (which are two consecutive pages) there are several examples of beautiful, believable and genuinely futuristic design.

The “Police Escort” vehicle and the cityscape behind it (panel 1 of the image above) bring Blade Runner to mind, and the design of the space craft at the foot of the page is a fantastic combination of classic shape and original embellishments.

The first image of the page above, with Dan and co. on the viewing platform of the Stellarium, reminds me of a WW2 submarine commander standing on the Conning Tower. I have no idea if that was the artistic intent, but it’s an impressive image either way. Panel 6 is also very cleverly executed, it’s an unusual dutch angle, but with the exhaust blast used to split the panel across the diagonal, it gives an awe inspiring feeling of “us” down here and “them” up there. Which is quite an achievement when you consider how many Blast-Off’s we must have seen in Dan Dare up to now (and no. I haven’t kept count.)

This story gives us our first meeting of Lex O’Malley, the Dan Dare of the Navy, a return of Flamer and the first time Dan goes “Cosmic” but I’ll say no more about that because, as ever,  I don’t intend to provide too many details of the story as I’m loathe to give away any spoilers, but what I will say is, that if you want to complete the story be sure to read the next volume at least, if not the next two.

Rogue Planet is simply the next part in a continuing story after Man from Nowhere. Although it’s not obvious on the Titan reprints, it’s in no way a separate story.  In Rogue Planet we learn the complex history of the Man From Nowhere and we see a very alien world and culture explored by Dan and crew as the first humans to experience it. I confess to being mildly disappointed by the not so alien appearance of the evil aliens, but that is excused because of the lush jungle scenery that is illustrated beautifully on many pages.

Early in this volume, I had a real treat (bear with me on this, because it’s an odd point) basically, Dan strips his shirt and goes for a swim. I realise that this doesn’t sound particularly inspiring, but bear in mind that I didn’t start reading American comics until the 1990’s and realistically rendered human anatomy was not something that was very popular back then. I’m reasonably sure that this is the first instance of bear chestedness in Dan Dare, and it’s perfect anatomy all round. (For anyone interested in some of the best life drawings of the human form in comics, look at Kubert’s Tarzan, which I’ve raved about before, Jim Aparo for his minimalist, clean and simple approach and any Super-Hero work by the master of anatomy, Lou Fine, who, ironically was crippled by polio but drew the most dynamic and classically perfect heroes.)

All in all, Rouge Planet is an interesting adventure and certainly worth reading, but I think there were several missed opportunities in the story. Without wishing to give plot points away, the creative team had the chance to create an entirely original and alien planet and culture with this story, they had every excuse to run wild, but they never quite do. There is also a moral element at the finale that could have been played to greater effect, but, then, once you’ve read it, I’m not sure that Dan could, or should, act any other way.

The first two volumes mentioned in this post keep Dan away from earth longer than you might think. The third and final volume for this post is Reign of the Robots. Whilst it’s not a direct sequel to the earlier story, there are repercussions from earlier events that pan out in this sequence. Dan and the crew return to Space Fleet HQ only to find it ominously deserted, their subsequent search of London yields similar results. The opportunity for rendering cityscapes is not overlooked by the artists, and we are shown some stunning vistas of a futuristic but decaying London, familiar landmarks and all.

But this volume really begins to shine when we see the subjugated populace of Earth down trodden by the Evil Dictator of the piece. Bearing in mind that the Nazi Holocaust would have been very fresh in the minds of the young readers of the 50’s, this is a very emotive story, we see our villain indulging in human experimentation on every level with no regard for anything other than the supposed scientific enlightenment that this suffering will bring. Reign of the Robots is another high point in an already excellent strip, particularly in regard to the unflinching portrayal of Evil. My only complaint is the eventual return of the status-quo, which I’m sure will come as no surprise to any regular comic reader, because, eventually, all ongoing strips return to their starting point, but still, one hopes that some strips will expand and evolve in a complimentary fashion. Uh Oh, be careful what you wish for because you might get it…….

See the next (and final) instalment for the heart-wrenching details.

Mad Thinker,

Hail to the Groovy Boom-Stick Sugar Baby.

Dan Dare by Frank Hampson (Part Two)

Classic Dan Dare (Titan Reprints, Hardback)

Vol 4: Marooned on Mercury – ISBN: 184023847X

Vol 5: Operation Saturn pt.1 – ISBN: 1840238097

Vol 6: Operation Saturn pt.2 – ISBN: 1845760883

Vol 7: Prisoners of Space – ISBN: 1845761510

So, it’s been a while since my last post and in all honesty it has been several weeks since I read these Dan Dare stories. What I don’t intend to do is provide spoilers, because I envy the person that is reading these for the first time. What I will do, (memory permitting) is try to put a little bit of context to the stories.

Marooned on Mercury kicks of exactly where the previous story-arc (Red Moon Mystery) left us. We have most of the core group (that have been introduced so far), with the exception of Sir Hubert, thought dead, but they are in fact marooned on the so far unexplored planet of Mercury.

In terms of the greater Dan Dare Universe, Marooned on Mercury establishes a new race of technological sentients on Mercury. But, more importantly, the Mekon returns. So this is really the story that lets the reader know that the Mekon of Mekonta was not a one hit villain, but a recurring thorn in Dan’s side. In fact, it’s not just the Mekon, he has an entire army of Treen partisans still loyal to him, but more importantly, he has a plan. A plan to bring the Earth, and possibly the entire Sol system under his thrall. And that is where the action begins.

Dan and the gang are very much on there own for this adventure and whilst the struggle is epic, the action takes place in a relatively small geographical area. So the backgrounds don’t quite have the visual scope that we’ve seen in some of the earlier strips. Also, Frank Hampson was taken ill early on in the production of the strip and it was mostly drawn by Harold Johns, Frank’s assistant. To be fair to Harold, he really does do a fantastic job with the art, but what this strip is missing is the incredible sense of design that Hampson was able to bring to the drawing table, but more on that later.

The relatively local scale of Marooned on Mercury is totally abandoned in the next story. Operation Saturn, published in two volumes, really plays to the strengths of Hampson and the stable of artists that made up his studio. In Operation Saturn, Dan and friends journey not to Saturn itself, but to the various moons in orbit around the giant planet. So, as our heroes bounce from moon to moon the reader is treated to the spectacle of different cultures, flora & fauna and environment almost from page to page. From dense jungle to dessert wastes to gleaming technological cities and more, we see it all in this story arc. When you combine the stunning visuals with the story of an evil and oppressive ruling class who are looking to further their empire, this stands as one of the most satisfying and certainly visually engaging of all the Dan Dare collections.

The final volume for this post is Prisoners of Space. In terms of story I found this volume to be the blandest. There is plenty of action, but little adventure, we don’t see any planets or races that we haven’t seen before and the protagonists seem to skip from one threat to the next, sometimes without the reader knowing exactly how threat A was overcome before becoming entangled in threat B. There are two characters that are introduced in this story that bear further mention. Cadets Steve Valiant and “Flamer” Spry. After a few episodes of getting to know these characters, it seemed to me that Valiant was the obvious choice for a recurring cast member, but as any Dan Dare reader knows, it was Flamer who became part of the crew. Whilst I do very much enjoy Flamer’s role in this and later adventures, I think that the under use of Valiant was a loss to the strip. Or rather, the loss was in the potential mentoring that Dan could have invested in the character as he could easily have been recruited as Dan’s protégé. But it was not to be.

On a final note, I think it worth mentioning that even the Dare stories that fall short of the usual high standards are a pleasure to read and very enjoyable. I would without question, recommend the first twelve (or thirteen) volumes to anyone interested in either the history and evolution of comics, or just wanting a rip-roaring read.

Next post will be for volumes reprinting The Man From Nowhere, Rogue Planet and Reign of the Robots.

Mad Thinker.

Return to Normalcy

Well, it's been about 2 months since the birth of number two son and therefore since my last post. Everything is now mostly back to normal, so stand by for regular posting to resume over the next couple of days.

Thanks for your patience.
Speak soon,

Mad Thinker.