Dan Dare: Pilot Of The Future: Eagle Comics, Artwork, Toys & Ephemera (book review).
Now here’s an oddity. If you’ve seen the cover of this book, ‘Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future: Eagle Comics, Artwork, Toys & Ephemera’, it looks like a sizable book. The sellers aren’t necessarily at fault. They’re limited by the photograph size. The book is small, with all photos in color, and it could easily be lost on a bookshelf. The late Terry Jones, the creator of ‘Monty Python’, introduces how Dan Dare inspired him when he was younger. Do I have to tell you who Dan Dare was? Dan Dare emerged as the first spaceman in UK comics during the 1950s. Marcus Morris and Frank Hampson, who created Dan Dare and the ‘Eagle’ comic where he appeared, occupy a significant portion of the text. All points are valid, and based on the information provided about the limited print run of Eagle # 2 due to a malfunctioning new printing press, it is likely worth a higher price than Eagle # 1.
Hampson’s attention to detail in creating the Dan Dare strip was costly, taking a week to prepare two pages from layout to getting his team to pose for photographs and then redraw based on that. He also maintained accuracy by using design sheets, sculpture heads of the characters, and spacecraft models. The ‘Eagle’ comic went through three publishers, each of whom bought out the previous one before ultimately succumbing.
Most of the information about the merchandise is presented through photographs rather than textual details. Despite the prudent decision to not define the ‘current’ prices of these items over 20 years ago, only a few items, including a Dan Dare paper mâché mask, were classified as rare. I think the only item I’ve ever seen was one of the Dan Dare guns, but I didn’t have any money to pursue it at the time.
There is no focus on later remakes of Dan Dare. All of this pertains to the original run of the game. If there is anything missing, I would think the large Mekon model in the Science Museum in London is no doubt waiting for the time he can continue his mission to conquer the Earth.
GF Willmetts
October 2024
(pub: E.C. Parker Ltd., 2001. 40 page squarish softcover. Price: varies. ISBN: 1-870844-49-1)
