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Spaceship Away is an illustrated full color fanzine initially based on the British comics space hero Dan Dare and now also covering similar British pop culture.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2008) |
Spaceship Away is an illustrated full color fanzine initially based on the British comics space hero Dan Dare and now also covering similar British pop culture.
The publication was inspired by Eagle , a boys' illustrated magazine, published in the UK and running from 1950 to 1966. The character of Dan Dare originally appeared here. Spaceship Away features original stories written and drawn in the style of series creator Frank Hampson.
Spaceship Away was created by Rod Barzilay as an attempt to revive the original Dan Dare of the 1950s and early 1960s. It was born after Rod's efforts to arrange publication of "The Phoenix Mission", a story he had written, and persuaded an original Dan Dare artist Keith Watson to illustrate in pastiche style. This ran up against commercial lack of interest. Barzilay commenced publication of it in 2003 as a vehicle for his story. Other artists and writers with an interest in Dan Dare came on board. Following Watson's death, "The Phoenix Mission" was taken over from the second issue onwards by the legendary original Dan Dare artist Don Harley (who had often shared credit with Hampson himself in the 1950s). [1] There was later help from Tim Booth.
Currently, Spaceship Away now includes "other sci-fi like Charles Chilton's Journey into Space, and Sydney Jordan's 'Hal Starr'", [2] and (as of July 2024) is still a going concern.
Other regular contributors include Tim Booth, who now co-draws the lead "The Green Nemesis" (the sequel to "The Phoenix Mission" strip), also written by Rod Barzilay; and Keith Page, who drew several revived Dan Dare strips in New Eagle.
"The Green Nemesis" takes place in 2012 in the Sargasso Sea of Space introduced in Hampson's "Reign of the Robots". Keith Page writes and draws "Rocket Pilot" which is set just before Dan's first trip to Venus in 1994, prior to the "Kingfisher" expedition. Tim Booth both writes and draws "The Gates of Eden" which is placed in 1998 at the commencement of the first Treen/Theron food shipments to Earth.
Spaceship Away also runs one-page Dan Dare spoofs such as "Mekki" and "Our Bertie" by Ray Aspden, Eric MacKenzie's "Dan Dire" and "Dan Bear" by Andy Boyce. It also features new Dan Dare text stories by Denis Steeper set in the period immediately after the Eagle's original strips. Here Dan, now called Sir Daniel, has been elevated to Controller-in-Chief of Space Fleet.
2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic magazine. As a comics anthology it serialises stories in each issue and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. Since 2000 it has been published by Rebellion Developments.
Dan Dare is a British science fiction comic hero, created by illustrator Frank Hampson who also wrote the first stories. Dare appeared in the Eagle comic series Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future from 1950 to 1967, and dramatised seven times a week on Radio Luxembourg (1951–1956).
Eagle was a British children's comics periodical, first published from 1950 to 1969, and then in a relaunched format from 1982 to 1994. It was founded by Marcus Morris, an Anglican vicar from Lancashire. Morris edited a Southport parish magazine called The Anvil, but felt that the church was not communicating its message effectively. Simultaneously disillusioned with contemporary children's literature, he and Anvil artist Frank Hampson created a dummy comic based on Christian values. Morris proposed the idea to several Fleet Street publishers, with little success, until Hulton Press took it on.
The Mekon of Mekonta is the arch-enemy of the British comic book hero Dan Dare. He first appeared on 3 November 1950 in the 30th episode of the Eagle comic strip Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future, having been created by Frank Hampson. Apart from Dan Dare himself, he is the only character to appear in every one of the numerous versions of the comic strip that appeared in the Eagle, 2000 AD and Virgin Comics. In the 1950s, roughly every other story featured the Mekon.
Frank Hampson was a British illustrator. He is best known as the creator and artist of Dan Dare and other characters in the boys' comic, the Eagle, to which he contributed from 1950 to 1961.
Dan Spiegle was an American comics artist and cartoonist best known for comics based on movie and television characters across a variety of companies, including Dell Comics, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics.
Frank Bellamy was a British comics artist, best known for his work on the Eagle comic, for which he illustrated Heros the Spartan and Fraser of Africa. He reworked its flagship Dan Dare strip.
John Freeman is a British writer/editor/designer known for his work with Marvel UK, and on Doctor Who Magazine and The Really Heavy Greatcoat.
TV Comic was a British comic book magazine published weekly from 9 November 1951 until 29 June 1984. Featuring stories based on television series running at the time of publication, it was the first British comic to be based around TV programmes; it spawned a host of imitators.
Keith Watson was a British comics artist most famous for his work on Dan Dare and TV Century 21.
Martin Henry Hugh Aitchison was an illustrator for the Eagle comic from 1952 to 1963, and then one of the main illustrators for Ladybird Books from 1963 to 1990.
Gerry Embleton is a British artist, born in London. He is best known as an illustrator of military and historic subjects. He has illustrated more than 40 titles for the military publisher Osprey. He is the younger brother of illustrator Ron Embleton.
Captain Condor is a British comic character who has appeared in eponymous strips published by Amalgamated Press and Fleetway Publications. The character, a space pilot, first appeared in the launch issue of weekly comic Lion on 23 February 1952 and was created by Frank S. Pepper.
David Pugh is a British comics artist best known for his work on Sláine at 2000 AD.
Brian Moncrieff Lewis was a British science fiction illustrator, comics artist, and animator. In the 1950s, he illustrated covers for pulp magazines like New Worlds, Science Fantasy, and Science Fiction Adventures. In the 1960s, he drew adventure comic strips for Tiger, Boys' World, Hurricane, and Eagle. He also used a more cartoony style to draw humor comic strips for Wham!, Smash, Cor!!, and Buster. In the 1970s, Lewis focused on comics adaptations of television and horror film properties.
The Phoenix is a British weekly story comic for children aged 7– 14, published by David Fickling Comics Ltd. The comic was launched on 7 January 2012 with a preview issue which was released in late 2011. The comic is often considered a successor to The DFC: both are published by the same people and many of The Phoenix's creators had worked on The DFC.
Greta Tomlinson (1927–2021) was an English artist who worked in watercolours, oils and mixed media. At the outset of her career she produced figurative artwork for the Dan Dare cartoon strip in the Eagle comic.
Eagle, sometimes referred to as The New Eagle and known at various points in its life as Eagle and Scream!, Eagle and Tiger, Eagle and Battle, Eagle and M.A.S.K. and Eagle and Wildcat, was a British boys' adventure comic published by IPC Magazines from 27 March 1982 to January 1994. A revival of the famous Eagle, the title was initially a weekly publication until turning into a monthly in May 1991. The title was finally cancelled in January 1994, after 505 issues.
"Dare", also known as Dare - The Controversial Memoir of Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future is a British dystopian science fiction comic story, starring the character Dan Dare. Written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Rian Hughes, the story originally began publication in the Fleetway Publications anthology Revolver in July 1990 before concluding in Crisis. The story is a revisionist take on Dare, using the character to satirise the government of Margaret Thatcher, and the treatment of the character's creator Frank Hampson.