Around the time of the Ally Sloper anthology launch in 1976, covered in Norman Boyd’s recent feature, artist Keith Page, a guest at the event, recalled there was much talk about a proposed newspaper strip entitled “Dan Dare and Son”, an idea from writer Denis Gifford, to be drawn by John M. Burns which he notes “rapidly disappeared without trace”.
We’ve touched on this lost take on Dan Dare before here on downthetubes in our coverage of issues of the long-running comic zine Spaceship Away, but here are a few more details – and a look at John M. Burns work on the character.
2000AD and Countdown artist John M. Burns’ best-known work on “Dan Dare” is for a strip for the New Eagle, published between 1990 and 1991, but he was also chosen by Gifford to illustrate a revival of the character, titled “Dan Dare and Son” for Reveille Extra in the 1970s, a page inside the long-running Reveille weekly magazine, which could be cut out and folded into a four-page comic.
The project, which would have involved Dan Dare creator Frank Hampson as an advisor, was dropped by IPC management almost as soon as it began, as Alan Vince recounted in an article for Issue 33 of the Dan Dare-inspired comic zine Spaceship Away, back in 2014.
Accompanied by a simply gorgeous pin up page by John M. Burns of a young Dan Dare junior and family Alan Vince reported on Gifford’s plan to revive Dan Dare in Reveille magazine in the 1970s – a plan allegedly spiked by IPC’s John Sanders. It’s a fascinating insight into another Dan Dare revival that sadly never happened, and some of the darker aspects of the British comic industry.
A sample strip was created by Gifford and Burns. It’s not thought any further pages were drawn.
While it would appear on the surface that the plan to revive Dan Dare was spiked because IPC had already decided to feature the character in 2000AD, the timeline suggests there may simply have been some company politics and an antagonism between IPC’s directors and Dennis Gifford that killed the Reveille plan, proposed some eleven months before 2000AD launched in 1977.
Around the same time, as his son, Peter Hampson recounts here, Frank was developing “Dawn O’Dare”, which he did not progress, no reason known. Again, only one episode was drawn, featured in Ally Sloper, but no storyline was written, Dan Dare reimagined as an Irish woman, the story also featuring Admiral Crashman, the skipper of a time and space ship.
John M. Burns – His Dan Dare Connections
John M. Burns would later draw just one “Dan Dare” story for New Eagle, known to fans as “Pot Holes”, but actually untitled in the weekly comic, written by Tom Tully, which ran in issues cover dated 15th December 1990 to 19th January 1991, running for six episodes, Dare and company battling alien space bugs.
In addition to pin-ups for Spaceship Away Issue 33 and 59, John also provided covers for Issues 48 and 51, as well as a strip, “Old Times’ Sake”, written by David Motton, which ran in Issues 59 – 60, in which Dan gets one over the Mekon. (He never can make it permanent, though, can he?)
John provided background on his involvement with Dan Dare in a feature in Spaceship Away 59.
His cover for Spaceship Away 51 featuring Dan Dare’s daughter, “Danielle Dare”, may be a nod to the newspaper strip, “Danielle”, which he drew, written by Richard O’Neill. That strip launched in The Evening News on 17th September 1973, that ran until 14th September 1974, briefly returning (for a total of 54 days) in 1978.
As John M. Burns archivist Colin Brown commented in discussion about the aborted ‘Dan Dare and Son” project on the highly recommended John M Burns Art group on Facebook: “I love reading stuff like this. The history of Dan Dare is fascinating, full of highs and lows and false starts. And just when you think you’ve seen the last of him, back he comes!”
Indeed he does, with Marc Laming currently beavering away on Dan Dare: First Contact, the first of three planned new graphic novels written by Alex de Campi in preparation from B7 Comics…
Spaceship Away continues with new classic Dan Dare adventures, Issue 69 released earlier this year, which also includes a new “Jeff Hawke” adventure, and a feature on the international syndication of the Daily Mirror strip, “Garth”, by Philip Harbottle. Back issue and subscription information can be found on the official Spaceship Away website.
Head downthetubes for…
Spaceship Away is available on subscription from the magazine’s official web site at spaceshipaway.org – and individual issues are available from eBay – Issue 48 is on sale here
• John M Burns Art Facebook Group
• The Lost Characters of Frank Hampson
• Dan Dare re-imagined for 2020! (There have been a few… changes…)
Dan Dare © Dan Dare Corporation
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Newspaper Strips, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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