Four original “Dan Dare” original artworks, including pages from Eagle comic and a page first published in the 1971 Eagle Annual, feature in the latest Travelling Auctioneers auction at Willingham Auctions in Cambridge next Wednesday, 21st January 2025.
The artworks are part of the latest “The Travelling Auctioneer” auction which will be filmed for the eponymous BBC TV show, which also includes First Day Covers, advertising memorabilia, vintage radio sets and other artworks, the four “Dan Dare” items, offered as one lot, are framed, in good condition, and have, we’re told, largely been kept out of direct sunlight – and been hanging on the office wall of the owner for 20-plus years. “I took a close-up look at them,” downthetubes reader and Travelling Auctioneers producer Rob Lewis tells us. “When I walked into the room that had the art, I did a complete double take. Fab to see a collection of comic art.
“I was born in 1970 and have little knowledge of Eagle – and I really only know Dan Dare from his time in 2000AD,” he continues. “But I thought these were something special when I saw them. The artwork and colouring is top notch.”
The four artworks span different periods of the original “Dan Dare” comic strip, starting with two pages from the “The Phantom Fleet“, published in 1958, and Eagle comic cover art for an episode of “Mission of the Earthmen“, published in 1960. Also on offer is a page from an annual story, “Funfair of the Death“, first published in the Eagle Annual in 1971 and reprinted in the Dan Dare 1991 Annual.
Here are the artworks, alongside the published versions of each page…
In “The Phantom Fleet”, radio and television transmissions are being disrupted throughout the Solar System by an unknown force. Spaceships are disappearing. After a rocket ship carrying Sir Hubert goes missing, Dan and Co set out to discover what has happened to it. They find a fleet of huge alien craft containing peaceful aquatic creatures called Cosmobes. The Cosmobes are fleeing from another aquatic race, the warlike Pescods. The Pescods bring with them a deadly weapon in the form of the “Crimson Death”, a cloud of red vapour that destroys all metals on contact. Attempts to destroy the Pescods’ pursuing fleet fail, and they dive into the Earth’s ocean and begin to build themselves a city. Fortunately for Earth, the Pescods’ settlement is on top of the submerged volcano Krakatoa, and when it erupts due to seismic disturbances from the pesky Pescods, they are all destroyed.
In “Mission of the Earthmen“, incidentally the most recent collection of Dan Dare stories from Titan Comics, Dan and Digby are carrying out a reconnaissance mission over a newly discovered planet when their craft is forced down by the inhabitants, the Zylans, who want to use the pair to help bring civilisation to a nearby planet named Vort. Having completed their mission the pair are given a super-fast Zylan ship (the “Zylbat”) to return to their base. On their return, they find the base deserted and a message telling them that the rest of the expedition have returned to Earth to deal with a problem that has developed on the Mother planet.
The “Funfair of the Death” page is probably the best of the four, drawn by Eric Eden, a story that sees Dan Dare trapped by the Mekon and challenged to save his batman, Digby in a series of bizarre challenges aboard a giant spaceship.
There’s a minimum bid of £1200 but for four pages of iconic British science fiction art, that doesn’t seem too bad at all.
Willingham Auctions was established in 1959 by the late Raymond Munns, and ran as a popular Auctioneers and Estate Agents for 25 years and is now run by Colin and Gail Peeke-Vout and their daughter, Sarah. It has been a regular host of the BBC’s The Travelling Auctioneers TV show and an intrepid team of antiques experts and master crafters will again be helping families turn unwanted items into winning lots next Wednesday. If you’re in the area, why not join in for a fun filled day in the auction room…
• The Travelling Auctioneer – 80 Lots – 10.00am Wednesday 21st Jan 2026, Willingham Auctions, 25 High Street, Willingham, Cambridge CB24 5ES | View the Catalogue | PLEASE NOTE You must be registered to bid
• The Travelling Auctioneers is on BBC iPlayer
• “Dan Dare” Story Checklist – Compiled by the downthetubes team
Dan Dare © Dan Dare Corporation | Thanks to Rob Lewis for the heads up!
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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.
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