After publishing a wide range of articles about one British comic icon – Dan Dare – the team at Italy’s Fumettomania Factory – APS are switching gear in 2026, with a series of articles about Modesty Blaise, the character and newspaper strip created by Peter O’Donnell.
The Dan Dare not-for-profit article series, curated by Mario Benenati and Daniele Tomasi, was published in partnership with downthetubes – in part, drawing on some features previously published here but largely all-new material – and the team at the Eagle Society, longtime champions of all things EAGLE comic related. The new features and interviews have been written by a variety of dedicated Italian comic archivists.
Some seven months since it began, the series rounds out, for now, with a feature on Dan Dare comic projects that never saw full publication, and includes a downloadable list of published strips, akin to our own Dan Dare Story checklist, published here as a GoogleDoc.
The team at Fumettomania would welcome any additional information or corrections to their list.
A further article featuring model work by Germàn Impache is in development and other articles may follow, for example covering the upcoming B7 Comics new Dan Dare strip by Alex de Campi and Marc Laming, launching on Kickstarter in the New Year.
Alongside publishing a huge number of other items of interest to comic fans, the Fumettomania Factory team are now, refocusing on their new Modesty Blaise Special, launching on Monday 5th January 2026, and again welcome contributions – articles, illustration and comic strip that can be considered for inclusion.
Full details (in Italian) here!
Fumettomania Factory – APS Dan Dare Article Series: English Articles
• Article 00 by Daniele Tomasi – An introduction to the Dan Dare Special Project
• Article 01 by Gianfranco Sherwood – divided into eight parts, the history of Dan Dare up to 2010 and the life of his creator (first part published on the 3rd July 2025; last part on the 21st August 2025)
• Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
• Article 03 by Marcello Vaccari – Dan Dare in Italy (4 September 2025)
• Article 05 by John Freeman – a review of issue 150 of Eagle Times (18 September 2025)
• Article 06 by Daniele Tomasi – Photo gallery by Brecht Bug of a Dan Dare toy (25 September 2025)
• Article 17 by Daniele Tomasi – Dan Dare live-action productions (11 December 2025)
• Article 18 by Daniele Tomasi – Stephen Whittle and Richard Moss’ collection of drawings, objects, publications, and materials related to Dan Dare and Frank Hampson (18 December 2025)
• Article 20 by Daniele Tomasi – A catalogue of all Dan Dare comics: official, apocryphal, incomplete, and unpublished (1st January 2026) | Read it in Italian here
Head downthetubes for…
• downthetubes: British Comic Characters Profiled | Dan Dare
• Read our list of currently available Dan Dare collections
• Dan Dare collections and related books on AmazonUK (downthetubes Affiliate Link)
• Read our checklist of Dan Dare comic stories published to date, compiled by John Freeman, Jeremy Briggs, Richard Sheaf and Steve Winders (Google Doc, further information always welcome)
Dan Dare © Dan Dare Corporation
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
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, International Comic News
Thank you very much John.
The special on Dan Dare was also possible thanks to the articles and people we met thanks to you and your blog.
Happy News Year