The new issue of the Dan Dare and Eagle inspired Spaceship Away – Issue 63 – is available now, offering its usual mix of SF inspired strips and features.
The issue leads with the latest episode of a “Dan Dare” story, “The Rotorcruiser Affair” with Dan and Digby on the trail of an escaped dictator… but is one of their friends in trouble?
This strip originally ran in the Dan Dare Outer Space Book, published by Hulton Press in 1953, as “Dan and Donanza“, here re-coloured, uncredited, by John Ridgway.
A newly reformatted six-page “Jeff Hawke” strip story, “Pass the Parcel“, drawn by Sydney Jordan, coloured by Martin Baines, begins this issue, a story that sees Hawke on Earth’s third expedition to Mars.
This story, first published in 1963 in the Daily Express, sees the penultimate appearance of Hawke’s clever, scientist girlfriend Laura, summoned-up, ghost-like, out of Hawke’s memory. The strip was most recently published in its original format in English in the Jeff Hawke Fan Club magazine Cosmos (Volume 3, No.1 – December 2005).
In addition to a Dan Dare centrespread by the late Ian Kennedy, as seen in New Eagle, we’re also treated to “Kalgan the Golden“, scripted by the legendary SF author E. C. Tubb, drawn by Ron Turner and coloured by Martin Baines, introduced, with background information, by Phillip Harbottle. The strip was published by Harrier Comics back in 1988 under the supervision of the late John Lawrence and it’s good to see it get a new outing.
“Kalgan the Golden” also featured as the lead story in a 1996 collection of six lost E.C. Tubb sci-fi classics introduced by Phil Hardbottle, tales originally published in 1950s science fiction magazines such as British Space Fiction Magazine and Science Fantasy. Copies of this short story can be found on Abe Books.
Features this issue kick off with “Conrad Frost, The Accidental Scriptwriter“, as Andrew Darlington details the work of the author behind “Ace O’Hara”, the space hero rival to Dan Dare he created for the Daily Dispatch newspaper, his work on two other SF heroes, Rick Random and “Captain Falcon” who was the cover feature for the Rocket comic, drawn by Basil Blackaller, under an alias, Frank Black.
Frost also wrote a number of newspaper strips and strip features, including the the private detective strips, “Jane Fortune” for the Daily Sketch in the 1950s, along with “Magnolia Spring” (1950) and “Lesley Shane” (1952 – 1955) for the Newcastle Evening Chronicle, all three strips drawn by Oliver Passingham; the glamour strip, “Zoe Fair“, for Weekend magazine in the 1950s, also drawn by Passingham; “Rick Martin“, a western strip for the Daily Sketch (12957 – 1958), created under a joint pseudonym, ‘John Diamond’; “Alice about the House“, a home help strip published in the late 1950s, the artist apparently uncredited, but, possibly, also Passingham, collected in 1960 by Thomson; and “Fishing With Terry And Son” (1984 – 1988), drawn by Alex Jardine and Ron Embleton. Both of these “self help” strips were published in the Daily Express.
Frost also wrote the humour strips, “George and Lynne“, for The Sun newspaper, drawn by John M. Burns, starting work on that comedy strip in 1976, and “Perils of Page 3 Pauline” for The News of the World, drawn by Bill Titcombe in the late 1980s and early 90s. He died on 2nd February 2005, aged 94.
Along with the regular “Space Review” article by Ray Wright, Phil Harbottle also provides a new article on 1950s British science fiction and as one of the country’s foremost experts on the subject, as you can imagine, it’s a great item. If you don’t already subscribe to his 1950s British Science Fiction YouTube Channel, you should!
(As we’ve previously reported, Phil has expanded the channel’s remit to include the crime and western fiction of the time written by SF writers. Episode 75 focuses on John Russell Fearn’s Last Detective Novels, and Episode 76 on the same author’s Classic Western Stories).
The packed issue rounds out with the regular “Space for Humour” page, and on the back page, the original, Harrier Comics Kalgan the Golden cover design.
“Space for Humour” is currently representing a adapted version of the strip first published in Rocket as “Space for Laughter – Earthward Bound”, which originally appeared in black and white as part of the title’s “Marzy” gag page, from the first issue onwards. Some carry a signature, “Kim”, who also drew “Davy Rocket”, which made occasional appearances from Issue 9 onwards, also reprinted in issues of Spaceship Away.
By Issue 9, “Kim” gets a better credit in the masthead the “Earthward Bound” strip. From Issue 13, “Earthward Bound” is re-titled “The Moonies” and by Issue 15, the “Marzy” feature is gone, although there’s still a “Science with a Smile” feature in the title, that features pocket cartoons, most by “Pilgrim” – but not as many.
The episode of “The Moonies” in this issue ran in No. 26, cover dated 13th October 1956. The Spaceship Away version is edited to run to a full page, with some panels omitted.
“The Moonies” came to an end in Rocket with No. 31, just before the title’s merger with Express Weekly, which was announced in No. 32 the following week. The script suggests the tale was quickly wrapped up to bring the anarchic proceedings to a satisfactory conclusion, of sorts.
Spaceship Away Part 63 is available now and Part 64 will be released in November.
Spaceship Away was first published in the Autumn of 2003, twelve years after Rod Barzilay, the title’s original editor, took the first steps in a project to create a new Dan Dare story, entitled “The Phoenix Mission”. The story was written by Rod and illustrated by Don Harley and Keith Watson, both of whom had worked long before, on the Dan Dare stories in Eagle.
• Subscribe to Spaceship Away or order back issues at spaceshipaway.org
• Science Fiction Encylopedia: Conrad Frost
• Jeff Hawke Fan Club: jeffhawke.com
• Episode from Jeff Hawke – Pass the Parcel features here on ComicArtFans and here on Heritage Auctions
• Jeff Hawke is licensed for publication worldwide by Knight Features
• Comic Vine – Rocket Cover Gallery and Guide
Recent 1950s Science Fiction Videos from Phil Harbottle
• Subscribe to Phil Harbottle’s 1950s British Science Fiction YouTube Channel
- 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.
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