The new issue of the Dan Dare and Eagle inspired Spaceship Away includes a detailed retrospective investigating the popular “Starhawk” series which was serialised across a number of DC Thomson publications, including The Crunch, Hotspur and Spike.
The feature is the work of regular Spaceship Away contributor Andrew Darlington, offering a comprehensive overview of both the strip and its lead character, Sol Rynn, alias Starhawk, a roving lawman who brought justice to the scattered worlds of the slowly disintegrating Terran Empire in the 26th century AD, along with his trusty robot sidekick, Droid.
Now in its 21st year of publication, Spaceship Away, edited by Des Shaw, offers newly-written and illustrated Dan Dare adventure stories, published under license from the Dan Dare Corporation, together with other strip-illustrated stories, also in the science fiction genre. Also included are a variety of features such as comic creator biographies, articles on science fiction literature or science, and a regular “Space Review” column by Ray Wright, bringing the reader up to date with developments in space science, space engineering, and astronomy.
The cover of Part 62 is a tribute to the classic Dan Dare adventure “The Man from Nowhere“. Inside, we’re treated to the latest episode of the new Dan Dare tale, “The Rotorcruiser Affair”, and the continuation of a classic strip, “The Web”, featuring Bill Merrill of the Scientific Investigation Bureau, drawn by Ron Embleton. The strip first featured in Spaceman: Comic of the Future, a comic that launched in 1953, but only ran for 15 issues, published by Gould-Light Company.
The Jeff Hawke adventure, “The Comet’s Tale”, by Sydney Jordan, also continues, and the Nick Hazard story, “Invaders from Time”, written by Philip Harbottle, drawn by Ron Turner, concludes this issue.
Fans of Philip Harbottle’s wonderful “British Science Fiction in the 1950s” YouTube videocasts charting the development of science fiction publishing will be delighted to hear this issue includes a feature from him on that very subject. We regularly promoted new episodes of Philip’s excellent series, and it’s good to see him returning to the subject, in the first of a continuing series in Spaceship Away.
Philip Harbottle is one of the most knowledgeable authors I know when it comes to SF publishing here in the UK, and I would urge you to check out his 1950s British Science Fiction YouTube Channel here.
A life-long science fiction fan, he is regarded as a world authority on the works of John Russell Fearn, whose credits encompass writing “Garth” for the Daily Mirror, and the “Golden Amazon” for Spaceship Away (adapting Fearn’s stories).
He’s also very kindly contributed a number of synopses of early “Garth” stories to downthetubes, which we are adding as time permits.
This issue also includes a smashing Dan Dare centre spread and a back page tribute to the late John M. Burns, who died last December, and was a regular contributor to the magazine down the years.
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.
Spaceship Away Part 63 will be out in July and Part 64 in November.
• Subscribe to Spaceship Away or order back issues at spaceshipaway.org
• PS Artbooks have previously collected some issues of Spaceman as part of their Silver Age Classics line, and Bill Merrill is also in the lineup for Great British Fantasy Comic Book Heroes, reviewed here by Jeremy Briggs for downthetubes, back in 2009
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “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, Classic British Comics, Comic Previews, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
Rebellion announces new Treasury of British Comics Annual 2024 
John M. Burns exclusive “The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire” Volume Four cover revealed, plus sneak peek!