Dan Dare fans have paid tribute to Rod Barzilay, founder of the long running comic zine Spaceship Away, who passed in August after a long illness, but whose passing has only been officially announced, in respect to his family.
A tribute by Andrew Darlington is included in the latest issue of Spaceship Away, available now.
A founder member of The Eagle Society, Rod reignited interest in Eagle’s lead strip by commissioning new “Dan Dare” strips, initially drawn by original Eagle artist Keith Watson who, sadly, died after completing work on the first episode. Fellow Eagle artist Don Harley took on the project, the strip published in Spaceship Away. The slickly produced zine was launched in 2003, after Rod was unable to find a publisher for his stories, “The Phoenix Mission” and “Green Nemesis”, that story completed by Tim Booth, which utilised the original character and setting as seen in the original Eagle run.
I first met Rod at a Bristol Comics Festival in the early 2000s, and appreciated his enthusiasm for Dan Dare and Eagle, and admired his determination to publish new adventures, a project he initiated with Keith Watson in the 1990s.
Writing on the Eagle Times blog, downthetubes contributor Steve Winders recalls meeting Rod on several occasions during the many years he was working on his new Dan Dare story and “having heard about all the problems and setbacks he suffered, I never believed it would be completed and see the light of day, but it did and in Spaceship Away! which is now produced by Des Shaw, his dream and legacy live on.
“Rest in peace Rod – and thank you for your perseverance and determination.”
Interviewed by Ian Wheeler for the fanzine Eagle Flies Again, he revealed how his determination to publish new Dan Dare stories was not dissuaded by set backs.
“Every setback made me more determined,” he explained. “There was a lot of fan encouragement and I couldn’t let them down”.
“Sad to hear this,” early Spaceship Away supporter and model maker Mike Wood said of Rod’s passing. “I met Rod at a convention and was impressed by his seeming boundless enthusiasm for Dan Dare. I made a model of the Marco Polo spaceship for the new adventure he was writing and designing at the time, as well paying for artwork that turned into the Spaceship Away magazine. Rod always impressed me with his energy, inventivness and sheer strength of will. I last saw him when he addressed The British Interplanetary Society, when they honoured the memory and spirit of the Dan Dare. RIP Rod – you leave a heritage of enthusiasm and love…”
Rod was also author of the Dan Dare Spacefleet Operations Manual, published in 2013, illustrated by and conceived by Graham Bleathman, a wonderful “Haynes Manual” homage.
“I loved working for Rod on Spaceship Away,” commented artist and writer John Ridgway. “His enthusiasm for Dan Dare was enormous. Sad to hear he had been ill. Very sad that he has gone. Fly high with your hero.”
“Sad news,” commented artist Tim Booth. “Rod was a gentleman in the true sense of the word and lived and breathed Spaceship Away. When I was drawing for him he’d be on the phone several times a week, but never to complain or niggle, often just seeking my re-assurance that his script was drawable, which it always was, though occasionally a bit clunky and might have needed an extra frame or a small cut. We would discuss – I would send him scratch roughs and agreement would have been reached. I had his trust and he had mine. That is a very rare and valuable thing.
“I drew him into the last page of one of the many scripts I illustrated for the magazine.
“My condolences to his family and friends. I like to think of him, somewhere out there in the Milky Way…”
“My memories of Rod are not too dissimilar to Tim’s,” says artist Graham Bleathman, “in that during the creation of the Dan Dare Haynes Manual he would ring several times a week to discuss the text, captions and illustrations I was doing for the book. The manual was actually my idea, formed out of several discussions with Rod when doing cutaways for Spaceship Away, on the lines of ‘wouldn’t it be a great idea’ etc, so I approached Haynes after work was completed on the Thunderbirds and Wallace and Gromit manuals. Rod’s bright and breezy prose was somewhat toned down by myself and an editor at Haynes to make it more formalised, but without him, there would be no book, or indeed no Spaceship Away either of course.”
“I am still very much in shock,” commented artist and Spaceship Away contributor Martin Baines. “He lived and breathed Dan Dare and I regard him as the most important person to Dan Dare in the last thirty years. He sacrificed a lot of time and great deal of his own money keeping Dan Dare going. Without him, the character would have died after the new Eagle ended.
“I suspect you are now up in heaven quizzing your hero Frank Hampson about his creation. In fact, you have earned your place in the Epsom studio.”
In all my dealings with Rod, our shared determination to promote and recount the story of classic comics a common bond, I found him a pleasure to talk to, and am grateful to him and others for helping keep some of our comics heritage in the limelight. Thank you, Rod.
Spaceship Away!
Rod Barzilay, born 21st January 1947, died August 2024
• Subscribe to Spaceship Away or order back issues at spaceshipaway.org
• Read Ian Wheeler’s 2004 interview with Rod Barzilay about the origins of Spaceship Away
• The Dan Dare Spacefleet Manual is still available here from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | Read John Freeman’s Review | Read Steve Winders Review
• Read Jeremy Briggs “Six Questions” 2013 interview with Rod Barzilay
• Read Jeremy Briggs 2013 interview with Graham Bleathman about the Manual
This article was updated on Monday 11th November 2024 to add additional tributes
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
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, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features, Obituaries
Remembering Richmond Clements: A Personal Tribute by Steve Tanner 
In Memoriam: Cartoonist Peter Maddocks 
In Memoriam: Masters of the Universe and The Phantom artist, Jose María Ortiz Tafalla