Dan Dare The Biography has an introduction by Terry Jones which summarises the book thus:
In Dan Dare - Pilot of the Future, the Biography Daniel Tatarsky celebrates, with a shrewd critical judgement, the achievement of Frank Hampson and his team, while at the same time placing the stories in the context of the 1950s. In so doing he presents a lot of history that I hadn't realized even though I lived through those years. For example he points out that bread was only rationed after the Second World War, and that the premise of the whole story - the quest for an alternative food supply for Earth - was extremely relevant in the days of shortages and rationing.
At the same time he makes many surprising behind-the-scenes revelations: such as that, in the original dummy of the Eagle, Dan Dare was actually a Space Fleet Chaplain, complete with black shirt and dog collar - echoing the Eagle's founder and editor, Marcus Morris, who had of course been an RAF chaplain during the Second World War.
Original Price : £14.99
Published by : Orion Books in 2010
Edited by : Daniel Tatarsky
Dimensions : 14.5cm x 22.25cm with 238 pages.
- Colour images of many of the original dummy issues.
- See a Dan Dare Radio Station in its original box.
- Learn how the comics were put together.
- Of course, the Mekon is there too !
| CONTENTS | |
|---|---|
| Authors Note | vii |
| Permissions and Credits | ix |
| Introduction by Terry Jones | xi |
| Preface | xiv |
| ONE The Birth of Eagle | 1 |
| TWO From Anvil to Eagle | 37 |
| THREE A Star is Born: Dan dares to be the best in the business | 51 |
| FOUR Frank Hampson's Studio System | 89 |
| FIVE Frank Bellamy's Non-Studio System | 135 |
| SIX He Touched All Our Lives | 157 |
| SEVEN Selling Dan: The Merchandising of a Pilot of the Future | 183 |
| EIGHT Hampson and Morris after 'Dare' | 195 |
| NINE The Future: Infinity and beyond? | 203 |
| APPENDIX The Dan Dare Adventures | 207 |
| Bibliography | 238 |