Dan Dare: The 2000AD years Volume #1 (Rebellion)

Dan Dare: The 2000AD Years Volume 1 (Rebellion)

Various (w) & (a)

This is not your grandfathers Dan Dare, or so Garth Ennis reminds us in the introductory essay.

Dan Dare was a character originally launched in the then (and now) defunct Eagle comic. Far from having the stiff upper lip and manners expected of a British officer from those different times, the Dare is a rebellious somewhat more action hero version of the classic character.

The Eagle had been discontinued in 1969 as sales fell but Dan Dare did survive in the newly merged Lion and Eagle until that title went the way of so many classic British comics. With the "new wave" of grittier comics now appearing in newsagents like Action and Battle, the newly launched 2000AD comic revived Dare for the late seventies.


 

This volume collects the early adventures of the "new" Dan Dare that appeared in the first fifty or so issues of 2000AD. These adventures are grimmer and far more frightening than the original fare as we see the Biogs come to our solar system to use mankind as "fuel" for their race.

But how did they arrive from distant parts of the galaxy with knowledge of Earth's existence?

Enter the instantly recognisable Mekon, the little power mad alien who has threatened Earth since Dare himself came on the scene.

 

A rebellious and discredited Dare is resurrected as a hero and sent into the Lost Worlds to seek out the mystery of the missing spaceships and colonists that have disappeared in this unexplored region of space.

His "army" is made up of 200 or so of the worst characters that the galaxy has to offer. And boy does he need them as episode after episode he meets a new threat.

The volume ends mid story and will be picked up in volume 2 which hopefully will not be too long in being published.

This book is an expensive hardback with over 320 over sized pages costing thirty quid, but well worth the price of entry.

Rebellion list the Progs that these adventures originally appeared in:

• Dan Dare (2000 AD Progs 01-11)
• Hollow World (2000 AD Progs 12-23)
• Legion (2000 AD Progs 28-33)
• Greenworld (2000 AD Progs 34-35)
• Star Slayer (2000 AD Progs 36-51)
• Dan Dare: Untitled (2000 AD Summer Special 1977)
• The Curse of Mytax (2000 AD Annual 1978)
• Visco (2000 AD Sci-Fi Special 1978)
• Dan Dare: Untitled (Dan Dare Annual 1979)
• Dan Dare: The 2000 AD Origin (Dan Dare Annual 1979)
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