Dan Dare Annual 1987

If you are a fan of the revived Eagles Dan Dare strip then this annual is a must read as I discovered whilst ploughing through it last night. Not only are there the usual strips and text stories (including a one-off short without Dare himself) but there are two very useful features that make this essential for any collector.

The six-page version of Dan Dare: This is your life gives a complete history of the character up until 1986 (the year this was actually published).

The reader is given the background to the original Dan Dare who in 1950 was flung into the future after two Treen spaceships collided and caused a time rip seeing Dare reemerge in 1994. Here RAF jacket, British stiff upper lip and all be meets Digby and learns the Earth is in the midst of a food crisis.

His adventures begin as Dan heads off in space to learn the mystery of Venus and the disappearing spaceships. Here he encounters...The Mekon and history is made.

However as readers will know the Dan Dare featured in the Eagle at this time is not the original. In fact our Dan is the great, great grandson of the famous hero which also explains the fact he's blond.

 

The two do actually meet in a nefarious plot for revenge planned by (you guessed it) The Mekon who is still alive. Rather than just shoot on the spot the villainous leader of the Treens decides to have his sport with them on an abandoned Pleasure Planet where the two Dan's face android gunslingers from the wild west, giant robots, dinosaurs and whatever else the Mekon is able to weaponise for their destruction

 

This is followed by The Treen Dynasty a look at the rise of the Treens on the planet Venus, their inherent evil despite the attempts of fellow Venusians, the Therons to give them civilisation.

The creation of The Mekons (there can be more than one) is explained along with the brutality of the Treen race by the "head of Treen Research and Science". The Mekon can live for some 300 years giving the Treens time to "breed" a new one. So now you know.

 


The Mekon appears in two stories in this volume (both untitled) with Dare unknowingly saving the villains life from space pirates in one and beating off an assassination attempt in the other.

Superman had Brainiac, Dare has the Mekon.

A great addition to your collection!