My earliest memories of Dan Dare, then, begin in Strathaven, as so many recollections do; in Dovecastle Drive at the home of my dad's friend and fellow pigeon fancier, John Templeton, whom he liked to call Paul Temple. He was "Uncle Paul" confusingly then and when I was about nine or ten, I was given one of his sons' hand-me-down books. A beautiful, landscape pop-up book:
The book was a mixture of reprinted comic panels with text - like a Rupert annual- and pop-up dioramas of Dan's solar system and his adventures:
As you can see, it was gorgeous and fascinating. It was published in 1953, as far as I can tell, so it would've been around 20 years old when it was passed to me. Being a spiral bound book, the covers were first to go. By the 80s, when I left home, some of the tabs for the figures were also broken. In very good condition, it appears to be worth £60.00 but if I had one like that now, I wouldn't sell it anyway.
In short order, in East Kilbride, my dad bought me the Fleetway Dan Dare Annual 1974, which reprinted two stories from the 50s. They were as distant from late 1973 as the X-Men's Onslaught saga or DC's Final Night and the death of Hal Jordan are to me now. The first was "The Red Moon Mystery" set, in part, on the planetoid you can see above.
The story begins on Mars. Dare's archaeologist Uncle Ivor has discovered that the civilization of Emperor Dortan-uth-Alger, resembling ancient Egypt, was destroyed by terrible electrical storms and a "killing noise", emanating from a rogue planet.
Dan decides to give the Red Moon " the old one-two". With the aid of the Venusian Treens and Therons and a dog nicknamed Sir William Tell, Dare, Digby and Professor Peabody venture into the Red Moon's "sargossa sea of space (sic) " and discover "space bees": an insect species which function as "raiders in space", attacking fertile planets for food. Sir Hubert Guest anticipated " some gigantic super-Mekon" as the mastermind behind the onslaught of tidal waves, hurricanes and earth tremors.
The script is uniquely English in tone. With the Earth in crisis, UN mobile police are called into action: "Nobby" and his mate talk about arriving at " The Smoke". Sir Hubert speaks evocatively and thrillingly of Peabody's courage on " a sinking rocket in the Venus flamebelt, with the silicon mass creeping on us."
An attempt is made to decoy the space bees with the "wavelength of chlorophyll green". Finally, despite the dismantling of "super explosives...after the final peace congress in '85", Theron chain reaction bombs destroy the Red Moon.
Despite some editing- it's not clear who Urb, the blue Mercurian lad is- this is an engaging 41 page epic, with charming "space trains" and "clippers" and Disintegron rays. The mores of the fifties are in groan-worthy evidence, of course : " Sondar, you old green horror". "Earth female habit: yatter, yatter, yatter". It reads at times like UKIP and the Daily Mail In Space but despite diverse artists- the legendary Frank Hampson is only contributor- it's absolutely beautiful. Plucky Britain in the Jet Age, with rationing.
A text feature recounts Dan's biography. I didn't know the adventures with the Mekon resulted from an expedition hoping to relieve famine on Earth, caused by population growth. The science in this fiction is always appealingly believable.
The eventful second story, Safari In Space, is actually a prologue to a search for Dan's missing father. It begins with a holiday on a Venusian island and, appositely, an encounter with the " Loch Ness Monster" of that planet. Dan and his friends, including "Irish hothead" Lex O'Malley, are subsequently kidnapped by the Clan McHoo: diehard Scots who are based on an asteroid and pledged to their chieftain, mad scientist Galileo McHoo. Having made a fortune in commerce, this canny clan planned a mission to the planet Terra Nova but Dare Senior was lost in the test flight.
In the wake of a thrilling but unsuccessful space fleet rescue mission. Dan and his kidnapped company sign up as crew for McHoo's Galactic Galleon, (complete with its tartan wall-coverings) and set off for Terra Nova. The annual ends frustratingly before we ever find out the fate of McGregor Dare.
In the 70s, I didn't respond to this annual with the kind of fascination I did for the later Marvel annuals or even the regular World Distributors Dr Who. However, I bought a second copy last December and it was that re-reading that really prompted this post. The Clan McHoo are humorous stereotypes but also formidable opponents. Flamer the cadet and Lex the "pirate" are appealing additions to the cast. It's not as satisfying, however, as the Red Moon story, to which we'll return soon when we discuss the audio adaptation from Big Finish.
In a future post, I'll revisit the exciting debut of the weekly 2000 AD, over forty years ago and the revival of Dan Dare as a "Space Hyper-Hero".
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