Joining Daniel's Band

It's a sunny spring day for a change but the frigid wind is just coming from a different direction. Today's post continues our examination of the exploits of Dan Dare in 2000 AD, some forty years ago and their pop culture sources. The fervid organic worlds of Massimo Bellardinelli are replaced by a pronounced Star Wars influence from new artist, Dave Gibbons. There's something of a return to the "Biggles in Space" flavour, too.

Gibbons' debut storyline Legion is the chronicle of Dare's mission to find thousands of colonists in the "Lost Worlds". Dan handpicks a team on Topsoil, a satellite refuge for outlaws and outcasts. piloting a space fortress, Dan sets out for "the mouth of Hell" leading a "legion of devils".

Three new recurring characters are "Pilot" Polanksi, lovable Russian brawler the Great Bear and Hitman, a James Coburn-esque assassin with a gun fused permanently to his hand. It's a muy macho vision of Dan Dare, with virtually no female characters, except for some vampires. There are also cutaway blueprints of the space fortress and the Eagle shuttlecraft, perhaps for aspiring mechanics and engineers.


The Lost Worlds arc of Legion  comprises eight episodes with a pair of two-parters. Dare's crew encounter solar moth-men; a living desert planet; the aforementioned vampire civilization modelled on ancient Rome; space pirates and killer trees, in a parody of the Ancient Mariner. These are the kind of stories one might read in a Doctor Who or Space: 1999 annual; Gold Key Star Trek stories tended to be more imaginative and psychedelic. however, the next sequence, Star Slayer is an extended story-arc, albeit still a derivative one, drawing upon sword-and-sandal movies, the kung fu craze of 74-75 and movies and  tv serials set in World War Two.


Venturing through the "cosmic curtain", the space fortress  crew find themselves at war with the Starslayer Empire in a 16-week epic that continues into the early months of 1978, concluding a week after the 50th "prog". Dan's efforts to defeat the merciless Starslayers begin with a revolt in the slave-mines of Minian but Bear and Hitman fall under the hypnotic sway of the Dark Lord of the empire.


A second uprising is organised on Drone, a planet of grasshopper-men and a third among the gladiators of the arena planet Grawl. However, the Dark Lord's hypnotic influence turns the entire crew against Dare and he is captured, witnessing the crucifixion of rebels on "star-stakes".

Despite turning the tables on the Dark Lord and broadcasting a call to rebellion, Dan and the crew face their last stand until the former slaves come to the rescue, in what we might dub a "rebel
alliance".

 Escaping capture with his deadly remote-controlled throwing star, The Dark Lord is hoist with his own petard- quite literally, as his flight collides with his own Armageddon Missile.


Star Slayer ( a name used a little later for a Mike Grell indie comic space opera) was essentially a Commando comic story with a soupcon of Spartacus. Each episode ended on a cliffhanger again, reminding us of the movie serial adventures of Buck Rogers:  bank holiday film fun for 70s Earthlets. However, I still prefer the uncanny, distorted vision of Belardinelli to Gibbons' more realistic, technical vision of Dan Dare. This militaristic space opera has none of the anarchic energy or shock value of early 2000 AD.

I did enjoy Gibbons' early 80s work on Dr. Who; The Tides of Time is one of my favourite Fifth Doctor adventure in any medium. I'm largely unfamiliar with his work on Green Lantern and it's many years - nearly twenty- since I read Watchmen. Since I've no great desire to revisit it, maybe I should check out John Stewart's adventures.

The collection is rounded out by a handful of strips gathered from various 2000 AD summer specials and annuals of the 77-78 period. The first story of giant telepathic amphibians from the antimatter universe is hilarious: " Nothing's getting in my way now...man or frog!".
Belardinelli's Curse of Mytax, with its omnipotent winged Star Dweller is a reworking of  Trek's The Squire of Gothos. Visco, the vast organism from 1978 is the Mathmos from Barbarella. There's a colourful space dogfight story which feels like something from Warlord or Battle Picture Weekly. Finally, The 2000AD  Origin of Dan Dare, where the Mekon uses an orbital power station to destroy Birmingham steals the threat of the movie Diamonds Are Forever to little effect.




As yet, I haven't re-read Servant of Evil, the final days of Dan Dare's 2000 AD series, when Dan and Sondar were framed by the Mekon and teamed up with the space "black widow" Morag. So, the next DD post will skip a decade to the 1990s and the dawn of Revolver. Coming next, however, are reviews of further adventures of River Song, Bill Potts and Mrs. Wibbsey.


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