Welcome back to the SPECIAL PROJECT “DAN DARE, Pilot of the Future” by FUMETTOMANIA.
Here we are to offer you the second of eight parts that compose a long essay centered on the story of Dan Dare and his creator Frank Hampson, an article published eleven years ago in the italian digital magazine “Terre di confine” which kindly allowed us to republish it. At the bottom of the article we report a note with all the information on the magazine and the rights holders of this material.
In the previous part we have read about creation, first concept and making of Dan Dare and the magazine, Eagle, were he was the main character. Now the story goes on talking us about the beginning of publications, the explanation of the creative method and the enthusiasm of the makers.
We wish you a joyful reading, see you next week for the third part of this SPECIAL PROJECT.
Mario Benenati and Daniele Tomasi, editors of the SPECIAL PROJECT DAN DARE
Note: this Special Project, like all others on this digital magazine, is no-profit and just for informative purposes, as the images used which are © of the rights holders.
DAN E FRANK, TWO BRITISH HEROES – part 2: Apotheosis and catastrophe (a) – by Gianfranco Sherwood
Presenting the story of one of the most fascinating science fiction characters ever drawn, and of his brilliant and unfortunate creator.
At Eagle‘s debut, Hampson draws three characters: Dan Dare, Tommy Walls (the protagonist of a board advertising a brand of ice cream) and San Paolo (in the biography The Great Adventurer, one of the few stories of religious nature published in the magazine). And he also takes care of the texts of the first two. But since his interest is to deal only with Dan Dare, he soon gets rid of his other commitments.
As strange as it may seem, Hampson begins the saga of the space hero without having a defined plot in mind. However, he has clear ideas about the context and characters and, wanting to be scientifically impeccable (without prejudice to the rights of creativity), he avails himself of the advice of Arthur C. Clarke, then a novice science fiction writer, wanted by Morris as a scientific consultant for Eagle; the collaboration lasts only six months, but Clarke has time to publish two stories in the magazine and to invent a name that has become famous: Treen. Although the story is born episode after episode, two panels at a time, it lays a solid foundation for what will follow.
The first adventure – the only one without a title, called ‘Voyage to Venus’ in the reprints – is set in 1996. Under the enlightened government of the United Nations, peace and progress reign; the Space Fleet has reached the Moon and Mars, and the circumterrestrial space is dotted with spaceships and space stations. Yet the Earth is going through a critical moment, caused by the excessive exploitation of the soil (yes, in the distant 1950, Hampson already speaks of ecology). A global famine is looming, and Dan Dare is given the task of verifying whether it is possible to obtain food from Venus, a planet supposedly rich in life.
After a difficult journey, the hero discovers that the globe is divided between two intelligent species, biologically and morally incompatible. The Southern Therons, angelic and blandly careless humanoids, would not mind helping Earth, but they hesitate for fear of irritating the Treen, ruthless reptilian masters of the northern hemisphere, with whom, after thousand-year wars, they have negotiated a fragile armistice. Dare, captured by the Treen, is taken to Mekonta, their capital, where he discovers that they are subjected to the Mekon, a macrocephalic and megalomaniac dwarf who plans to conquer everything he can, starting with Earth.
After a complex and gripping series of adventures, rich in ideas (among other things, we learn that the birth, in the distant past, of the Mediterranean Sea is a consequence of the conflict between Treen and Theron), we come to the showdown, a battle between the Treen and a coalition of Theron and earthlings fought on the plain facing Mekonta. The Mekon, disappeared in the fray, is presumed dead and the Treen have no choice but to surrender.
It is 4:30 PM on July 7, 1996. Citing the date and time is not a whim: the Dan Dare saga follows a strict chronology, each episode sets the stage for the next and in turn derives from previous events, another novelty for the time.
Continuity is not the only device used by the author to give plausibility to the universe he is creating. It is also governed by an inflexible internal coherence: the weapons, the uniforms, the spaceships, the places and every single detail are established once and for all and fixed in model sheets and scale reproductions: there is the detailed model of the Space Fleet headquarters; the reference tables with the physical features, the height, even the personal data of the characters; the three-dimensional busts of the same; the panoramas of the alien planets and so on. Nothing is overlooked, and the floor of Hampson’s house used as a study becomes a repository of wonders.
But this would not be enough to justify the triumph of the character. The first irresistible reason for fascination comes in fact from Hampson’s art, capable of creating images that are always surprising for their beauty and inventiveness. Secondly, the author draws inspiration from events that are very much alive in the minds of the English: the idea of a hungry world mirrors the recent difficulties suffered by England.
The entire story described in ‘Voyage to Venus’ can be read as an allegory of the Second World War, with the Mekon (Hitler) mad and aggressive, the Earth (England) threatened and exhausted and the Therons (the Americans) reluctant to emerge from their hedonistic isolation.
Hampson then, as a failed RAF pilot, ends up making Dan Dare an idealized alter ego, the man he would have liked to be, as he will say later. The young colonel of the Space Fleet is proud of the impeccable uniform he wears and of the ethical principles that follow from it. A naive vision of the army, but in 1996 it is based on the utopian assumption that the politicians to whom the soldier must obey are better than their flesh-and-blood counterparts.
Courageous and loyal, Dare rarely resorts to weapons, and the more devious and ferocious his enemies are, the less he is willing to imitate their methods. Not that he shies away from fighting, but his victories are the result of a spirit of sacrifice and superior moral premises. In turn, the earthlings are imbued with a spirit of tolerance in their relationships with the aliens, who are also generally never obtusely threatening.
The Treens themselves are given the role of recurring villains only because the Mekon has a negative influence on them, due to cultural reasons. And even the evil nature of the Mekon has a ‘scientific’ explanation (it is caused by genetic selection). For the author, and for Dan Dare, in short, every culture has its reasons, including those that it is possible to agree on. It is likely that in this regard too, Hampson is keen to tell us something about the real world: among the supporting characters, which include a Frenchman and an American, he would also like to include a Russian, but the editor points out to him that, in the midst of the Cold War, this is really not the case.
It is worth repeating that there is no trace of pedantry or moralism in the saga: the author always tries to captivate and amaze. However, he is also a man of great sensitivity and secular ethics (in an interview with Alan Vince he will say: “I’m not religious”), aware of the responsibility that creating for the youngest entails, and capable of overcoming the prejudices and clichés of his time. An example is another recurring character: Professor Peabody. Competent and self-confident, she is anything but the decorative little woman who is perpetually waiting to be saved by the hero, as is usual in comics of that period.
From Hampson’s work, in addition to the humanist inspiration, another particular feeling emanates: Dan Dare, or rather, Daniel McGregor Dare, born in Manchester in 1967, with studies at Rossall and Cambridge, can only be English (or perhaps, as the English would like to be). This is attested, in addition to the regional characterization of the supporting characters (Welsh, Irish, Scottish), by the solid common sense and the subtle humor. Which does not prevent it from being successfully proposed in many other countries, including Italy. With the notable exception of the USA, curiously incapable of appreciating the beauty and depth of the character. But, as we know, in those parts there is no inspiration that is worth Thor‘s hammer or Spiderman‘s spider web.
As the triumph of Eagle and Dan Dare consolidates, the author’s attachment to his creation grows. The artist obtains from Hulton the availability of a team of six designers and colorists, supported when necessary by other people. And it is just enough for him to satisfy a complex work plan.
Every Monday, he prepares the storyboard of an episode, making sure that it begins with a particularly suggestive scene; he then sketches the drawings, referring to the reference material and attaching photographs of people dressed like the characters, to facilitate the visualization of kinetic or particularly impactful scenes; finally he distributes the vignettes among the members of the staff, reserving the finishing touches to the first page. Stern and tireless, if he rejects the work of others, as often happens, he redoes it personally, amid clouds of pipe smoke, even neglecting to go to bed.
[to be continued in part 3]
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Dan Dare © Dan Dare Corporation – https://www.dandare.com/media
“The Dan Dare Corporation owns the global rights including Film, Television, Radio, Social Media, Publishing and Merchandising to the Eagle Comic and associated strips including Dan Dare – Pilot of the Future.”
All images are used for informational purposes only and are © their respective owners.
The opinions expressed in the article by the author do not necessarily reflect those of the Fumettomania Association, which aims to offer a platform that always guarantees the right to free expression through its website.
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SPECIAL PROJECT DAN DARE, MARGINAL NOTES
Article No. 1 – Part Two
Italian version: https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/dan-e-frank-due-eroi-britannici-parte-2-di-gianfranco-sherwood/
English version:
Article No. 1 – Part one
Italian version: https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/fumettomania-presenta-speciale-dan-dare-pilota-del-futuro-prima-puntata/
English version: https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/special-project-dan-dare-dan-e-frank-two-british-eroes-part-1/
Article No. 0
Italian version: https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/progetti-di-fumettomania/contenuti-web-extra-dal-2012-in-poi/dan-dare-il-pilota-del-futuro/
English version: https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/fumettomania-presents-dan-dare-pilot-of-the-future/
Source:
TERRE DI CONFINE magazine n. 2 – Aprile 2014
First publication: April 17, 2014 – ISBN 9788898585113
Un-periodical magazine about fantastic realized by Associazione Culturale TERRE DI CONFINE
in collaboration with PLESIO Editore
©2014 A.C. TERRE DI CONFINE
Largo S. Carlo 3/13, 33085 Maniago (PN)
redazione@terrediconfine.eu – www.terrediconfine.net
©2014 PLESIO EDITORE
Via Plutarco 38, 47121 Forlì (FC)
info@plesioeditore.it – www.plesioeditore.it
• All rights reserved •
BIOGRAPHY
DANIELE TOMASI is a multifaceted creative in the field of ComicArt, acting as artist, letterer, colorist, editor.
With the DTE brand, “the smallest publishing house in the world”, he edited and published three volumes of the “DebbieDillinger” series (where he is even the artist), the first number of “TetroTeatro” magazine (author of texts and drawings), the digital magazine “Continua…” (a free-distribution magazine with comics of various genres and authors, seven issues so far) and three issues of the magazine “Gli Archivi del Fumetto” (new issues and large-format volumes are planned).
He has created comics and illustrations for various Italian publishers (Tunuè, ProGlo, ComixCommunity, UndergroundPress, BotteroEdizioni, Pegasus/Comicus, Antani, Apache, AltaFedeltà).
He has worked as graphic designer for Italian publishers ProGloEdizioni, GreencomService, Shockdom, Palabanda Edizioni and Chimbe.
He has made lettering for Black Velvet and RW Edizioni.
He organizes courses about the Language of Comics.
In Internet you can see some of his artworks on the website danieletomasi.altervista.org , see other works and read some of his thoughts and opinions on the blog danieletomasi.blogspot.com , read for free some of the DTE publications in issuu.com/dteditore, read for free a fake storyboard of the “Spider-man” movie by James Cameron downloading the pdf (screen or print resolution) from the site spidercameron.altervista.org , write to him at the e-mails danieletomasi@gmail.com and dteditore@gmail.com
