As a fan of the original Dan (via the 1980’s Eagle comic and subsquent reading of some of the original Hampson stories) and more recently Spaceship Away, I had to have a look at this new offering from Virgin Comics. I like the style and the quality of the artwork, Hampson studio it isn’t but others have done far worse. The style is crisp, quite detailed and well finished. Though neither the reintroduced characters or the depicted hardware are readily recognisable from the original.
The story is quite ingenious. You have a modern Prime Minister who appears to know nothing of modern history or the traditions of the people he governs and is perhaps too busy to care, who goes cap in hand to beg for help from someone that both knows AND cares but is very disappointed by the direction that his country is now going in. This echos the feeling of so many of those who are old enough to have enjoyed the original adventures of Dan and company when they were first published, as well as a significant proportion of those who were not. The moral appears to be “Look to the past to save the future”, if only…..
Scripting is fine as far as Dan and the newbies goes but who are these Digby & “Joss” people? Is “Joss”, the botanist Professor Peabody? The bearded one is definitely Nick Courtney AKA the Brigadier, it can’t be that Lancashire lad, Albert Fitzwilliam Digby, surely? Aunt Anastasia would be spinning in her grave to hear her nephew speaking like that to Professor Peabody. Perhaps this version owes more to Foundation Imaging’s Dan Dare?
Dan Dare, I didn’t even know the character, except for vaguely hearing the name a few times perhaps; but this first issue buy Ennis is actually pretty promisingly good. If this keeps up, I hope Virgin Comics releases some serious high quality hardcover book collected deluxe editions, and I ain’t talking limited editions. Might be worth translating for the world Francophone community as well, and other languages
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As a fan of the original Dan (via the 1980’s Eagle comic and subsquent reading of some of the original Hampson stories) and more recently Spaceship Away, I had to have a look at this new offering from Virgin Comics. I like the style and the quality of the artwork, Hampson studio it isn’t but others have done far worse. The style is crisp, quite detailed and well finished. Though neither the reintroduced characters or the depicted hardware are readily recognisable from the original.
The story is quite ingenious. You have a modern Prime Minister who appears to know nothing of modern history or the traditions of the people he governs and is perhaps too busy to care, who goes cap in hand to beg for help from someone that both knows AND cares but is very disappointed by the direction that his country is now going in. This echos the feeling of so many of those who are old enough to have enjoyed the original adventures of Dan and company when they were first published, as well as a significant proportion of those who were not. The moral appears to be “Look to the past to save the future”, if only…..
Scripting is fine as far as Dan and the newbies goes but who are these Digby & “Joss” people? Is “Joss”, the botanist Professor Peabody? The bearded one is definitely Nick Courtney AKA the Brigadier, it can’t be that Lancashire lad, Albert Fitzwilliam Digby, surely? Aunt Anastasia would be spinning in her grave to hear her nephew speaking like that to Professor Peabody. Perhaps this version owes more to Foundation Imaging’s Dan Dare?
Dan Dare, I didn’t even know the character, except for vaguely hearing the name a few times perhaps; but this first issue buy Ennis is actually pretty promisingly good. If this keeps up, I hope Virgin Comics releases some serious high quality hardcover book collected deluxe editions, and I ain’t talking limited editions. Might be worth translating for the world Francophone community as well, and other languages
– Montréal, Canada