November 18, 200718 yr Five decades on, Dan Dare blasts back to save the world By BILL MOULAND - More by this author » Last updated at 21:56pm on 17th November 2007 Comments Striding across the fells in his leather flying jacket and hiking boots, wind teasing his hair and his jaw set like a dry-stone wall, he still manages to cut an imposing figure. As well he should – for this, in his umpteenth reincarnation since he first appeared 57 years ago, is Colonel Daniel MacGregor Dare – better known as Dan Dare. Next month Dan returns to the news stands once again thanks to one of his army of former schoolboy fans, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Comics enterprise is devoting a new publication to the famous space pilot. But gone is the clean-cut Dan created in 1950 by illustrator Frank Hampson for the Eagle comic. Scroll down for more Hero's return: The modern-day Dan Dare in retirement In his place is a brooding soul who seems to carry the woes of the world on his shoulders Dan's trusty sidekick, Digby, also returns – sporting a Bransonesque beard – and his arch enemies The Mekon and The Treens are still lurking in the stratosphere, making plans to conquer Earth. We also meet again the glamorous Jocelyn Peabody – once just a beautiful boffin but now Home Secretary. All of our heroes seem to have aged pretty well, given that Dan first appeared 57 years ago. The new series starts with the 21st Century Dan in retirement, disillusioned with politics and a world at war. Scroll down for more Political edge: Digby makes a barbed comment to Peabody The new dialogue is more pithy than the traditional storylines of Dan's derring-do – and there are even some thinly veiled, unflattering references to former Prime Minister Tony Blair. We catch up with Dan in an apparently idyllic English country pub in a picturepostcard village with a cricket green. But we soon learn the awful truth: Dan's idyll is a hologram that he can switch on and off – because the real world is a post-nuclear-war wasteland. North America and much of Asia has been destroyed, leaving the UK as the world's last remaining superpower. Scroll down for more The cover of the new comic featuring Dan Dare But he is urged back into action when the Prime Minister visits him in his spaceship and tells him Earth has come under attack from outer space. The hero is told The Treens are on their way and only plucky Britain can stop total global destruction. "It looks like they have brought a black hole with them," says Dan knowledgeably. It's exciting stuff, but the new Dan has been given a lukewarm welcome by devotee Rod Barzilay, 60. Scroll down for more Dan Dare as he was in the fifties He is the Dan Dare equivalent of a Star Trek trekkie and produces a tribute magazine three times a year which sells about 700 copies. Mr Barzilay, from Weymouth, Dorset, said:"The original series wasn't political at all. The only thing they pushed was the United Nations. "To me, the original version is the only one and the problem when they try to reinvent it is they lose the character. "It grates if they have not got it right. Real fans will regard this as a kind of alternative Dan Dare." As for the new depiction of his hero, Mr Barzilay said: "It's very tricky to say what he should look like. He has been in a deep sleep."
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