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| Dan Dare, the Future interplanetary pilot. (Picture from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/) |
Forget Captain Kirk and his USS. Enterprise, Buzz Lightyear, and Jedi knight, Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars's. There is Dan Dare, the future interplanetary pilot figure.
That's science fiction comic created by the publishers which used to publish vehicle repair manuals. Usually the book that published by the Haynes Publishing featuring the nuts, and bolts, now they make "Dan Dare Pilot of the Future - Space Fleet Operations Manual" comic.
They using "manual" word again, because every device that exists in comic will be shown slices inside of it, like car repair manuals that show the inside of the machine. A number of spacecraft in the comic that published in the 50's, will be redrawn with detail view, completed with the description of each part.
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| Pilot of the future: Haynes has published a manual revealing the technology that propelled "Dan Dare" to worlds far beyond our own, inspiring legions of fans along the way. (Picture from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/) |
From the moment the first "Dan Dare" strip blasted off in full colour on the front of the revolutionary new Eagle comic on Friday April 14, 1950 – priced at ‘3d’, or one and a half pence in today’s currency - the future never looked brighter. It caused a sensation and sold nearly a million. And now, Haynes is back to dissect the contents of every interplanetary plane to shows the technology that used to do interplanetary travel in the universe.
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| The Anastasia: The new manual from Haynes gives an insight into the technology that powered Dan Dare's personal spacecraft, the Anastasia. (Picture from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/) |
Eagle's comic was childhood dream of RAF member Marcus Morris, who want the comic products that can evoke the spirit as well as appealing to the kids and not prohibited by the parents.
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| The Zylbat: The manual features pictures of the spacecraft used by Dan and his loyal sidekick, Digby, as they journeyed through galaxies. (Picture from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/) |
Frank Hampson, the artist who was create "Dan Dare" character and led the team in Epsom, Surrey, England to write the screenplay, designing spacecraft includes a variety of equipment, build the story characters and develop their adventure series. The Eagle's comic was childhood dream of RAF member Marcus Morris, who want the comic products that can evoke the spirit as well as appealing to the kids and not prohibited by the parents.
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| Formidable flagship: The manual also focuses on the spacecraft used by rebel leader Tharl in the legendary Eagle comic. (Picture from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/) |
Dare's exploits were serialised on Radio Luxembourg, which aired "The New Adventures of Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future", five times a week for five years from July 1951. The back story is no less fascinating. In this alternative modern history of the known universe, it was Britain which won the space race, building on Germany’s wartime V2 rocket programme to pip the U.S. to land the first man on the Moon and plant the Union Flag on its lunar surface.
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| The Tempus Frangit: Dan Dare fans can immerse themselves in the space pilot's world once again thanks to the new manual. (Picture from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/) |
Later the UK was part of a joint mission to Mars with the Americans, using three spacecraft called Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Charles de Gaulle after the three allied leaders during the Second World War. As the uniforms suggest, the Space Fleet is a thinly disguised but updated version of the RAF, with green rather than blue colouring.
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| Legendary: The Eagle comic was a must-read for a generation of post-war children in Britain. (Picture from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/) |
Our hero, Manchester-born and Cambridge-educated "Colonel Daniel MacGregor Dare", with his distinctive wiggly eyebrow, embodies the true Brit spirit of heroism, fair play, and an inner moral strength – always willing to give even his worst enemies a second chance.
The manual includes profiles of his closest friends and colleagues – alien as well as human. Central among them are - for the time a gender stereotype-defying breakthrough – a smart, intelligent, brave and resourceful scientific space-woman and nutritionist, Professor Jocelyn Peabody, whose quick-thinking and fluency in alien languages ‘saves lives'. And not forgetting his loyal side-kick Digby, a down-to-earth father of four from Wigan in Lancashire, who steadfastly refuses promotion to stay at his friend’s side in space.
Frank Hampson taking his relatives, friends, and partners to pose in the character costumes for the comic pictures. But it wasn’t pure fantasy, with as much care taken with the science - as far as was known or hinted at at the time - as with the fiction. With hindsight there are some howlers, but most are forgivable and pale in significance to the majesty of the illustrations. Arthur C. Clarke, who would become the author of ‘2001, A Space Odyssey’ is said to have been a scientific advisor. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | DAILYMAIL | DIKDO M | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 21052013]
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