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Dan Dare: Pilot Of The Future: Operation Saturn Part 2 by Frank Hampton
01/08/2005 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Titan Books. 95 page hardback graphic novel. Price: £14.99 (UK), $19.95 (US). ISBN: 1-84023-088-3. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out websites: www.titanbooks.com
Well, chums, when last we were here, Dan Dare and his batman, Digby, and the Venusian leader Sondar were preparing to aid a revolution amongst the folk on the moons of Saturn. To do so, Tharl - the leader of the Phoebe aliens, arranged for them all to be sprayed a suitable colour to disguise their origins and used the telesender - what you would call a matter transmitter today - to get them to Titan (the moon not the publisher although I'm sure they would have made them more welcome). Dan is to give instructions to the revolutionaries on Titan to begin their attack which is somewhat disrupted when he sees his captured crew being taken off to slaughter. His attempt to rescue them, ends up with them, with the exception of Digby, all captured. The Titan leader, the Rootha, eventually has to give way to his own leader, the Vora, who isn't even from our Solar System and a far more dangerous adversary and who wants to take over our little blue and green planet Earth. Things are really looking glum, chums, and Dan is no where near alerting Earth to the danger yet.
In fact, Dan is being tortured to learn Tharl's secrets but our brave hero refuses to talk. Digby, in the meantime, leads the rebellion in a glorious revolution. It is all to no avail, chums. The Vora and Blasco escape in a spaceship with control of their automated Black Cat robot ships. Dan and his crew re-equip their spaceship, the Valliant, with a Titan engine and they take pursuit. The Vora arranges for the Valliant's fuel to explode but, fortunately, Dan jettisons it and goes back to the old chemical fuel. They arrive as the Earth is under attack and...well, chums, why should I spoil the climax. You need to buy this book yourself.
Apart from the end of 'Operation Saturn', there are also two other shorter Dan Dare stories from the Eagle Annuals. 'Operation Triceratops' is the delivery, by a spacecraft flown by Dan, of a Venusian giant reptile to Earth as a zoo exhibit. The only problem is one of the Venusians is still loyal to the Mekon and changes the anaesthetic to a stimulant. Dan, Digby and crew have to fight to keep control of the spaceship and get it to Earth but don't succeed without a little help. I tell you, chums, I wondered if I wasn't going to add soil to my pants.
'The Planulid' follows the discovery of a toxic living substance living in a volcano near Australia by explorers. Dan and Digby are in the area and help out before the Earth faces extinction. Not a spaceship in sight with this tale, chums, but a gripping tale based on real Science Fiction with a logical solution when you look at it closely.
The extras at the front of the big are really part of something that was conducted back in 1958 where creator Frank Hampton was involved in a discussion on space travel. The Russian satellite Sputnik has only just gone up together with an expert at the time as a feature inside 'The Eagle' comic itself. Rather than see the original pages, we see the original discussion with a lot of footnotes explaining what happened. 47 years ago and its amazing how far our ideas about space travel and our Solar System has evolved in that time. From a purely historical POV, this gives some interesting insight especially how Hampton himself saw spacecraft working.
There's an interesting comparison between the art of the 'Saturn' story by Frank Hampton and that of the two shorter stories art by Harold Johns and Greta Tomlinson. Working in the same studio and as part of the team, the styles are markedly similar enough that seen apart you'd think them one and the same. Together, the dissimilarities are a tad more obvious. This isn't to give a disservice to either artist. If anything, it's nice to see the differences and that Johns wasn't purely a Hampton clone.
Need I say how much Dan Dare is an icon of early British comicbook material and if you're collecting, you really should be adding these books to your collection. There is certainly a lot of charm to these stories and with elements of suspense that make this into a pure page turner. There is also a hint of a well-known adversary coming back in the next volume.
GF Willmetts
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