Titan Plans All-New ‘Dan Dare: Pilot Of The Future’ Series For 2017 [NYCC 2016]

I don't know that any of us expected it, but 2016 is turning out to be a surprisingly great year for Dan Dare. Originally created in 1950 as the star of The Eagle, the erstwhile pilot of the future who dedicated his considerable skills to battling the sinister Mekon and his army of Venusian Treens seems to be undergoing a revival of sorts. Not only is there an upcoming collection of Dan Dare strips from his late-'70s tenure as a feature in 2000 AD, but Titan Comics has announced that it's going to publish an all-new Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future series in early 2017.

The creative team behind Dan Dare's latest revival has yet to be announced, but Titan has confirmed that its take on one of the greatest British comic book characters of all time will lean heavily on the original version created by Frank Hampson, setting the stage for plenty of pulpy outer-space adventure.

That original version of Dan Dare ran in the pages of The Eagle for 17 years, but in the time since, the character has been revived by creators like Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, John Wagner, Pat Mills, Rian Hughes, and Gary Erskine, among others. While virtually all of those revivals involved some level of cynicism that pushed back against the original serial's bright colors and spacefaring optimism --- particularly Morrison and Hughes's take in 1990 --- it left pretty big shoes to fill for whoever is behind Titan's version.

Here's the official word from Titan:

"We wanted to bring back the spirit of the classic Dan Dare, that spirit of courage and daring do, Dare's innate decency and pluck. There have been many different Dares since the original,” said editor David Leach, “We've had our dark and political Dare, the Grandson of Dare and even a sort of space pirate Dare, but this incarnation will be the original Dare - that young, heroic, brave and determined Dare that we came to love. We wanted to get back to what made him special in the first place. And what better way to do that in than a rollicking, epic, galaxy-spanning space saga!"

Dan Dare #1 hits comic stores in 2017 and will also be available on digital platforms. Retailer will be able to order issue #1 from Diamond’s February edition of PREVIEWS.