August
27 Virgin, Ennis relaunch 'Dan Dare'

Virgin Comics has announced the return of legendary British comics hero Dan Dare in a new series to be written by Garth Ennis. Company's also looking to develop a feature film version.

Dare first appeared in the pages of a weekly comics magazine called Eagle in 1950, the creation of artist Frank Hampson. The science fiction adventure strip is an icon of childhood for the post-war generations of British boys, apparently including Virgin chief Sir Richard Branson (at right with promotional art).

Virgin’s press release describes the new version this way:

Virgin Comics’ Dan Dare is set in the future, albeit not too many decades from the present day.  Colonel Dare is still vibrant and courageous – but now he’s retired.  His retirement is a self-imposed exile, the result of his disgust with politics and the post-nuclear warfare that has destroyed North America and much of Asia – leaving the UK as the world’s last remaining superpower.  Readers familiar with Dan Dare stories will recognize many of the original cast including a wiser and more experienced Digby; the innovative, brilliant and beautiful Professor Peabody; and of course the enemy of all that is good, the super-intelligent ruler of the Treens – The Mekon, together with a mix of galactic evil beings.

While not the classic version — what else would you expect from Ennis, writer of "Preacher" and "The Boys"? — this should make Brit comics fans everywhere happy and hopefully inspire some reprints of the classic material, which has been pretty scarce on this side of the Atlantic. No word yet on the artist for the series, though there likely is no shortage of U.K. talents who would love to take a shot at it. The cover art the company released  is by Bryan Talbot, whose work includes "Luther Arkwright," "Tale of One Bad Rat" and various "Sandman" projects with Neil Gaiman.