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Wednesday 19 December 2007

Dan Dare UK Sales Success, Review Round Up

** Warning! Potential spoilers in the comments on this post!**

UK sales of the first issue of Virgin's new Dan Dare have made the title one of the most requested and most difficult to find in the run up to Christmas.

Specialist comic shops have done brisk business on the first issue of the new title and Virgin reports some disappointed fans of “The Pilot of the Future” have been paying five-times the UK cover price to have copies flown in from the USA.

One downtheubes reader told us London comic shops had been visited by fans of all ages trying to track down the book by Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine, which pits a jaded but still idealistic Dare against a renewed Treen menace threatening Earth.

“We’ve posted a list at blog.VirginComics.com of retailers with copies of Dan Dare on their shelves,” said Larry Lieberman, Chief Marketing Officer of Virgin Comics. “By the time fans arrive at the comic shops they all seem to be sold out.”

Forbidden Planet, the UK’s largest comic retailer, is using FedEx to send more copies of Virgin’s Dan Dare to its stores in time for Christmas.

Comments on the the first issue from reviewers include "a modern comic book take on the classic British kids' comic character, filled with well-executed modern comic book things" (Comic Reporter), "a solid effort" (ComicMix). Over on PopCultureShock, which also features a short review with Ennis, Ernie Estrella gives the book an "A" rating and declares "the first issue of Dan Dare doesn’t bog down the reader with any unnecessary recap of who the protagonist is, instead Ennis places us behind the wheel of a great adventure -- but he’s steering. Whether you’ve read Dare as a child like Ennis, or you’re meeting him for the first time, you’re instantly comfortable and confident in Dare."

"[Garth Ennis'] new version of Dan Dare from Virgin will undoubtedly hit the right nostalgic notes for long-time Dare fans," feels Tim Janson over on Newsarama, "and (thanks to the writer and updated storyline) pull in new readers as well. It's definitely worth checking out."

Kurt Amacker, reviewing the first issue for mania.com, concurs, also giving the book an "A" rating. "Ennis and Erskine have effectively carried Hampson’s character into the 21st Century, with subtle commentary on current events that proves both touching and even-handed – a pleasant surprise from the usual hammer blows Ennis drops on things he dislikes."

"The art has a timeless, independent feel," feels ComicBloc's Doug Zawisza. "While I may not be steeped in the legend of Dan Dare, I found myself able to jump right in, comprehend what was going on and enjoy what I read."

"I really, really liked it," commented Forbidden Planet International's Joe Gordon on his blog The Woomaloo Gazette. "I enjoyed it; I liked Ennis’ take on him, I like the way he has set it years after Dan and Digby’s ‘glory days’ as the prime minister refers to them so we can maintain links to the original but still have something new... Will I be picking up the second issue now? Oh, hell, yes!"

Variety's Bags and Boards is a little more cautious, with Tom McLean praising Erskine's art but adding that "It seems unlikely that die-hard fans of the character will be doing backflips over this first issue — it’s just too heavy on the exposition to really tell how the space stuff everyone wants to see will work out over the next six issues."

On IGN, Dan Dare failed to impress Richard George who gave the book just 5.1 out of 10. "The concept of a disillusioned hero isn't a bad one," he acknowledges. "Ennis pulls off a [end of issue] revelation with great effect, but it's basically the only remotely interesting scene in the entire issue. Due to his isolation, Dare doesn't have much of a supporting cast. Nor does he have much of a personality aside from his hostility at life. It works on some levels but grows old and I honestly don't care to read about a bitter, dull hermit."

"There’s nothing I particularly disliked about this book," writes Wizard's Associate Editor Andy Serwin, "but there wasn’t anything in this ish that made me stop and say, ‘Holy crap! That was awesome!’"

While many seem to have enjoyed the opening issue response from older readers, who grew up on the original Dan Dare in the Eagle, has been mixed, with some prefering the new story featuring the "classic" Dare being published in the quality, licensed fanzine Spaceship Away.

Doubtless the shortage of the new Dare might have readers walking from comic shops sensible enough to stock it with this great magazine instead.

Read our interview with Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

After I read the first episode
I plundered Google to learn about black holes. What I didn't discover was whether they were
'towable': seems like the Treens
looped a lassoo round one and towed it along behind them. I'd be grateful if anyone who is up on these things could enlighten, without getting too much into the
science (which I found daunting and difficult to follow).
I agree absolutely that it's not until we get to the futuristic stuff that we'll see whether the 2007 DD can stand up to Hampson's
incredible inventiveness. Right now all we've really had is a dose of the 1950's and some sterile box-offices somewhere in space.

John Freeman said...

Some of the best stuff about black holes can be found in New Scientist - assuming it IS a black hole that they're towing, as Dare suggests. Try the web site.

If it is a black hole the science involved must be pretty staggering - how do you 'lasso' a black hole in the first place without the lasso falling into it, and dragging the spaceship(s) towing it in with you.

This page on the UK's COSMOS supercomputer web site has a general introduction to black holes for a general audience: http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gr/public/bh_home.html

Anonymous said...

Well, the second episode is out, and the doubt sets in.
Frank Hampson once said, the test of a great strip cartoon
if when you can understand the action without the speech
balloons. He created a whole page of artwork (Eagle,
issue No.11) to prove it.
The new Dan Dare is talk, talk, talk. Maybe it’s to pay
homage to the old. If so, it’s a dangerous test of the fan’s
patience. We need ideas and action. The only idea
in this episode is the Mekon can create mythical Treen
monsters in a test tube, then set them on our hero.
Tell me I’m wrong, but the hero fighting a monster
(prehistoric beast, Alien, Godzilla or whatever) is
a trifle hackneyed, isn’t it? especially when the beast
has eyes in it’s ‘stomach’!
As for the black hole we met in episode one, there’s
no sign of it. Sigh. I am going to buy one more episode
(a triumph of hope over experience) and if it doesn’t
improve radically, that’s it for me.

anthony said...

To see the first ever prototype photo's please visit my website www.day2daytrading.com where you will also see we have WON toy of the year award 2009 for Buck Rogers action figure.

Flash Gordon is on his way early 2010 aswell as Sinbad, Perseus, Skeleton Warriors.

Day2Day are designers and manufacturers of exclusive license figures and much more.

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