International versions of Dan Dare

The British Dan Dare comic strip also appeared in other countries:

Australian Eagle was printed in Adelaide three years after the UK’s first issue. The format was slightly smaller. Only Dan Dare and PC49 were included in the OZ version.
Den Deri in Croatian Youth Magazine Plavi Vjesnik.
Daan Durf in a Dutch magazine called Arend.
In Norway in Hauk (this one started life as a large Eagle size but due to expense was reduced to an A4 size).
For the French version of Dan Dare, see Steve Taylor's article below.
In Italian magazine Il Giorno dei Ragazzi.
There were two Portugese versions of Dan Dare / Eagle done: Tita Semanario Juvenil (this was a small A4 format) and Foguetao (means Rocket) large size and Dan is re-named as Capitao Marte.
In Spain, Dan Dare was published from 1954-1957 by Editorial Cid under the name of Diego Valor.
In Sweden in Falken.

(Above information compiled with the help of Steve Taylor, Luxembourg, May 25, 2002.)

Dan Dare on the Radio:

From 1953-1958, Dan Dare radio show was broadcast in Spain under the name of Diego Valor. Between 1951-56, Radio Luxembourg broadcast the English version of Dan Dare, and which could be heard all over the World.

Dan Dare on Television:

There were plans over the past 40 years or so to make a Dan Dare movie, but these never materialized. The closest Dare got to the big screen is Dan Dare CGI-animated TV show, produced by Foundation Imaging, and which premiered on the Fox Kids Network for Latin America on December 23, 2001. The show is owned by Dan Dare Corporation (Colin Frewin) and Sony Pictures.

Australia

An Australian Eagle Vol 1. No14 dated 20/8/53.

Croatia - Den Deri

Holland - Daan Durf

Dutch Eagle Arend from 1960.

France
Dan Dare
Pilote du Futur

Dan Dare French comic book #1 released by DPE in 1982.

The comic has 48 pages all in color on soft cover. This comic contains 6 short stories; The men of PSATP, The Eagle with 2 Heads, The Fire in the Sky, Operation Triceratops, The Gold Satellite and The Invisible Enemy.

(reprinted stories originally appearing in the Eagle Annuals, and was also re-published in the UK by Hamlyn. The French took the original Hamlyn and produced it as two seperate books AND a full book.)

FRANCE

Dan Dair (LUG April 1963 - March 1964)

A digest size monthly comic containing three stories Hampson's Dan Dare, Richard Jenning's Storm Nelson (also from the UK Eagle comic), and Andrea Lavezzolo's Kinowa, an Italian cowboy/indian strip. An unknown Italian artist drew the covers. Only 12 monthly issues were released, although publisher's remainders were bound in sets of four with new covers and re-released as "albums", and numbered 1 to 3.

This was LUG's first venture into SF, and it was not received very well.

They re-printed the first three Dan Dare stories to appear Dan Dare Pilot of the Future (nos 1-7) , The Red Moon Mystery (nos 7- 9), and Marooned on Mercury (nos 9-12).

Soft cover, digest size, colour covers, black and white strips

Dan Dare Pilote du Futur (DPE 1982 and 1983)

This book appeared in three different forms and was based on the UK Hamlyn edition of Dan Dare Pilot of the Future (1976 - which in turn had re-printed Dan Dare stories from the Eagle Annuals). In 1982 the French publisher took the Hamlyn original and re-printed half of it as Dan Dare Pilote du Futur Vol. 1 and the second half as Dan Dare Pilote du Futur Vol. 2. A year later (1983) they also released a full (single edition) version called, with typical Gallic ingenuity, Dan Dare Pilote du Futur.

Stories published in Volume 1

Les Hommes du PSATP (The Men of from STEAL)
L'aigle a deux tetes (The Double Headed Eagle)
Le Feu de Ciel (The Fire in the Sky)
Operation Triceratops (Operation Triceratops)
Un Satellite en or massif (The Solid Gold Asteroid)
L'ennemi invisible (The Unseen Enemy)
Stories published in Volume 2
Operation Crusoe
Operation Silence
Space Race
The Vanishing Scientists
Space Rocks
Operation Moss
Soft cover (all versions), colour strips
Dan Dare - 4 Jours a Sauve la Planete (Edition Humanoide 1977)

A large size book re-printing two Dan Dare stories.

Stories published

La Lune Rouge (The Red Moon Mystery)
Safari dans l'espace (Safari in Space)

Hardback, colour strips, interesting Foreword by Pierre Couperie.

Footnotes

1) All the above French versions were also distributed to Switzerland and Quebec.

2) Although Dan Dare was not a tremendous success in France, the Eagle's companion comic for girls (entitled Girl) was. This comic ran uninterrupted in France from 1958-1965 under the title Ligne, and many of its UK characters were left unchanged (apart from their name - of course). The publishers of Ligne regularly re-issued the comic in half yearly volumes in hard covers.

3) Eagle fans might also like to know that two of Geofrey Bond's "Luck of the Legion" Eagle novels (originally published in the UK during the 1950s) were re-published in France in 1968. These were issued in the Signe de Piste series as numbers 194 (Les Tigres de Chai-Fang - click here to see the cover http://www.sdp-livres.com/im_sig/sig_194.jpg) and 198 (La Garnison Phantome- click here to see the cover http://www.sdp-livres.com/im_sig/sig_198.jpg).

(Above information provided by Steve Taylor, Luxembourg, June 13, 2002.)

Italy

Dan Dare comic also appeared in Italian magazine Il Giorno dei Ragazzi in 1962.

Spain - Diego Valor
Diego Valor sample comics collection
From 1953-1958, Dan Dare radio show was broadcast in Spain under the name of Diego Valor.

COMICS D.S. EDITORS S.A.-1979 - Nº 16

Last Revised: June 13, 2002

For your comments, click here.

Back to:

Eagle, Dan Dare and all images by kind permission of the Dan Dare Corporation Ltd.