Dan Dare, Hero with a Square Jaw

Dan Dare at the Science Museum in London. An excellent [but not massive] exhibition that looks at the new technological world of the 1950s that Frank Hampsons creation [from the Eagle comic] reflected. I like the optimistic viewpoint that the imagery has. The future was positive-and Nuclear! This was the atomic age and would solve all our problems [ironically with oil shortages it is coming back] Of course it was part of the post-war rebuilding and obviously people were literally starting again after the horrors of the war. The festival of Britain in 1951 was part of that and I love Abram games work for the festival. Dan Dare was a square jawed hero who would become out dated when the anti-heroes of the 1960s came along, but the boys own heroics and Frank hampsons moral standpoint is something that we could do with today. It was a shame that they never made a film of it-imagine the 1950s retro styling, fantastic!
We could do with heroes like Dan now, but they would probably claim Dan and Digby were gay! I suppose we live in a cynical age and heroes are made in shades of grey and nothing is black and white anymore-apart from Michael jackson of course..

Blokkhed
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BLOKKHED loves Dan Dare

Dan Dare created by Frank Hampson is simply the best. Created in a fascinating era when the space race was beginning and the future didn't seem to be too far away. Go and see the exhibition at the Science Museum in London. It looks at the fifties and the growth of new technologies. Urban redevelopment from pre-fab housing to washing machines and jet planes its a fascinating look at a time period that Dan Dare was created in. The designs Hampson made are wonderful, with true attention to detail. They built detailed models that were then photographed to do the drawings from.
Frank Hampson was "the man who drew tomorrow" [which is an excellent book by the way]

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