Spaceship Away is a three times a year, full colour, 44-page A4 glossy magazine that publishes newly created 1950’s Eagle style 'Dan Dare' strip stories (licensed by the Dan Dare Corporation) along with other science fiction strips and articles. Issue 17, which is just out, continues the 'Dan Dare' serial strips 'The Green Nemesis' (written by Rod Barzilay; drawn by Tim Booth), 'The Gates of Eden' (written and drawn by Tim Booth) and 'Rocket Pilot' (written and drawn by Keith Page). There is also a new full colour 'Dan Dare' centre-spread by Mike Noble, plus the humorous strips 'Dan Bear' (by Andy Boyce), 'Mekki', 'Our Bertie' (both by Ray Aspden), and 'Dan Dire' (a satire by Eric Mackenzie).
Factual articles include an original story outline for 'Operation Saturn', by Dan Dare's creator Frank Hampson*, and 'Working with Frank Bellamy', by Dan Dare artist Don Harley. The latter is nicely illustrated with a picture by Don recollecting Frank Bellamy delivering a page of 'Dan Dare'. There is also an article by Jeremy Briggs on Dan Dare's personal spaceship Anastasia. The Anastasia article is accompanied by a cutaway drawing of Anastasia's cockpit by Graham Bleathman. An article on 'Eagle and TV21' by Stephen Baxter is illustrated with examples from the Eagle artists who contributed to TV21: Frank Hampson ('Fireball XL5'), Frank Bellamy ('Thunderbirds'), Don Harley ('Thunderbirds'), Eric Eden ('Lady Penelope'), Ron Embleton ('Stingray') and Keith Watson ('Captain Scarlet').
In addition to the 'Dan Dare'-themed material, Spaceship Away includes three other SF strips: a reprint of Charles Chilton's 'Journey into Space - Planet of Fear' serial that originally appeared in Eagle's rival paper Express Weekly (1956), drawn by Ferdinando Tacconi, 'Ex-Astris', a computer-rendered strip by John Freeman and Mike Nicholl, and 'Nick Hazard Interstellar Agent', written by Philip Harbottle, drawn by Ron Turner and coloured by John Ridgway.
For further details of Spaceship Away, including how to subscribe, please go to the Spaceship Away website.
* Further information and comment by David Britton on Frank Hampson's outline for Operation Saturn will appear in the next (Spring 2009) issue of Eagle Times.