IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 37

 

The Dan Dare strip has inspired many parodies and other humorous strips. Danny Dare in Wham! comic was an early example. There were two Dan Dires; one by fan Eric Mackenzie and the other a political satire in Private Eye magazine. Another political satire was Dan Blair in the Times by Peter Brookes and our own Ray Aspden produced Mekki and Our Albert for Spaceship Away. However the strip which most impressively reflected Frank Hampson’s splendid visuals was Ham Dare, a strip which ran in Oink! comic in 1986. Oink! was an attempt to create an anarchic children’s comic in the style of the adult Viz. As its name suggests, Oink! adopted a pig theme in keeping with its often vulgar humour and several popular fictional characters were reimagined as pigs.  Written by Lew Stringer and illustrated in lavish colour by Malcolm Douglas (using the pseudonym J.T. Dogg), Ham Dare stayed remarkably faithful to Hampson’s designs, contrasting strongly with the ‘serious’ attempts to bring Dan Dare back. The story, which also featured ‘Pigby’, ‘Sir Hogbert’ and the ‘Weakon’ avoided the vulgarity that was often prevalent in some of Oink’s other stories. The Ham Dare serial ran from issues 15 to 19 of the then fortnightly comic, but Ham also featured in the 1989 Oink! Annual and the 1989 Summer Special. Sadly, Malcolm Douglas died in 2009 at the early age of 54, but Lew Stringer, who is also a prolific comic artist, is still going strong.