ALAN VINCE R.I.P.

 

Alan Vince, who died in December 2025 was undoubtedly a ‘Dan Dare’ superfan. He was the first fan to interview Frank Hampson at length and he became a recognised and reliable authority and archivist on Hampson and the ‘Dan Dare’ strip, contributing information and articles to several books, magazines and fanzines, including EAGLE Times and giving talks about the character and his creator. His interviews with Frank, which were first published in Thing Fanzine in 1975 were reprinted many years later in the Titan Books reprints of Dan Dare’ early adventures. Alan provided information and occasional pieces for both 2000 A.D. Sci Fi Special and the 1980s EAGLE and its annuals and was for many years the first port of call for any journalist, writer or television producer working on a ‘Dan Dare’ project. Such was his reputation, that he was asked to work as an adviser on Paul De Savary’s abortive ‘Dan Dare’ TV series in the 1980s.

He established close friendships with several artists, including Keith Watson, Ron Embleton, Peter Jackson and Martin Asbury and became actively involved in the activities of the Society of Strip Illustration. The picture above shows him on the left with Peter Jackson (centre) and Keith Watson. Sadly, I met Alan only once, at the 1980 Eaglecon in London, which he was heavily involved in organising. He told me how as a teenager he had visited the EAGLE offices shortly after Frank Hampson left the ‘Dan Dare’ strip and had been shown some of Frank Bellamy’s work on the ‘Terra Nova’ story before publication. He actually wrote a short article on Frank Bellamy’s ‘Dare’ for the 1978 2000 A.D. Sci Fi Special. I also wrote to him many years later for some advice and information for an article I was writing about Keith Watson’s work on ‘Dan Dare’ and his enthusiasm showed in his informative and encouraging reply. 

Alan wrote several articles for EAGLE Times over the years. These included a series of reminiscences about comic events he had attended, a piece about Frank Hampson's work before and after 'Dan Dare' and articles about the work of Frank Bellamy, Ron Embleton, Tony Weare and Martin Asbury. He was a key figure in promoting the work of Frank Hampson and drawing attention to its quality. He will be greatly missed.

Steve Winders