Virgin Comics Dan Dare Launch in New York
Sir Richard Branson is a major fan of Dan Dare and in 2008 his company, Virgin Comics, commissioned the
renowned comics writer, Garth Ennis, to create a new series of Dan Dare. When we heard that this was afoot we
contacted Sir Richard to ask him to credit my father with Dan Dare's creation (on some occasions this hasn't
happened and this was a great source of pain to him when he was alive) and also, to say that we hoped that he
would stick to the spirit of the original character.
The response from Virgin Comics was great. They not only allayed our concerns, but also generously invited us to
attend the New York launch of the comic at the Comics Convention as their guests. For my part I was happy to sit
in with Garth for a live question and answer session and to take part in media interviews. Garth Ennis is very much
more famous in the USA than Dan Dare and it was an interesting experience to be somewhere where Eagle had
hardly been heard of.
The trip was great fun and we were treated with the utmost courtesy and generosity by the Chief Marketing Officer
of Virgin Comics, Larry Lieberman and his assistant Alicia Spencer. Sadly, this new comic didn't survive, but Dan -
as always - lives on.
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