Dan Dare Returns Again!

US Comics news site Newsarama has reported that Dynamite Entertainment, who also publish titles such as Battlestar Galactia, has picked up the rights to publish new Dan Dare comics based on Garth Ennis' interpretation of the character, first published by the now defunct Virgin Comics.

When Virgin dissolved earlier this year, Dynamite announced that it would collect their Dan Dare series, which will be released in February. In addition to the story itself the hardcover edition will include several extras including pencils, sketches and design work as additional material. (More details here)

Now Dynamite has confirmed they have landed the rights to publish future Dan Dare comics projects, beating out at least one other publisher interested in developing a new Dare title, in addition to the new "classic" Dan Dare adventures being published in Spaceship Away magazine.

"I am delighted to be working with Nicky [Barrucci, Dynamite President] and his team, on the collection of one of my favorite series in years," writer Garth Ennis said, "and very happy indeed that Dan Dare has found a great home in Dynamite.”

Barrucci told Newsarama's Matt Brady that Ennis championed Dynamite to Colin Frewin at the Dan Dare Corporation which owns the rights to all material publised in Eagle and New Eagle.

Frewin himself is clearly delighted by the deal describing Dynamite Entertainment as exactly what Dan Dare needs for global distribution.

There's no news as yet as to whether Gary Erskine, who drew the Virgin Dan Dare series, will draw the second series.

At least one other publisher had been negotiating a license for a new Dan Dare comic which would have been more of a "Year One" style title but following the Dynamite announcemnet have told downthetubes they have now witdrawn from discussions.

Virgin turned to Liquid

Geoff Boucher of the Los Angeles Times reports that Virgin Comics, publishers of the new Dan Dare, are definitely no more, and that visitors to the Virgin web site are now directed to Liquid Comics.

The good news appears to be that the Eagle hero is, currently, still one of the characters listed as continuing with the publisher that has bought Virgin Comics' assets. The online web comic of the first issue is still running on the updated, if spartan, web site.

"This is the news that Virgin editor-in-chief Gotham Chopra was hinting at when I spoke to him a few weeks ago," Boucher reports."...I exchanged e-mails this morning with Gotham Chopra (who is the son of author Deepak) and he told me about some other things coming up that I will be able to share with you soon. Essentially, though, my sense is that he, publisher Sharad Devarajan and their team have lost the corporate backing of Branson's sprawling Virgin empire (which is grappling with the grim financial realities of the day) but that they were in comic-book business before they had Branson as a partner and they will solider now without the British conglomerate."

Liquid Comics completed the management buyout of Virgin Comics this week, led by the founding management team of Gotham Chopra, Sharad Devarajan and Suresh Seetharaman. In a press release on the web site, Liquid Comics says it will continue to develop innovative digital, film, animation, and gaming projects for its original character, stories and other properties.

Commenting on the change, Sharad Devarajan said, "Virgin Group has been a fantastic partner with whom to work and together we have established a strong foundation of great character properties and media partnerships.

We remain fully committed to continuing our mission to provide a home for innovative creators and storytellers across the world."

Virgin Group senior vice president of corporate development Dan Porter added, "The management team has a track record of great relationships with artists and media partners. Under this new ownership structure, the company is well positioned for future growth in the rapidly changing global comic space. As Virgin Group focuses on its core activities in North America, we wish them well in building their exciting business."

Founded in 2005, Virgin Comics forged partnerships with Warner Brothers, New Regency, Sony Online Entertainment, Sci Fi Channel, Studio 18, UTV and others. Under the new Liquid Comics name, the management team plans to proceed with a number of the projects previously announced as Virgin Comics and will make announcements shortly regarding those projects and the restructured launch dates.

Most of the Virgin titlesare still listed on the site, including Dan Dare, Guy Ritchie's Gamekeeper, John Woo's Seven Brothers, and scifi title The Stranded.

More news as we get or find it!

Virgin Comics closes New York office, projects cancelled?

Updated 24/9/08: Publishers Weekly reports that Virgin Comics, the two year-old joint venture between the Virgin Group and India's comic book publisher Gotham Entertainment and publishers of the recent Dan Dare mini series by Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine, has closed its US offices in New York.

Among the apparent casualties of the cancelled comic line are a second, already-scripted Dan Dare, Grant Morrison's MBX web animation and, according to comics journalist Rich Johnston, Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits II, who also reports their have been redundancies at the company's Indian offices.

Hollywood Reporter notes that the closure is due "the current macro-economic downturn" in its report and CEO Sharad Devarajan and president Suresh Seetharaman, says Virgin hopes to restructure the business and consolidate its operations at a Los Angeles base.

Eight people have been laid off from the company, founded in 2006 to create superhero and adventure print comics based on Indian mythology, which could also be licensed for film and merchandising and financed by Richard Branson's Virgin Group. Author/speaker Deepak Chopra is Chairman of the company and his son Gotham Chopra is CCO and Editor-in-Chief of Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation respectively.

It has published 18 trade paperback collections and three hardcover titles and produced more than a dozen different comics series, with contirbuitors including Guy Ritchie, John Woo, Nicolas Cage, Ed Burns and musician Dave Stewart. Ritchie's The Game Keeper found a home at Warner Bros. but the status of the film is unclear this time and at this stage, it is also unclear what will happen to the rights to these properties.

Variety reports on the low sales for many titles and opines that the publishing label ddi not succeed with comicbook readers, mainly because the company focused much of its efforts on books with stories involving Indian mythology.

Hollywood, though, has grown increasingly interested in Virgin Comics because of its deals with filmmakers and talent.

In a statement but the company said it would not remain idle.

"We remain excited about the business and partnerships we have built through Virgin Comics and are working towards a restructuring that properly takes the business forward," said Devarajan.

Dan Dare Gary Erskine told downthetubes he remains hopeful the second series featuring the character may yet appear. "There are still discussions going on between Virgin and Gotham," he said in a brief statement.

• Heidi MacDonald offers a thorough analysis of Virgin Comics demise on The Beat: Requiem for a Virgin... "... Starting a comic book company just to get movie options as a business plan... that does not work..."

• September 24th 2008: Virgin Turns to Liquid: See follow up News Story

21st Century Dare Merchandising

With the new Virgin version of Dan Dare drawing to a close with issue 7 of the limited series, Virgin have jumped onto the merchandise bandwagon with an item about as far removed from the metal toys and bagatelles of 1950's Dare merchandising that it is possible to get.

They have released an iPod Classic skin featuring Bryan Talbot's cover artwork for issue 1 of the limited series. For our readers who still prefer sliding a C-90 into their Walkman, an iPod skin is an illustrated cover for the portable digital music player. This particular one retails at $15 from the Virgin Comics Store, although they are currently free if you order one of the Dan Dare hardback books that reprints the first three issues of the series.

If you like the illustration but would prefer it in a more traditional format then a limited edition lithograph of the same cover is also available. The lithograph is 24 x 18 inches and retails at $49.99.

Visit the Virgin Comics Store for more details of their Dan Dare collectibles.

Stranded gets TV pilot

Mike Carey (X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Voodoo Child) and creator of Virgin Comics series The Stranded will be developing the story into a television series for SCI FI Channel.

“One of the purposes of our SCI FI partnership is to create television and film writing opportunities for the best talents in the comic industry. Having Mike write the television pilot for The Stranded, a comic book he created, is exactly what we had hoped for,” commented Virgin CEO Sharad Devarajan.

Mike Carey’s stunning work has earned him fans worldwide. With The Stranded, Mike challenges ordinary people to face the extraordinary – their lives are lies. Every memory is false. Startling events cause them to confront the truth, that they are, in fact, “stranded” on Earth after a horrific genocide in another galaxy.

“From day one,” Carey says, “working on The Stranded has felt like being at a nexus point of creativity. Virgin and SCI FI created the perfect platform, and then supported the book and the creative team through all the stages of development. This feels like something we all own, and we all love. I can't wait to take it forward into its next incarnation.”

"It’s all very cool," he says on his blog. "I love the core premise of The Stranded, and the cast we’ve built up. I really want to carry on telling their story, in as many different formats as I can - including semaphor where appropriate."

• The Stranded Issue # 1 was released in January 2008 and #3 goes on sale at comic shops and via available at www.virgincomicsstore.com is on sale from 26th March 26th, 2008. The first volume of collected stories will be released in July.

Virgin Comics' Dan Dare - More News

A few more images have started to surface regarding the upcoming Dan Dare comic from Virgin. This one, taken from the Virgin website, shows the variant cover to Issue #1 by artist Greg Horn, best known for his work on Marvel's Elektra and Emma Frost titles.

The accompanying issue trailer reveals "...Dan Dare was once a hero. He brokered peace with alien races, pushed the frontiers of space, and save the planet from total annihilation... repeatedly. But now, his Space Fleet disbanded, the United Nations has crumbled, his friends scattered to the solar winds. Britain is once again the world power, but Dare, disilluisioned and disappointed in his once-precious home country, has quietly retired.

But there's trouble mustering in Deep Space. The HMS Achilles is picking up starnge signals when, suddenly, an enormous fleet of hostile ships ambushes the destroyer. As the crew struggles to say alive, they realise with horror that the hostiles have brought a weapon of unimagineable power.

Dan Dare, pilot of the future, has been called out of retirement."

A recent comics 'retailer summit in the US led to the following couple of items being produced.





The first item of the two is the most interesting, revealing some of Gary Erskine's pencils for the series.

Virgin Comics can be found here: www.virgincomics.com/