4 out of 5

Bloody great British action sci-fi, that’s what Dan Dare delivers, that’s what it should be, that’s what it is.  This book surprised me.  It was Ennis’s opportunity for more war stuff, and while he certainly has the elements of camaraderie and respect in there, he plays this pretty straight, delivering an action sci-fi book – much assistance from artist Erskine, giving each character weight while maintaining a classic British look to it – that lets you know who Dan Dare is without requiring you to feel like you need to ‘get’ the character’s history.  Instead, you feel the history through others’ descriptions of Dare, and I would stack this up with what I’ve said about the recent Rocketeer reboot, which instead plays with the character’s past like it’s something common knowledge to everyone.

So the people are at peace.  A high-ranking government official makes an odd request – we need retired captain Dan Dare to pilot a mission to an uncharted area for vague reasons, duty to the country, blah blah.  Enter Mr. Dare, who accepts the role because he’s a soldier, aware that, on some level, he’s just being dusted off to make an impression upon the people.  He diverts his craft along the way to answer a distress call, and then shit starts to hit the fan – an enemy assumed conquered long ago – the Mekon – a hive-mind race led by one maniacal figure who wants to enslave the world and hates Dan Dare – has promised said government official a place in the new world if he sets up some pins for knocking down, like Earth, and Dan Dare.  Why not?  Except Dare doesn’t say die, assisted by a female promoted-to-captain who shows daring-do in the face of adversity, something some of her previously higher-ranked associates were unable to do.  Ennis and Erskine deliver us 7 issues of solid plotting and politics, as the people of Earth shuttle through ‘what-to-do’ knowing they’ve been betrayed by a leader and assuming that they’re to be conquered sometime soon.  The female officer fulfills Ennis’s strong female requisite character, but he develops her role differently than usual, giving her shades of humanity and doubt that the all-wise Dan Dare spots as qualities of a real leader – someone who isn’t sure they’re doing the right thing but is capable of making a decision when the moment requires.

And Dare could serve as a pedestal for condemnation of British malaise, or to wax on about war nonsense, and that’s lightly inserted, but only so much as it serves Dares character.  Instead of cynicism or the bitter hope Ennis puts in a lot of his stories, this is pretty prideful stuff without feeling silly, sci-fi without dumb acronyms.  He does right by Dan Dare – and I feel comfortable saying that because he does such a good job of filling the book with a sense of assurance.  Is the action a bit muddled?  Sure.  There are tons of Mekon forces and baddies, but we never really feel the scope of that, I’m sorry to say.  And the world is ending, and this side of things is handled incredibly well from a dialogue standpoint amongst the remaining heads-of-state, but it feels similarly limited – we only see these heads-of-state, and not any insanity on the streets.  It’s a tough choice, because it gives Ennis more room to develop what’s needed for the story, and one or two pages of panic abroad wouldn’t be enough either, but it’s just something the book can’t quite sell.

Still, as I started, this was a wonderfully balanced surprise from Ennis, and probably the best scripted and looking book that the now defunct Virgin Comics line put out.