Spaceship Away #41 (Spring 2017)

The latest issue of Spaceship Away is out now and launches a whole new Dan Dare yarn, so it's a great jumping on issue if you haven't tried the title before now.

Tim Booth has been central to the success of Spaceship Away, having painted a series of new old-style Dan Dare yarns for many years. His long-running 'Parsecular Tales' storyline has finally come to a conclusion after 28 episodes – and as there are only three issues per year, that particular strip has been running since 2010 – and a new story begins, with eight pages of the new 'Shakedown Cruise' getting his latest yarn off to a good start.

Four graduates from Astral College are selected to join Dan, Digby and the crew of the Discovery on a training mission that will begin with a trip to Far City on the dark side of the Moon.

This issue has a second, complete Dan Dare tale from the pen of John Freeman, still probably best known for his editorial stint at Doctor Who Magazine and as publisher of the online Down the Tubes comics' news site. 'Martian Menace' was written back in 2013 when it was hoped that the Freeman-edited Strip comic would be allowed to run new Dan Dare material. After creating a bible for the new strip, work began in 2014 only to grind to a halt when payments due did not arrive.

Thankfully, John's hard work was picked up by B7 Media when they came to producing audio adventures of Dan Dare recently – the second tranch of stories is due shortly – and the strip, drawn by Joe Pimentel and gorgeously coloured by John Ridgway, had finally made its way into print.

Another Ron Turner strip completes the comic compliment this issue, a bit of pulpy fun that fits the Spaceship Away formula beautifully.

Articles this issue include a look at Bruce Cornwell's artwork for Express Annual and a piece by David Ashford on two artists you might not expect to have contributed to the Dan Dare saga in the original Eagle: Jack Daniels and Norman Williams.

You can find out more about the magazine, buy back issues and subscribe to the latest issues at the Spaceship Away website.