Dan Dare to celebrate their 20th anniversary, "2000 AD" published two issues with additional free comics, the first a reprint of the first issue of "2000 AD", which starred Dan Dare. The second free comic was a speculative issue called "3000 AD" which contained strips partially based on the first issue of "2000 AD". One strip was entitled "The Return of Dan Dare", which also featured the return of the Mekon. In 1982 "Eagle" was re-launched, with "Dan Dare" again its flagship strip. The new character was the great-great-great-grandson of the original hero—the only surviving character from the original strip being the
Brendan McCarthy writer Peter Milligan in 1978. McCarthy held a solo exhibition of paintings, drawings and collages at "Car Breaker Gallery" in London, a squat in Ladbroke Grove's Republic of Frestonia. McCarthy started working for "2000 AD" including Judge Dredd and at the same time he was working on designs for his first television show – the unmade "Dan Dare" live-action television series for Lew Grade's ATV in the late 1970s. It was to have been a stylish retro 50's take on the classic "Eagle" hero with James Fox as Dan Dare. Inspired by George Miller's "Mad Max 2", McCarthy mulled over