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
Lion (comics) Lion (comics) Lion was a weekly British comics periodical published by Fleetway (a subsidiary of IPC, the International Publishing Corporation) from 23 February 1952 to 18 May 1974. It lasted for 1,156 issues. "Lion" was first published on 23 February 1952, and was a weekly boys' adventure comic designed to compete with "Eagle", the popular weekly comic that had introduced Dan Dare. "Lion"s first issue contained a mix of text stories and comic strips; its flagship story was "Captain Condor – Space Ship Pilot", a science fiction adventure in the Dan Dare mould. The premiere issue also contained the first