Dan Dare revived from suspended animation after two hundred years to find himself in a different world. The Mekon had also survived but otherwise the cast was different, as was the tone of the strip (heavily influenced by the punk movement, as was much of "2000 AD") and the personality of the title character. Written by Kelvin Gosnell and then Steve Moore, the strip was initially illustrated by Massimo Bellardinelli, whose Dare owed nothing to the original apart from the wavy eyebrows. After 23 issues in this format the strip took a break for a month and then returned in a revamped
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