Dan Dare life. After this initial storyline other writers were used and different supporting characters came and went, including Professor Pinkerton, a female scientist similar to Professor Peabody, and a new Digby (again, a descendant of the original). The Mekon was generally the foe in alternate stories. In 1987 the strip became more like a space opera, with increasing violence. Now drawn by John Gillatt, Dan took on a tough-guy look. He led space commandos and packed a hi-tech gun reminiscent of that carried by Judge Dredd. The original strip, featuring the characters of the 1950s Eagle, was revived in 1989, with
Frank S. Pepper Comet", as John Morion. For "The Children's Newspaper", he wrote the adventures of twins "Bill and Jill", starting in 1948. In 1952 AP launched "Lion", a weekly adventure comic designed to compete with Hulton Press' "Eagle", for which Pepper wrote the cover feature "Captain Condor", a space hero created to rival "Eagle"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s "Dan Dare", for twelve years. He also created the cover feature for AP's sports comic "Tiger", in 1953: editor Derek Birnage requested a more realistic football series than "Danny of the Dazzlers", and Pepper gave him "Roy of the Rovers", illustrated by Joe Colquhoun, who took over writing