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
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