Eagle (British comics) the first issue of "Eagle" was released in April 1950. Revolutionary in its presentation and content, it was enormously successful; the first issue sold about 900,000 copies. Featured in colour on the front cover was its most recognisable story, "Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future", created by Hampson with meticulous attention to detail. Other popular stories included "Riders of the Range" and "P.C. 49". "Eagle" also contained news and sport sections, and educational cutaway diagrams of sophisticated machinery. A members club was created, and a range of related merchandise was licensed for sale. Amidst a takeover of the periodical's publisher
Dan Dare its long, complex storylines, snappy dialogue and meticulously illustrated comic-strip artwork by Hampson and other artists, including Harold Johns, Don Harley, Bruce Cornwell, Greta Tomlinson, Frank Bellamy and Keith Watson. "Dan Dare" returned in new strips in "2000 AD" in 1977 until 1979 and in the relaunched "Eagle" in 1982 until 1994. The most recent mainstream story was a Dan Dare mini-series published by Virgin Comics in 2007 and 2008. It was written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Gary Erskine and is a completely new and somewhat darker interpretation of Dan Dare. Since October 2003, however, Dare's adventures have