Hampson was embittered by his departure from "Eagle". Although he created Dan Dare, he and Morris had signed contracts which made the space adventurer the copyright of its publisher. This made it difficult for him to get hold of his original artwork, and excluded him from any profits Hulton made from the huge range of Dan Dare and "Eagle" merchandise it licensed. He called Odhams, the comic's owner after 1960, "Treens". Hampson later worked on various advertising commissions, and illustrated seven Ladybird books. He recovered from cancer to become a graphics technician at Ewell Technical College, and in 1975 at the Lucca comics convention was declared as the best writer and illustrator of strip cartoons since the end of the Second World War. At the 1976 Comics 101 British comics convention he was given the Ally Sloper Award, as the best British strip cartoon artist. He died at Epsom in July 1985. His original Dan Dare drawings now command high prices, and have inspired a range of modern artists;