Frank Hampson

Frank Hampson (21st December 1918 to 8th July 1985) was an illustrator best known as the creator of Dan Dare in the original Eagle comic published by Hulton Press. He also created many of the other significant characters in the strip, which he worked on from 1950 to 1961, including the villainous Mekon. Hampson did not work solo on the Dan Dare strip throughout its run, though: after the first few stories he instigated a studio system at his home, whereby as many as four artists at a time could be working on any two pages of the strip providing elements of it. He also drew (again for the Eagle) The Road of Courage, a beautifully crafted serialised account of the life of Jesus Christ. However, in 1961, following Hulton Press being acquired by publishers Longacre Press, Hampson was forced to resign after misunderstandings resulted in Longacre's legal department accusing him of breach of contract and impounding several new strips he had intended to offer to them. Leaving comics for the most part, Hampson spent most of the rest of his life working as a freelance commercial artist.