Garth Ennis' Dan Dare - Issue 6 and 7

[espanolbot]

Previous part,
http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/5058416.html

Dan has been sentenced to torture by the Mekon, as part of his "break Dan Dare and make him crawwl before him" scheme. But before they could get started, the space marines start working their way towards Dan in their attempt to rescue him.





With Dan rescued, the marines start the second part of their plan: disabling or destroying the Mekon's black hole. Unfortunately for the Brits, the Mekon designed the device he's been using to tow the black hole around in such a way that you can't actually disperse it safely, so they have to resort to locking it in place at the edge of the solar system and destroying the mechanism needed to move it.

They manage to escape, commandeering one of the Treen crafts as they escape, but unfortunately the Treen scientist Dan extorted help from is left behind. The scientist (along with the rest of the Treen soldiers present) are then vented out into space by the Mekon as punishment for not stopping the hijacked ship, as they had been purposely engineered without the initative to do it without prior instruction. So yeah, his need to deny his people free will allowed his enemy to escape easier, woops.

Since it will take time to prepare the thing needed to move the black hole closer to Earth, time that the Mekon doesn't have, Dare and the rest of Space Fleet prepare to come back in force to kill the invading armada once and for all.




As the fleet begins their bombardment of the Treen ships, Dare leaves Christian in charge as he suits up with the marines once more to voice his displeasure to the Mekon in more physical terms than before...

The next issue, the Trafalgar rams the Mekon's flagship, allowing Dare and the Marines to just walk aboard through the damaged hull. The Treens begin firing upon Christian's ship as the rest of the craft begin commencing an enormous space battle between the two armadas.

Back in London, Peabody and Bobby await word from the battle, waiting to see what will happen next, as it's increasingly likely that if the navy looses then the Mekon will probably just kill everyone rather than go through the effort of conquering the planet. She talks about how much Dan loves Britain, how despite all the work he did to save the world, the country appeared to repay him by squandering his sacrifices, becoming petty and venal. That was part of the reason he left Earth to soak in nostalgia on an asteroid, and as for the other part, well...



At the battle, the Trafalgar isn't doing well, being held together mostly by forcefields at this point, with gaping holes in the bridge that allow those inside to look directly out into space. Admiral Carter wants to retreat, as the Treens don't care how many of their numbers are dying in the assault, reasoning that Dare is mostly likely dead and if they retreat they can still defend the planet after getting reinforcements. Christian points out that she's under orders from Dare at this point, and how she herself has managed to operate ships that were far more damaged than this one, only for Carter to crack and call her a "silly bitch" who is risking their lively purely on guesswork.

Eventually, Dan bumps into the Prime Minister who tries to justify what he's done on the basis that he was trying to save lives, something that Dare doesn't buy for a second. Floating nearby there's the Mekon, who promptly shoots Dan where he stands.

Back with the fleet, Christian finally gets the confidence she needs to stick by her own decisions...



The Trafalgar fires upon the ships either side, destroying both, but soon the rest of the fleet begins ignoring the other British ships and begin firing solely upon them.

Back with Dare and the Mekon...



Dan impales the Mekon to a wall, leaving him there as he heads back to the rest of the marines. After he goes the PM pulls the Mekon down, as they try to escape and rebuild their forces... only for the PM to accidentally fly their craft directly into the black hole. Heh.

With the Mekon dead, the rest of the Treens surrender, as the Mekon's telepathic micromanaging was what was controlling their fleets' actions. So the day is saved! ...Even though there is some bad news regarding Christian.


"If blood be the price of the admiralty, Lord God have we paid in full."

Back in London, the Cabinet have gathered and await news from the fleet. Despite Peabody's faith in Dare and her renewed desire to rebuild Britain into something Dare would be honored to return to in the event of Earth's victory, the rest of the ministers are... less than hopeful. But as they argue over whether they should organise a civilian resistance or just evacuate as many people as possible, a message from Dare arrives.

Humanity has won, the Mekon is dead and the black hole is stablised. The day is saved, huzzah!

Up next, the Shadow: Fire of Creation

Comments

[arilou_skiff]

Ennis really is a fascist isn't he?

[drexer]

Wait what?

Despite the fact that this goes against the community rules:

Do not make personal attacks*, issue insults, threats or express wishes of bodily harm in posts or comments. This applies to comments to both other members in the community and the creators whose work is being discussed.

I hardly see anything here that could in any way point to that direction, any more than any other military/superhero story that might get posted.

[arilou_skiff]

Err, the entire "Civilian leadership is incompetent/treacherous and only the manly military men can save us?" The kind of militarism that is the backbone of fascism?

[drexer]

Except that even in this series it's shown that a lot of military men are incompetent and cowardly. And Peabody despite her military association is still portrayed more as a scientist than a military woman.

And again, there are other civilians portrayed, the only big traitorous ones being the prime-minister and his secretary. Even at the end the rest of the ministers are pretty much all discussing alternatives and plans in case Dare fails in a useful manner.

But yes, this story has got some pro-military themes, much like would be expected due to its roots. But there are no lack of examples in Ennis stories which show how military force and personnel can be jingoistic, power-hungry and entirely unsuitable for leadership. Yes, military stories and themes are prevalent with him; mainly because that's a genre he likes.

And even if all of that was false and there is a fascist theme that should be talked about(and by all means, let's stretch that and work on so many other stories where a elite few take the power to their own hands), it still does not justify the blank insult towards the creator.

[arilou_skiff]

"And even if all of that was false and there is a fascist theme that should be talked about(and by all means, let's stretch that and work on so many other stories where a elite few take the power to their own hands), it still does not justify the blank insult towards the creator."

Hence the question mark?

[espanolbot]

Kind of cheap to call a character that was created by people who fought literal Nazis a fascist.

[arilou_skiff]

Err, so? Fascism is much broader than nazism, and plenty of people who fought against Hitler were themselves fascists, or closely aligned.

[halloweenjack]

*facepalm* Stalin's people fought fascists.

[drexer]

English isn't my first language, but even so you'll excuse me if I take that with a grain of salt.

Even if there was a comma in that phrase, it would still be an highly accusatory and personal statement directed solely at the author. The question mark really doesn't change the full content of the phrase.

Either way, I really don't think I'm going to bother replying any more to this, while in the beginning I might have given the benefit of the doubt towards the accusation, your answers which all skirt around the problem here really do not make me comfortable in hoping for a common ground response.

As such, I'm exiting this conversation, if there is actually any problem or issue with this the mods will certainly weigh in. Should have probably done that before, but oh well.

[espanolbot]

So by that logic Captain Kirk and company are also fascists, being members of a military organisation (and yes, Star Fleet are a military organisation despite Roddenberry's claims) who almost always are depicted as doing the right thing. Even if that thing is advocating genocide in the case of Captain Archer in Enterprise.

[stolisomancer]

You seem to be mistaking a plot point of the story for the story's theme.

Were a point of the story to "prove" that civilian leadership was axiomatically incompetent and/or treacherous, the story would not end with Jocelyn holding the UK together by herself and planning to replace the departed Prime Minister.

Mod Note!

[icon_uk]

Oh come now arilou_skiff, you've been here long enough to know that we do NOT make comments like that about a creator.

Criticise their work, but do not make personal comments and that sort of speculative assertion about creators themselves.

[alschroeder3]

Actually...the way Ennis is writing Dan Dare, I see him very much like a British Steve Rogers. Militaristic in origin, but transcending it to embrace an ideal, a British Captain America...much more than Captain Britain ever was.

I actually enjoyed this. I'm not a huge fan of Ennis, but it's refreshing to see him write someone he admires--whom he likes--that deep down he can't help but portray as a hero.

But then, I was always a sucker for idealistic heroes.

Dan Dare is about as much a "fascist" as Steve Rogers.

[espanolbot]

Yes, this exactly. :)