The Dan Dare gun

Dan Dare Atomic Jet Gun, Crescent Toys, U.K., 1952

The Americans got Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, but their British counterparts quickly got their own Sci-Fi hero. Dan Dare (created by illustrator Frank Hampson who also wrote the first stories) appeared on the cover of the first issue of the weekly comic strip magazine, Eagle, on 14 April 1950. Later on the stories were broadcasted in the form of a Radio Luxembourg serial for five years from 2 July 1951.