I'm assuming this is a reference to volume 3 of the Dragon's Dream 1981 reprinting of the sci-fi adventure serial: "Reign of the Robots" originally published between Feb 1957 (vol 8:8) and Jan 1958 (vol 9:4) in the British weekly comic "Eagle". This is a different publication from Hawk Books 1993 version, "Dan Dare Volume 7: Reign of the Robots & The Ship That Lived", which is longer (at 128 pages) and larger (14"x10" vs 12"x10" for the Dragon's Dream edition.) Another important difference is that the Dragon's Dream editors removed the Eagle logo which originally appeared in the upper left-hand corner of each first page of the two-page serial. In the first volume of the Dragon's Dream trilogy (The Man from Nowhere) the 1st panel on the page was re-drawn by Frank Hampson to fill the resulting space, but for this volume the existing panel was enlarged, and the effected pages were re-organized to compensate.

This is a complete adventure only marginally related to the preceding volumes. Returning to Earth after his adventures in "Rogue Planet" Colonel Dan Dare of Spacefleet discovers that his archenemy, the ruthless Venusian superbrain 'the Mekon', has conquered the Earth. The Mekon wishes to exploit Col. Dare's abilities in order to conquer the universe, but Dare is able to elude the dictator's grasp and ally himself with resistance movements on Earth and Venus. Dare and his friends pit their ingenuity against the Mekon's centralized dictatorship enforced by his personally directed army of robots.

The artwork is superb though the story, written in the late '50's, is a bit campy. Although not explicitly credited, it is my understanding that the script was written by Frank Hampson and Allan Stranks and illustrated by the Eagle studio team Frank Hampson, Harold Johns, Greta Tomlinson, Keith Watson, and Don Harley.

An excellent example of Frank Hampson's work. This particular story has been reprinted TWICE since the day it first appeared in Eagle. The First time was in 1981 as the third book in a three part series published by Dragon's Dream. The pages are reduced in size and the Eagle masthead has been removed and replaced with some new artwork by Frank Hampson. The Second time it was published was in 1993 as book 7 in a 12 book series published by Hawk Books. It appears with another story, the ship that lived in the Hawk Book, which is a full size reprint of the original strip.

This book, although it can be read separately, is in fact the third book in a trilogy. The trilogy is both the author's creativity peak and the zenith of the SF comic books in the 1950-ties. Some twenty years ago, Hampson received award as the best SF comic book author at the internationally strip festival in Lucca, Italy, for he had set several standards for SF comic books, illustration and design.
Colonel Dan Dare returns with his small crew after many years, from a successful mission on the distant "Rogue Planet" (which is the title of the second book) and finds the Space fleet base and the town of London deserted. While searching for clues and survivors through the ghost town the small group has been closely observed by somebody or something... It would be a shame to reveal the plot of this exciting and wonderfully illustrated masterpiece to the potential reader

"Rogue Planet" is the second part of the 3 volume "Man From Nowhere" series starring '50's British sci-fi hero Colonel Dan Dare. The story is a collection of the strip which ran as a two-page serial in the British weekly comic book "Eagle". Frank Hampson wrote and pencilled most of the strips as head of a creative team which later included '60's comix great Frank Bellamy.

Previously Dan and his friends, having defeated the Mekon and brought peace to Venus, are enlisted by the mysterious alien spaceman Lero in an attempt to save his doomed race, the Crypts. In this volume Dan, Digby, Flamer and Lex aid the peaceful Crypts in resisting the genocidal Phants, and discover the secret of the endless cycle of interplanetary war.

Conceptually the story is imaginative but plot inconsistencies are glaring; faster-than- light travel, a key element of the previous story, is denied in this story. Names are not very imaginative; the Crypt spaceship intended to save a remnant of their civilization is the 'Kra', the evil Phant heirophants are 'Kruels', etc. Two- fisted British pluck, together with a bit of muddling through, wins the day. Nevertheless the series was a seminal one for British comix and introduced sci-fi concepts which were to become staples in series such as 'Dr. Who' and 'Star Trek'.

Great Frank Hampson showing us his very best work in Dan Dare saga. Aliens and alien planets depicted with the unsurpassed imagination and illustrating technique for the time.