The Mekon
Encyclopedia
- For other uses, see MekonMekonMekon may refer to:*The Mekon, ruler of the Treens in the Dan Dare stories*The Mekons , a British punk rock band*Mekon, one of the recording names of John "Zos Kia" Gosling, English rock musician*The river Mekong...
.
The Mekon (of Mekonta
Mekonta
Mekonta is the capital city of the Treens in the Dan Dare stories. It is named after The Mekon. It is built on many islands in a lake. Its design may have been inspired by Venice and/or Tenochtitlan....
) is the arch-enemy of the British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
hero Dan Dare
Dan Dare
Dan Dare is a British science fiction comic hero, created by illustrator Frank Hampson who also wrote the first stories, that is, the Venus and Red Moon stories, and a complete storyline for Operation Saturn...
, first appearing in 1950 in the Eagle
Eagle (comic)
Eagle was a seminal British children's comic, first published from 1950 to 1969, and then in a relaunched format from 1982 to 1994. It was founded by Marcus Morris, an Anglican vicar from Lancashire. Morris edited a parish magazine called The Anvil, but felt that the church was not communicating...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future and created by Frank Hampson. Apart from Dan Dare himself, he is the only character to appear in every one of the numerous versions of the comic strip that appeared in the Eagle, 2000 AD
2000 AD (comic)
2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic. As a comics anthology it serialises a number of separate stories each issue and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. IPC then shifted the title to its Fleetway comics subsidiary which was sold...
and Virgin Comics. In the 1950s, roughly every other story featured the Mekon.
Description
The Mekon was the ruler of the TreensTreens
The Treens are fictional aliens in the Dan Dare stories. They debuted in Dan Dare: The First Story, which was serialized in the Eagle comic magazine from Volume 1, Number 1 to Volume 2, Number 25...
of northern Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
, although he was ousted from this position at the end of the first story and had no fixed base of operations. He was created by scientific experimentation, engineered for a very high intelligence. As such he had a swollen head containing his massive brain and atrophied
Atrophy
Atrophy is the partial or complete wasting away of a part of the body. Causes of atrophy include mutations , poor nourishment, poor circulation, loss of hormonal support, loss of nerve supply to the target organ, disuse or lack of exercise or disease intrinsic to the tissue itself...
body, and moved around on a levitating
Levitation
Levitation is the process by which an object is suspended by a physical force against gravity, in a stable position without solid physical contact...
chair. He typically invented new superweapons in the pursuit of his goal: the domination of the universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
for the purpose of scientific research. In some stories he also sought personal revenge
Revenge
Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. It is also called payback, retribution, retaliation or vengeance; it may be characterized, justly or unjustly, as a form of justice.-Function in society:Some societies believe that the...
on Dan Dare.
In the recent Dan Dare cartoons, someone took his nickname "Melonhead" literally and showed his cranium as not shiny smooth green but wrinkled like a cantaloupe
Cantaloupe
"Rockmelon" redirects here, for the band see Rockmelons. See also Cantaloupe .Cantaloupe refers to a variety of Cucumis melo, a species in the family Cucurbitaceae which includes nearly all melons and squashes. Cantaloupes range in size from...
. The voice of the Mekon was portrayed by Richard C. Pearce in the TV cartoon series.
The Mekon returns in Virgin Comics Dare miniseries by Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis is a Northern Irish comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series Preacher with artist Steve Dillon and his successful nine-year run on Marvel Comics' Punisher franchise...
, leading a regrouped war fleet with genetically-engineered monsters (based on Treen mythology) and a controlled black hole
Black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
as a weapon. By issue #3, the Mekon has been almost entirely off-screen, operating remotely, and a source of fear among human & Treen alike. His only appearance was a two-page sequence at the end of #2, where he psychically communed with the British Prime Minister (a servant of his) and showed a detached, dispassionate persona.
Later in the series he attempted to capture Dare, and on doing so ordered him tortured. This proved to be a trap that allowed a group of Royal Marines to attack his ship and soon after a massive naval engagement occurred over Neptune. In the ensuing battle the Mekon's ship was rammed by the HMS Trafalgar and boarded by British troops led by Dare who engaged the Mekon in personal combat before defeating him and leaving him near death. The traitorous prime minister rescued the Mekon and they attempt to escape in a small craft only to be sucked into the Mekon's black hole.
In the final issue of the series, he displays personal hatred for Dare and refers to him as "the Earthman who taught the Mekon how to hate".
In popular culture
- He is the subject of Anthony HowellAnthony Howell (performance artist)Anthony Howell is an English performance artist. He was a founder of the performance company The Theatre of Mistakes, in the 1970s and 1980s.-External links:*http://www.anthonyhowell.org...
1976 poem The Mekon - Elton JohnElton JohnSir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
's album Rock of the WestiesRock of the WestiesRock of the Westies is the tenth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1975 .Like Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Rock of the Westies also debuted on the United States Billboard charts at # 1, the only two albums at that time to have done so...
features the song "Dan Dare (Pilot of the Future)" in which Elton sings, "Dan Dare doesn't know it... but I like the Mekon." - The British punk rockPunk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band The Mekons took their name from this character. - William HagueWilliam HagueWilliam Jefferson Hague is the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001...
, the British foreign minister was given the nickname "the Mekon" because of his looks. - Angus MaudeAngus MaudeAngus Edmund Upton Maude, Baron Maude of Stratford-upon-Avon PC , was a Conservative Party politician and British cabinet member from 1979 until 1981. He was the father of Conservative MP Francis Maude....
, British cabinetCabinet of the United KingdomThe Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers....
ministerMinister (government)A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....
was nicknamed "The Mekon" because of his prominent forehead and overbearing manner. - There is a big beatBig beatBig beat is a term employed since the mid-1990s by the British music press to describe much of the music by artists such as The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, The Crystal Method, and Propellerheads typically driven by heavy breakbeats and synthesizer-generated loops and patterns in...
musician called Mekon. - "The Mekon" (an actor in a Mekon costume) was one presenter of the British children's TV show Going Live!Going Live!Going Live! was a Saturday morning magazine show, broadcast on BBC1 between 1987 and 1993. It was presented by Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene.Other presenters included Trevor and Simon, Peter Simon, Emma Forbes, and puppet Gordon the Gopher....
- The rock group Too Much JoyToo Much JoyToo Much Joy is an American alternative rock music group. The band formed in the early 1980s in Scarsdale, New York.-Members:The original members were Tim Quirk , Jay Blumenfield , Sandy Smallens and Tommy Vinton . During 1982-1983 Tommy LaRussa temporarily replaced Vinton as drummer...
performed a song called "If I Was a Mekon" on their album Son of Sam I Am. - The fictional Kon'me species in Star WarsStar WarsStar Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
was named after this character. - British satirical magazine Private EyePrivate EyePrivate Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
ran a spoof version for some years entitled Dan Dire: Pilot of the Future? with Dan Dire identifiable as Neil KinnockNeil KinnockNeil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock is a Welsh politician belonging to the Labour Party. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995 and as Labour Leader and Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition from 1983 until 1992 - his leadership of the party during nearly nine years making him...
, Pigby being Roy HattersleyRoy HattersleyRoy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley is a British Labour politician, author and journalist from Sheffield. He served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992.-Early life:...
, The Maggon (Margaret ThatcherMargaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
) and her Toreens, and various other references to other figures from space fiction including as Blubba the GutJabba the HuttJabba the Hutt is a fictional character in George Lucas's space opera film saga Star Wars. Designed as a large, slug-like alien, his appearance has been described by film critic Roger Ebert as "Dickensian," a cross between a toad and the Cheshire Cat....
(Nigel LawsonNigel LawsonNigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby, PC , is a British Conservative politician and journalist. He was a Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Blaby from 1974–92, and served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the government of Margaret Thatcher from June 1983 to October 1989...
), the Douglek (Douglas HurdDouglas HurdDouglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, CH, CBE, PC , is a British Conservative politician and novelist, who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major between 1979 and his retirement in 1995....
, with exterminate replaced by ex-Eton-and-Cambridge-graduate) and Dr. Whoen, the mysterious Time-Is-Now Lord (David OwenDavid OwenDavid Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen CH PC FRCP is a British politician.Owen served as British Foreign Secretary from 1977 to 1979, the youngest person in over forty years to hold the post; he co-authored the failed Vance-Owen and Owen-Stoltenberg peace plans offered during the Bosnian War...
). - Former Led ZeppelinLed ZeppelinLed Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
lead singer Robert PlantRobert PlantRobert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
has a song on his album The Principle of MomentsThe Principle of MomentsThe Principle of Moments is the second solo album by former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant. It was Plant's second top 10 album in the US and UK. It also gave him his first solo Top 40 hit with "Big Log". The most popular track on album-oriented rock radio in the US was "Other Arms", which reached...
called "Messin' With the Mekon." - The Nigel MolesworthNigel MolesworthNigel Molesworth is the supposed author of a series of books , with cartoon illustrations by Ronald Searle....
books make occasional reference to "the Pukon and his Treens". - "The Mekon" is the stage name of Chris Purdon, who plays synthesizers with the rock group Space Ritual.
- English rock band WIREWire (band)Wire are an English rock band, formed in London in October 1976 by Colin Newman , Graham Lewis , Bruce Gilbert , and Robert Gotobed...
has a song titled "Mekon Headman" - In the "Genesis of A Classic" feature on the Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
DVD release Genesis of the DaleksGenesis of the DaleksGenesis of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that was originally broadcast in six weekly parts from 8 March to 12 April 1975. It marks the first appearance of Davros, the creator of the Daleks.-Plot:...
, producer Philip Hinchcliffe cites the Mekon as one of his inspirations for the character DavrosDavrosDavros is a character from the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Davros is an archenemy of the Doctor and is the creator of the Doctor's deadliest enemies, the Daleks...
. - The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier has a scene set in a spaceport in the 1950s. It has several subtle references to Dan Dare and his stories, including a MAD magazine parody with an image of a green man saying, "What, Me Kon?"
External links
- http://www.dandare.org.uk : "Dan Dare doesn't know it... but I like The Mekon"
- The Mekon at www.dandare.org
- http://www.dan-dare.net The Interactive Home of Dan Dare and The Mekon