Dan Cooper (comics)


Dan Cooper is a Franco-Belgian comics series about a fictional Canadian military flying ace and rocketship pilot.
The comics series was conceived in 1954 as Tintin magazine's answer to the Buck Danny series published in the rival Spirou magazine. It was written and drawn by the Franco-Belgian Albert Weinberg ; however, a handful of the stories were written by Jean-Michel Charlier instead. As per the Franco-Belgian comics tradition, after being serialized in a weekly comic book magazine, each completed storyline would appear as a published album.

Synopsis

Dan Cooper is a test pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Early story-lines featured futuristic science-fiction themes such as piloting a rocketship to the Martian moon Deimos; however later stories were more rooted in present-day themes.

Speculative connection to D. B. Cooper

Although fairly obscure in the English-speaking world since it did not appear in English translation, the comics series nevertheless gained a small measure of notoriety in 2009 in the United States as a result of speculation concerning the identity of the 1971 airplane hijacker who came to be known as D. B. Cooper, but who had actually identified himself as "Dan Cooper." The Cooper Research Team led by Tom Kaye, working in cooperation with Seattle-based FBI agent Larry Carr, speculated that the hijacker may have chosen an alias based on the fictional character, suggesting that he may have been exposed to the comics while on a tour of duty in Europe, or that he may have been of French-Canadian origin. Some of the comics storylines seemingly match aspects of the D. B. Cooper case, including jumping out of a plane with a parachute, as well as a ransom being delivered in a knapsack.

Albums

YearTitlePublisher
1957Dan Cooper 1 - Le triangle bleuLombard/Dargaud
1958Dan Cooper 2 - Le maître du SoleilLombard/Dargaud
1959Dan Cooper 3 - Le mur du silenceLombard/Dargaud
1960Dan Cooper 4 - Cap sur MarsLombard/Dargaud
1962Dan Cooper 5 - Duel dans le ciel Lombard/Dargaud
1963Dan Cooper 6 - Coup d'audace Lombard/Dargaud
1964Dan Cooper 7 - L'escadrille des Jaguars Lombard/Dargaud
1965Dan Cooper 8 - Le secret de Dan CooperLombard/Dargaud
1966Dan Cooper 9 - 3 cosmonautesLombard/Dargaud
1967Dan Cooper 10 - Fantôme 3 ne répond plus !Lombard/Dargaud
1968Dan Cooper 11 - Acrobates du cielLombard/Dargaud
1969Dan Cooper 12 - Tigres de merLombard/Dargaud
1969Dan Cooper 13 - Le mystère des soucoupes volantesLombard/Dargaud
1970Dan Cooper 14 - Panique à Cap KennedyLombard/Dargaud
1970Dan Cooper 15 - Les hommes aux ailes d'orLombard/Dargaud
1971Dan Cooper 16 - SOS dans l'espaceLombard/Dargaud
1971Dan Cooper 17 - Ciel de NorvègeLombard/Dargaud
1972Dan Cooper 18 - Les pilotes perdusLombard/Dargaud
1973Dan Cooper 19 - Apollo appelle SoyouzLombard/Dargaud
1974Dan Cooper 20 - L'affaire MinosLombard/Dargaud
1975Dan Cooper 21 - Objectif JumboLombard/Dargaud
1976Dan Cooper 22 - Crash dans le 135Lombard/Dargaud
1979Dan Cooper 23 - Opération JupiterLombard/Dargaud
1979Dan Cooper 24 - Azimut zéroFleurus/EDI-3
1980Dan Cooper 25 - Le canon de l'espaceFleurus/EDI-3
1980Dan Cooper 26 - Opération Kosmos 990Fleurus/EDI-3
1981Dan Cooper 27 - Programme F-18Hachette/Novedi
1981Dan Cooper 28 - F-111 en périlHachette/Novedi
1982Dan Cooper 29 - L'aviatrice sans nomHachette/Novedi
1982Dan Cooper 30 - Pilotes sans uniformeHachette/Novedi
1983Dan Cooper 31 - Navette spatialeHachette/Novedi
1984Dan Cooper 32 - Viking connectionHachette/Novedi
1985Dan Cooper 33 - TargetHachette/Novedi
1985Dan Cooper 34 - "Silver Fox"Hachette/Novedi
1986Dan Cooper 35 - Dragon LadyHachette/Novedi
1987Dan Cooper 36 - L'avion invisibleHachette/Novedi
1989Dan Cooper 37 - La vrilleDargaud
1990Dan Cooper 38 - Pilotes fantômesDargaud
1990Dan Cooper 39 - L'otage du ClemenceauDargaud
1991Dan Cooper 40 - Alerte sur le "Clem"Dargaud
1992Dan Cooper 41 - L'œil du tigreDargaud
2004Dan Cooper 1 - Mystères et secretsLoup
2004Dan Cooper 2 - Le maître du Soleil - ÉpilogueB.D. Club Genève
2005Dan Cooper 2 - Échec et Mat !Hibou
2006Dan Cooper 1 - Les parasHibou
2006Dan Cooper 3 - Les intrusHibou
2008Dan Cooper 4 - Tous azimuts!Hibou
2010Dan Cooper 5 - L'île aux géantsHibou