The Mekon


The Mekon of Mekonta is the arch-enemy of the British comic book hero Dan Dare, first appearing on 3 November 1950 in issue #30 of the Eagle comic strip 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 and Virgin Comics. In the 1950s, roughly every other story featured the Mekon.

Description

The Mekon was the ruler of the Treens of northern Venus, 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 body, and moved around on a levitating chair. He typically invented new superweapons in the pursuit of his goal: the domination of the universe for the purpose of scientific research. In some stories he also sought personal revenge on Dan Dare.
In the animated , the animators took his nickname "Melonhead" literally and showed his cranium as not shiny smooth green but wrinkled like a cantaloupe. The voice of the Mekon was portrayed by Richard Pearce.

In popular culture

British politician Angus Maude and Irish journalist Patrick Cosgrave were each nicknamed "The Mekon". British political strategist Dominic Cummings has also been nicknamed "The Mekon".
In the "Genesis of A Classic" feature on the Doctor Who DVD release of Genesis of the Daleks, producer Philip Hinchcliffe cites the Mekon as one of his inspirations for the character Davros.
Elton John, in his "Rock of the Westies" album recorded in 1976, had a song called "Dan Dare ". One of the key repeated lines in the song is "Dan Dare doesn't know it, he doesn't know it, but I like the Mekon."
British rock band The Mekons named themselves after the character in 1977.
In May 2013, the BBC radio soap opera The Archers featured a storyline in which regular character Brian Aldridge was aggrieved by a local newspaper article that compared him to the Mekon.