Dan Cooper (also known as Les Aventures de Dan Cooper) is a Franco-Belgian comics series about a fictional Canadian military flying ace and astronaut.

Dan Cooper
Created byAlbert Weinberg
Publication information
PublisherLe Lombard, Fleurus, Novedi, Dargaud
FormatsOriginal material for the series has been published as a strip in the comics anthology(s) Tintin magazine.
Original languageFrench
Genre
Publication date25 November 1954
Creative team
Writer(s)Albert Weinberg, Jean-Michel Charlier
Artist(s)Albert Weinberg

The title was conceived by Albert Weinberg in 1954 as Tintin magazine's answer to Buck Danny, which had become a great success for the rival Spirou magazine. It was the second of three prominent Franco-Belgian aviation-themed bandes dessinées, alongside Jean-Michel Charlier's Buck Danny (1948) and Tanguy et Laverdure (1959). Weinberg wrote and drew the strip for almost forty years, with the exception of three stories contributed by Charlier in the early 1960s.

As per Franco-Belgian comics tradition, each completed storyline would appear as a published album after first appearing as a serial in a weekly magazine.

Synopsis

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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

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A 1972 FBI composite drawing of D. B. Cooper

Although fairly obscure in the English-speaking world since it did not appear in English translation (apart from a short run in the UK comics Champion and Lion in 1966 under the title Jet Jordan), 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." Cooper boarded a flight from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington, claimed to have a bomb and demanded $200,000 in cash. He obtained the cash when the plane landed for refueling, and jumped from the Reno-bound airplane somewhere near Portland. Cooper was never apprehended or identified despite decades of FBI investigations, and the only evidence recovered outside the plane was a few thousand dollars in ransom cash buried or lost on a sandbar in the Columbia River.

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. Kaye and colleagues suggest the hijacker 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.[1][2]

Albums

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No. Series Year Title (original) Title Author Publisher
1 main 1957 Le triangle bleu The Blue Triangle Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
2 main 1958 Le maître du Soleil The Master of the Sun Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
3 main 1959 Le mur du silence The Wall of Silence Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
4 main 1960 Cap sur Mars Set Course for Mars Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
5 main 1962 Duel dans le ciel Duel in the Sky Jean-Michel Charlier Lombard/Dargaud
6 main 1963 Coup d'audace A Bold Move Jean-Michel Charlier Lombard/Dargaud
7 main 1964 L'escadrille des Jaguars The Jaguar Squadron Jean-Michel Charlier Lombard/Dargaud
8 main 1965 Le secret de Dan Cooper The Secret of Dan Cooper Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
9 main 1966 3 cosmonautes Three Cosmonauts Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
10 main 1967 Fantôme 3 ne répond plus ! No Response from Phantom 3! Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
11 main 1968 Acrobates du ciel Acrobats of the Sky Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
12 main 1969 Tigres de mer Sea Tigers Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
13 main 1969 Le mystère des soucoupes volantes The Mystery of the Flying Saucers Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
14 main 1970 Panique à Cap Kennedy Panic at Cape Kennedy Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
15 main 1970 Les hommes aux ailes d'or The Men with the Golden Wings Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
16 main 1971 SOS dans l'espace SOS in Space Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
17 main 1971 Ciel de Norvège Skies of Norway Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
18 main 1972 Les pilotes perdus The Lost Pilots Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
19 main 1973 Apollo appelle Soyouz Apollo Calling Soyuz Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
20 main 1974 L'affaire Minos The Minos Affair Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
21 main 1975 Objectif Jumbo Objective Jumbo Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
22 main 1976 Crash dans le 135 Crash in the 135 Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
23 main 1979 Opération Jupiter Operation Jupiter Albert Weinberg Lombard/Dargaud
24 main 1979 Azimut zéro Azimuth Zero Albert Weinberg Fleurus/EDI-3
25 main 1980 Le canon de l'espace The Space Cannon Albert Weinberg Fleurus/EDI-3
26 main 1980 Opération Kosmos 990 Operation Kosmos 990 Albert Weinberg Fleurus/EDI-3
27 main 1981 Programme F-18 The F-18 Program Albert Weinberg Hachette/Novedi
28 main 1981 F-111 en péril F-111 in Peril Albert Weinberg Hachette/Novedi
29 main 1982 L'aviatrice sans nom The Nameless Aviatrix Albert Weinberg Hachette/Novedi
30 main 1982 Pilotes sans uniforme Pilots out of Uniform Albert Weinberg Hachette/Novedi
31 main 1983 Navette spatiale The Space Shuttle Albert Weinberg Hachette/Novedi
32 main 1984 Viking connection Viking connection Albert Weinberg Hachette/Novedi
33 main 1985 Target Target Albert Weinberg Hachette/Novedi
34 main 1985 "Silver Fox" "Silver Fox" Albert Weinberg Hachette/Novedi
35 main 1986 Dragon Lady Dragon Lady Albert Weinberg Hachette/Novedi
36 main 1987 L'avion invisible The Invisible Plane Albert Weinberg Hachette/Novedi
37 main 1989 La vrille The Tailspin Albert Weinberg Dargaud
38 main 1990 Pilotes fantômes The Ghost Pilots Albert Weinberg Dargaud
39 main 1990 L'otage du Clemenceau The Hostage of the Clemenceau Albert Weinberg Dargaud
40 main 1991 Alerte sur le "Clem" Alert on the "Clem" Albert Weinberg Dargaud
41 main 1992 L'œil du tigre The Eye of the Tiger Albert Weinberg Dargaud
1 Special Edition 2004 Mystères et secrets Mysteries and Secrets Albert Weinberg Loup
- main 2004 Le maître du Soleil - Épilogue The master of the Sun - Epilogue Albert Weinberg B.D. Club Genève
2 Special Edition 2005 Échec et Mat ! Check and Mate! Albert Weinberg Hibou
1 Missions 2006 Les paras The Paratroopers Albert Weinberg Hibou
3 Special Edition 2006 Les intrus The Intruders Albert Weinberg Hibou
4 Special Edition 2008 Tous azimuts! All Azimuths! Albert Weinberg Hibou
5 Special Edition 2010 L'île aux géants The Island of the Giants Albert Weinberg Hibou

References

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  1. ^ "In Search of D.B. Cooper: New Developments in the Unsolved Case". FBI. March 17, 2009. Archived from the original on 2011-12-11. Retrieved 2011-12-09.
  2. ^ Randy Boswell (November 24, 2011). "FBI-backed team finds Canadian link to famous '70s plane hijacking". National Post. Retrieved 2011-12-09.
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