By Scott Gray/Warwick Gray, Dan Abnett, Gareth Roberts, Nick Briggs, Kate Orman, Colin Andrew, Martin Geraghty, Barrie Mitchell, Lee Sullivan & various (Panini Books)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-886-5 (TPB)
The British love comic strips, adore “characters” and are addicted to celebrity. The history of our homegrown graphic narratives includes an astounding number of comedians, Theatre Variety stars and television actors: such disparate legends as Charlie Chaplin, Arthur Askey, Charlie Drake and so many more I’ve long forgotten and you’ve likely never heard of.
As much adored and adapted were actual shows and properties like Whacko!, Supercar, Thunderbirds, Pinky and Perky, The Clangers and literally hundreds of others. If folk watched or listened, an enterprising publisher made printed spectacles of them. Hugely popular anthology comics including Radio Fun, Film Fun, TV Fun, Look-In, TV Comic, TV Tornado, and Countdown readily and regularly translated our light entertainment favourites into pictorial joy every week, and it was a pretty poor star or show that couldn’t parley the day job into a licensed strip property…
Doctor Who premiered on black-&-white televisions across Britain on November 23rd 1963 with the premiere episode of ‘An Unearthly Child’. In 1964, a decades-long association with TV Comic began: issue #674 heralding the initial instalment of ‘The Klepton Parasites’.
On 11th October 1979 (although adhering to the US off-sale cover-dating system so it says 17th), Marvel’s UK subsidiary launched Doctor Who Weekly. Turning monthly magazine in September 1980 (#44) it’s been with us – in various names and iterations – ever since. All of which proves the Time Lord is a comic star of impressive pedigree and not to be trifled with.
Panini’s UK division further ensured the immortality of the picture feature by collecting all strips of every Time Lord body/personality Regeneration in a uniform series of graphic albums, with each book concentrating on a particular incarnation of the deathless wanderer.
These yarns feature untold tales of the first five Doctors culled from the nigh-infinite files of Doctor Who Magazine, crafted in the fallow period when the show was cancelled (in 1989 before eventually relaunching in 2005). To plug a massive gap the magazine editors – Gary Russell and Gary Gillatt – commissioned comics stories featuring whatever Timelord they fancied, rather than what TV demanded. The era also allowed a wide degree of choice in creators and led to some truly astoundingly illumined adventures…
Spanning August 1994 to June 1995, this all-monochrome compendium kicks off with ‘Victims’ #212-214 by Dan Abnett & Colin Andrew with letters from “Enid (Elitta Fell) Orc”. Here the Fourth Doctor (portrayed by Tom Baker) & barbarian companion Leela arrive on trendy, ultra-wealthy fashion planet Kolpasha just as a fabulous new beauty treatment starts literally eating the rich. Soon the canny chrononauts are caught in a storm of capitalist self-denial and bloody recrimination, but things as always aren’t quite what they seem…
Gareth Roberts, Martin Geraghty & Fell used Doctor Who Magazine #215-217 to introduce ‘The Lunar Strangers’ to the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davidson) and his aides Tegan & Turlough as the wanderers arrived on Earth’s moon just as seemingly benign aliens fetched up in need of rescue. Their hilariously telegenic appearance concealed a wicked secret agenda and almost costs humanity its first off-world base… until the Time Lord sorts it all out.
When the Original Doctor (William Hartnell) brought travelling companions Polly & Ben to Apresar 4, he intended showing them a grand time in a triumph of scientific and industrial achievement. However, the rebellious infrastructure, rabid human business wonks and assorted slug monsters that had taken over the ultra-metropolis considered them ‘Food for Thought’ (DWM #218-220 by Nick Briggs, Colin Andrew, Fell & Warwick Gray) and got what they all deserved before the nomads vworped off again…
Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) & hugely underrated and undervalued Dr. Liz Shaw appeared from the period when the Time Lord was stranded on Earth – 1971 – and acted as weird science advisor to military division UNIT. Kate Orman, Barrie Mitchell & Gray here expose a ‘Change of Mind’ (DWM #221-223) when a high-profile college psionics researcher goes off the rails and turns his discoveries to getting rid of his competitors…
‘Land of the Blind’ (#224-226 by W./Warwick Scott Gray, Lee Sullivan & Fell) then warps in the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and faithful but excitable allies Jamie and Zoe as the TARDIS is drawn to a time-space anomaly that has left Denossus Spaceport adrift from reality and its population enslaved to the lethally benevolent but dogmatic whims of intractable Vortexians. It takes all the wily trickster’s Gallifreyan logic to defuse the self-appointed guardians’ program and return to port inreal space, but comes at a cost.
Wrapping up the visual treats is a prequel yarn starring this Doctor, Jaime and lost companion Victoria Waterfield, first seen in Doctor Who Magazine Summer Special 1993. In ‘Bringer of Darkness’ Gray & Geraghty dip into Vicky’s diary to reveal how a close clash with stranded Daleks exposed the ruthless core hidden by the Time Lord’s seeming foppery and accelerated her intentions to leave the time traveller’s orbit…
Supplemented with a copious section of creator commentaries liberally supplemented by layouts, character designs and original art, this is a grand book for casual readers, a fine shelf addition for fans of the show and a perfect opportunity to cross-promote our particular art-form to anyone minded to give comics one more go…
All Doctor Who material © BBCtv. Doctor Who, the Tardis and all logos are trademarks of the British broadcasting corporation and are used under licence. Published 2018. All commentaries © their respective authors 2018. All rights reserved.