{"id":28863,"date":"2023-11-06T17:00:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T17:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=28863"},"modified":"2023-11-06T17:00:26","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T17:00:26","slug":"doctor-who-graphic-novel-24-emperor-of-the-daleks-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/11\/06\/doctor-who-graphic-novel-24-emperor-of-the-daleks-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who Graphic Novel 24: Emperor of the Daleks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Dan Abnett<\/strong>, Paul Cornell<\/strong>, Warwick Gray<\/strong>, Richard Alan<\/strong>, John Ridgway<\/strong>, Lee Sullivan<\/strong>, Colin Andrew<\/strong> & various (Panini Books)
\nISBN: 978-1-84653-807-0 (TPB)<\/p>\n

Somewhere in time, it\u2019s always that moment just before the TV got turned on and the Time Lord was born. This year is the 60th<\/sup> Anniversary of <\/em>Doctor Who<\/em><\/strong>. Here\u2019s another Timey-Wimey treat to celebrate a unique TV and comics institution in a periodical manner \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

We Brits love comic strips, adore \u201ccharacters\u201d and are addicted to celebrity. The history of our comics includes an astounding number of comedians, Variety stars and television actors: such disparate legends as Charlie Chaplin, Arthur Askey, Charlie Drake and so many more I\u2019ve long forgotten and you\u2019ve likely never heard of.<\/p>\n

As much adored and adapted were actual shows like Ace of Wands<\/strong>, Timeslip<\/strong>, Supercar<\/strong>, The Clangers<\/strong> and countless more. If we watched or listened, an enterprising publisher made printed spectacles of them. Hugely popular anthology comics like Radio<\/strong>\/Film Fun<\/strong>\/TV Fun<\/strong>, Look-In<\/strong>, TV Comic<\/strong>, TV<\/strong> Tornado<\/strong>, and Countdown<\/strong> regularly translated light entertainment favourites into pictorial joy. It was a pretty poor star or show that couldn\u2019t parley the day job into a licensed strip property\u2026<\/p>\n

Doctor Who<\/strong> debuted on black-&-white televisions across Britain on November 23rd<\/sup> 1963 with episode 1 of \u2018An Unearthly Child\u2019<\/em>. Months later in 1964, TV Comic<\/strong> began its decades-long association, as issue #674 began \u2018The Klepton Parasites\u2019<\/em> – by an unknown author with the art attributed to illustrator Neville Main.<\/p>\n

On 11th<\/sup> October 1979, Marvel\u2019s UK subsidiary launched Doctor Who Weekly<\/strong>. Turning monthly in September 1980 (#44) it\u2019s been with us – via various iterations – ever since: proving the Time Lord is a comic star of impressive pedigree, not to be trifled with.<\/p>\n

Panini\u2019s UK division ensured his comics immortality by collecting all strips of every Time Lord Regeneration in a series of graphic albums – although we\u2019re still waiting for digital versions. Each time tome focused on a particular incarnation of the deathless wanderer, with this one gathering stories plucked from the annals of history and the Terran recording dates November 1992 and July 1995. These yarns all feature Seventh Doctor<\/em> Sylvester McCoy in a collection offering both monochrome and full-colour episodes. It all kicks off with sinister espionage thriller \u2018Pureblood\u2019<\/em> (from Doctor Who Magazine<\/strong> #193-196: November 1992 to January 1993) by writer Dan Abnett & artist Colin Andrew. Here the devious Time Lord and his formidable companion Benny<\/em> save the last survivors of the Sontaran race from extinction at the hands of their immortal enemies the Rutan – despite hostage humans and a spy in the embattled clone-warriors\u2019 midst. Why save a deadly enemy? Ah well, The Doctor has a rather convoluted plan\u2026<\/p>\n

The epic yarn leads directly into the \u2018Flashback\u2019<\/em> (Doctor Who Winter Special<\/strong> 1992, by Warwick Gray & John Ridgway) as we glimpse First Doctor<\/em> (William Hartnell, keep up, keep up!) having a potentially universe- shattering falling out with his best friend: a proudly arrogant young Gallifreyan called Magnus<\/em> (any guesses who he regenerates into?)<\/p>\n

The main meat of this massive collection is eponymous epic \u2018Emperor of the Daleks\u2019<\/em> (DWM <\/strong>#197-202) reuniting the time meddler with his deadliest foe and their deadliest foe: Abslom Daak<\/em>, a deranged maniac in love with a dead woman and determined to die gloriously exterminating Daleks\u2026<\/p>\n

Written by Paul Cornell and John Freeman with art from Lee Sullivan (and a chapter in full-colour courtesy of Marina Graham), the sprawling saga shows civil war between the murderous pepperpots\u2019 creator Davros<\/em> and their current supreme commander, with the Doctor (two of them, in fact) and a motley crew of allies stirring the bubbling mix and nudging the feuding megalomaniacs in a certain direction\u2026<\/p>\n

When the dust settles, Richard Alan & Sullivan provide a salutary epilogue in \u2018Up Above the Gods\u2019<\/em> (DWM<\/strong>#227, July 1995) as The Doctor explains his actions to Davros – or so, at least, the deluded devil believes\u2026<\/p>\n

Warwick Gray & Colin Andrew introduce a universe where The Doctor perished in his Third Regeneration: leading to a cross dimensional incursion by ours – plus Benny and Ace – to foil the \u2018Final Genesis\u2019<\/em> of Silurian\/Sea Devil renegade Mortakk<\/em> (from DWM <\/strong>#203-206) before full-colour fun returns in \u2018Time & Time Again\u2019<\/em> (#207, Cornell, Ridgway and hues-smith Paul Vyse) with all seven incarnations of the Gallivanting Gallifreyan in action to retrieve the Key to Time and stop the Black Guardian<\/em> recreating the universe in his own vile image\u2026<\/p>\n

Abnett & Ridgeway return to the black & white days of 1840s Kent for \u2018Cuckoo\u2019<\/em> (#208-210) as Ace and Benny understandably revolt when The Doctor seeks to steal the limelight from the first woman palaeontologist Mary Anne Wesley<\/em>. His motives are quite pure: what the young scientist has found is not a missing link in human evolution but something alien that its descendants are prepared to kill for\u2026<\/p>\n

The dramas conclude in fine style as Gray & Ridgway expose the ferocious spleen of the Doctor in full indignant mode when he is an \u2018Uninvited Guest\u2019<\/em> (DWM <\/strong>#211) delivering judgement and punishment to a soiree of indolent and callous timeless beings who enjoyed making sport and playing games with \u201clesser\u201d creatures. They soon painfully learn that such valuations are all a matter of perspective…<\/p>\n

Supplemented with commentaries by the original creators, this is a splendid book for casual readers, a fine shelf addition for dedicated fans of the show and a perfect opportunity to cross-promote our particular art-form to anyone minded to give comics another go\u2026
\nAll Doctor Who material \u00a9 BBCtv 2014. Doctor Who, the Tardis and all logos are trademarks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence. All other material \u00a9 2017 its individual creators and owners. Published 2017 by Panini. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dan Abnett, Paul Cornell, Warwick Gray, Richard Alan, John Ridgway, Lee Sullivan, Colin Andrew & various (Panini Books) ISBN: 978-1-84653-807-0 (TPB) Somewhere in time, it\u2019s always that moment just before the TV got turned on and the Time Lord was born. This year is the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who. Here\u2019s another Timey-Wimey treat … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Doctor Who Graphic Novel 24: Emperor of the Daleks”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80,42,95,66,127,107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adaptations","category-best-of-british","category-doctor-who","category-horror-stories","category-nostalgia","category-science-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7vx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28863"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28866,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28863\/revisions\/28866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}