Launched in 1979 as Doctor Who Weekly, the magazine became a monthly publication the following year. In 1990 it switched to a four-weekly schedule, publishing 13 issues a year, along with triannual deluxe Special Editions (2002–) and Bookazines (2013–). Regular issues include interviews, behind-the-scenes articles on television episodes and Doctor Who in other media, as well as producing its own comic strip.
Its founding editor was Dez Skinn, and the longest-serving editor was Tom Spilsbury who served from 2007 to 2017. He was succeeded by Marcus Hearn, who took over from Spilsbury in July 2017.[2] The incumbent editor is Jason Quinn, who took over from Hearn in September 2023. DWM is recognised by Guinness World Records as the longest running TV tie-in magazine, celebrating 40 years of continuous publication on 11 October 2019.[3] The magazine published its 600th issue on 1 February 2024.
Originally geared towards children and predominately featuring comic strips, DWM slowly transformed into a mature magazine, expanding to explore behind-the-scenes aspects of the series and developing the comic strip.[4] Due to its longevity, it is seen as a source of 'official' and exclusive information, sharing a close relationship with the television production team and the BBC.[5]
Officially licensed by the BBC, the magazine began life as Doctor Who Weekly in 1979, published by the UK arm of Marvel Comics. The first issue was released on Thursday 11 October with a cover date of 17 October and priced 12 pence.[6]
The magazine moved from weekly to monthly publication with issue 44 in September 1980, becoming Doctor Who – A Marvel Monthly with a cover price of 30 pence – although the tagline was not part of the name, but simply a descriptor which appeared on many of Marvel UK's monthly titles at that point. The indicia continued describing the publication as 'Doctor Who Weekly' until issue 48. The cover title changed to Doctor Who Monthly with issue 61, and then to The Official Doctor Who Magazine with issue 85 in February 1984. It became The Doctor Who Magazine with issue 99 in April 1985, and simply Doctor Who Magazine with issue 107 in December 1985. The magazine has remained under that title ever since; an exception was made for issue 397 (June 2008) when the cover featured only the words Bad Wolf, following transmission of the Doctor Who episode "Turn Left" on Saturday 21 June.[citation needed]
Despite the BBC discontinuing production of Doctor Who in 1989, the magazine continued to be published, providing new adventures in the form of comics. In 1990 the magazine started appearing once every four weeks (13 times a year).
DWM is now published by Panini Comics, which purchased the title along with the rest of the Marvel UK catalogue in 1995. In 2006, however, it lost its exclusivity when BBC Worldwide launched its own comic, Doctor Who Adventures, aimed at a younger audience.
DWM's 400th issue was published in September 2008, and the publication celebrated its 30th anniversary in October 2009. In April 2010, it was confirmed in issue 420 that Doctor Who Magazine now holds the Guinness World Record for "Longest Running Magazine Based on a Television Series."[7] The magazine reached its 500th issue in May 2016.[8] It reached its 600th issue in February 2024.
In April 2011, Panini Comics released a new monthly magazine titled Doctor Who Insider; although it was made in Britain the magazine was published for North America. It was announced on 27 January 2012 that Doctor Who Insider had ceased publication after nine issues. Doctor Who Insider returned for a special edition issue on 1 November 2012.
Panini has begun to digitally restore and reprint older DWM comics in trade paperback format. Twenty-five volumes have been printed so far: two featuring the comics adventures of the Fourth Doctor, one with the adventures of the Fifth Doctor, two featuring the Sixth Doctor, five with the adventures of the Seventh Doctor, four focusing on the Eighth Doctor, one with the adventures of the Ninth Doctor, three featuring the Tenth Doctor, four collecting the adventures of the Eleventh Doctor and four with the adventures of the Twelfth Doctor. Panini also published a one-shot magazine-format reprinting of the complete Ninth Doctor strips in 2006 and most of the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones strips in 2008. DWM issue 426 reported that the series had been postponed; it eventually resumed with the publication of "The Crimson Hand" in May 2012.
In November 2020, Panini published The Daleks,[9] a new compilation of the Dalek comic strips originally published on the back pages of early issues of 1960s comic TV Century 21. Unlike previous reprints, the majority of pages in the collection were scanned from the original artwork.
DWM's founding editor was Dez Skinn, who had been headhunted by Stan Lee (the figurehead and creative leader at Marvel) to oversee the revitalisation of the ailing UK division.[10][11] "[I] had the idea for a Doctor Who title around 1975. . . . I felt it would be a perfect stablemate to my then-current House of Hammer magazine, and could be produced in the same format, with a mix of comic strips and features, going behind and beyond the TV series."[11] To make the publication work, Skinn needed a comic strip to be at the heart of the publication, and successfully negotiated for the rights to the Doctor Who comics licence with the BBC which had previously been held by Polystyle Publications since late 1964.[12] DWCC[13] Launching in 1979 as a weekly comic strip based publication, Skinn handed over the reins in 1980.
His immediate successor as editor, Paul Neary, was faced with significant falling sales following the premature end of the programme’s 17th season in January 1980. Neary first attempted to target the publication at a younger readership; when this failed to halt falling sales, he instead relaunched the title as a monthly magazine. Subsequent editors gradually realised then surpassed Skinn's vision of a more mature magazine, getting rid of secondary and tertiary comic strips for regular features and articles going behind the scenes of the show.[citation needed]
During 1995 Panini bought out Marvel UK, and thus took control of DWM. The incumbent editor Gary Russell – who would go on to produce the Big Finish ProductionsDoctor Who audios dramas from their inception, and to work for BBC Wales as a Script Editor on the Doctor Who spin-offs The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood – was 'asked to leave'.[14][15][16] The editorship was taken over by recently hired comic strip editor, Gary Gillatt.
Gillatt edited the magazine for the next five years, except for issue 255 in 1997 which was guest-edited by one of the stars of the Doctor Who TV show Sophie Aldred (who had portrayed the Seventh Doctor's companion Ace during the late 1980s).
In February 2001, the editor at the time Alan Barnes, oversaw the transformation of the comic strip from black and white to full-colour with the first episode of the Eighth Doctor story Ophidius (issue 300).[17]
Clayton Hickman became the editor in 2002, launching the deluxe triannual Special Editions of the magazine (which are running to this day) and the Doctor Who Annual, later Storybook, in 1996 (which ceased publication after five years). He was the first editor since John Freeman (editor) to work on the publication with the show actually in production.
Subsequent editor Tom Spilsbury took over in 2007, later launching the deluxe triannual Bookazine (running parallel to the Special Editions, and again still being produced to this day). Spilsbury would stay at the helm for a decade, becoming the longest-serving editor in the process, handing over the editorship to Marcus Hearn in 2017.[2] Hearn announced his departure as editor in issue 863 in 2023, and he was succeeded by Jason Quinn.
The October 2017 issue of Doctor Who Magazine featured a hidden profane message in a column written by an anonymous writer under the pseudonym 'The Watcher'. Soon after the message's discovery, the column was amended in the digital version of the issue.[18] It was later revealed that the writer of the column had been Nicholas Pegg, an occasional writer for the magazine and one of the Dalek operators on the television series. BBC Worldwide had told the Daily Mirror that "The matter was raised with the publisher who have dismissed the writer."[19]Private Eye later reported that editor Tom Spilsbury's decision to leave the magazine stemmed from "falling-out" with BBC Wales over DWM's coverage of Doctor Who spin-off Class, and that he was "paid off" in the summer of 2017 to leave the publication.[20] However, in the following issue of Private Eye, a letter from Spilsbury was published, denying these allegations.[21]
The magazine joined the Audit Bureau of Circulations in June 2010, giving the average figure per issue for every six months, meaning circulation figures have only been made available officially for six-monthly periods since August of that year, when the publication recorded an average circulation of 35,374 per issue for between January and June 2010.[22]
Since then, the average figures per issue have fluctuated, reaching a high of 36,151 for the July–December 2013 period,[23] but generally decreasing since then, with the occasional small rise.
The last-known six-month certified average circulation figure per issue was 20,635 for the period between July and December 2018.[24] The magazine's average circulation figure per issue for January to June 2019 was due to be released on 15 August 2019 as part of the bureau's batch of Consumer Magazines figures for that period.[25] However, for the first time since August 2010 no official data was published, after the magazine changed its reporting frequency to annually. The average circulation figure per issue for the 13 editions between January and December 2019, subsequently published by the bureau on 13 February 2020, was 17,586, comprising 10,239 paid single copies, 7,213 paid subscriptions and 134 free copies.[1]
The average circulation per issue for the 13 editions between January and December 2020 was 16,304, according to data published by the bureau on 11 February 2021. It comprised 8,330 paid single copies, 7,838 paid subscriptions and 136 free copies.[26]
The magazine stopped being registered with the Audit Bureau of Circulations at some point after then, meaning no figures for 2021 were published as part of the bureau's batch of Consumer Magazines figures that were released on 17 February 2022.[27]
Each issue of DWM contains a main comic strip (occasionally with secondary and tertiary strips or illustrated short stories), regular features (such as a letters page, previews and reviews of TV episodes, books and audios, and updates from the transmedia world of Doctor Who), and special articles (sometimes one-offs, sometimes in serial form, including interviews, analyses, and making-ofs).
DWM has featured an ongoing main comic strip starring the Doctor since its first issue in October 1979. The DWM strip thus took over from what has become known as the 'Polystyle era' (1964–1979) of Doctor Who comic strips.[12] Paul Scoones, an historian of the Doctor Who comic strip, writes: 'First launched in the pages of TV Comic in November 1964, the comic strip version of Doctor Who is just one year younger than the television series on which it is based. The strip appeared almost every week: first in TV Comic, then in Countdown and TV Action before returning to TV Comic. All these titles were produced by a company called Polystyle Publications (formally TV Publications), which held the rights to publish a Doctor Who comic [strip] until May 1979 when the last instalment of the strip appeared [...] Once relinquished by Polystyle, the rights were soon snapped up by Marvel UK, who created their own ongoing comic [strip]. This new strip [...] continues to this day'.[12] The main comic strip features the contemporary television Doctor (beginning with the Fourth Doctor who was on TV at the time DWM launched), sometimes with his on-screen companion(s), and sometimes with companion(s) created by the DWM writers. During some of the period when Doctor Who was off-air, in the wake of the Seventh Doctor, the DWM main strip featured stories with all the previous Doctors (1994–1996) but continued with the Eighth Doctor after the broadcast of the TV movie (1996). In 2004, when the series returned to television, showrunner Russell T Davies offered to let DWM write and publish the official regeneration scene from the Eighth Doctor to the Ninth Doctor. Although work was done on this storyline, then editor Clayton Hickman and writer Scott Gray eventually turned down the offer as they felt they couldn't do such an important event justice under the constraints imposed by the TV series' continuity.[28] In October 2018 (issue 531), the main comic strip began featuring the Thirteenth Doctor in "The Warmonger".[29]
As well as a main strip, DWM has also featured other comics strips over the years. In its first incarnation as Doctor Who Weekly the main strip was accompanied by a specially commissioned secondary strip exploring stories from across the Whoniverse, and a tertiary strip of reprints from other Marvel publications. The secondary strip continued with the transformation of the magazine into a monthly publication, finally ending in May 1982 (issue 64), albeit becoming more infrequent over the previous year. A tertiary strip, named 'Tales from the TARDIS', ran in Doctor Who Weekly until late April 1980 (issue 29). These re-used adaptations of classic works of literary science fiction previously published in Marvel Classics Comics (USA). In late May 1980 (issue 33), the tertiary strip returned reprinting the "Dalek Chronicles" (aka "Dalek Tapes"), a strip originally published as a one-pager in TV Century 21 as "The Daleks" (1965–1967). This tertiary Dalek strip ended in September 1982 (issue 68) after completing about half of the original run. Since 1982, other strips have appeared again from time to time. For instance, in the 1990s a Cyberman one-pager strip was featured on the inside cover (3 August 1994 – 8 May 1996 [issues 215–238]). Titled "The Cybermen", the series was set on their home planet of Mondas prior to the events of the television episode The Tenth Planet (1966). The TV Century 21 comic "The Daleks" was also resurrected for a short time in 1997 (12 March-30 July [issues 249–254]), drawn in the same style as the 1960s original and continuing the story from where it had left off by showing the Daleks attacking Earth. Other than this and since then, secondary and tertiary strips have been as rare as hen's teeth, and usually either one or two episodes.
The DWM comic strips were all originally printed in black and white (except with a minor – page-count-wise – exception for two pages of "The Tides of Time" [July 1982: issue 66]).[30] The main strip, beginning in 1979 with the Fourth Doctor story "The Iron Legion" (17 October – 5 December [issues 1–8]), began being issued in colour as of issue 300 in 2001 with the Eighth Doctor story "Ophidius" (February–May [issues 300–303]). However, as early as December 1980 colourised reprints of the early Fourth Doctor main strip and secondary strips appeared in Marvel USA publications: Marvel Premiere: Doctor Who (every two months between December 1980 and June 1981 [issues 57–60]) successfully trialled the concept for an American audience to determine if it would attract enough readers; a Doctor Who comic series being launched in 1984. The series came to an end with issue 23 in August 1986, having colourised and reprinted all the Fourth Doctor strips and four of the six strips of the Fifth Doctor era, as well as 24 of the 27 DWM secondary strip stories originally published between 1979 and 1982. Reprints of the original DWM strips have also appeared in their original black and white as well as colourised in a dizzying number of formats, especially during the Marvel years (1979–1995). These Marvel UK (or Marvel licensed) parallel publications were: Doctor Who Magazine Specials (1980–1996); Doctor Who Magazine Graphic Novels (1989–1993); Doctor Who Classic Comics (1992–1994) and Doctor Who Yearbooks (1992–1996). Many of these publications also printed original strips as well. Another original Doctor Who strip also appeared in The Incredible Hulk Presents comic series (1989), and the Doctor appeared as a guest character in the first Death's Head series (1989; rejigged and reprinted as "Incomplete Death's Head" in 1993). Spin-off strips and reprints have become much more limited and much more focused during the Panini Years (1995–present). There was a short-lived original Eighth Doctor strip for the Radio Times (1996–1997), some original Ninth and Tenth Doctor strips in the Annual and Storybooks (2006–2010), and two sets of reprints of the Ninth Doctor strips (2006) and some of the Tenth Doctor strips (2008) in the relaunched and rebranded Special Editions (2002–present). Returning to the origins of the DWM main strip, Panini licensed IDW, an American comic book company, for new digitalised colour reprints of Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Doctor stories. Beginning in January 2008 and running into 2013, IDW printed its Doctor Who Classics monthly comic book series, going on to collect the colourised strips into various trade paperbacks and omnibus editions.
During the mid-2000s, in the wake of the successful return of Doctor Who to television, the BBC began offering multiple comic strip publishing licences effectively ending the monopoly held by DWM since they had taken over where Polystyle had left off. In 2006, the partwork publishers GE Fabbri acquired the license to produce Doctor Who – Battles in Time, a fortnightly magazine with a trading card game and its own Doctor Who comic strip. The final issue (number 70) was released on 13 May 2009. Around the same time, IMC launched Doctor Who Adventures, its comic strip and features aimed at 6 to 13-year-olds, a younger demographic than the DWM readership. Initially published every fortnight, from 2008 it went weekly, returning to fortnightly in May 2013, then monthly in 2014. In April 2015, the title was purchased by Panini, the publishers of DWM, who rebooted the publication beginning again with issue 1, changing it to bi-monthly in late 2016. On 19 June 2017, Panini confirmed that publication of the magazine was to be paused after issue 24.[33] A special one-off edition was released in January 2019. Finally, IDW – who were reprinting early DWM strips in their Doctor Who Classics series – launched a parallel range of ongoing comics featuring the Tenth Doctor in early 2008. Over the next six years, until the end of 2013, there were series and ones-shots featuring the Tenth then Eleventh Doctor, even producing a cross over with "Star Trek: The Next Generation / Doctor Who : Assimilation2". IDW ceded their license to Titan in 2014, who have since created a complex number of parallel Doctor Who series for both nu-Who and classic Doctors. Titan have collected the IDW and Titan comics into various format collectors editions, scaling back production since the beginning of the Thirteenth Doctor era.
The publication also features parody cartoons, most notably "Doctor Who?", a humorous look at the series by Tim Quinn and Dicky Howett. This was principally a three-panel comic strip, though occasionally page-long parodies were featured. Also, between 1989 and 1992 "The Comic Assassins" was a series of parody strips by Steve Noble and Kev F. Sutherland. "Doctor Who?"'s spiritual successor was the single-panel strip "Doctor Whoah!" by 'Baxter'. Embedded into the 'Galaxy Forum' letters page, it lampooned a recent episode, DVD release of stories or other such event by showing alternative, exaggerated and expanded versions of Doctor Who scenes. For example, after the broadcast of "Partners in Crime" (2008), the strip portrayed the Doctor's arrival on the 'Planet of the Hats', referred to in the episode. The strip was known for its characters who are depicted as having no pupils in their eyes. Since 2014, "Doctor Whoah!" has been replaced by "The Daft Dimension", a similarly sized strip in three panels by Lew Stringer.
DWM has also published illustrated short stories in its magazine and parallel publications, most cohesively during the Marvel years. Beginning in Doctor Who Weekly on 9 April 1980 (issue 26), a sequence of these short stories ran for eight issues, returning is shorts burst for a number of issues every few years up until 1996. Occasional illustrated short stories have appeared since then, including the many parallel publications in both Marvel and Panini years. In addition, there was also a run of 'Brief Encounters', very short one or two-page illustrated stories that ran from 28 November 1990 (issue 167) through to 6 July 1994 (issue 214) as well as in contemporary "Specials" and "Yearbooks" between 1991 and 1992.
Other regular features of the magazine include the news section "Gallifrey Guardian", which has run since nearly the beginning of the magazine; the letters page "Galaxy Forum" which – as well as containing the "Daft Dimension" strip – features other small sub-sections, such as "Ask DWM!" (where readers' questions about the show are answered), "On This Month" (which looks at an old issue on the anniversary of its publication) and "WhoTube" (which highlights "Doctor Who"-themed videos which can be viewed online); reviews of television episodes and merchandise (in "The DWM Review", known for a time as "After Image", "Off the Shelf", and "Shelf Life"); the "Time Team", which involves four fans watching every Doctor Who story in order from the beginning; and, since production restarted on the series in 2004, a regular column "Production Notes" by the show's executive producer. From 2004 to 2009 the column was written by Russell T Davies, and from January 2010 to July 2017, Steven Moffat took over the page, although other writers and production staff have from time-to-time written the column. Also, on the final page of magazine, there is a section called "Wotcha!" (compiled by 'The Watcher'), a comedy page with such recurring features as, 'A History of Doctor Who in 100 Objects', 'Supporting Artist of the Month', a spoof 'Top Ten', the 'Stockbridge English Dictionary' (a variation on a game from I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue) and a true or false quiz "The Six Faces of Delusion". Prior to this, the slot was taken up by a page called "Who on Earth is...", featuring a short interview with someone previously (or currently) involved in Doctor Who (say, a member of the cast).
A single-page 'opinion' column has often been part of the magazine's mix – past columns have included "Fluid Links" by Matt Jones, "The Life and Times of Jackie Jenkins" by 'Jackie Jenkins', "It's the End... But" by 'The Watcher', "You Are Not Alone" by Jonathan Morris (as 'Neil Harris') and "Relative Dimensions" by author (and former "Time Team" member) Jacqueline Rayner. The format has changed over the years, but the news, letters, reviews, and comic strip have all been present consistently since the early 1980s.
The magazine also features interviews with the cast and crew of the television show (including the old episodes), and reports from the set of the current series, written by Benjamin Cook or Jason Arnopp. The behind-the-scenes stories of all of the 1963–1989 episodes have been documented in Andrew Pixley's "DWM Archive", and detailed analysis of certain significant serials are covered in "The Fact of Fiction", usually written by former DWM editor Alan Barnes, Jonathan Morris or David Bailey. "The DWM Review" is currently written predominantly by Graham Kibble-White, former editor Gary Gillatt, Paul Kirkley, Martin Ruddock and Matt Michael. Previous reviewers include Vanessa Bishop, Craig Hinton (died in 2006), and Gary Russell, who subsequently became the magazine's editor.
DWM Parallel Publications: Marvel Years (1979–1995)
During the Marvel years (1979–1995), Doctor Who Magazine produced three types of "Deluxe edition" series issued in parallel to the main publication. These were the semi-regular Specials generally issued twice a year seasonally, and most usually labelled "Summer" and "Winter" (1980–1996); Yearbooks, essentially annuals, issued once a year in advance and for Christmas (1992–1996); and Poster Magazines, a short run of more visually orientated periodicals with single themes (1994–1996). All these series came to an end in the wake of Panini acquiring Marvel, and consequently, Doctor Who Magazine in 1995.
In addition, and since its very beginning, DWM comic strips have been reprinted and – on a few occasions had their original release – in many other publications and formats. Reprinting of DWM strips began as early as 1980 in parallel serial publications, and over the years there have been a number of such comic reprints and collections, many of which colourised the original strips. In addition, there have also been some original strips issued through these publications. Some series have even reprinted some of the earlier pre-DWMPolystyle PublicationsDoctor Who comic strips that appeared in TV Comic, which began in 1964 and ended when DWM gained the comic strip licence in 1979. There have also been original Doctor Who strips in other Marvel publications, and the Doctor appearing in other original Marvel strips (all of which dovetail with the main DWM strip). Finally, other publishers have reprinted DWM strips under licence.
The first series of reprints of DWM comic strips began in late 1980, only a year or so after the original publication in 1979. These reprints were for the American market, and consisted of four issues in the Marvel Premiere series. The Marvel Premiere series was considered a testing ground to determine if a character or concept could attract enough readers to justify launching their own series. The four issues were considered a success, and so eventually became a series beginning in 1984, titled simply Doctor Who.[34] Again, these were reprints were from DWM, and began soon after where Marvel Premiere left off (skipping a two part strip, perhaps appropriately titled "Timeslip" [issues 17–18], a Fourth Doctor story featuring the First, Second, and Third Doctors; this was eventually published in Doctor Who issue 18). All these strip reprints were colourised for the first time; as were supporting secondary Doctorless strips also taken from DWM (or, on limited occasions, DWM Specials). Both Marvel Premiere: Doctor Who and Doctor Who had regular features and special articles.
Marvel Premiere: Doctor Who (Issues 57–60): From December 1980 to June 1981 once every two months, Marvel USA experimented with the DWM Doctor Who comic strip for an American audience. For four issues they reprinted the earliest two Fourth Doctor main strips. These were now colourised, and with new covers displaying the Doctor Who logo of the time. These four issues of Marvel Premiere: Doctor Who were a test run for an American style Doctor Who comic, which eventually began publishing in 1984. In some editions there were just strips (with the exception of a letters page); in some editions there were also short features. Furthermore, in two editions there were secondary strips, in one instance a DWM secondary strip, and in the other a non-Doctor Who strip – both of which were in colour.
Doctor Who (Marvel Comics USA) (Issues 1–23): From October 1984 to August 1986, and following the success of the trial run of Marvel Premiere: Doctor Who, Marvel Comics published a monthly comic book series in America titled simply Doctor Who, that reprinted the Fourth Doctor and some of the earliest Fifth Doctor main strips. Beginning soon after where Marvel Premiere: Doctor Who had concluded (skipping the third story of the original run, which was eventually published later in the run), once again the strips were colourised and had new covers, but they also appeared in a 'glossy format' rather than traditional American style rough paper print. There were also DWM secondary strips (again, colourised from the original black and white); or on limited occasions strips taken from early DWM Specials. The comic had regular features, from issue three a letters column and, from issue 13, "Who Knows", described as 'Happenings in the world of Doctor Who'.[35][36] There were also occasional short special articles on the television show, such as overviews of characters, and interviews with cast and crew members.
The list below covers all comic strip colourised reprints and notable special articles:
List of Doctor Who Comics USA
USA#
Title
Issue
Date
Pages
Contents
References
01
Marvel Premiere: Doctor Who
57
December 1980
36
Comic strip (colourised reprints):
"The Iron Legion" [1–4 of 8] [DWM issues 1–4] (4D)
Articles:
Full page illustration: "The Five Doctors"
"Who Is the Doctor" (2-page written feature on the Doctors)
Full page illustrations: "The Tardis and K-9"; "The Daleks"; "The Doctor's Most Fearsome Foes!"
"City of the Cursed" [5–8 of 8] [DWM issues 13–16] (4D)
Articles:
"Hello, Goodbye, Hello" (or, "Who's Coming and Who's Going") by Mary Jo Duffy (a personal account of watching Doctor Who) with various illustrations (Leela; UNIT personnel; Sarah Jane; Fifth Doctor; Fourth Doctor and a Zygon)
a^Doctor Who: Marvel Premiere ran only one secondary strip from DWM, in the second issue. Unlike the main strip, however, it did not begin by reprinting the secondary strip from the first issue of Doctor Who Weekly. Rather, K-9's Finest Hour came from issue 12 (2 January 1980). The previous secondary strips ("The Return of the Daleks", "Throwback: The Soul of a Cyberman", "The Final Quest", and "A Tale of the Time Lords: The Stolen Tardis") would all run in order from the first issue of Doctor Who (Marvel USA) to issue 4; with issue 5 printing the story after K-9's Finest Hour.
b^Doctor Who (Marvel USA) began by reprinting the fourth story from the main comic strip of DWM, Doctor Who: Marvel Premiere having printed the first two main strips. These publications thus skipped the third story of the run, "Timeslip" (issues 17–18; 6–13 February 1980). Perhaps this was because while it was a Fourth Doctor strip, it also featured the First, Second, and Third Doctors, and was felt not to be an appropriate way to launch the new publication.
c^ The previous issue of Doctor Who (Marvel USA) had reprinted as its secondary strip the final episode of "Abslom Daak… Dalek-Killer", the secondary strip from DWM issue 20. This issue of Doctor Who (Marvel USA) skipped ahead to reprint "Star Tigers" [I] as its secondary strip, which began in DWM issue 27 (as a secondary strip). Thus Doctor Who (Marvel USA) did not reprint the DWM secondary strips "Twilight of the Silurians", "Ship of Fools", and "The Outsider". This was no doubt done because "Star Tigers" [I] featured the character Abslom Daak and thus had continuity with the previous issue of Doctor Who (Marvel USA). These three strips were, however, reprinted later in the run, although not in the original order.
d^ Once again, as with previous issues of Doctor Who (Marvel USA), the secondary strip misses out reprinting a number of other secondary strip from DWM in order to continue the adventures of Abslom Daak in the second and final "Star Tigers" story. "Star Tigers" [II] begins in issue 44 of DWM with "Star Tigers" [I] concluding in issue 30, thus the secondary strips "Yonder… The Yeti", "Black Legacy", and "Business as Usual" are skipped (although DWM carried no secondary strip in issues 39). However, these three skipped DWM secondary strips appeared in Doctor Who (Marvel USA) issues 13–15, after the conclusion of "Star Tigers" [II].
e^ "Yonder… The Yeti" and the next two secondary strips over the next two issues of Doctor Who (Marvel USA), "Black Legacy" and "Business as Usual", were the second of two sets of secondary comic strips skipped in order to bring continuity to the "Abslom Daak" trilogy ("Abslom Daak… Dalek-Killer", "Star Tigers" [I], and "Star Tigers" [II]) that had appeared non-sequentially in DWM over the year 1980. After "Star Tigers" [II], Doctor Who (Marvel USA) reprinted the second batch in the order of original publication.
f^ "Ship of Fools" is a reprint of one of the first set of skipped secondary strips that accommodated running the "Abslom Daak" trilogy in order, these secondary strips were originally presented non-sequentially in DWM ("Abslom Daak… Dalek-Killer", "Star Tigers" [I], and "Star Tigers" [II]). "Twilight of the Silurians" and "The Outsider" – also from the first set of skipped secondary strips – were eventually reprinted, although out of sequence, and mixed in with other DWM secondary strips. In effect, from this point on Doctor Who (Marvel USA) freely selects from the remaining DWM secondary strips abandoning tracking of original order of publication entirely. Regular original DWM secondary strips finished as of issue 64, and became less frequent over the last few of these issues. Basically, all the secondary strips from DWM were reprinted colourised from DWM issue 1–46; and of the remaining 11 strips eight were reprinted before Doctor Who (Marvel USA) ceased publication.
g^^ "Skywatch-7" was a two part Doctorless comic strip which had its first part published as a secondary strip in DWM (issue 58) and its second part published in the DWM Winter Special 1981, both of which were released around the same time in late 1981.
Doctor Who (Marvel USA) ceased publication with issue 23 in August 1986. Editor Jim Salicrup explained the reason as being 'poor sales. Despite a good start, and rather good sales in areas where Doctor Who (the television programme) is in syndication, sales have been off. Producing Doctor Who [Marvel USA] in this format has been expensive, and without sufficient sales support it was decided to discontinue [...] rather than sacrifice the quality of the magazine'.[64] Salicrup is essentially referring to the added costs of the glossy paper and the strips needing to go through a process of colouration.
In summary, over the entire run of Marvel Premiere: Doctor Who and Doctor Who the magazine reprinted in colourised form:
the DWM main comic strip from issue 1 (17 October 1979) through to 77 (June 1983) in consecutive order, with the exception of "Timeslip" (DWM issues 17–18) which was initially skipped but included much later in the run essentially as a Doctor Who (Marvel USA) secondary strip. Thus, the magazine included all the Fourth Doctor strips, and the first four (of a total of six) Fifth Doctor strips.
the DWM Doctorless secondary strip, mostly in order from the beginning of Doctor Who (Marvel USA) – except for a one part story in Marvel Premiere: Doctor Who – up until issue 13, when "Abslom Daak… Dalek-Killer" was followed by later strips featuring the character. After that, secondary strips were placed increasingly randomly. Over the entire original run of 27 secondary strips in DWM (from issue 1 to 64, after which they came to an end as a continuous feature), Marvel USA comics reprinted 24 of these. The exceptions were the one-part stories: "Star Death" (DWM #47), "4-D War" (DWM #51), and "Black Sun Rising" (DWM #57).
three Doctorless strips from early DWM Specials (not including a parody strip from DWM Winter Special 1983/84 [1983]). One from the DWM Winter Special 1981 (the second part of story began in DWM); and two from the DWM Special Summer 1982. The Doctor Who Magazine Specials are listed in full in the next subsection.
From 1980 to 1996 DWM released a series of 'Specials' with an increased page count. Early on, the Specials tended to have a mix of articles and comic strips (both reprints and originals). However, after the first few issues and up to about halfway through the run, the publication tended to be just composed of articles; with the occasional issue dedicated to comic strip reprints, essentially a 'Graphic Novel' (some in the original black & white, some colourised). The second half of the run went back to including a comic strip in article based issues, during which time there were also two 'Graphic Novels' (both in colour, one reprints, one original). Occasionally, issues carried illustrated short stories. The Specials began by being published twice a year during the summer and winter, and were usually, although not always, branded as such. This changed over the period 1987–1989 when there was only one a year (two for anniversaries), and then none in 1990. The twice year schedule resumed in 1991 again with summer and winter editions, before becoming a little more erratic during and after 1994 to the end of the run. The final two issues were devoted to Doctor Who movies: *"Dr. Who and the Daleks" and "Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D." (issue 29) and Doctor Who: The Movie (issue 30).
These Specials were not numbered, and sometimes contained no indicia or did not specify their status in the indicia – accordingly, confusion has arisen over the years between the Specials and some one-off DWM comic strip publications from the same period (some named Graphic Novels in their indicia, some with no indicia, or just the title of the publication in the indicia). However, in 2016 DWM provided a pictorial overview of what they considered official DWM Specials in their Doctor Who Magazine: 500 DWM Issues bonus 'Souvenir' publication that came free with DWM issue 500.[65] The list below follows the overview therein, but the issue numbering is imposed for ease of tracking, and was never included in the actual publications. The table below also attempts to capture the flavour of the different types of issue with the labelling 'Seasonal Specials', 'Graphic Novels', 'Anniversary Issues', and 'Movie Specials'. In some cases, however, a single Special can be more than one of these types (such as labelled a seasonal special and an anniversary issue); once again, the numbering is imposed on these issues for ease of tracking the type.
Seasonal Specials [SS] (which predominated): most usually twice a year for Winter and Summer, and labelled as such. The covers only rarely indicated the year.
Graphic Novels [GN] (occasional): around half of all the Specials had comic strips, but six were devoted entirely to, or substantially to, comic strips. Note, the numbering here tracks all Marvel era Doctor Who Graphic Novels across its many different publications (for the full overview see the 'Doctor Who Magazine Graphic Novels (1989–1993)' subsection below).
Anniversary Issues [A] (three editions): for the 25th Anniversary of the television series (November 1988); the 10th Anniversary of Doctor Who Magazine (October 1989); and finally the 30th Anniversary of the television series (November 1993) which was also labelled (unlike the other anniversary editions) a seasonal special for Winter 1993.
Movie Specials [M] (the final two editions): "The Sixties Dalek Movies" (also labelled "Spring Special") (February 1996); and "The Doctor Who Movie Special" (May 1996) celebrating the return of Doctor Who to the screen after seven years without any television presence.
List of Doctor Who Magazine Specials
Sp#
Series#
Title
Date
Pages
Contents
References
01
SS-01 GN-01
Summer Special [1980]
Summer 1980
52
Graphic Novel[a] Comic strips (reprints of original black & white):
"The Iron Legion" [1–8 of 8] [DWM issues 1–8] (4D)
Graphic Novel Comic strip (reprint of original colourised pages[k] of TV Century 21's Doctorless 104-part one pager comic epic, renamed The Dalek Chronicles with formalised sequence titles[l]):
a^ Arguably, the very first of the Specials can be considered a Graphic Novel with some bonus articles. This is due to the high percentage of the page count given over to comic strips. In addition, the 10th Special issue (which comes out in addition to the two seasonal Specials in 1985) reprints these same two strips again (now colourised – see note below) without the articles, and there is no way that cannot be considered a Graphic Novel.
b^ "Skywatch-7" was a two part Doctorless comic strip which had its first part published as a secondary strip in DWM (issue 58) and its second part published in the DWM Winter Special 1981, both of which were released around the same time in late 1981.
c^ No indicia in this publication, and no date on cover. However, Specials status and date confirmed in Doctor Who Magazine: 500 DWM Issues bonus 'Souvenir' publication (free with DWM issue 500) (2016).[65]
d^ Indicia only mentions Doctor Who Magazine in this publication. However, date is confirmed on the cover alongside the Special designation. Furthermore, Specials status and date confirmed in Doctor Who Magazine: 500 DWM Issues bonus 'Souvenir' publication (free with DWM issue 500) (2016).[65]
e^ No indicia in this publication, although date and Specials status (albeit modified by 'Classic') are mentioned on cover. Specials status and date are confirmed in Doctor Who Magazine: 500 DWM Issues bonus 'Souvenir' publication (free with DWM issue 500) (2016).[65]
f^^^ Here we begin to see the convoluted nature of the reprints. "The Iron Legion" had originally appeared in black and white in DWM issues 1–8; and "K9's Finest Hour" in DWM issue 12 (secondary strip). They were first collected and reprinted in the first edition of the Specials: Doctor Who Magazine Summer Special [1980]. Soon after they were then colourised by Andy Yanchus for Marvel Premiere: Doctor Who, the Marvel USA try-out publication, used to determine if a character or concept could attract enough readers to justify launching their own series. "The Iron Legion" appeared in the first two issues (of the four issue run) in December 1980 (issue 57) and February 1981 (issue 58); "K9's Finest Hour" was a secondary strip in December 1980 (issue 57) (see the section 'Doctor Who Marvel Comics USA [1980–1986]' above for more information). Accordingly, the reprints here in the '1985 Summer Special Classic' are collected reprints of colourised reprints of an original black and white strip that had also been collected in its original black and white in an earlier edition of the same run of Specials! Things will only get more convoluted here on in... with more black and white reprints and digitally re-coloured versions in other subsequent publications.
g^ Indicia does not indicate this is a Special, reading Doctor Who Magazine Collected Comics. However, Specials status and date confirmed in Doctor Who Magazine: 500 DWM Issues bonus 'Souvenir' publication (free with DWM issue 500) (2016).[65] It is worth noting that in a response to a letter to Doctor Who Classic Comics (issue 4) in 1993, the designation is a 'one-off', as is the title Doctor Who: Voyager (1989).[96] The inference here is that the latter inclusion of publications like Doctor Who Magazine Collected Comics in 'Souvenir' is somewhat arbitrary. However, this is the situation.
h^ Indicia only mentions Doctor Who Magazine in this publication. However, Special designation date is confirmed on the cover. Furthermore, Specials status and date confirmed in Doctor Who Magazine: 500 DWM Issues bonus 'Souvenir' publication (free with DWM issue 500) (2016).[65]
i^ The indicia reads: Doctor Who Magazine Winter Special neither mentioning the year nor the status of this publication as '30th Anniversary 1963–93'. The second of these attributes appears on the cover and above the editorial, the second is assumed in the first.
j^ The indicia calls this: 'The Dalek Chronicles. A Doctor Who Magazine Summer Special', thus seemingly indicating it is a summer Seasonal Special, although one of these had already been released this year (1994) (hence the use of the indefinite article 'A' rather than the definite article 'The'). In an advert in that Doctor Who Magazine Summer Special 1994, however, this publication is simply called a 'Graphic Album'.[97] Whatever its status as a 'Seasonal Special', let alone 'a summer [1994] Seasonal Special', its status as a Specials and date are confirmed in Doctor Who Magazine: 500 DWM Issues bonus 'Souvenir' publication (free with DWM issue 500) (2016).[65]
k^ This strip was originally presented in colour[98] and on glossy oversized paper (265X355mm).[99]
l^ Originally, no individual titles were given to the stories. However, some titles were given in the preceding issue's "coming next time" closing caption. After doing research and interviewing those involved in the original strips, John Ainsworth proposed the sequence titles, which were later used by Doctor Who Magazine.[100] Various reprints had occurred of some of the episodes over the years, and DWM began reprinting these strips – in black and white – from issue 33 of Doctor Who Weekly (28 May 1980). This run eventually went to colour, but never completed. It began again in DWM in colour with the first episode of The Dalek Chronicles in issue 180 (27 November 1991) but only ran for a few episodes before transferring to Doctor Who Classic Comics (1992–1994) in its first issue to completion. Accordingly, this The Daleks Chronicles publication could be seen as much as a Doctor Who Classic Comics Special (like the previous year's Doctor Who Classic Comics: Autumn Special printing of Evening Empire [September 1993]), if it weren't for the indicia (see footnote i).
m^ The second and third episodes of "The Penta Ray Factor" are printed out of order. This is a repeat of the mistake from the Doctor Who Classic Comics (1992–1994) reprints.[101]
n^ The fifth episode of "The Terrorkon Harvest" has missing text in the opening text box, again a repeat of the mistake from the Doctor Who Classic Comics (1992–1994) reprints.[101]
o^ The Indicia simply calls this The Age of Chaos. In an advert in Doctor Who Magazine Summer Special 1994 this publication is called a 'Graphic Album'.[97] Nonetheless, its status as a Specials and date are confirmed in Doctor Who Magazine: 500 DWM Issues bonus 'Souvenir' publication (free with DWM issue 500) (2016).[65]
p^ The first Doctor Who comic story originally produced in full colour by DWM; and the only DWM original, single, novel-length Doctor Who comic strip printed as such.
Doctor Who Magazine Specials ceased publication, along with all the other Marvel parallel publications, with the purchase of Doctor Who Magazine by Panini in 1995. Six years later, Panini kicked off production of 'Specials' once again, this time called 'Special Editions' (2002–present), following very similar formats and mixture of types although issued triannually. Panini would go on to launch another set of triannual 'Specials', known as 'Bookazines', a decade or so after that (2013–present).
With respect to Specials devoted to comic strips and labelled as 'Graphic Novels' in the list above, there were six issued in total. Along with the three Marvel era 'Graphic Novels' (1989–1993) and the DWM Classic Comics Autumn Special: Evening’s Empire (1993) publication (which appears as a Special of the 'Classic Comics' run) there were ten Marvel era DWM 'Graphic Novels' overall. These are all listed together for ease in the 'Doctor Who Magazine Graphic Novels (1989–1993)' subsection below, with the publications belonging to the different 'Specials' and 'Classic Comics' indicated in the table.
There were ten publications during the Marvel era that can be considered 'Graphic Novels'. These were six of the 30 Doctor Who Magazine 'Specials' (1980–1996), Evening’s Empire (1993) which appeared as a 'Special' of the 'Classic Comics' run (1992–1994), and three one-off publications. The term 'Graphic Novel' must be applied loosely here overall, as all but two these publications collect and reprint several comic stories from DWM, although in most cases the stories are related. Furthermore, the two issues that print original stories in full or part are The Age of Chaos (1994) in the 'Specials' run; and the aforementioned Classic Comics Autumn Special: Evening’s Empire (1993), which printed a strip begun but never completed in Doctor Who Magazine. Accordingly, the three one-off 'Graphic Novels' are all reprints from DWM, although two of these colourise original black and white strips:
Doctor Who: Voyager (1989): Collects and reprints four Sixth Doctor stories from the DWM main comic strip, including the two stories already reprinted in Doctor Who Collected Comics (DWM 'Specials') three years previous. These appeared in the order of original publication, and all four strips were colourised for the first time.
Abslom Daak Dalek Killer (1990): Abslom Daak was a character who first appeared in a DWM secondary strip in the early years of the publication, when still Doctor Who Weekly (1980). The character returned a couple of times in two related secondary strips later that year, before appearing in the main strip alongside the Seventh Doctor after almost a decade (1989). This volume collects all these stories, as well as having an original short story linking the early three secondary strips with the later main strip appearance. The strips appear here, as they did in their original publication, in black and white.
Doctor Who: The Mark of Mandragora (1993): A Virgin Publishing experiment, who were at the time printing the Virgin New AdventuresDoctor Who novels (1991–1997) starring the Seventh Doctor. Virgin licensed some Seventh Doctor main comic strips from DWM and published them in a graphic novel entitled Doctor Who: Mark of Mandragora, reprinting stories that originally appeared between 1990 and 1991, as well as the text story "Teenage Kicks" by Paul Cornell (1990). The strips were colourised.
The list below displays all ten 'Graphic Novels', although only the contents of the three stand-alone publications are given here. The seven other publications refer back to the content lists of the sub-sections for Doctor Who Magazine 'Specials' (1980–1996) and Doctor Who Classic Comics (Marvel) (1992–1994). This method has been chosen to both give a full overview of the ten DWM 'Graphic Novels' in this section, but also so as to differentiate with those that are part of other series. Numbering has been provided to give some order to these publications (and is reflected in the 'Specials' and Classic Comics sections), but is not official and does not indicate any 'series' designation.
List of Doctor Who Graphic Novels
MGN#
Series
Title
Date
Pages
Contents
References
GN-01
Specials [issue 01]
Summer Special [1980]
Summer 1980
52
See 'Doctor Who Magazine Specials (1980–1996)' sub-section above.
a^Doctor Who: Voyager is named a 'Graphic Novel' both on its cover and in its indicia. It is worth noting that in a response to a letter to Doctor Who Classic Comics (issue 4) in 1993, the designation is a 'one-off', as is the title Doctor Who Collected Comics (GN-04, directly above).[96] Specials status and date for the latter publication is confirmed in Doctor Who Magazine: 500 DWM Issues bonus 'Souvenir' publication (free with DWM issue 500) (2016).[65] The inference here is that the inclusion of publications like Doctor Who Magazine Collected Comics in 'Souvenir' is somewhat arbitrary. However, this is the situation, and Doctor Who: Voyager does not appear in the Specials list. Indeed, as Doctor Who comic strip historian John Ainsworth notes Doctor Who: Voyager is considered the first proper 'Graphic Novel' by DWM and Marvel.[106]
b^Abslom Daak Dalek Killer, although only having its title on the cover and in the indicia with no format mentioned, is designated a 'Graphic Album' in advertising. See, for instance, the advert in the Doctor Who Magazine Summer Special [1991].[107]
c^Doctor Who: The Mark of Mandragora is named a 'Graphic Novel' on its cover but not in its indicia, where the Virgin licensing mentions only Marvel and not Doctor Who Magazine. Neither is DWM mentioned on the credits page, however, the back cover blurb does indeed cite the source material.
After Marvel sold Doctor Who Magazine to Panini in 1995, the different formats of Graphic Novels would become much more harmonized with the introduction of the 'Doctor Who Comic Strip Collected Editions (2004–present)'. These would reprint DWM main strips and strips from parallel publications in large A4 editions. The ethos of the 'Collected Editions' was and is to print the stories in their original order and format, in other words, reprinting strips originally produced in black and white as black and white. Accordingly, the Marvel era publications with reprinted but colourised strips generally remains the only way to see these stories in Graphic Novel format. There are exceptions, however. Colourised reprints of the early DWM black and white strips which had been published in Doctor Who Marvel Comics USA (1980–1986) would appear in Doctor Who Classic Comics (1992–1994), around the same time as the Marvel Graphic Novels. Then, in January 2008 under a Panini licence, IDW Publishing, an American comic book company, would launch Doctor Who Classics, a monthly comic book series reprinting digitally colourised Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctor strips (2008–2014).[108] The series would go on to be collected in various trade paperbacks, and then some in omnibus editions – both of which can be considered 'Graphic Novels'. However, these are recoloured digitally while the Marvel era were hand-coloured, so the Marvel Graphic Novels retain a certain uniqueness. From later years of DWM when the strip was colourised (beginning issue 300 in 2001), there were also two Panini era 'Special Editions' (2002–present) that reprinted comic strips for the Ninth Doctor (April 2006) and some of the mid-period Tenth Doctor (April 2008), although these strips went on to also be collected in the 'Collected Editions'.
During the late 1980s Marvel UK Comics decided to expand its ranges, and created a number of 'experimental' comics.[109] Two of these titles launched toward the end of 1989, both of which were edited by Andy Seddon, featured Doctor Who content. The Incredible Hulk Presents had an original dedicated stand-alone Doctor Who comic strip which ran every issue, alongside reprints of other Marvel USA comic strips. The Death's Head situation was far more complex as it was constituted as crossover stories. The already established character of Death's Head featured in a main strip of Doctor Who Magazine, before going on to have its own comic Deaths Head launched where the Doctor went on to appear in one of the stories. Subsequently, Death's Head would return to have another guest appearance in the Doctor Who Magazine main strip. Both publications suffered poor sales, and were soon cancelled. However, in 1993, all the Death's Head stories, plus those from DWM featuring Death's Head now specially colourised, were reissued in the pre-planned limited run The Incomplete Death's Head series. The content also included a non-Death's Head Doctor Who Magazine story (again specially colourised), as well as a newly created coda starring the Doctor in the final pages of the final issue.
The Incredible Hulk Presents was a short-lived weekly comic from Marvel UK. It launched in September 1989 with issue 1, and lasted twelve issues in total. It reprinted stories from US Marvel Comics' The Incredible Hulk from the 1970s; G.I. Joe: Special Missions (retitled for the UK as Action Force, later G.I. Joe the Action Force); and an Indiana Jones strip reprinting Marvel US adaptations of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and further Indiana Jones adventures. All the reprinted US strips were in colour. The only original content was the Doctor Who strip, which was, however, produced in black and white.[110] This strip featured ten adeventures (with two two-parters) of the Seventh Doctor.
The 'intention (unbeknownst to the editor of Doctor Who Magazine) [was] that the strips would also run in DWM. When he found out, John Freeman took issue with the plan, arguing that while the strips had merit for the intended younger audience IHP was aimed at, they were inappropriate for DWM, which was trying to tailor more for Doctor Who fans, instead of the mainstream audience previous editors had aimed for'.[110] Freeman's argument was eventually accepted by Marvel UK as sales figures of DWM improved under his leadership; albeit with two exceptions. The two part strip "Hunger at the Ends of Time!" from issues 2 and 3 of IHP was reprinted in DWM issues 157 and 158 (February – March, 1990); and the one unpublished strip completed for IHP issue 13 before the publication was cancelled, "Doctor Conkerer!", which appeared in DWM issue 162 (July 1990).[110]
List of The Incredible Hulk Presents Doctor Who strips
Andy Seddon, editor of IHP, says that the comic folded quite quickly as 'a result of poor sales. I think everyone involved at the editorial level didn't think it was a coherent offering'.[123] As well as the reprint and re-purposing of the two strips mentioned above, four of the strips were soon reprinted in Doctor Who Classic Comics (1992–1994) – beginning with issue 21 (June 1992) – now specially colourised (see below). Eventually, all the strips (including the re-purposed IHP issue 13 strip printed in DWM 162) were reissued in original black and white in the Collected Edition Doctor Who: Nemesis of the Daleks (2013).
Death's Head & Incomplete Death's Head (1989–1993)
The character of Death's Head was a giant robotic bounty hunter created by writer Simon Furman for the Marvel UK's The Transformers comic. According to Furman, Death's Head was simply a 'throwaway character' which would 'be discarded down the line (probably at the end of the first story arc)'.[124] However, when artist Geoff Senior showed Furman the initial character designs, both agreed Death's Head had potential beyond his planned transitory appearance.[124] To avoid Hasbro claiming ownership of the character as a consequence of the Transformers copyright terms agreed with Marvel, Death's Head had to make his debut in another Marvel comic before appearing in Transformers.[124] Accordingly, Furman wrote a single-page "Death's Head" strip that has become known as "High Noon Tex", illustrated by Bryan Hitch). In this short strip, Death's Head was a noir-ish contract killer of human proportions (thus anticipating the character's size and occupation post-Transformers appearances). The idea was that the strip would be published in a number of Marvel UK titles prior to appearing in The Transformers – although there is no evidence of any such an early publication. Death's Head made his debut as the giant robotic bounty hunter in the weekly The Transformers comic beginning with issue 113 (16 May 1987), and appearing during this initial run in 13 issues in total: #114, #117-#119, #133-#134, and #146-#151 (ending 6 February 1988).
First Doctor Who crossover: Doctor Who Magazine – The character's first association with Doctor Who happened in the April 1998 edition of Doctor Who Magazine (issue 135) in the Seventh Doctor main strip "The Crossroads of Time". In this story the Doctor and Death's Head clashed, the former reducing the latter from a giant robot to human size with 'one of the Master's Tissue Compression Eliminators!,' before sending him to Earth.
Death's Head then made a guest appearance in Marvel UK's Dragon's Claws issue 5 (November 1988) in a strip titled "Watch Out Dragon's Claws – Here's Death's Head". After these guest appearances, Marvel Comics UK launched the full colour USA size-format Death's Head in December 1988. The publication was issued monthly, with each edition featuring one long comic strip story starring Death's Head.
Second Doctor Who crossover: Death's Head – It was during the Death's Head comic run that the Seventh Doctor appeared as a central antagonist. In issue 8 (July 1989), the story "Time Bomb!" (not to be confused with a DWM Sixth Doctor story of the same name) saw the Doctor with a bounty on his head. Death's Head picks up the contract from a long term Doctor Who Magazine character and adversary to the Doctor, uber-capitalist Josiah W. Dogbolter.
Despite the first issue of Death's Head comic prompting a letter from Stan Lee praising the character and creative team, the publication soon folded. The Death's Head publication was cancelled at issue 10 (September 1989). The following year, Death's Head returned in the Fantastic Four comic (issue 338; March 1990), with a story titled "Kangs for the Memories!!! Or Guess Who's Coming to Diner". Later the same year Death's Head featured in an ongoing story called "The Body in Question" in Marvel's short lived Strip comic. Beginning in issue 13 (August 1990) and ending in the final issue of the publication (November 1990) the story was later republished as a Death's Head graphic novel Death's Head: The Body in Question (1991). This strip not only resolved the cliffhanger at the end of the cancelled Death's Head series, but also outlined an origin story (although confusingly, perhaps, Death's Head was human sized prior to his confrontation with the Doctor). Death's Head then popped up in The Sensational She-Hulk (issue 24; February 1991) with the story "Priceless", and in a short stand-alone strip in Marvel Comics Presents (issue 76; March 1991) with "The Deadliest Game".
Third Doctor Who crossover: Doctor Who Magazine – In May 1991, Death's Head featured in a cameo role in the Doctor Who Magazine main strip in a story called "Party Animals" (issue 173). In the story, the Seventh Doctor attends a party populated by a number of his foes, and witnesses a bar fight explode, in which Death's Head plays a contributing factor.
This was essentially the end of original stories in Death's Head initial run. However, the character was rebooted as Death's Head II for inclusion in Marvel UK's next wave of titles. Commissioned by the new editor Paul Neary, Death's Head II replaced the original character with a new version created by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, and Liam Sharp. In an autumn 1992 interview with Comic World, Neary was dismissive about the original character, saying 'I didn't think there was much future in Transformers-style robots and I thought we could do an awful lot better." He produced some sample sketches of how he wanted the character to look, and Liam Sharp's demo artwork gave the project 'a kickstart'.[125]Death's Head II launched with issue 1 in March 1992, and ran for four monthly issues.
Fourth Doctor Who crossover: The Incomplete Death's Head – Death's Head II was an immediate success, which meant Neary was ordered to create more titles. The simplest way to do this quickly was to reprint the original Death's Head comic series. The job was given to editor John Freeman. 'Paul was ordered to come up with more Death's Head titles,' said Freeman 'and the easiest way to do that was to reprint the original series. That didn't mean he liked it... I suggested the "wraparound story" featuring DHII to help convince him'.[126] The series – which ran for twelve issues – was called The Incomplete Death's Head (January – December 1993). However, it did not only repeat the original series, but also included a number of other Death's Head strips from Marvel publications, pretty much in order of release, the exception being The Transformers stories and The Body in Question series. Accordingly, the twelve issues of The Incomplete Death's Head included everything else from "High Noon Tex" through to the Marvel Comics Presents story "The Deadliest Game", as well as beginning (issue 1) and ending (issue 12) with the two Doctor Who Magazine strips "The Crossroads of Time" and "Party Animals" – now colourised from their original black and white. Strangely, the publication also incorporated a non-Death's Head story early-run (issues 4 and 5), the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip "Keepsake" (DWM 140; September 1988) once again starring the Seventh Doctor, and once again colourised. This was possible due to way the whole series was framed with the wraparounds, with Death's Head II witnessing these past events in an effort to learn more about his original incarnation. In this way, the Doctor's status of arch-nemesis of the original Death's Head is heightened even before "Time Bomb" appears in issue 9 – the only original Death's Head series strip featuring the Doctor. Indeed, the final few pages of the final issue – as an untitled coda – have a fourth encounter with the Doctor, specially produced for the publication.
a^^ "Time Bomb!" is not to be confused with a Doctor Who Magazine Sixth Doctor story of approximately the same name: "Time Bomb" (DWM issues 114–116; July – September 1986)
b^ Death's Head does not feature in-strip in "Keepsake", but the story is incorporated due to the narrative wraparound used throughout the Incomplete Death's Head series.
In summary, all of the Doctor Who and Death's Head material is included in The Incomplete Death's Head series and subsequent graphic novel in colourised form. However, as of 2020, the Death's Head / Incomplete Death's Head comic strip of "Time Bomb!" and the Untitled coda comic strip of Incomplete Death's Head has yet to be reprinted in the DWM Collected Editions series. The original DWM strips have all been repetrinted – in their original black and white and not their Incomplete Death's Head colourised form – in A Cold Day in Hell (2009) ("The Crossroads of Time" & "Keepsake") and The Good Soldier (2015) ("Party Animals").
The Death's Head character, post Doctor Who crossover, would go on to have numerous further adventures continuing as Death's Head II and then as a third incarnation, Death's Head 3.0, once again created by original Death's Head writer Simon Furman.
Between 1992 and 1994, Marvel UK published Doctor Who Classic Comics. The aim was, as editor Gary Russell stated in the Editorial of the first issue, 'to reproduce every one of the Doctor Who strips produced in Britain'.[127] In the end, the publication only ran for 27 monthly issues, with an additional mid-run 'Autumn Special' in 1993. Over the 27 issues, the publication reprinted strips predominately from the early Polystyle Doctor Who comic strip and the early TV Century 21 Dalek comic strip, but also from a number of sources including, later in the run, DWM itself. As well as reprints, the 'Autumn Special' featured the comic strip "Evening's Empire", an unfinished story from DWM issue 180, here completed for the first time. "Evening's Empire", accordingly, can be seen as a 'Graphic Novel' and essentially as the only original strip of the publication. The sources were:
Polystyle comic strip (1964–1979): reprinting selected stories from the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Doctors originally printed in TV Comic (#674–999 [1964–1971]); Countdown (#1–39 [1971]); Countdown for TV Action (#40–56 [1971–1972]); TV Action in Countdown (#57–58 [1972]); TV Action Countdown (#59–100 [1972–1973]); TV Action (#101–131 [1973]); TV Comic TV Action (#1133–1147 [1973]); TV Comic (#1148–1181 [1973–1974]); TV Comic plus Tom & Jerry Weekly (#1182–1201 [1974]); TV Comic (#1202–1291 [1974–1976]); Mighty TV Comic (#1292–1352 [1976–1977]); TV Comic (#1353–1392 [1977–1978]); TV Comic with Target (#1393–1401 [1978]); and TV Comic (#1402–1430 [1978–1979]); as well as one strip from an associated annual: TV Comic Annual 1976 (1975). Some of these stories were originally in colour; some in part colour (for example one page was colour, the rest of the pages black and white); or in black and white. For DWCC all original black and white pages were colourised.
TV Century 21 comic strip (1965–1967): reprinting Dalek stories which had been 'a huge success' in DWCC's 'sister publication, Doctor Who Magazine' and were 'transferred... to give... more space to re-present them'.[128] The strip was presented in its original colour format, and ran from issue 1 almost every week, completing in issue 19 (April 1994).
Dell Movie Classics comic strip (December 1966): a one-off American publication (in the Dell Movie Classic series) featuring a story called Dr. Who and the Daleks with the Aaru Doctor (alternative First Doctor played by Peter Cushing). This was an adaptation of the Dr. Who and the Daleks film from 1965, in turn adapted from the Doctor Who television serial "The Daleks" from 1963 to 1964.[129] The reprint appeared in its entirety in DWCC issue 9. Printed in original colour.
Doctor Who Magazine comic strip (1979–1991): DWCC reprinted mostly main strips from the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Doctors; as well as completing the Seventh Doctor story "Evening's Empire" in the mid-run 'Autumn Special' (September 1993). The DWM main strip reprints began in DWCC issue 9 (July 1993) with a Fourth Doctor story. DWCC also reprinted some DWM secondary strips (essentially Doctorless), beginning in issue 23. All were originally in black and white (barring two pages of the Fifth Doctor story 'The Tides of Time' – DWM issue 66), and were specially colourised for DWCC (even when some had previously been colourised for reprints in Doctor Who Comics USA [1980–1986]).
The Incredible Hulk Presents comic strip (1989): a short run of a parallel Seventh Doctor strip in the short-lived The Incredible Hulk Presents comic. It launched in September 1989 with issue 1, and lasted twelve issues in total. It reprinted stories from US Marvel Comics' The Incredible Hulk from the 1970s; G.I. Joe: Special Missions (retitled for the UK as Action Force, later G.I. Joe the Action Force); and an Indiana Jones strip reprinting Marvel US adaptations of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and further Indiana Jones adventures. All these US strips were in colour. The Doctor Who strip, however, was in black and white. One story was later printed in DWM, Hunger from the Ends of Time!; and one unpublished strip, Doctor Conkerer!, was produced for the unprinted issue #13 later being printed in DWM 162. DWCC reprinted only four of the early stories, over three issues beginning in issue 21. All four one-part strips were colourised.
The comic strips in Doctor Who Classic Comics were presented in full colour, meaning strips were colourised when not originally released in colour.
List of Doctor Who Classic Comics
#
Title
Date
Pages
Contents
References
CC-01
Doctor Who Classic Comics Issue 1
9 December 1992
52
Polystyle comic strips:
"Gemini Plan" [Countdown issues 1–5][a] (3D) (reprinted in original colour)
"Timebenders" [Countdown issues 6–13] (3D) (reprinted in original colour)
"The Vogan Slaves" Part 1 [Countdown issues 15–18][b] (3D) (reprinted in original colour)
TV Century 21 comic strips:
"The Daleks: The Amaryll Challenge" Parts 1–4 [TVC21 issues 18–21][c] (Doctorless) (reprinted in original colour)
Articles:
"Frame Count" (Hartnell comic strips overview)
"Behind the Frame" (On Polystyles' 1960s comic strips)
"The Planet of the Daleks" [Countdown for TV Action issues 55–56 / TV Action in Countdown issues 57–58 / TV Action Countdown issues 59–62] (3D) (55–58: reprinted in original colour; 69-62 each episode page 1 of 3 reprinted in original colour and pages 2–3 colourised reprints)
"Evening's Empire" [Pages 7–13: Doctor Who Monthly issue 180; pages 3–6 and 8–50 original] (7D) (revised and colourised reprint – pages 7–13; pages 3–6 and 8–50 original colour)[p]
Bonus: Giant Poster of artwork for cover of DWCC 'Autumn Special "Evening's Empire"
"The Enemy from Nowhere" [TV Action Countdown issues 71–78] (3D) (each episode: page 1 of 3 reprinted in original colour and pages 2–3 colourised reprints)
"The Therovian Quest" [TV Comic issues 684–689] (1D) (colourised reprint)
TV Century 21 comic strips:
"The Daleks: Impasse" [TVC21 issues 63–69] (Doctorless) (reprinted in original colour)
Articles:
"Vworp Vworp" (Chronology of Doctor Who comic strips)
"The Ugrakks" Part 1 [TV Action Countdown issues 79–84] (3D) (each episode: page 1 of 3 reprinted in original colour and pages 2–3 colourised reprints)
"The Hijackers of Thrax" [TV Comic issues 690–692] (1D) (colourised reprint)
"On the Web Planet" [TV Comic issues 693–698] (1D) (colourised reprint)
Articles:
"Vworp Vworp" (Chronology of Doctor Who comic strips)
Bonus: Giant Poster of giant Krynoid and Classic Comics badge (taped to front of comic)
"Planet of the Dead" [Doctor Who Magazine issues 141–142] (7D) (colourised reprint)
Polystyle comic strips:
"The Ugrakks" Part 2 [TV Action Countdown issues 85–89] (3D) (each episode: page 1 of 3 reprinted in original colour and pages 2–3 colourised reprints)
"Woden's Warriors" [TV Comic Annual 1976] (4D) (reprinted in original colour)
TV Century 21 comic strips:
"The Daleks: The Terrorkon Harvest"[r] [TVC21 issues 70–75] (Doctorless) (reprinted in original colour)
Articles:
"Vworp Vworp" (Chronology of Doctor Who comic strips)
Bonus: Giant Poster of the seven Doctors (painting)
"A Christmas Story" [TV Comic issues 732–735] (1D) (reprinted in original colour)
"Steelfist" [TV Action Countdown issues 89–93] (3D) (each episode: page 1 of 3 reprinted in original colour and pages 2–3 colourised reprints)
"Zeron Invasion" Part 1 [TV Action Countdown issue 94–97] (3D) (each episode: page 1 of 3 reprinted in original colour and pages 2–3 colourised reprints)
TV Century 21 comic strips:
"The Daleks: Legacy of Yesteryear" Part 1 [TVC21 issues 76–80] (Doctorless) (reprinted in original colour)
Articles:
"The Telesnap Archive: Introduction" (Short overview of BBC junking policy and the existence of telesnaps)
"The Telesnap Archive: Fury from the Deep" Episode One – Lost TV episodes[s]
"Vworp Vworp" (Chronology of Doctor Who comic strips)
"Exodus"/"Revelation"/"Genesis" [Doctor Who Magazine issues 108–110] (6D) (colourised reprint)
Polystyle comic strips:
"Zeron Invasion" Part 2 [TV Action Countdown issues 98–100] (3D) (each episode: page 1 of 3 reprinted in original colour and pages 2–3 colourised reprints)
TV Century 21 comic strips:
"The Daleks: Legacy of Yesteryear" Part 2 [TVC21 issues 81–85] (Doctorless) (reprinted in original colour)
Articles:
"Stripped Assets" (Interviews with comic strip creators: John Ridgway)
"The Telesnap Archive: Fury from the Deep" Episode Three – Lost TV episodes[s]
"Vworp Vworp" (Chronology of Doctor Who comic strips)
"Time in Reverse" [aka "In Reverse"][x] [TV Comic issues 713–715] (1D) (colourised reprint)
"The Monsters from the Past" [TV Comic issues 807–811] (2D) (episodes 1–3: page 1 of 3 reprinted in original colour and pages 2–3 colourised reprints / episodes 4–5: colourised reprints [two pages only each episode])
Articles:
"The Telesnap Archive: The Wheel in Space" Episode Three – (partially) lost TV episodes[w]
"Vworp Vworp" (Chronology of Doctor Who comic strips)
a^ The DWCC began with the first strip issued in Countdown comic, which the Polystyle strip transferred to from TV Comic after issue 999 in February 1971.
b^ There was no Doctor Who comic strip in Countdown issue 14.
c^ "The Amaryll Challenge" is the fourth of the 16 Dalek stories from TVC21, after "Genesis of Evil", "Power Play", and "Duel of the Daleks". Note TVC21 originally ran these as a 104-part one pager comic epic, which was only later renamed 'The Dalek Chronicles' with formalised sequence titles by Doctor Who Magazine. While some titles were given in the preceding issue's "coming next time" closing caption, after doing research and interviewing those involved in the original strips, John Ainsworth proposed the sequence titles.[100] Various reprints had occurred of some of the episodes over the years, and DWM began reprinting these strips – in black and white – from issue 33 of Doctor Who Weekly (28 May 1980). This run eventually went to colour, but never completed. It began again in DWM in colour with the first episode of The Dalek Chronicles in issue 180 (27 November 1991) but only ran for a few episodes before transferring to Doctor Who Classic Comics (1992–1994) in this first issue.
d^ "The Klepton Parasites", was not only the first ever First Doctor strip, but also the first ever Doctor Who comic strip story.
e^ The second and third episodes of "The Penta Ray Factor" are printed out of order. This mistake will be repeated in the Doctor Who Magazine Special which collects all the episodes of the Daleks as The Dalek Chronicles in August 1994.[101] See Marvel 'Specials' section above.
f^^ "Backtime" was originally published over seven issues of Countdown, with the first two parts in colour, and the remaining five parts in black and white. Doctor Who Classic Comics thus reprinted the first two originally coloured episodes in issue 3; then printed the remaining episodes in issue 4, now freshly colourised.
g^ "The Extortioner" is the first ever Second Doctor Doctor Who comic strip story.
h^ "The Arkwood Experiment" is the first ever Third Doctor Doctor Who comic strip story.
i^ "Death Flower!" is the first ever Fourth Doctor Doctor Who comic strip story.
j^ "Dr. Who and the Daleks" was the first American produced comic strip, and this one-off adaptation of Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) would not be followed by a Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966) adaptation. The Americans would not produce their own Doctor Who strips again until IDW in 2008 (see 'DWM Parallel Publications: Panini Years' section below), although there would be colourised reprints in Doctor Who Marvel Comics USA (1980–1986) taken from the UK's DWM.[129]
k^ "The Neutron Knights" was the final Fourth Doctor comic strip of Doctor Who Magazine during its initial run (other strips would later appear during the publication's 'Past Doctors' period [1994–1996]).
l^ "The Tides of Time" is the first ever Fifth Doctor Doctor Who comic strip story.
m^ "Shark Bait" is also known as "The Frog People" and "Doctor Who meets the Frog People". Comic historian Paul Scoones goes with "Doctor Who meets the Frog People" writing this title appeared as the 'synopsis' submitted to the BBC for sign-off prior to publication, but mentions that the 'Comics Checklist', first printed 'in Doctor Who Monthly #62' (1982), calls the story "Shark Bait". The inference being here that DWM made the title up (seeing as not all the early strips were given names on the page), and that DWCC went with this name too.[157]
n^ "The Tides of Time" is the first ever original DWM comic strip to have pages appear in colour. This was the first two pages of issue 66.
o^ This one-off DWCC 'Autumn Special' is essentially a 'Graphic Novel'. In the list of Marvel era 'Graphic Novels' (see 'Doctor Who Magazine Graphic Novels (1980–1994)' sub-section above, where it appears as eighth in a list of ten) it is the first to present mostly original material rather than reprints, with only the final 'Graphic Novel' of this era, Age of Chaos, presenting wholly original material.
p^ "Evening's Empire": what was Part 1 of this story appeared in DWM issue 180 [1991], however, the rest of strip was never published due to production issues. DWM editor, at the time of original production, John Freemen comments 'for a combination of reasons, too lengthy to go in to'.[158] In this DWCC one-off 'Autumn Special' pages 7–13 (the original Part 1) appear slightly revised, with a new opening section (pages 3–6) and then the rest of the story (8–50).[159]
q^ Issue 13 of DWCC adopted a slightly 'new-look' in celebration of the first year of publication, and promised that this was 'the first step of a radical change for the magazine' over the next few issues, although they would 'not [be] losing any strips'.[160] It was in this context that a free bonus badge was also being given away free with the magazine. The radical change appeared in issue 15 with the introduction of the Telesnap Archive of lost TV episodes.
r^ The fifth episode of "The Terrorkon Harvest" has missing text in the opening text box, this mistake would be repeated in the DWM 'Special' compilation reprint 'The Dalek Chronicles' (August 1994).[101] See 'Doctor Who Magazine Specials (1980–1996)' subsection above.
s^^^ The Telesnap Archive of lost TV episodes compiled by DWCC assistant editor Marcus Hearn from John Cura's original photographs was a new feature starting in issue 15. The Archive would alternate between both DWCC and Doctor Who Magazine. Accordingly, while Episode One of Fury from the Deep appeared here, Episode Two appeared in DWM issue 208 a fortnight later.[144] Episode Three appeared in DWCC issue 16; Episode Four appeared in DWM issue 209;[145] Episode Five appeared in DWCC issue 17; and Episode Six appeared in DWM issue 210.[146]
t^^^ At the time of publication, only Episode One of The Web of Fear (and a few clips of the other episodes) existed in the BBC Archives. The Telesnap Archive of lost TV episodes compiled by DWCC assistant editor Marcus Hearn from John Cura's original photographs decided to cover all the episodes of The Web of Fear beginning in DWCC issue 18, alternating between both DWCC and Doctor Who Magazine. Accordingly, while Episode One of The Web of Fear appeared here, Episode Two appeared in DWM issue 211 a fortnight later.[147] Episode Three appeared in DWCC issue 19; Episode Four appeared in DWM issue 212;[148] Episode Five appeared in DWCC issue 20; and Episode Six appeared in DWM issue 213.[149] In October 2013, the BBC announced that copies of episodes 2, 4, 5 and 6 had been found in Nigeria by Television International Enterprises Archive/Philip Morris, and returned to the BBC Archives.[161][162][163] Episode 3 of The Web of Fear was originally among the discovered episodes, but went missing in the months between the discovery of the films and their return to the BBC.[164] A DVD of the story was released on 24 February 2014 with Episode 3 presented as telesnaps over an audio recording of the full soundtrack.[165]
v^ "Challenge of the Piper" is also known as "Home to Hamelin". Comic historian Paul Scoones goes with "Home to Hamelin" writing this title appeared on the original scripts, but mentions that the 'Comics Checklist', first printed 'in Doctor Who Monthly #62' (1982), calls the story "Challenge of the Piper". The inference being here that DWM made the title up (seeing as not all the early strips were given names on the page), and that DWCC went with this name too.[166]
w^^^ Only Episodes Three and Six of The Wheel in Space exist in the BBC Archives.[167] The Telesnap Archive of lost / partially lost TV episodes compiled by DWCC assistant editor Marcus Hearn from John Cura's original photographs decided to cover all the episodes of The Wheel in Space beginning in DWCC issue 21, alternating between both DWCC and Doctor Who Magazine. Accordingly, while Episode One of The Wheel in Space appeared here, Episode Two appeared in DWM issue 214 a fortnight later.[150] Episode Three appeared in DWCC issue 22; Episode Four appeared in DWM issue 215;[151] Episode Five appeared in DWCC issue 23; and Episode Six appeared in DWM issue 216.[152]
x^ "Time in Reverse" is also known as "In Reverse". Comic historian Paul Scoones goes with "In Reverse" writing this title appeared on the original scripts, but mentions that the 'Comics Checklist', first printed 'in Doctor Who Monthly #62' (1982), calls the story "Time in Reverse". The inference being here that DWM augmented the title (seeing as not all the early strips were given names on the page), and that DWCC went with this name too.[168]
y^^ The back-up strip list and overview only includes the secondary strips; in other words, all the original Doctorless strips created for the magazine during the early days of the publication. These articles do not list or explore the tertiary strips of reprints from other Marvel publications included in the publication over pretty much the same period.
z^^ Only episodes Two and Three of The Ice Warriors are missing from the BBC Archives, both of which were animated and released with the four original episodes in 2013The serial was released on DVD on 26 August 2013, with parts 2 and 3 being presented in animated form, with Qurios Entertainment providing the animation.[169][170][171] The Telesnap Archive of lost / partially lost TV episodes compiled by DWCC assistant editor Marcus Hearn from John Cura's original photographs decided to cover all the episodes of The Ice Warriors beginning in DWCC issue 24, alternating between both DWCC and Doctor Who Magazine. Accordingly, while Episode One of The Ice Warriors appeared here, Episode Two appeared in DWM issue 217 a fortnight later.[153] Episode Three appeared in DWCC issue 25; Episode Four appeared in DWM issue 218;[172] Episode Five appeared in DWCC issue 26; and Episode Six appeared in DWM issue 219.[173]
The conclusion of Doctor Who Classic Comics was first announced in the Editorial of issue 26. There, assistant editor Marcus Hearn alluded to a 'big finale' the following month; continuing 'We're going out in style with Issue 27 – a special collector's edition with a wrap-round cover' and various other features.[173] Issue 27 appeared with 'Final Jam-Packed Issue!' on the cover, and Hearn – once again providing the Editorial – echoed the previous issue in implicitly saying that the series had come to a natural end. 'With the finest of the Doctor Who strips's pre-Marvel heritage reprinted, our work is largely done. Other projects beckon for us'.[174] With this final issue, DWCC completed the full run of the Countdown / TV Action run (excluding specials and annuals) during the mid-period of the Polystyle Third Doctor strips, before the strips left and then returned to TV Comic. However, of the two TV Comic periods (First, Second, half of the Third, and Fourth Doctors), only 32 of the potential 152 strips were ever reprinted (just over 20%). The situation was even worse with respect to the fifteen or so years of Doctor Who Magazine strips and (admitted far, far shorter run) of The Incredible Hulk Presents strips. That the publication was terminated for reasons other than having completed the Third Doctor Countdown / TV Action strips is the fact that the ongoing "Vworp Vworp" articles, which were printing a chronology of Doctor Who comic strips with short synopses, only reached then end of the Third Doctor Polystyle period.
Between 1992 and 1996 Marvel UK published a number of Doctor Who Yearbooks – essentially annuals – containing articles, comic strips, and short fiction. These continued the tradition of Doctor Who Annuals that had been issued under a separate licence from the BBC by World Distributors between 1965 and 1985 (for the years 1966 to 1986); renaming themselves World International, Ltd. in 1981, but due to falling sales limiting their publishing activities before ceasing trading later that decade.[175]
List of Doctor Who Yearbooks
Yb#
Title
Date
Pages
Fiction
Articles
01
Doctor Who Yearbook [1992]
October 1991
64
Comic strips:
"Under Pressure" (7D, 4D & 3D)
Brief Encounter short stories:
"The Meeting" (1D) [Reprint from DWM #167]
"Future Imperfect" (2D & 3D)
"Time on a Vine" (5D)
"The Deal" (6D)
"Where it All Began"
"The Doctor Ordered"
"The Complete Guide"
"Behind the Scenes" (TV: "The Curse of Fenric")
"First Call" (TV: "The Curse of Fenric")
02
Doctor Who Yearbook 1993
September 1992
64
Comic strips:
"Metamorphosis" (7D)
Brief Encounter short stories:
"Cambridge Previsited" (1D)
"Dream a Little Dream for Me" (2D &7D)
"Country of the Blind" (3D)
"Farewells" (4D)
"Encounter on Burnt Snake Flat" (5D)
"A Tourist Invasion" (6D)
"Spearheads From Space" (invaders)
"Daggers of the Mind" (manipulators)
"Making (New) Myths"
"The Sonic Screwdriver"y
"Collectors Corner: The Silly Season" (novelty merchandise)
"Terrible Tunes" (music merchandise)
"Dressing Up" (clothing merchandise)
"Monster files"
"A4 Schematics"
03
Doctor Who Yearbook 1994
September 1993
64
Comic strips:
"A Religious Experience" (1D & 7D)
"Rest and Re-Creation" (4D)
Short stories:
"Loop the Loup" (2D)
"Reconnaissance" (3D)
"The Changeling Years" (4D)
"Perfect Day" (5D)
"The More Things Change" (6D)
"Pulling Strings" (7D)
"The Unknown Forest" (high-brow perception)
"Andrew Pixley's WhoFax" (trivia)
"Thirty Years of Doctor Who in Fiction"
"Thirty Years of Doctor Who in Fact"
04
Doctor Who Yearbook 1995
September 1994
64
Comic strips:
"The Naked Flame" (4D)
"Blood Invocation" (5D)
Short stories:
"Urrozdinee" (1D)
"Briefly Noted" (2D)
"The Hungry Bomb" (3D)
"Rescue" (Doctorless)
"The Beast Inside" (4D)
"One Last Try" (5D)
"Work is Hell" (6D)
"Blood Invocation" (5D)
"It's Only a Game" (7D)
"Retrospective: 30 Years in the TARDIS"
"Retrospective: The Paradise of Death" (audio)
"Retrospective: Dimensions in Time" (TV)
05
Doctor Who Yearbook 1996
September 1995
96
Comic strips:
"Star Beast II" (4D)
"Junkyard Demon II" (4D)
"A Brief History of Space and Time" (season guide)
Between 1994 and 1996 Marvel UK published a number of Doctor Who Poster Magazines, produced in full colour with visual image based articles, each with a specific theme. After the first six issues the format of the magazine was changed, but only ran for another two issues before being cancelled.
List of Doctor Who Poster Magazines
PM#
Title
Date
Pages
Features
References
01
Doctor Who Poster Magazine: Issue 1 Daleks: The Story of the Doctor's Deadliest Foe
From 2002 Doctor Who Magazine has been producing a regular series of "Special Editions", generally released three times a year. These are stand alone magazines themed around a specific topic and carrying a much higher page count than the regular magazine. Over the run, so far, there have been eight themes:
Doctor Who eras (2002–2014): These issues explored the stories in a Doctor's era, sometimes over a number of 'volumes'. This theme was named The Complete x Doctor for the classic series, and The Doctor Who Companion for the post-2005 series – although the last two of these have different names, the Official Guide covering the final part of the Eleventh Doctor's final season (April 2014), and The Year of the Doctor 50th Anniversary edition (August 2014). This strand of the "Special Editions" came to an end with these two releases, but is continued in the rebooted "Bookazine" series as of 2019 with the Twelfth Doctor.
Anniversaries (2003–): Beginning with We Love Doctor Who (November 2003), celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first broadcast of the TV show, the Special Editions have marked all the major milestones of the programme. In the case of the 50th Anniversary edition (August 2014), this publication also had the function of being the final part of the Doctor Who eras thematic, which post-2005 was labelled The Doctor Who Companion (in all but this and the penultimate instalment, tagged an Official Guide).
In Their Own Words (2005–2010): An overview of the programme's history produced chronologically. This series collected excerpts from interviews with Doctor Who cast and crew over the years 1963 to 2009. The series concluded in 2010.
Comic strip reprints (2006–2008): The Special Editions became the reprint format for the main comic strip for the Ninth Doctor (April 2006) and some of the mid-period Tenth Doctor (April 2008). These strips were, however, also collected in the Collected Edition format (2004–present) in The Cruel Sea (2014) for the Ninth Doctor; and The Widow's Curse (2009, Collected Tenth Doctor Comic Strips Volume 2).
Missing Episodes (2013): The three 2013 Special Editions published Telesnaps from missing episodes from the Hartnell and Troughton eras.
Sarah Jane Adventures (2009–2012): Three special editions between 2009 and 2012 covering the production of the "Doctor Who" television spin-off "The Sarah Jane Adventures".
Yearbooks (2015–): Beginning with the 2015 Yearbook (December 2014), these publications are issued once a year looking back over the previous year in Doctor Who.
Topics (2015–): In the wake of the first "Doctor Who Yearbook" (2015; published December 2014), the "Special Editions" devoted the other two releases of 2015 to specific topics: The Art of Doctor Who (April 2015) and The Music of Doctor Who (August 2015). This pattern of a Yearbook followed by two topics has continued to present.
List of Special Editions
SE#
Series#
Title
Date
Pages
Contents
References
01
C-01
The Complete Fifth Doctor
March 2002
68
A detailed look at the complete run of Fifth Doctor stories and their various spin offs. This included in-depth articles on the production the seasons and updates on DWM's original Archive features on the serials (by Andrew Pixley), a short essay on a specific aspect of each of the TV stories (by various fan/writers) and detailed overviews of the Fifth Doctor's appearances in comics (by John Ainsworth), novels (by Matt Michael) and audio plays (by Gary Gillatt).
02
C-02
The Complete Third Doctor
July 2002
84
A detailed look at the complete run of Third Doctor stories and their various spin offs. This included in-depth articles on the production of each of the seasons covered and Archive updates on each serial, a short essay on a specific aspect of each of the TV stories and detailed overviews of the Third Doctor's appearances in comics, novels and audio (in this case, strictly radio) plays.
03
C-03
The Complete Sixth Doctor
September 2002
68
A detailed look at the complete run of Sixth Doctor stories and their various spin offs. This included in-depth articles on the production of each of the seasons covered and Archive updates on each serial, a short essay on a specific aspect of each of the TV stories and detailed overviews of the Sixth Doctor's appearances in comics, novels and audio plays.
04
C-04
The Complete Second Doctor
January 2003
84
A detailed look at the complete run of Second Doctor stories and their various spin offs. This included in-depth articles on the production of each of the seasons covered and Archive updates on each serial, a short essay on a specific aspect of each of the TV stories and detailed overviews of the Second Doctor's appearances in comics and novels.
05
C-05
The Complete Eighth Doctor
July 2003
84
A detailed look at the Eighth Doctor and his various spin offs. This included a detailed archive feature on the making of the 1996 TV movie, a look at the history of Doctor Who in the intervening years following the end of the TV show and a detailed overview of the Eighth Doctor's appearances in comics, novels and audio plays.
06
A-01
Doctor Who 1963–2003: We Love Doctor Who
November 2003
84
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first broadcast of the TV show readers of Doctor Who Magazine had been asked to vote for their all-time favourite aspects of the show in various categories. This magazine published the results and essays on the most popular TV stories, books, comics, writers and contributors.
07
C-06
The Complete First Doctor
January 2004
100
A detailed look at the complete run of First Doctor stories and their various spin offs. This included in-depth articles on the production of each of the seasons covered and Archive updates on each serial, a short essay on a specific aspect of each of the TV stories and detailed overviews of the First Doctor's appearances in comics and novels.
08
C-07
The Complete Fourth Doctor – Volume One
July 2004
84
A detailed look at the run of the first four seasons of Fourth Doctor TV stories. This included in-depth articles on the production of each of the seasons covered and Archive updates on each serial, plus a short essay on a specific aspect of each of the TV stories.
09
C-08
The Complete Fourth Doctor – Volume Two
October 2004
84
A detailed look at the final three seasons of the Fourth Doctor TV stories. This included in-depth articles on the production of each of the seasons covered and a short essay on a specific aspect of each of the TV stories and Archive updates on each serial, plus a detailed overview of the Fourth Doctor's appearances in comics and novels.
10
C-09
The Complete Seventh Doctor
February 2005
100
A detailed look at the complete run of Seventh Doctor stories and their various spin offs. This included in-depth articles on the production of each of the seasons covered and Archive updates on each serial, a short essay on a specific aspect of each of the TV stories and detailed overviews of the Seventh Doctor's appearances in comics, audio plays and novels. There was also an errata section correcting some errors in the previously published volumes.
11
C-10
The Doctor Who Companion – Series One
July 2005
100
A guide to the production of the first series of the revived TV show. This included a detailed look at the production of each of the episodes by Andrew Pixley, articles on aspects of the design work on various episodes, a look at some of the special effects, a profile of the Ninth Doctor and the original series pitch with annotated notes by show runner Russell T Davies.
12
OW-01
In Their Own Words – Volume 1: 1963–1969
November 2005
100
A chronological commentary on the making of the TV series in the 1960s by those involved in its production. This is collated from extracts of interviews previously published in Doctor Who Magazine with the individuals concerned.
13
CS-01
The Ninth Doctor Collected Comics
April 2006
100
A reprint of all the Ninth Doctor comic strip stories published by Panini Comics. This includes: "The Love Invasion" (Doctor Who Magazine issues 355–357); "Art Attack" (Doctor Who Magazine issue 358); "The Cruel Sea" (Doctor Who Magazine issues 359–362); "Mr Nobody" (Doctor Who Annual 2006); "A Groatsworth of Wit" (Doctor Who Magazine issues 363–364). [Reprinted in official Comic Strip Collected Edition as The Cruel Sea (2014)].
14
C-11
The Doctor Who Companion – Series Two
August 2006
108
A guide to the production of the second series of the revived TV show. This included a detailed look at the production of each of the episodes by Andrew Pixley and the original second series pitch with annotated notes by show runner Russell T Davies.
15
OW-02
In Their Own Words – Volume 2: 1970–1976
November 2006
100
A chronological commentary on the making of the TV series in the first part of the 1970s by those involved in its production. This is collated from extracts of interviews previously published in Doctor Who Magazine with the individuals concerned.
16
OW-03
In Their Own Words – Volume 3: 1977–1981
April 2007
100
A chronological commentary on the making of the TV series in the latter part of the 1970s and start of the 1980s by those involved in its production. This is collated from extracts of interviews previously published in Doctor Who Magazine with the individuals concerned.
17
C-12
The Doctor Who Companion – Series Three
August 2007
132
A guide to the production of the third series of the revived TV show. This included a detailed look at the production of each of the episodes by Andrew Pixley and an overview of the development of the series by show runner Russell T Davies.
18
OW-04
In Their Own Words – Volume 4: 1982–1986
November 2007
100
A chronological commentary on the making of the TV series in the 1980s by those involved in its production. This is collated from extracts of interviews previously published in Doctor Who Magazine with the individuals concerned.
19
CS-02
The Tenth Doctor Comics
April 2008
100
A reprint of most of the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones comic strip stories from Doctor Who Magazine (so, the Tenth Doctor mid-period) This includes: "The Woman Who Sold the World" (Doctor Who Magazine issues 381–384); "Bus Stop!" (Doctor Who Magazine issue 385); "First" (Doctor Who Magazine issues 386–389); "Death to the Doctor!" (Doctor Who Magazine issue 390) [Reprinted in official Comic Strip Collected Edition as The Widow's Curse (2009, Collected Tenth Doctor Comic Strips Volume 2)].
20
C-13
The Doctor Who Companion – Series Four
August 2008
148
A guide to the production of the fourth series of the revived TV show. This included a detailed look at the production of each of the episodes by Andrew Pixley and an introduction by show runner Russell T Davies.
21
OW-05
In Their Own Words – Volume 5: 1987–1996
November 2008
100
A chronological commentary on the making of the TV series in the latter part of the 1980s, the events following the initial cancellation in 1989, and the making of the TV Movie in 1996. This is collated from extracts of interviews previously published in Doctor Who Magazine with the individuals concerned.
22
A-02
200 Golden Moments
May 2009
148
To mark 200 television stories with the broadcast of "Planet of the Dead", at least one 'golden moment' was chosen from each story, with an essay to celebrate the chosen scene.
23
SJ-01
Sarah Jane Smith [Volume 1]
October 2009
100
A guide to the production of The Sarah Jane Adventures, covering holiday special "Invasion of the Bane", the first and second series, and the Comic Relief special. This included a detailed look at the production of each of the episodes by Andrew Pixley and an interview with Elisabeth Sladen who played Sarah Jane.
24
OW-06
In Their Own Words – Volume 6: 1997–2009
February 2010
116
A chronological commentary on the events following the TV Movie in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and the making of the revived series from 2005 to 2009. This is collated from extracts of interviews previously published in Doctor Who Magazine with the individuals concerned. To date, this is the final "In Their Own Words".
The Doctor Who Companion – The Eleventh Doctor Volume One
October 2010
100
Series 5 Part 1. A guide to the production of the first half of the recently aired 2010 series, from "The Eleventh Hour" to "The Vampires of Venice". This included a detailed look at the production of each of the episodes by Andrew Pixley.
27
C-16
The Doctor Who Companion – The Eleventh Doctor Volume Two
December 2010
100
Series 5 Part 2. A guide to the production of the second half of the recently aired 2010 series, from "Amy's Choice" to "The Big Bang", plus DVD extras "Meanwhile, in the TARDIS". This included a detailed look at the production of each of the episodes by Andrew Pixley.
28
SJ-02
The Sarah Jane Companion [Volume 2]
December 2010
100
A guide to the production of The Sarah Jane Adventures, covering the third and fourth series. This included a detailed look at the production of each of the episodes by Andrew Pixley.
29
C-17
The Doctor Who Companion – The Eleventh Doctor Volume Three
The Doctor Who Companion – The Eleventh Doctor Volume Four
December 2011
84
Series 6 Part 2. A guide to the production of the next six Eleventh Doctor episodes, from "The Rebel Flesh" to "The Girl Who Waited", plus the specially-made sequence that introduced the National Television Awards. This included a detailed look at the production of each of the episodes by Andrew Pixley.
31
C-19
The Doctor Who Companion – The Eleventh Doctor Volume Five
Christmas Special 2012 and Series 7 Part 2 – essentially (although unnamed as such) a continuation of "The Doctor Who Companion" series. A guide to the production of the next nine Eleventh Doctor episodes, from "The Snowmen" to "The Name of the Doctor". This included a detailed look at the production of each of the episodes by Andrew Pixley.
The Year of the Doctor: The Official Guide to Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary
August 2014
100
As well as an anniversary edition, this publication is also the last of "The Doctor Who Companion" series in the "Special Editions" run (although this series is restarted again in the Bookazine publication with the Twelfth Doctor in 2009). A guide to the production of 50th anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor" and 2014 Christmas special "The Time of the Doctor", plus the online mini-episode "The Night of the Doctor", the drama-documentary "An Adventure in Space and Time", the online spoof "The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot", and the 2013 Doctor Who Prom, including a detailed look at their production by Andrew Pixley. It also included an overview of various other TV and radio tie-in programmes for the anniversary.
A look back at the worlds of Doctor Who in 2014, with brief features on the twelve episodes from "Deep Breath" to "Death in Heaven", and articles and interviews on the show's reception, events, merchandise, and fandom.
A look back at the worlds of Doctor Who in 2015, with brief features on the thirteen episodes from "Last Christmas" to "Hell Bent", and articles and interviews on the show's reception, events, merchandise, and fandom.
A look back at the worlds of Doctor Who in 2016, with features on the making of the 2017 series and spinoff Class, and articles and interviews on the show's events, merchandise, and fandom.
Explores Doctor Who fandom, and its evolution across the decades into a global phenomenon, with enthusiasts from territories such as the United States, China and New Zealand.
Features rare and previously unpublished illustrations showing how the look of a Doctor Who episode evolves from sketch to screen across such diverse settings as distant points in Earth's history and alien civilisations in the far future, with exclusive interviews with many of those designers.
Explores the filming for series 12 with Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor's second series; Features on the fan remake of "Mission to the Unknown" (a missing First Doctor era Doctorless episode); A celebration of 20 years of Big Finish Doctor Who audios; a tribute to Terrance Dicks, the high-profile Doctor Who television and novel writer; on the online Dalek documentaries
Panini rebooted these in 2006 with the return of Doctor Who to television as an annual. Due to the success of the annual, BBC publishing retrieved the license for that designation, but allowed Panini to continue publishing a yearly Storybook, which they did for another four years.
In January 2008, IDW Publishing, an American comic book company, launched Doctor Who Classics, a monthly comic book series reprinting digitally colourised Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctor strips from the early issues of DWM.[108] The series was collected in trade paperbacks. The Dave Gibbons Collection was also released in an oversized hardback edition.
List of Classics
Title
Contents
Pages
Published
ISBN
Volume 1
"The Iron Legion" (issues 1–8) "City of the Damned" (issues 9–16) "Timeslip" (issues 17–18) "The Star Beast" (issues 19–26)
"The Star Beast" (issue 26 only) "The Dogs of Doom" (issues 27–34) "The Time Witch" (issues 35–38) "Dragon’s Claw" (issues 39–45) "The Collector" (issue 46) "Dreamers of Death" (issues 47–48)
"Changes" (issues 118–119) "Culture Shock!" (issue 139) "The World Shapers" (issues 127–129) "The Life Bringer" (issues 49–50) "War of the Worlds" (issue 51) "The Spider-God" (issue 52) "The Deal" (issue 53) "End of the Line" (issues 54–55) "The Freefall Warriors" (issues 56–57)
"A Cold Day in Hell!" (issues 130–133) "Redemption!" (issue 134) "The Crossroads of Time" (issue 135) "Claws of the Klathi!" (issues 136–138) "Keepsake" (issue 140) "Planet of the Dead" (issues 141–142) "Culture Shock!" (issue 139) "Echoes of the Morgor!" (issues 143–144)
The Iron Legion (issue 1–8) City of the Damned (issue 9–16) The Star Beast (issue 19–26) Dogs of Doom (issue 27–34) The Time Witch (issue 35–38) Dragon's Claw (issue 39–45) The Collector (issue 46) Dreamers of Death (issue 47–48) The Life Bringer! (issue 49–50) The War of Words (issue 51) Spider-God (issue 52) The Deal (issue 53) End of the Line (issue 54–55) The Freefall Warriors (issue 56–57) The Neutron Knights (issue 60) The Tides of Time (issue 61–67) Stars Fell on Stockbridge (issue 68–69)
"Time And Tide" (issues 145–146) "Follow That TARDIS!" (issue 147) "Invaders From Gantac" (issues 148–150) "Nemesis of the Daleks" (issues 152–155) "Stairway To Heaven" (issue 156) "Hunger From The Ends of Time" (issues 157–158) "Train-Flight" (issues 159–161)
A North American publication that ran for nine issues, with two specials. It was features and articles based, with a more visual approach than Doctor Who Magazine. It also carried no comic strip.
For the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who in 2013 three "bookazines" were published under the Doctor Who – 50 Years banner, featuring articles on the Doctor, his companions and the Daleks. These continued into 2014 and beyond, renamed The Essential Doctor Who, again with three issues released annually. In 2018, with the advent of the Thirteenth Doctor, a special one-off edition bookazine was released as part of the series called The Story of Doctor Who. After this, the range continued on with the title The Essential Doctor Who for one final release in February 2019. The series was replaced by The Doctor Who Companion range, with the same release schedule, beginning in June 2019.
Encyclopedia-like list of all the alien worlds visited by the Doctor (only planets visited in the television series and not any spinoff material is covered).
Encyclopedia-like list of all the monsters and aliens encountered by the Doctor (only monsters encountered in the television series and not any spinoff material are covered).
Articles on each of the Doctor's main adversaries, also featuring interviews with their respective actors and behind-the-scenes analysis of the episodes they feature in.
Articles on 13 stories which feature prominent invasions of Earth. Also featuring interviews with cast and crew that worked on those stories, articles on invasions of Earth in other media such as audio dramas, comic strips and books, and articles on organisations such as UNIT.
Articles on 15 stories set in outer space. Also featuring interviews with cast and crew that worked on those stories, articles about space adventures in the series, and articles on space adventures in other media such as comic strips, books and annuals.
Articles on 16 stories which feature Time Travel. Also featuring interviews with cast and crew that worked on those stories and articles about Time Travel in the series.
Articles on the numerous stories featuring Science and Technology, also featuring articles on several scientific and technological devices found on the show.
The Essential Doctor Who: Adventures in the Future
June 2018
116
Articles on the numerous stories set in the future from the 21st century to the end of time, exploring landmark episodes and meeting the talents who brought them to the screen.
In conjunction with the first television series of the Thirteenth Doctor, this bookazine is an introduction to the show, with sections devoted to all of the television Doctors and many of the key creative figures across its whole 55-year history.
The Doctor Who Companion – The Twelfth Doctor: Volume One
June 2019
100
Articles on the first four episodes of Series 8 with the Twelfth Doctor: "Deep Breath", "Into the Dalek", "Robot of Sherwood", and "Listen". Originally presented in Doctor Who – The Complete History, revised and updated.
The Doctor Who Companion – The Twelfth Doctor: Volume Two
October 2019
100
Articles on the middle four episodes of Series 8 with the Twelfth Doctor: "Time Heist", "The Caretaker", "Kill the Moon", and "Mummy on the Orient Express". Originally presented in Doctor Who – The Complete History, revised and updated.
The Doctor Who Companion – The Twelfth Doctor: Volume Three
February 2020
116
Articles on the final episodes of Series 8 and the festive special with the Twelfth Doctor: "Flatline", "In the Forest of the Night", "Dark Water", "Death in Heaven", and "Last Christmas". Originally presented in Doctor Who – The Complete History, revised and updated.
Beginning on 9 September 2015, Panini published a fortnightly partwork documenting the production of every Doctor Who TV story. Content in the partwork was largely based on Andrew Pixley's Archive features which were initially published in Doctor Who Magazine throughout the 80s, 90s and early 2000s and continue in numerous special editions (see above); however, a considerable amount of new material was written exclusively for the books. The 90-part work was published in a multi-volume hardback form, in association with the BBC and Hachette.[231] Each part features 1–4 stories. As is common with part-works, the volumes were not being released in chronological order by broadcast date, but in an order chosen "to reflect the variety and breadth of the series."[232] In January 2018, it was confirmed that The Complete History was extended from 80 volumes to 90, to include all remaining Twelfth Doctor episodes up to "Twice Upon a Time".[233]
Panini has been collecting the comic sections of the magazines into a number of Collected Editions (trade paperbacks) since 2004, beginning with the Fourth Doctor title The Iron Legion. These Collected Editions have not always been published in the order of original publication in Doctor Who Weekly/Magazine and its Yearbooks, Specials and associated publications. Panini have published two or three of these Collected Editions each year from 2004 to 2019, except 2010 and 2011 when the Collected Editions were put on hold.
As of December 2019 there have been 29 volumes released, the most recent being Ground Zero, which features strips from the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh Doctors. As Panini have now collected all the main strips up to the end of the Twelfth Doctor continuity, they began focusing upon the 'past Doctors' period of the magazine (1994–1996, between the end of the Seventh Doctor continuity and beginning of the Eighth Doctor continuity) and other strips from across its publications throughout the years while they built up enough Thirteenth Doctor strips for a Collected Edition. The first Thirteenth Doctor Collected Edition (volume 30) is due in 2020.
The list of volumes below is placed in the original order of their publication in Doctor Who Magazine, which parallels the continuity of the television series, except for the 'past Doctors' period (1994–1996) when the publication began seeding one-off stories from all the past Doctors from the period prior to and including the Seventh. The Collected Editions with these stories are thus placed between the Seventh and Eighth Doctor continuities, except for irregularities, the most substantial being volume 28 The Clockwise War, which leads with the final strip of the Twelfth Doctor period, but also includes past Doctor stories from the Doctor Who Yearbooks published between 1994 and 1996. Many of the Collected Edition also feature bonus material, such as specially commissioned commentaries by the authors and artists, and sometimes short stories (the latter taken from Doctor Who Magazine) – these are signalled in the 'Notes' of the below table.
The Incredible Hulk Presents Seventh Doctor strip (issues 1–12): [i] "Once in a Lifetime" (1) "Hunger from the Ends of Time!" (2–3) [reprinted in Doctor Who Magazine issues 157–158] "War World!" (4) "Technical Hitch" (5) "A Switch in Time!" (6) "The Sentinel!" (7) "Who's That Girl!" (8–9) "The Enlightenment of Ly-Chee the Wise" (10) "Slimmer!" (11) "Nineveh!" (12)
"The Cybermen" Saga (issues 215–238, 504): The Dead Heart (215–20) The Flesh Unbound (221–3) The Black Sky (224–6) The Hungry Sea (227–9) The Dark Flame (230–3) The Future Perfect (234) The Ugly Underneath (235–8) The Prodigal Returns [I/II] (504)
a^ Bonus feature: Interview with Dave Gibbons from Doctor Who Classic Comics issue 11
b^^ "Timeslip" (issues 17–18) appears in the Fifth Doctor The Tides of Time Collected Edition (31 May 2005)
c^ Issue 85 featured the story "Skywatch-7" [Part 1] (a Doctorless / Unit story) as the main strip. This was a reprint of a secondary strip from DWMM issue 58, as there were problems delivering part 2 of "The Moderator". "Skywatch-7" [Part 1] was concluded in the Doctor Who Winter Special 1981 and reprinted in full in DWM 85. The story has not yet been reprinted in a Collected Edition.
d^ "Timeslip" (issues 17–18) was omitted from the first Fourth Doctor Collected Edition The Iron Legion (6 April 2004) for unknown reasons.
e^ Bonus feature: Interview with John Ridgway, reprinted from Doctor Who Classic Comics issue 16
f^ Bonus feature: Interview with Frobisher, reprinted from Doctor Who Magazine issue 148
g^ Bonus features: Introduction by Richard Starkings, the comic strip's editor at the time; and commentary on all of the included strips by writers, artists and editors involved, with overview by John Freeman
h^ There was no main strip in issue 151, instead there was "The Infinity Season", an all-new text story by Dan Abnett, with illustrations by Gerry Dolan.
i^ A parallel Seventh Doctor comic strip ran in the short-lived The Incredible Hulk Presents publication between 7 October – 23 December 1989. There were 10 stories over 12 issues. The second two part story "Hunger from the Ends of Time!" (issues 2–3) was reprinted in Doctor Who Magazine issues 157–158 (February and March 1990).
j^ Bonus feature: Commentary on all of the included strips by writers, artists and editors involved, with overview by John Freeman.
k^ There was no main strip in issue 163, instead there was "Teenage Kicks", an all-new text story by Paul Cornell, with illustrations by Cam Smith.
l^^ "Abslom Daak... Dalek Killer" and "Star Tigers" [I] and [II] were Doctorless comic strips starring Abslom Daak. The first story "Abslom Daak... Dalek Killer" was a 4 part secondary strip in Doctor Who Weekly issues 17 – 20 (6–27 February 1980). The follow-up stories "Star Tigers" [I] and [II] were also secondary strips and appeared later that year. "Star Tigers" [I] was a 4 part story in Doctor Who Weekly issues 27 – 30 (16 April – 7 May); while "Star Tigers" [II] was a 3 part story beginning in the first instance of the newly rebooted magazine, Doctor Who A Marvel Monthly, issues 44 – 46 (September – November).
m^ Bonus features: "Teenage Kicks" (issue 163), a Seventh Doctor text story by Paul Cornell, with illustrations by Cam Smith; "Scream of the Silent" (Doctor Who 25th Anniversary Special), a Seventh Doctor text story by John Freeman, with illustrations by Lee Sullivan; and Commentary on all of the included strips by writers and artists involved, with overview by Gary Russell.
n^ Due to production problems "Evening's Empire" only had the first episode published in Doctor Who Magazine (issue 180; November 1991). This caused problems with filling the main strip in the following months. Accordingly, issues 181 and 182 (December 1991 and January 1992) featured reprints: a Doctorless secondary strip "The Fires Down Below" (181; originally 64); and a Fourth Doctor strip "Spider-God (182; originally 52). Issue 183 featured a new Doctorless strip: "Conflict of Interests" (also included in the Evening's Empire Collected Edition). "Evening's Empire" was finally completed, but was never published in Doctor Who Magazine as a main strip. It eventually was completed in Doctor Who Classic Comics – Autumn Holiday Special 1993; the whole story appears in this Collected Edition – with some pages redrawn.
o^ Following the trouble with the "Evening's Empire" comic strip, "The Grief" was scheduled to begin in issue 184. However, it was held up by customs, and so the magazine was forced to reprint another old strip. Accordingly, they used "Business as Usual" (184; originally in four parts DWW 40–43).
p^ Bonus features: "Living in the Past" (issue 162), a Seventh Doctor text story by Andy Lane, with illustrations by Cam Smith; Commentary on all of the included strips by writers and artists involved, with introduction by John Freeman.
q^ Bonus feature: Commentary on all of the included strips by the writers involved.
r^ "Up Above The Gods" is from the 'past Doctors' period of the magazine, which began immediately after the final story in the Edited Collection ("Uninvited Guest" [issue 211]). Running from issue 212 (May 1994) to issue 243 (September 1996), it ended when the magazine began its Eighth Doctor strip in the wake of the Doctor Who TV movie. This story is included in this collection as 'the story tied-in to the Seventh Doctor comic story Emperor of the Daleks! released two years previously. It was set between the first and fourth parts of "Emperor of the Daleks!"', also 'The title was derived from a conversation in "Genesis of the Daleks" [TV series] and this strip acted as a continuation of that debate' and 'This story and "Emperor of the Daleks" set up the television story "Remembrance of the Daleks".'
s^ Bonus feature: Commentary on all of the included strips by the writers involved.
t^ The 'past Doctors' period of the magazine starts here, which began immediately after the final story in the Emperor of the Daleks Edited Collection ("Uninvited Guest" [issue 211]). Running from issue 212 (May 1994) to issue 243 (September 1996), it ended when the magazine began its Eighth Doctor strip in the wake of the Doctor Who TV movie. The Land of the Blind Edited Collection also refers to this as part of the multi-Doctor comic strips. Multi-Doctor comic strips Volume 1 is Land of the Blind (Collected Edition Volume 26; July 2018) and Volume 3 is Ground Zero (Collected Edition Volume 29; December 2019). These are listed between the Seventh and Eight Doctor Collected Editions here as they only contain 'past Doctors' comic strips; the Multi-Doctor comic strips Volume 2 is included in the Twelfth Doctor section below as it leads with the final Twelfth Doctor comic strip from May–November 2018. In addition, it doesn't contain any strips from the main strip of Doctor Who Magazine, rather publishing strips from the Doctor Who Yearbook 1993–1995.
u^ Between the two past Doctor period main strips contained in multi-Doctor Volume 1 Land of the Blind (Collected Edition Volume 26; July 2018) and multi-Doctor Volume 3 Ground Zero (Collected Edition Volume 29; December 2019) the strip for issue 227 ("Up Above The Gods") is not included as it had already appeared in the Seventh Doctor era Emperor of the Daleks (Collected Edition Volume 24; May 2017) publication.
v^ Bonus feature: Commentary on all of the included strips by the writers involved.
w^ The 'past Doctors' period of the magazine continues here. Running from issue 212 (May 1994) to issue 243 (September 1996), it ended when the magazine began its Eighth Doctor strip in the wake of the Doctor Who TV movie. Multi-Doctor comic strips Volume 1 is Land of the Blind (Collected Edition Volume 26; July 2018) and Volume 3 is Ground Zero (Collected Edition Volume 29; December 2019). These are listed between the Seventh and Eight Doctor Collected Editions here as they only contain 'past Doctors' comic strips; the Multi-Doctor comic strips Volume 2 is included in the Twelfth Doctor section below as it leads with the final Twelfth Doctor comic strip from May–November 2018. In addition, it doesn't contain any strips from the main strip of Doctor Who Magazine, rather publishing strips from the Doctor Who Yearbook 1993–1995.
x^ Bonus features: "The Threshold" by Scott Gray – an introduction to The Threshold and a recap of events in the Seventh Doctor strip "Ground Zero"; Commentary by Alan Barnes and Scott Gray on all featured stories with character designs and early drafts of artwork.
y^^ Issue 250 comic strip "A Life of Matter & Death" is in this Collected Edition, but placed in a different order, toward the end of the publication.
z^^ Issue 256 comic strip "By Hook or By Crook" is in this Collected Edition, but placed in a different order, at the end of the publication.
bb^ Bonus feature: Commentary on all the featured Eighth Doctor strips by Scott Gray and Alan Barnes along with designs and early drafts of artwork.
cc^^ Issue 272 comic strip "Happy Deathday" is in this Collected Edition, but placed in a different order, toward the end of the publication.
dd^^^ Unusually, this Doctorless comic strip was the main strip for this issue of the magazine. It is 'nevertheless still vital to the narrative of the Eighth Doctor's DWM run. Thus, it is best thought of as a part of the Eighth Doctor narrative, rather than a one-off Doctor-less adventure. Crucially, it re-introduced the character of Kroton, who had debuted in one of the early 1980s DWM backup comic stories. Kroton would play a vital role in the series of strips that culminated in "The Glorious Dead". The previous stories featuring Kroton (both secondary strips) are included at the end of this Collected Edition: "Throwback: The Soul of a Cyberman" (issues 5–7) and "Ship of Fools" (issues 23–24).
ee^^ Issue 283 comic strip "TV Action!" is in this Collected Edition, but placed in a different order, toward the end of the publication.
ff^ Bonus feature: Commentary on all included stories by Scott Gray with character designs and early drafts of artwork.
gg^ Issue 305 is a one-off Seventh doctor comic strip "The Last Word". It 'celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Virgin New Adventures. Consequently, it featured the Seventh Doctor, Benny and an older Ace'.
hh^ Issue 307 was a reprint of the comic strip "Flower Power", a Second Doctor story from TV Comic.
ii^^ Issue 311 was a doctorless story called "Character Assassin", featuring the Master. It is included in this Collected Edition out of main run order at the end of the publication.
jj^ Bonus features: Commentary on all featured stories by their authors plus early designs and drawings for each; and "Flood Barriers" by Clayton Hickman, a description of the difficulties of changing from the Eighth to the Ninth Doctor with the script for an alternative version of the final part of "The Flood".
kk^^ There was no main comic strip in issue 354 as Doctor Who Magazine transitioned to align with the rebooted Doctor Who television series which launched on 26 March 2005. The first episode of the rebooted comic strip appeared in issue 355 (April 2005).
ll^ Bonus features: "What I Did on My Christmas Holidays By Sally Sparrow" (oddly misnamed "What I Did on My Summer Holidays By Sally Sparrow" on the cover and index of this Collected Edition) originally from the "Doctor Who Annual 2006", a Ninth Doctor text story by Steven Moffat, with illustrations by Martin Geraghty; Commentary on all featured stories by writers, artists and editors involved, plus early designs and drawings for the comics.
mm^ Due to its comparatively short run, the Ninth Doctor comic strips collection was first published as a magazine format Special Edition (issue 13, above in the Special Edition section).
nn^ Bonus feature: Commentary on all featured stories by their authors plus early designs and drawings for each.
oo^ Bonus feature: Commentary on all featured stories by their authors plus early designs and drawings for each.
pp^ Issue 394 comic strip "Hotel Historia" is missing from this Collected Edition, and instead appears as the first strip in the subsequence Collected Edition The Crimson Hand.
qq^ Bonus features: Introduction by Russell T. Davies; Commentary on all featured stories by writers and artists involved, plus early designs and drawings for each, and initial plans, with commentary, for the Majenta Pryce story arc.
rr^ Bonus feature: Commentary on all featured stories by the writer and artists involved, plus early designs and drawings for each.
ss^ Bonus feature: Commentary on all featured stories by the writer and artists involved, plus early designs and drawings for each.
tt^ Bonus feature: Commentary on all featured stories by the writer and artists involved, plus early designs and drawings for each.
uu^ Bonus feature: Commentary on all featured stories by the writer and artists involved, plus early designs and drawings for each.
vv^^ Issues 475–476, had as a main strip the Doctorless story "The Crystal Throne" featuring the Paternoster Gang. This came between the end of the Eleventh Doctor continuity and before the Twelfth Doctor run in Doctor Who Magazine, and appears out of order in the Collected Editions. Instead of appearing at the end of The Blood of Azrael Collected Edition (Collected Eleventh Doctor Comic Strips Volume 4, the final Eleventh Doctor publication), it appears at the end of The Eye of Torment Collected Edition (Collected Twelfth Doctor Comic Strips Volume 1, the first Twelfth Doctor publication).
ww^ Bonus feature: Commentary on all featured stories by the writer and artists involved, plus early designs and drawings for each.
xx^^ Issue 484 main strip "Space Invaders!" is not included after "The Instruments of War" (issues 481–483) in The Eye of Torment Collected Edition, it rather appears in the subsequent Collected Edition The Highgate Horror as the first strip.
yy^ Bonus feature: Commentary on all featured stories by the writer and artists involved, plus early designs and drawings for each.
zz^ Bonus feature: Commentary on all featured stories by the writer and artists involved, plus early designs and drawings for each.
aaa^ Bonus feature: Commentary on all featured stories by the writer and artists involved, plus early designs and drawings for each.
bbb^ Bonus feature: Commentary on all featured stories by the writer and artists involved, plus early designs and drawings for each.
ccc^ The Multi-Doctor comic strips refer to the 'past Doctors' period of the magazine (1994–1996, between the end of the Seventh Doctor continuity and beginning of the Eighth Doctor continuity) as well as other strips from across its publications at around that time. Multi-Doctor comic strips Volume 1 is Land of the Blind (Collected Edition Volume 26; July 2018) and Volume 3 is Ground Zero (Collected Edition Volume 29; December 2019). These are listed between the Seventh and Eight Doctor Collected Editions above as they only contain 'past Doctors' comic strips; while this publication – the Multi-Doctor comic strips Volume 2 – leads with the final Twelfth Doctor comic strip from May–November 2018. Volume 1 and 3 of the Multi-Doctor comic strips publishes strips from the main run of Doctor Who Magazine, while this volume rather publishes strips from the Doctor Who Yearbook 1993–1995.
^Spilsbury, Tom; Gray, Scott (2013). "Hulk Meets Who: Andy Seddon" in Doctor Who: Nemesis of the Daleks. Panini. p. 185.
^ abcSpilsbury, Tom; Gray, Scott (2013). "Hulk Meets Who: A Strange Liaison" in Doctor Who: Nemesis of the Daleks. Panini. p. 184.
^"Banner Headlines". The Incredible Hulk Presents (1): 2. 7 October 1989.
^"Banner Headlines". The Incredible Hulk Presents (2): 2. 14 October 1989.
^"Banner Headlines". The Incredible Hulk Presents (3): 2. 21 October 1989.
^"Banner Headlines". The Incredible Hulk Presents (4): 2. 28 October 1989.
^"Banner Headlines". The Incredible Hulk Presents (5): 2. 4 November 1989.
^"Banner Headlines". The Incredible Hulk Presents (6): 2. 11 November 1989.
^"Banner Headlines". The Incredible Hulk Presents (7): 2. 18 November 1989.
^"Banner Headlines". The Incredible Hulk Presents (8): 2. 25 November 1989.
^"Banner Headlines". The Incredible Hulk Presents (9): 2. 2 December 1989.
^"Banner Headlines". The Incredible Hulk Presents (10): 2. 9 December 1989.
^"Banner Headlines". The Incredible Hulk Presents (11): 2. 16 December 1989.
^"Banner Headlines". The Incredible Hulk Presents (12): 2. 23 December 1989.
^Spilsbury, Tom; Gray, Scott (2013). "Hulk Meets Who: Andy Seddon" in Doctor Who: Nemesis of the Daleks. Panini. p. 186.
^ abcFurman, Simon (2006). "Freelance Peacekeeping Agent Open For Business (or how Death's Head came to be)", Death's Head Volume 1, Panini Publishing, ISBN1-905239-34-3
