Issue 13 (October 1985)
The Front Cover
Although it was promised the neon logo would be used from this issue onwards, the back cover of issue #12 turns out to be a fluke – the Hartnell/diamond logo is back. Even stranger is that the cover illustration is drawn by Dave Gibbons who did not do the art for the interior story. It depicts the Doctor, Flotsam and Jetsam having coffee inside the TARDIS, and startled by the entry of an annoyed Cyberman. Curiously, a bit of the TARDIS console is there, too – something that barely appears in the strip itself.
The Strips
“Junk-Yard Demon” (“Junk-Yard Demon” Parts One and Two)
“Yonder the Yeti”
The Doctor panel in this comic has been coloured to match the season eighteen costume.
The Articles
“The Doctor Who Bookshelf” (by Patrick Daniel O’Neill)
O’Neill reviews the next four Target novelisations of the Hartnell era (which, at the time, represented all the remaining ones!). He quite enjoyed Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth, of course, telling us how Terrance Dicks’ “feel for dialogue makes nearly all of [his] Doctor Who novels such a joy for the fans of the series.” Astonishingly, though, he seems to have taking a great disliking to Doctor Who and the Zarbi, commenting how “the writing is childish”, and that it is, in fact, “arguably the worst Doctor Who novel published.” Wow! But it’s back to the praise for Doctor Who and the Crusaders and Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet. Accompanied by black-and-white photos of the book covers, and that same Peanuts-esque cartoon, but with the book titles changed (ie “Fun with Dust”, “Tequila Mockingbird”, and “200 Vogan Jokes to Amuse Your Friends”).
The Columns
Remarkable. Issue #12 promised a change in how the editor’s “Introduction” worked, and boy, they weren’t kidding. The whole thing’s gone! Where the editorial should be, there’s a big black page, with a white-and-black version of the comic’s logo. The “Who Cares” letters column is gone, too. Staggering genius.
“Who Knows” (by Patrick Daniel O’Neill)
And yet this is still here. Ah, well, you can’t have it all… Lots of discussion about the 1985 hiatus, and how it will indeed be only a ‘break’ for the show. One rumour is confirmed – the changing of the TARDIS’ shape in Attack of the Cybermen – while another, plans for Lionheart packages of Hartnell and Troughton stories, is regrettably denied. Many addresses are given for American fan clubs.
The Adverts
“Moonshadow” (twelve-issue miniseries from Epic Comics);
“Doctor Who Convention Calendar”;
“Doctor Who Merchandise Sale”;
“Dreadstar”.
The Back Cover
“10 Reasons to Pick Up Marvel Age Every Month”.
Cool Colours
The Marvel TARDIS reaches new weird heights with a dark blue shell, bright blue base and roof, yellow windows and lettering, and a white lamp. Who decided to torture us this way, anyhow? The Doctor on the front cover wears a burgundy outfit with a purplish scarf. Inside, the Doctor’s hat is brown (is it his pre-Leisure Hive hat?). Flotsam’s skin is light purple, and Dutch is mostly yellow. Cybernaut Zogron has many multi-coloured tubes connected to his chest unit.
Conclusion
We really like the wacky art of “Junk-Yard Demon”; it complements the story totally, and makes for a really fun, unusual read. It’s also pretty neat to see Dave Gibbons’ take on the same characters for the front cover. Unfortunately, “Yonder the Yeti” is a ridiculous back-up strip, and completely worth skipping, so it’s merely a good issue, not a great one.
Issue 14 (November 1985)
The Front Cover
“Clash of the Neutron Knights!” The last cover to feature Tom Baker’s Doctor, quite unusually, is perhaps the one to which he is least essential. He appears in the background with Merlin and the TARDIS, staring in horror at the foreground fight between Catavolcus and Arthur (it must be Arthur, unlike the strip panels the illustration is based on – he’s wearing a helmet, as well as Arthur’s red cape). This is also the last appearance of the comic’s diamond logo.
The Strips
“The Neutron Knights”
The run of Tom Baker stories comes to a great end, with some of the most detailed reproductions of Gibbons’ art yet, and wonderful colouring.
“A Ship Called Sudden Death”
“The Fabulous Idiot”
“Black Legacy” (“Black Legacy” Parts One – Four)
The Doctor’s outfit has once again been coloured to resemble his season eighteen variation.
The Articles
“The Master Log” Part 1 (by Patrick Daniel O’Neill)
Possibly the only article to ever compare the Master to Indiana Jones’ Belloq. Basically, this is just a rundown of the Master’s appearances in Doctor Who, from Terror of the Autons to Castrovalva. Includes three coloured illustrations based on publicity photos: two of Anthony Ainley, and one of Roger Delgado.
The Columns
“The Editor’s Space” (by Jim Salicrup)
The old “Introduction” is gone, replaced by two separate sections: the “Who’s Who”, which replicates Salicrup’s old recap of the show’s history and its transformation to Marvel comic, and “The Editor’s Space”, where he gives his monthly comments. This time, he explains the reason for no “Introduction” last issue – he went on vacation! He introduces his “spanking new assistant editor”, Adam Philips, and explains the concept between the aforementioned two intro sections. He also compares Doctor Who to Dallas – heaven knows why –
“Who Knows” (by Patrick Daniel O’Neill)
The beginning of this month’s article is taken up with a JN-T interview (actually conducted back in March), concerning the future of Doctor Who after the 18-month hiatus. This section is accompanied by a coloured illustration from the end of “The Tides of Time” Part Two (as seen in the next issue), featuring the Doctor in the Matrix. After that, there is a brief notice regarding JN-T’s new book, The TARDIS Inside Out, and a long list of all the missing episodes from Hartnell – Pertwee, with additional info for Canadians who may have colour Pertwees. Accompanied by a coloured panel from “The Tides of Time” Part One, of the Doctor fighting the Roman soldier. Finally, there’s congratulations in order for Colin Baker and Marion Wyatt, who gave birth to daughter Lucy, and Elisabeth Sladen, who gave birth to daughter Sadie (apparently without a male participant!).
“Who Cares”
Brian W. Engler of Depew, New York, encourages fans to write Alisdair Milne and Michael Grade, going so far as to provide addresses! Sheldon F. Collins of Essex wanted to say how much he likes the comic, thinking he is their first letter from the UK (he’s not – the first was in issue #10). Ronald Bialkowski (address unspecified) would like to see the comic print the overlooked story “Timeslip”, as well as “Spider-God” (which was already done in issue #10), “K-9’s Finest Hour”, “Twilight of the Silurians”, “Ship of Fools”, and “The Outsider”. Christy Keither of Sacramento, California, wants answers to her subscription questions, and Kevin S. Wilcox of Woodland, California, very much enjoyed the interview in issue #5. Writing to ask lots of questions and answer them at the same time (!) is “Nestene Consciousness” (!!). Bit far from the circus, aren’t you?
The Adverts
“Doctor Who Convention Calendar”;
“Doctor Who Merchandise Sale”;
“10 Reasons to Pick Up Marvel Age Every Month”;
“The Doctor Who Collection” (sales on t-shirts, pins, DWFCA memberships, photographs, and more).
The Back Cover
“The West Coast Avengers” / “The Vision and the Scarlet Witch” (quite a detailed ad, really, with lots of background history!).
Cool Colours
Back to tradition! The Marvel TARDIS is bright blue with yellow lamp and windows, and a white lamp base and lettering. Yet it gives off orange light. On the front cover, Catavolcus’ armour is green. His hair and beard are red there, but brown inside. Merlin, who was probably supposed to look like a Time Lord, has lavender robes and a red-and-purple collar. The Dragon is, of course, green. Ivan Asimoff’s illustrator is orange-skinned, with blue hair.
Fun Mistakes
In the “Who’s on First” table of contents, the final strip is misnamed “The Black Legacy”. In O’Neill’s list of missing episodes, “The Crusade” episode 4 is conspicuous by its absence, and “The Invasion” is represented by the episodes that do exist (as opposed to the missing 1 and 4).
Conclusion
A good issue, with lots of content, but the cover sums up the Doctor’s involvement pretty well – that of a supporting character. He’s only in eight pages of the comic material, and while those are very memorable, it’s a bit of a paltry send-off for the beloved fourth Doctor.
Issue 15 (December 1985)
The Front Cover
“Beginning This Issue: The Peter Davison Doctor Takes Over!” The fifth Doctor, and his neon tubing logo, take over the comic! A fantastic cover, with the Doctor, Sir Justin and Shayde featured over a blue-and-fuchsia background collage of images from the strip story (adapted from the opening panel of “The Tides of Time” part six). And for the first and only time, we get the name of that main comic story on the front: “The Tides of Time”.
The Strips
“The Tides of Time” Parts One and Two
Quite unusually, both parts of the story are indicated as such, with full title.
“Business as Usual” (“Business as Usual” Parts One – Four)
Presented in the old ‘movie’ format, if you will. Again, the fourth Doctor has been coloured to fit his season eighteen costume.
The Articles
“The Master Log, Part Two” (by Patrick Daniel O’Neill)
O’Neill continues his history of the Master from Castrovalva to Planet of Fire” followed by biographical information on both Delgado and Ainley. Clearly this was written some months before the December ’85 publication date, because while “neither [Ainley] nor producer John Nathan-Turner will reveal if the character will return” following Planet of Fire, he already had – eleven months earlier, in The Mark of the Rani.
The Columns
“The Editor’s Space” (by Jim Salicrup)
Ah, that wacky Jim Salicrup. He spends this issue’s tiny little space trying to convince us (in a follow-up from the previous issue’s “Editor’s Space”) that our favourite show is just like Dallas, with folks regenerating all the time, and that it has tremendous potential for broadcast on “local commercial television stations.” Yeah, we all know how that turned out!
“Who Knows” (by Patrick Daniel O’Neill)
In this month’s exclusive, Ray Kraft of Lionheart Television International reveals that PBS will start broadcasting Who on their satellite. “We’ll send out the half-hour version of the show five days a week, and on weekends we’ll transmit the feature version for the stations who use that format,” says Kraft. He also mentions that they’d “like to start all the stations with Tom Baker, let them build an audience, then introduce the earlier Doctors.” (This never actually happened as not enough PBS stations could be interested.) He also discusses the delay in running Colin Baker stories in America, hinting that the actor might not return in the lead role for the 1986 season. John Nathan-Turner chimes in for a few fan responses regarding filming in America, missing sound effects in Resurrection of the Daleks, completing Shada, designing the sixth Doctor’s outfit, releasing stories on home video, and changing the TARDIS’ police box form. The article is illustrated with two coloured panels from “The Tides of Time” part three (one of which is from the same page adapted for next month’s cover art).
“Who Cares”
David Dale, the Vice-President of the Whovian League (no address given), is under the impression that Dave Gibbons is redrawing the comics based on DWM‘s output, and provides a few fan club addresses. Alvin Helms, of Xenia, Ohio, tells the comic a lot of what he won’t say (meaning, of course, that he says it anyway), and chimes in that they should “adapt particularly popular adventures, like The Day of the Daleks (sic) or The Five Doctors.” Michael Wagner, of Alberta, Canada, wants to know where to get more issues, while Thomas F. Smith, of Haworth, New Jersey, inquires as to how Patrick Daniel O’Neill came up with his Dalek chronology (issue #9). Whoter Hindman (no address, and let’s have a show of hands – do you think that’s his real name?) also has a lot he’s not going to say, and frankly feels nobody else needs to say it, either. Illustrated with a four-colour version of next month’s cover.
The Adverts
“Doctor Who Convention Calendar”;
“Doctor Who Merchandise Sale”;
“The West Coast Avengers” / “The Vision and the Scarlet Witch”;
Marvel Subscriptions Savings.
The Back Cover
“10 Reasons to Pick Up Marvel Age Every Month”.
Cool Colours
The Marvel TARDIS is the same mostly-bright-blue configuration we saw on issue #2 (even the windows are blue!). The Doctor’s coat and trousers are a mustard-gold colour, and his coat’s piping is rarely coloured differently. His hair is bright yellow. On the cover, the stripe of his sweater is yellow, but in at least one interior panel it’s the proper red (usually, it’s too small to be coloured at all). The inside of his shirt collar is red, presumably placing this story before Warriors of the Deep. The event synthesiser is mostly blue, and the demon Melanchius is green with green-brown hair and maroon armour. Sir Justin, on the other hand, is brown-haired with blue and gray armour. Rassilon wears green robes.
Fun Mistakes
There are two large errors in the “Master Log” article. The first is a matter of interpretation regarding the Master’s fate in Castrovalva: “the Master was left in the hands of that city’s citizens, apparently destined for imprisonment, if not death.” Actually, wasn’t the latter precisely the case, considering the fictional city was collapsing in on itself? The second error, however, has no room for rationalization – according to the article, Roger Delgado died in June 1963. Bit interesting, that, if he played the Master during the 70s’ In the “Who Knows” column, John Nathan-Turner feels that the three stories released on UK home video “[wouldn’t] sell very well over here. They’re Tom Baker stories, but who here hasn’t got a copy of Pyramids of Mars, The Brain of Morbius, or Genesis of the Daleks?” That’s really interesting, considering Revenge of the Cybermen preceded Brain, and The Five Doctors preceded Pyramids, while Genesis wasn’t released until 1991. He also suggests the first video America will get is a concurrent US/UK release of The Seeds of Death, which is untrue – The Five Doctors heralded the start of the US range in 1985 (Seeds wasn’t released until 1990).
Conclusion
This issue heralds the beginning of what is, in our opinion, the very best Doctor Who strip story ever. The art is lovely, and the colouring quite solid – despite an over-reliance on publicity photograph poses, Dave Gibbons has always drawn a wonderful Peter Davison, perhaps an even better representation of the actor than his Tom Baker (although, admittedly, this fifth Doctor has rather broader shoulders than he should). Pair that up with one of the best back-up strips, a downbeat tale by Alan Moore (!), and you have a wonderful issue that tops most of the others before it.
Issue 16 (January 1986)
The Front Cover
“Into the realm of SATAN!” Wow, that’s an attention-grabber, isn’t it? And well it should be, as the cover features the Doctor plummeting towards the huge Melanchius (and losing his hat) in his amusement park car. Shayde, accompanying him, takes the opportunity to fire off a quick, utterly useless shot at the gigantic demon. And for those with a keen eye, we’re reminded that inside, there’s an “Exclusive: all-new Peter Davison interview!”
The Strips
“The Tides of Time” Parts Three and Four
Once again, both parts are fully indicated as such.
“Ship of Fools” (“Ship of Fools” Parts One – Two)
Truncated into a single instalment.
The Articles
“The Peter Davison Interview” Part One
Davison, always one of the better speakers for the series (being neither reclusive or overly-gushing, but certainly more than tactful), answers questions about his career and, specifically, Doctor Who. Among them are details about recent projects (including Anna of the Five Towns, Miss Marple, and Magnum, PI), his thoughts on his time as the Doctor, and how hard it was to take over from Tom Baker. Nothing terribly remarkable, but a pleasant little read. Illustrated with two panels, one of the fifth Doctor from “The Tides of Time” Part Five, one of the TARDIS from an indeterminate strip.
The Columns
“The Editor’s Space” (by Jim Salicrup)
Salicrup as good as wastes his space by simply repeating his Doctor Who / Dallas argument of the previous two months. He also mentions the potential problem of Doctor Who being edited in syndication like Star Trek (as indeed it had been for many stations in 1978).
“Who Knows” (by Patrick Daniel O’Neill)
John Nathan-Turner announces that he’ll leave as producer after the 23rd season! (Uh-huh.) Also, in response to the previous month’s statement by Ray Kraft, it is confirmed that Colin Baker will return as the Doctor. However, there’s two more rumours to be dealt with: one, that Colin “found out about the [hiatus] by watching the evening news broadcast”, and that the hiatus occurred because “John Nathan-Turner had – a tremendous row with BBC controller Michael Grade.” Both false, naturally. Addresses are provided for those who want to complain to Michael Grade (Controller), Stuart Young (BBC Chairman), Alisdair Milne (BBC Director General), Bill Cotton (Managing Director), Jonathan Powell (head of drama serials), and Brian Wenham (Director of Programming). An address change is given for Jean Airey, secretary for the Time Festival conventions, as well as a programming note that Louise Jameson is appearing in Tenko on A&E . Finally, Patrick Daniel O’Neill blows his horn a bit by discussing his appearance on the “New Jersey Network during its fund drive”, where he met several Whocelebs. Illustrated with a coloured panel from “The Tides of Time” part five, and a photo of O’Neill and NJN’s producer/director Eric Luskin.
“Who Cares”
David Reed of Collinsville, Illinois, wants an interview with Tom Baker, “bigger parts for K-9”, whole-book stories, and more info on conventions. Mark Panetti of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, hates Dr. Asimoff (of “The Free-Fall Warriors”) and lets it be known. Philip P. Jones of Norristown, Pennsylvania, would like to see some stories with the Delgado Master adapted for the comic. Disliking the comic’s characterization of the Doctor are Lord Angraton of Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania, and Dan Campbell of Detroit, Michigan. Richard Dixon of Holtsville, New York, wants to know how to buy a fourth Doctor scarf, and Richard Washburn of Hudson, New York, doesn’t like that “The Dogs of Doom” (issues #3 and #4) features a red Dalek in command, but otherwise enjoys the comic (in fact, he’d like to see a recognition of K-9’s tenth anniversary in 1987).
The Adverts
“The Doctor Who Collection” (merchandise);
“For Epic Excitement-the Epic Experience” (Epic Comics);
“The Punisher.”
The Back Cover
“10 Reasons to Pick Up Marvel Age Every Month”.
Cool Colours
The Marvel TARDIS is bright blue with white lettering and windows, and a red lamp that gives off yellow light. The character widely assumed to be (second Doctor companion) Zoe wears a yellow-and-orange dress. Kroton’s cruiser is magenta, and the Flying Dutchman’s robotic pilot has cream armour with red ‘eyes’.
Fun Mistakes
Quite obviously in hindsight, John Nathan-Turner went down with the ship, never being allowed to leave after the 1986 season. That’s it, bizarrely!
Conclusion
Another really good issue. Sixteen more pages of “Tides” fun and another fairly bleak back-up story are supported by a reasonable (if extremely typical) Davison interview. There’s not much to say, simply because it maintains the high standard set by the previous issue! Next month will be a little different, though!
