History
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. 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.Russell T Davies in Spilsbury (2016), p. 3Marvel years (1979–1995)
Officially licensed by thePanini years (1995–present)
''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 whenEditors
''DWMs founding editor was Dez Skinn, who had been headhunted byControversy
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. 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.Circulation
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. Since then, the average figures per issue have fluctuated, reaching a high of 36,151 for the July–December 2013 period, 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.Content
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).Comic strip
''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. 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 tripuntil 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 trip This new strip ..continues to this day'. 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. In October 2018 (issue 531), the main comic strip began featuring the Thirteenth Doctor in "The Warmonger". 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 ssues 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 ssues 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" uly 1982: issue 66. The main strip, beginning in 1979 with the Fourth Doctor story "The Iron Legion" (17 October – 5 December ssues 1–8, began being issued in colour as of issue 300 in 2001 with the Eighth Doctor story "Ophidius" (February–May ssues 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 ssues 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. Notable writers and artists who have worked on the ''DWM'' comic strips, in all its myriad forms include John Wagner, Pat Mills,Cartoons and illustrated short stories
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-panelRegular features and special articles
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-''DWM'' Polystyle Publications ''Doctor 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.''Doctor Who'' Comics USA (1980–1986)
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''. 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" ssues 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. 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: ''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'' arvel USAin this format has been expensive, and without sufficient sales support it was decided to discontinue ..rather than sacrifice the quality of the magazine'. 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 1983/84 983. 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.''Doctor Who Magazine Specials'' (1980–1996)
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."And Finally... Don't Forget the Specials!" in Spilsbury (2016), p. 110-111 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 S(which predominated): most usually twice a year for Winter and Summer, and labelled as such. The covers only rarely indicated the year. *Graphic Novels N(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 (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 (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. ''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.''Doctor Who'' Graphic Novels (1980–1994)
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 Adventures ''Doctor 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. 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,''DWM'' related ''Doctor Who'' strips (1989–1993)
During the late 1980s Marvel UK Comics decided to expand its ranges, and created a number of 'experimental' comics. 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'' (1989)
''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. This strip featured ten adeventures (with two two-parters) of the Seventh Doctor. The 'intention (unbeknownst to the editor of ''Doctor Who Magazine'') asthat 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'. 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). 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'. 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)'.Furman, Simon (2006). "Freelance Peacekeeping Agent Open For Business (or how Death's Head came to be)", ''Death's Head Volume 1'', Panini Publishing, However, when artist Geoff Senior showed Furman the initial character designs, both agreed Death's Head had potential beyond his planned transitory appearance. To avoid''Doctor Who Classic Comics'' (1992–1994)
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'. 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'' (#674–999 964–1971; ''Countdown'' (#1–39 971; ''Countdown for TV Action'' (#40–56 971–1972; ''TV Action in Countdown'' (#57–58 972; ''TV Action + Countdown'' (#59–100 972–1973; ''TV Action'' (#101–131 973; ''TV Comic + TV Action'' (#1133–1147 973; ''TV Comic'' (#1148–1181 973–1974; ''TV Comic plus Tom & Jerry Weekly'' (#1182–1201 974; ''TV Comic'' (#1202–1291 974–1976; ''Mighty TV Comic'' (#1292–1352 976–1977; ''TV Comic'' (#1353–1392 977–1978; ''TV Comic with Target'' (#1393–1401 978; and ''TV Comic'' (#1402–1430 978–1979; 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'. 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."Scoones (2012), p. 590 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 980–1986. *''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. 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. 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'. 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.''Doctor Who Yearbooks'' (1992–1996)
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.''Doctor Who Poster Magazine'' (1994–1996)
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.''DWM'' Parallel Publications: Panini Years (1995–present)
''DWM'' related ''Doctor Who'' strips (1996–1997)
*Radio Times comic strip (1996–1997)Special Editions (2002–present)
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.Annual / Storybooks (2006–2010)
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.''Doctor Who'' Classics (IDW Comics) (2008–2014)
In January 2008,Doctor Who Insider Magazine (2011–2012)
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.Bookazines (2013–present)
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.''Doctor Who'': The Complete History (2015–2019)
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. 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." 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".''Doctor Who'' Comic Strip Collected Editions (2004–present)
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.See also
* List of ''Doctor Who'' comic stories * First Doctor comic stories * Second Doctor comic stories * Third Doctor comic stories * Fourth Doctor comic strips * Fifth Doctor comic stories * Sixth Doctor comic stories * Eighth Doctor comic stories * War Doctor comic stories * Ninth Doctor comic stories * Tenth Doctor comic stories * Eleventh Doctor comic stories * Twelfth Doctor comic stories * Thirteenth Doctor comic stories * Fourteenth Doctor comic stories * Fifteenth Doctor comic stories * Dalek comic strips, illustrated annuals and graphic novels *'' Doctor Who Adventures'' *'' Doctor Who – Battles in Time'' *'' Torchwood Magazine'' *'' Dreamwatch'' * :Doctor Who comic strip charactersReferences
General *Scoones, Paul, ''The Comic Strip Companion: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who in Comics: 1964–1979'', Prestatyn: Telos, 2012 *Spilsbury, Tom (Editor), ''Doctor Who Magazine: 500 DWM Issues'', Tunbridge Wells: Panini Magazines, May 2016 SpecificExternal links