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| DOCTOR WHO copyright BBC TV |
It was from a newsagent's kiosk in Portsmouth train station in 1981 that I acquired the above issue of MARVEL PREMIERE (#57) Featuring DOCTOR WHO - that much is definite. I think I may also have got #59 at the same time, as I strongly associate the two comics with one another. However, it could be that I obtained the latter in another shop, but regardless, I'm pretty certain I purchased it in Portsmouth or Southsea back in 1981. It's important that I record the historical events as accurately as I'm able for when they get around to making a big-budget movie of my life. Excuse me, the medication must be wearing off. (Just to be clear, that's imaginary medication to which I refer, for the purpose of comedic effect.)
Anyway, I managed to get the missing two issues a year or so later, although it may have been a few years later for all I know. Fact is, I was merely filling a gap in my collection - in a rather perfunctory fashion it has to be said - so they never really had much of a chance to impress themselves upon me in the same way as other comics have (and do). Suffice to say, I've had them for close to 30 years, and that's a long, long time.
So what can I tell all you Crivs about them - apart from their place in the scheme of my personal history? Not much, to be truthful. At the end of the story in #58, "CITY Of The DAMNED!" was advertised for next issue. Nothing strange about that really, as it was the original title of the tale when it appeared in Marvel U.K.'s weekly Doctor Who comic. However, when the story appeared in MP #59 (and 60), it was retitled "City of the Cursed!", as our American cousins apparently would've been unable to withstand the assault of such vulgar language on their sensibilities - despite CLARK GABLE having paved the way as far back as 1939.
History has failed to record just how those delicate young American readers who'd been exposed to the original title in the previous issue were affected. No doubt they required many years of dedicated counselling and therapy to help stabilise them and allow the poor souls to re-enter normal society, where they could hopefully lead happy and productive lives.
Anyway, that's enough p*sh from me - I now turn you loose upon the impressive images that lay before you in this powerhouse post. Feel free to leave a comment if you so desire.
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And the winner of the most prolific blogger of the year award is........
ReplyDeleteOur newsagents didn't get #58 in the monthly bundles, so I had to send off for it, so it is the odd ( US ) one out of my four. Still at least I didn't have to walk miles to find a copy!
Also better point out that the "first US comic book appearance" was incorrect. - the first was way back in the 60's with Dell's Dr. Who And The Daleks ( movie adaption ).
ReplyDeleteI got Doctor Who weekly when it first came out but only for a couple of issues as I found the style of it quite unappealing - the lettering for instance I didn't like, it looked untidy compared to U.S. Marvel comic lettering and I didn't like the art much either. To be honest, I've never been that much of a Who fan but I did watch the TV show especially in the Pertwee/Tom Baker period but I didn't shed any tears when it was cancelled and it probably would have been a lot better if it had been cancelled in 1979 rather than '89 and they could have avoided the sad '80s decline. I only watch modern Who now and again out of curiosity and the modern Doctors seem rather bland to me but Peter Capaldi could be interesting. But when I watch it there's no tension - the'70s Who always had a feeling of menace building up to the cliffhanger ending - nowadays there's no cliffhangers and no tension in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI'm aware that my above comment makes no mention of Marvel Premiere but I never had any of them.
ReplyDeleteActually, JP, the seeming discrepancy is merely down to shorthand cover blurbs, if you think about it. Obviously, it's claiming to be the first U.S. comicbook appearance of either these particular strips, Tom Baker's incarnation of the Doctor, or a strip based on the BBC series. The Dell comicbook was an adaptation on a movie (not the series) featuring an alternate version of Doctor Who, who is only an ordinary earthling inventor, not a timelord from the planet Galifrey. So, the Marvel claim is, in a very real sense - with a choice of options - accurate.
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Maybe you just got older, CJ, and what you would've regarded as tension when you were a kid just doesn't seem that 'tense' to you as an adult. Doctor who was pretty rubbish in 1989, but it was also pretty rubbish in 1979 as well, to my way of thinking. There came a time in the series when the characters all started to look as if they were having fun being chased, rather than being in fear of their lives, I'll give you that, but that goes back to long before the series was revived, I think. As for you not mentioning Marvel Premiere, don't worry about that - such strictures don't concern us on this blog. As long as the comment is even vaguely about the subject and is what sptung to your mind on reading the post, is fine.
I got to wondering if this was also the first time a UK strip had been reprintedin an American comic. I remember that a Hulk UK strip was reprinted somewhere as a back - up story around this time. These 4 were the only ones I got, when DW got his own US title(s) I never came across any.Of course, there was soon to follow a plethora of our comics reprinted with all the 2000 AD material. - wonder what they did with JD's City Of The Damned story? - And this coming from the nation that gave the UK E.C. comics in the 50's!
ReplyDeleteWhich reminds me, around 1959 my Dad bought me a Flintstones pocket book. I couldn't believe my eyes when I read, " Wilma, stop, you'll BOLLIX it up!"
That reminds me, JP, of the time I was lettering a Flintstones story for Marvel. It had originally been in English, then translated into a foreign language - then translated (not too well) back into English. Fred was wrestling a burglar and exclaimed "God, I'll kill you!", which I changed as HB cartoon characters aren't meant to blaspheme or threaten to murder anyone. It was the editor who had translated the strip, and she really didn't have a clue.
ReplyDeleteIn my second-last comment, 'sptung' is obviously meant to be 'sprung'. (Or maybe even 'sprang'.)
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