The LAND Of HAPPY ENDINGS...

A Doctor Who Comic Strip Classic...

Copyright BBC TV & Panini

Remember the Doctor's grandchildren, John and Gillian, who accompanied him on his adventures in the pages of TV Comic?  This was because the publishers had only acquired the rights to use William Hartnell's likeness as the Doctor, not any of his TV companions.

However, they couldn't have the Doctor talking to himself all the time in order to explain the plot to readers, so two new companions were created for his comic strip tales. Whether or not we were meant to assume that they were siblings of Susan or perhaps the offspring of another child of the Doctor (after all, how many does he have?) was never actually specified - as far as I know.

Anyway, back in 2003, it was the show's 40th Anniversary, and writer Scott Gray tackled the 'mystery' of John and Gillian in Doctor Who Magazine #337.  I think it's a belter of a tale, and hope nobody minds me sharing it with you here.  Enjoy.  (Click on images to enlarge, then click again for optimum size.)

DOCTOR WHO CLASSIC COMICS COVER GALLERY PART ONE...

Adventures in Time and Space...

Copyright BBC TV & relevant & respective owners

Doctor Who Classic Comics the mag was called - and it was.  The Doctor's earliest comic strip adventures from TV Comic, Countdown, TV Action, and then back to TV Comic (before Marvel acquired the strip rights), they were all here (including The Daleks strip from TV Century 21).  Well, mostly all, as the title expired before it had exhausted the entire back-catalogue.  Black and white strips were coloured, breathing new life into what otherwise would've been rather dull and dated looking content for what had originally been a less demanding and sophisticated readership than those of the '90s.

There were 27 issues (plus a Special) of this great but relatively short-lived monthly Marvel UK mag, so here are 14 covers to begin with and the rest will follow in Part 2.  Relive your trips to the newsagents over a quarter of a century ago to pick up this peerless periodical.  Did I say a quarter of a century?  Yes, but it was also a whole other century - the 20th as opposed to the 21st.  How time flies when you're not paying attention - and even when you are.  Okay, now that the prattling preamble for the purpose of pretending that there's more edifying info here than actually exists is out of the way, it's now time to check out the pretty piccies.

(Did you buy this Marvel-lous mag back in the day?  Reminiscences, reflections, ruminations, and recollections will be made most welcome in the comments section.)