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Okay, let me be honest - I've shown all these covers on the blog before on various occasions, but never together at the same time. So here for your pulsating pleasure, is every US Marvel Doctor Who comics cover in existence - as far as I know anyway. And in case you were wondering - yes, they're all mine! As you'll know, the contents of these mags were sourced mainly from the UK Doctor Who periodical, but had the advantage of being imbued with full-colour, thereby giving them a fresh new look for US readers, as well as UK ones.
Did you buy them back in the day, or did you give them a miss? Have you got a favourite cover, or do you think there's 'too-much-of-a-muchness' about them? Record your thoughts, theories, observations, and opinions in the cataclysmic Crivens comments section. Go on - enjoy the thrill of seeing your name in print by typing something for the perusal of your fellow Crivvies.
Incidentally, this was the television Doctor's first US comicbook appearance, though Dell had done an adaptation of the first Peter Cushing movie in the '60s. However, the cover blurb above could arguably have been referring to the reprinted Tom Baker strip, not necessarily the character.
After a couple of two-part try-outs in Marvel Premiere, the good Doc was eventually given his own monthly mag, which lasted for 23 issues.
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| Obviously, a faded, washed-out photo of first Doctor William Hartnell must've been used as reference, hence his white hair being misinterpreted as baldness |
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| This image appeared on the back cover of any issue without an illustration |
These Dr. Who comics from the 80's were something I passed up. Didn't read a single issue. I didn't really get familiar with the series until the early 90's when it was playing on a local public TV station every Saturday night. They'd put up a complete storyline, and while I found them a bit slowly paced at times I was fascinated. Pertwee remains my favorite Doctor, though they all have charms. Recently watched those same shows again on BritBox and loved them all over again.
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That's the trouble with showing complete storylines, RJ - each episode was paced for weekly viewing and don't really lend themselves to watching a batch all in one go. The thing I like about Pertwee's portrayal is that he lent a certain gravitas to the role and didn't play the Doctor as if he were a scatter-brained, wannabe stand-up comedian.
ReplyDeleteI've never read any Marvel Dr Who monthly comic ( I only ever picked up the first issue of the Dr Who Narvel weekly) but the covers look really nice. My favourite Dr Who was Patrick Troughton back in the 60s and Tom Baker was fun. More recently I eally liked Christopher Eccleston but I'm not a big Dr Who fan so don't really keep up with the series.
ReplyDeletePeter Cushion??
ReplyDeleteI know about the Doctor's stint in Marvel Premiere (though I've never read any of them) but I was totally unaware of his later US comic - the $1.50 price tag means it must have come out long after the Tom Baker and Peter Davison eras. When Marvel UK's Dr. Who Weekly was launched in 1979 I bought the first few issues but I was very unimpressed by it.
Yeah, the Christopher Eccleston series, along with the first one with David Tennant, was probably the best of the relaunched show, McS. I haven't been impressed by any of the subsequent Doctors and haven't watched any episodes of the sex change Doctor. I'd love to have seen The Daleks when they were on a recent episode, but unless they exterminated her, I was never going to be watching. Like you say, nice covers on the comics.
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Just making sure you're paying attention, CJ. (Cough!) Typed the post in the early hours of the morning and suffering from brain fog at the moment, so I just went with what sounded right. Of course I known that it should be Peter Swooshing. (Hee hee.) Will correct it now. The US mag came out around the mid-'80s or thereabouts, and was printed on Baxter paper (I think it's called). I think the Americans were just catching up with the Doctor in his various incarnations on TV, so the older stories in the comic wouldn't have seemed amiss to them.
I have the run of UK Dr Who comics and the mags until 2008. I was never a fan of Tom Baker as I was a viewer from the very first episode in 1963 and William Hartnel is my favourite.
ReplyDeleteFor me the reason for buying the comic was Dave Gibbons art.
I bought a few of the US versions to see the art in colour and frankly I'm surprised the run was as long as it was.
In the US Dr Who was broadcast from the Tom Baker era around 1979 then went on to be a favourite on PBS (Public Broadcasting System) the non profit network. It was a big draw in fundraising for them.
William Hartnell is my favourite Doctor Who as well, T47, as I believe the image of his Doctor is the definitive one. Or, at least, it was in the very early days when it wasn't quite clear whether he was good or bad and he could have a nasty side to his character. When the show was a hit with kids, the BBC turned him into more of a benevolent grandfather type, and I now find that his constant fluffing of his lines (due to illness) spoils his performance a bit for me. However, the way he looked - a mysterious Victorian or Edwardian type character - was perfect and has never been surpassed. David Bradley did a good job of capturing his essence when he played the Doctor, and I would've much preferred him taking over the role from Peter Capaldi than the Beeb turning the character into Nurse Who.
ReplyDeleteCJ, 'I known' should be 'I knew'. See? Brain fog.
ReplyDeleteActually I didn't notice that one, Kid!
ReplyDeleteDo you mean Tom Baker when you say a "scatter-brained wannabe stand-up comedian" because that could describe Jodie Whittaker's Doctor.
No, Tom Baker seems like a genuine eccentric in real life, CJ, so his portrayal of the Doctor as such seemed natural and wasn't out of place. I was thinking more of Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi (despite the Beeb's claim that the latter's Doctor would be more serious and threatening to a degree), and David Tennant's Doc started going in the 'comic turn' direction eventually. Not having watched any Jodie Whittaker episodes, I'm no expert when it comes to her, but going from trailers I've seen on the telly, she comes across more like a clown than a comedienne.
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