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Doctor Who Magazine

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Doctor Who Magazine
EditorTom Spilsbury
CategoriesScience fiction television
Frequency4 weekly
First issue12 October 1979
CompanyPanini Comics
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
WebsitePanini listing
ISSN0957-9818

Doctor Who Magazine (abbreviated as DWM) is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Its current editor is Tom Spilsbury.

History

Officially sanctioned by the BBC, the magazine began life as Doctor Who Weekly in 1979, published by the UK arm of Marvel Comics. The first issue's cover date was 17 October, with a cover price of 12p; however, due to the practice of forward dating magazine covers to provide greater longevity on the shelves, its actual release date was 12 October.

The magazine moved from weekly to monthly publication with #44 in September 1980, becoming Doctor Who (the tagline A Marvel Monthly was not part of the name, but simply a description which appeared on many of Marvel UK's monthly titles at that point) and a cover price of 30p. The title changed to Doctor Who Monthly with #61 and Doctor Who Magazine with #85 in February 1984. In 1990 it started appearing once every four weeks (13 times a year). Despite the BBC discontinuing production of Doctor Who in 1989, the magazine continued to be published, providing new adventures in the form of comics. The television programme was revived in 2005, providing a new generation of fans which the magazine is seeking to attract.

Originally geared towards children, DWM has grown into a more mature magazine exploring the behind-the-scenes aspects of the series. 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. In 2006, however, it lost its exclusivity when BBC Worldwide launched its own comic, Doctor Who Adventures, aimed at a younger audience.

DWM is now published by Panini Comics, which purchased the title along with the rest of the Marvel UK catalogue in 1995. Panini has begun to digitally restore and reprint older DWM comics in trade paperback format. Eight volumes have been printed so far: two featuring the comics adventures of the Fourth Doctor, one with the adventures of the Fifth Doctor, one of a planned series of two featuring the Sixth Doctor, and four focusing on the Eighth Doctor. Panini also published a one-shot magazine-format reprinting of the complete Ninth Doctor strips in 2006.

Content

DWM features an ongoing comic starring the current incarnation of the Doctor, though for a period between 1989 and 1996, when the series was off the air, it featured previous Doctors. Notable writers and artists who have worked on the comic include John Wagner, Pat Mills, Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Mike McMahon, John Ridgway and Ian Edginton. Selected stories from the comic were also reprinted in North America by Marvel Comics. Supporting characters that have crossed over from the comic to other spin-off media include Frobisher, the shape-changing companion of the Sixth and Seventh Doctors; Abslom Daak, the Dalek Killer; the Special Executive who would later appear in Marvel's Captain Britain; and the villainous Beep the Meep.

The magazine has also featured other comics over the years, most notably "Doctor Who?", a humorous look at the series by Tim Quinn and Dicky Howett. This was principally a three-panel comic strip, though occasionally page-long parodies were featured. In the 1990s a secondary serious comic was featured on the inside cover; for many issues this was "The Cybermen", a series of tales set on Mondas prior to the events of The Tenth Planet, explaining the back-history of the Cybermen. The TV21 comic "The Daleks" was also resurrected, continuing the story from where it had left off by showing the Daleks attacking Earth; it was drawn in the same style as the 1960s original.

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"; reviews of television episodes and merchandise (in "The DWM Review", known for a time as "After Image", "Off the Shelf", and "Shelf Life"); the "Matrix Data Bank" page, where readers' Doctor Who questions are answered; 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 series producer Russell T. Davies.

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 or David Bailey. "Off the Shelf" is currently written predominantly by former DWM editor Gary Gillatt, Vanessa Bishop and Matt Michael. Previous reviewers include Dave Owen, the late Craig Hinton (who went on to write Doctor Who novels), and Gary Russell, who subsequently became the magazine's editor.

In 2004 Russell T. Davies offered to let the magazine write and publish the official regeneration scene from the Eighth to the Ninth Doctor as part of its ongoing comic strip prior to the relaunch of the TV series. 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 new TV series' continuity.[1]

File:DWM-issue-393.jpg
Doctor Who magazine issue 393 (March 2008)

Editors

Editor Duration Issues Range Total
Dez Skinn 1979-1980 1-22 22
Paul Neary 1980-1981 23-48 26
Alan McKenzie 1981-1985 49-96 48
Sheila Cranna 1985-1988 97 & 107-136 31
Cefn Ridout 1985 98-106 9
John Freeman 1988-1992 137-185 49
Gary Russell 1992-1995 186-222 37
Gary Gillatt 1995-2000 223-292 70
Alan Barnes 2000-2001 293-312 20
Clayton Hickman 2002-2007 313-386 74
Tom Spilsbury 2007- 387- ?

Special Editions

In 2002 Doctor Who Magazine began producing an irregular series of Special Editions – stand alone magazines themed around a specific topic and carrying a much higher page count than the regular magazine. Previously, the magazine had released seasonal and irregular one-shot special editions with various titles.

#1 – The Complete Fifth Doctor (March 2002, 68 pages)
A detailed look at the complete run of Fifth Doctor stories and their various spin offs. This included in-depth articles on the production of each of the seasons covered and updates on DWM 's original Archive features on the serials (by Andrew Pixley), a short essay on a specific aspect of each of the TV stories (by various fan/writers) and detailed overviews of the Fifth Doctors’ appearances in comics (by John Ainsworth), novels (by Matt Michael) and audio plays (by Gary Gillatt; authorships of these features are consistent across the range of original TV programme's Complete _ Doctor volumes).
#2 – The Complete Third Doctor (July 2002, 84 pages)
A detailed look at the complete run of Third Doctor stories and their various spin offs. This included in-depth articles on the production of each of the seasons covered and Archive updates on each serial, a short essay on a specific aspect of each of the TV stories and detailed overviews of the Third Doctors’ appearances in comics, novels and audio (in this case, strictly radio) plays.
#3 – The Complete Sixth Doctor (September 2002, 68 pages)
A detailed look at the complete run of Sixth Doctor stories and their various spin offs. This included in-depth articles on the production of each of the seasons covered and Archive updates on each serial, a short essay on a specific aspect of each of the TV stories and detailed overviews of the Sixth Doctors’ appearances in comics, novels and audio plays.
#4 – The Complete Second Doctor (January 2003, 84 pages)
A detailed look at the complete run of Second Doctor stories and their various spin offs. This included in-depth articles on the production of each of the seasons covered and Archive updates on each serial, a short essay on a specific aspect of each of the TV stories and detailed overviews of the Second Doctors’ appearances in comics and novels.
#5 – The Complete Eighth Doctor (July 2003, 84 pages)
A detailed look at the Eighth Doctor and his various spin offs. This included a detailed archive feature on the making of the 1996 TV movie, a look at the history of Doctor Who in the intervening years following the end of the TV show and a detailed overview of the Eighth Doctor's appearances in comics, novels and audio plays.
#6 – We Love Doctor Who (November 2003, 84 pages)
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first broadcast of the original TV show readers of Doctor Who Magazine had been asked to vote for their all time favourite aspects of the show in various categories. This magazine published the results and provided essays on the most popular TV stories, books, comics, writers and contributors in Doctor Who’s history.
#7 – The Complete First Doctor (January 2004, 100 pages)
A detailed look at the complete run of First Doctor stories and their various spin offs. This included in-depth articles on the production of each of the seasons covered and Archive updates on each serial, a short essay on a specific aspect of each of the TV stories and detailed overviews of the First Doctors’ appearances in comics and novels.
#8 - The Complete Fourth Doctor - Volume One (July 2004, 84 pages)
A detailed look at the run of the first four seasons of Fourth Doctor TV stories. This included in-depth articles on the production of each of the seasons covered and Archive updates on each serial, plus a short essay on a specific aspect of each of the TV stories.
#9 – The Complete Fourth Doctor - Volume Two (October 2004, 84 pages)
A detailed look at the final three seasons of the Fourth Doctor TV stories. This included in-depth articles on the production of each of the seasons covered and a short essay on a specific aspect of each of the TV stories and Archive updates on each serial, plus a detailed overview of the Fourth Doctors’ appearances in comics and novels.
#10 – The Complete Seventh Doctor (February 2005, 100 pages)
A detailed look at the complete run of Seventh Doctor stories and their various spin offs. This included in-depth articles on the production of each of the seasons covered and Archive updates on each serial, a short essay on a specific aspect of each of the TV stories and detailed overviews of the Seventh Doctors’ appearances in comics, audio plays and novels. There was also an errata section correcting some errors in the previously published volumes.
#11 – The Doctor Who Companion - Series One (July 2005, 100 pages)
A guide to the production of the recently aired first series of the revived TV show. This included a detailed look at the production of each of the episodes by Andrew Pixley, articles on aspects of the design work on various episodes, a look at some of the special effects, a profile of the Ninth Doctor and the original series pitch with annotated notes by show runner Russell T Davies.
#12 – In Their Own Words - Volume One 1963-1969 (November 2005, 100 pages)
A chronological commentary on the making of the original TV series in the 1960s by those involved in its production. This is collated from extracts of interviews previously published in Doctor Who Magazine with the individuals concerned.
#13 – The Ninth Doctor Collected Comics (April 2006, 100 pages)
A reprint of all the Ninth Doctor comic strip stories published by Panini Comics. This includes:
#14 - The Doctor Who Companion - Series Two (August 2006, 108 pages)
A guide to the production of the recently aired second series of the revived TV show. This included a detailed look at the production of each of the episodes plus the various TV spin offs by Andrew Pixley and the original second series pitch with annotated notes by show runner Russell T Davies.
#15 – In Their Own Words - Volume 2 1970-1976 (November 2006, 100 pages)
A chronological commentary on the making of the original TV series in the first part of the 1970s by those involved in its production. This is collated from extracts of interviews previously published in Doctor Who Magazine with the individuals concerned.
#16 – In Their Own Words - Volume 3 1977-1981 (April 2007, 100 pages)
A chronological commentary on the making of the original TV series in the latter part of the 1970s and start of the 1980s by those involved in its production. This is collated from extracts of interviews previously published in Doctor Who Magazine with the individuals concerned.
#17 – The Doctor Who Companion - Series Three (August 2007, 132 pages)
A guide to the production of the recently aired third series of the revived TV show. This included a detailed look at the production of each of the episodes plus the various TV spin offs by Andrew Pixley and an overview of the development of the series by show runner Russell T Davies.
#18 – In Their Own Words - Volume 4 1982-1986 (November 2007, 100 pages)
A chronological commentary on the making of the original TV series in the 1980s by those involved in its production. This is collated from extracts of interviews previously published in Doctor Who Magazine with the individuals concerned.
#19 - The Tenth Doctor Comics (April 2008)

Collections

Panini has been collecting the comic sections of the magazines into a number of trade paperbacks. The next collection will be The World Shapers the completing the run of Sixth Doctor strips.

Due to its comparatively short run, the Ninth Doctor comic strips collection was published as a magazine format Special Edition (#13, above).

The available collections are:

  • Fourth Doctor:
    • The Iron Legion (written by Pat Mills/John Wagner (1-16 and 19-34) and Steve Moore (35-38), with art by Dave Gibbons (1-16 and 19-38), 1979-1980, tpb, 2004, ISBN 1904159370)
      • "The Iron Legion" (#1-8)
      • "City of the Damned" (#9-16)
      • "The Star Beast" (#19-26)
      • "Dogs of Doom" (#27-34)
      • "The Time Witch" (#35-38)
      • Bonus feature: Interview with Dave Gibbons originally printed in Dr Who Classic Comics #11
    • Dragon's Claw (written by Steve Moore (39-52) and Steve Parkhouse (53-60), with art by Dave Gibbons (39-57 and 60) and Mike McMahon/Adolfo Buylla (58-59), 2005, ISBN 1904159818)
      • "Dragon’s Claw" (#39-45)
      • "The Collector" (#46)
      • "Dreamers of Death" (#47-48)
      • "The Life Bringer" (#49-50)
      • "The War of Words" (#51)
      • "Spider-God" (#52)
      • "The Deal" (#53)
      • "End of the Line" (#54-55)
      • "The Freefall Warriors" (#56-57)
      • "Junkyard Demon" (#58-59)
      • "The Neutron Knights" (#60)
  • Fifth Doctor:
    • The Tides of Time (written by Dez Skinn (17-18) and Steve Parkhouse (61-84 and 86-87) with art by Paul Neary (17-18), Dave Gibbons (61-69), Mick Austin (70-83) and Steve Dillon (84 and 86-87), 212 pages, 2005, ISBN 1904159923):
      • "Tides of Time" (#61-67)
      • "Stars fell on Stockbridge" (#68-69)
      • "The Stockbridge Horror" (#70-75)
      • "Lunar Lagoon" (#76-77)
      • "4-Dimensional Vistas" (#78-83)
      • "The Moderator" (#84 and 86-87)
      • Bonus feature: "Timeslip" (#17-18) This story actually features the Fourth Doctor but was included to complete the run from Doctor Who Weekly.
  • Sixth Doctor:
    • Voyager (written by Steve Parkhouse (88-99) and Alan McKenzie (101-107) with art by John Ridgway (88-107), 170 pages, 2007, ISBN 9781905239719):
      • "The Shape Shifter" (#88-89)
      • "Voyager" (#90-94)
      • "Polly The Glot" (#95-97)
      • "Once Upon a Time-Lord" (#98-99)
      • "War-Game" (#100-101)
      • "Funhouse" (#102-103)
      • "Kane's Story" (#104)
      • "Abel's Story" (#105)
      • "The Warrior's Story" (#106)
      • "Frobisher's Story" (#107)
      • Bonus feature: Interview with John Ridgway - reprinted from Doctor Who Classic Comics #16
  • Eighth Doctor:
    • End Game (written by Alan Barnes (244-255 and 257-265) and Scott Gray (256 and 266-271), with pencils by Martin Geraghty (244-249 and 251-255 and 266-271) and inks by Robin Smith/Robin Riggs (244-249 and 251-255 and 266-271), art by Sean Longcroft (250) and Adrian Salmon (256) 212 pages, ISBN 1905239092)
      • "End Game" (#244-247)
      • "The Keep" (#248-249)
      • "Fire and Brimstone" (#251-255)
      • "Tooth and Claw" (#257-260)
      • "The Final Chapter" (#262-265)
      • "Wormwood" (#266-271)
      • "A Life of Matter & Death (#250)
      • "By Hook or By Crook" (#256)
      • Bonus Feature: "The Threshold" by Scott Gray - an introduction to The Threshold and a recap of events in the Seventh Doctor strip "Ground Zero"
      • Bonus Feature: Commentary by Alan Barnes and Scott Gray on all featured stories with character designs and early drafts of artwork.
    • The Glorious Dead (written by Scott Gray (273-276 and 284-299), Adrian Salmon (277), Alan Barnes (278-283), Steve Moore (5-7 and 23-24) with pencils by Martin Geraghty (273-276 and 278-282 and 287-296) and inks by Robin Smith (273-276 and 278-282 and 287-296) and Fareed Choudhury (278-286), with art by Adrian Salmon (277 and 284-286), Roger Langridge (283 and 287-299), Steve Dillon (5-7 and 23-24), 244 pages, 2006, ISBN 1905239440):
      • "The Fallen" (#273-276)
      • "Unnatural Born Killers" (#277)
      • "The Road to Hell" (#278-282)
      • "TV Action!" (#283)
      • "The Company of Thieves" (#284-286)
      • "The Glorious Dead" (#287-296)
      • "The Autonomy Bug" (#297-299)
      • "Happy Deathday" (#272)
      • Bonus Feature: Commentary on all the featured Eight Doctor strips by Scott Gray and Alan Barnes along with designs and early drafts of artwork
      • Bonus Feature: "Throwback: The Soul of the Cyberman" (#5-7) A Doctor-less story featuring the first appearance of Kroton the Cyberman
      • Bonus Feature: "Ship of Fools" (#23-24) A Doctor-less story featuring Kroton the Cyberman.
    • Oblivion (by Scott Gray (300-304, 306, 308-310, 312-317, 319-228), with penciles by Martin Geraghty (300-304, 306, 308-310 and 323-328), and inks by Robin Smith (300-304, 306 and 308-310) and David A. Roach (323-328), with art by Lee Sullivan (312-317), John Ross (319-222) and Adrian Salmon (311), 228 pages, 2006, ISBN 1905239459):
      • "Ophidus" (#300-303)
      • "Beautiful Freak" (#304)
      • "The Way of All Flesh" (#306 and 308-310)
      • "Children of the Revolution" (#312-317)
      • "Uroborus" (#319-322)
      • "Oblivion" (#323-328)
      • "Character Assassin" (#311)
      • Bonus Feature: Commentary on all included stories by Scott Gray with character designs and early drafts of artwork.
    • The Flood (by Scott Gray (329, 333-353) and Gareth Roberts (330-332), with pencils / art by Roger Langridge (329), Mike Collins (330-332), Adrian Salmon (333), Anthony Williams (334-336), Martin Geraghty (337 and 346-353) and John Ross(343-345), 226 pages, 2007, ISBN 9781905239658):
      • "Where Nobody Knows Your Name" (#329)
      • "The Nightmare Game" (#330-332)
      • "The Power of Thoueris!" (#333)
      • "The Curious Tale of Spring-Heeled Jack" (#334-336)
      • "The Land of Happy Endings" (#337)
      • "Bad Blood" (#338-342)
      • "Sins of the Fathers" (#343-345)
      • "The Flood" (#346-353)
      • Bonus Feature - Commentary on all featured stories by their authors plus early designs and drawings for each.
      • Bonus Feature - "Flood Barriers" by Clayton Hickman: A description of the difficulties of changing from the Eighth to the Ninth Doctor with the script for an alternative version of the final part of The Flood.

Other reprints

The DWM comic strip has also been reprinted in other formats:

  • From October 1984 to August 1986, Marvel Comics published a monthly comic book series in America that reprinted the Fourth Doctor strips and some of the Fifth Doctor strips. For the purposes of the comic book, the strips were colorized.
  • In 1985, Marvel published a graphic novel entitled Doctor Who: Voyager which reprinted the Sixth Doctor strips that originally appeared in DWM 88 to 99, again colorized. As with the comic book, the graphic novel was compiled for American readers.
  • In January 2008, IDW Publishing, an American comic book company, launched Doctor Who Classics, a monthly comic book series reprinting digitally colorized Fourth Doctor strips from the early issues of DWM.

See also

References

  1. ^ The Flood – ISBN 9781905239658 Pg 221-223


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