The Doctor beats the Daleks, at last...

So far we´ve looked at the first Who related merchandise, all of which has been Dalek themed, from ´The Dalek Book´ and Cadet collectors cards, to the first novelisation, in which he at least got the headline over the Daleks. However two days after the publication of that first story, the Doctor appeared in his own comic strip, published in TV Comic magazine on the 14 November 1964, and without a Dalek in sight. So far, David Whitaker, series script-writer, had played a key role in writing supporting Who material, but here he is notably absent. The artwork was by Neville Main and later Bill Mevin.


Starting in the 10 part The Klepton Parasites, and joined at the beginning by his grandchildren John and Gillian, the Doctor embarks on a run of stories which would continue in the magazine through to the end of the second Doctors reign, including also Annual and Holiday specials.

Many stories were later reprinted by Marvel UK under the Classic Comics series launched in 1992.


The best place to start getting to know these stories online is the excellent Who website In the Comics, with story briefs and example artwork, and presented to us by Altered Vistas. I´ve also found the odd scanned story to download, but few and far between. Perhaps there´s scans of the Classic Comics out there somewhere.

[UPDATE SEPT 2010: For several months now a blog has been building up a great archive of the early comic strips, scanned from the reprinted and colourised 'Classic Comics', along with all out other Who comics strips. Check out Doctor Who Comic Fun, and show your appreciation!]

I should probably post up as list of the stories, but I think I´ll tackle them Doctor by Doctor rather than all in one go... sooner or later...