by Shannon Lush
Note: Due to technical oddities beyond my control, I won't
be reviewing 'The Minister Of Chance' podcast featuring 'Doctor Who' alumnus at
all now, sorry. If you enjoyed it, then perhaps, if you ask nicely, Steve Lake
will handle a review of the series on 'The Whostorian' podcast itself. It's
available on iTunes for free download, and their twitter account is
@MinisterChance. I support them, so should you!
..and now, we return to our regularly scheduled blog entry,
already in progress....
As we kick 2012 to the curb and collectively laugh at the
Mayans in the process, 'The Whostorian Blog' will begin reviewing one of the
longest-lasting spin-off merchandise examples of the Whoniverse; comic books.
'Doctor Who', in addition to being rewarded the title of 'world's longest
running science fiction television series' by Guiness Book Of World Records,
also boasts another record; it's comic strip and comic book incarnations themselves
are the longest-serving examples of such, having started to appear very shortly
after the thin, whispy black and white patterns of William Hartnell's original
opening credits sequence first graced BBC screens.
In order to appreciate the current state of 'Doctor Who'
comics, it is important to briefly run down the list of licensees to same.
Initially limited to British newsstands in the form of semi-regular annuals
such as 'TV Countdown' and 'TV Action', which featured comic strip adventures
of other licensed properties such as 'Thunderbirds' and 'UFO' alongside those
of The Doctor, the stories were primitive and tame. Often, they reflected the
fact that not 'all' elements of a chosen television series were licensed; in
the case of 'Doctor Who', only the likeness of the Doctor as played by Hartnell
and the TARDIS were made available to Polystyle Publications, the publishers.
This meant that new companions, initially in the form of the
Doctor's 'grandchildren' John and Gillian, were created to fill the void left
by Ian, Barbara, and Susan. These 'grandchildren' would even outlast Hartnell
himself, going on to appear in stories featuring his televised successor,
Patrick Troughton. For well over a decade and through several name and
editorial changes, Polystyle Publications was the primary source for 'Doctor
Who' comic strip adventures (it is important to note that, unlike publishing
houses that would come later, the stories of this timeframe were originally
presented as comic strips first and foremost, and only appeared as 'comic
books' insomuch as they were collected together to form longer storylines;
Polystyle Publications devoted only a few pages per issue to 'Doctor Who', and
were not truly the first licensees of 'comic books' featuring the character in
the traditional sense).
Another early and important publisher for 'Doctor Who' was
World Distributors, who produced 'Doctor Who Annuals' sporadically from 1965
through to 1985, an outstanding association with the Time Lord that lasted
through many televised incarnations. Unlike 'TV Countdown/Action', the annuals
not only produced unique material exclusively devoted to 'Doctor Who' alone
without competition with other licensed products, but they benefitted
tremendously from the contributions of actual 'Doctor Who' production
personnel. Text stories, production photographs, interviews and more were
regular highlights of the annuals, and the annuals more closely resembled early
fanzines than traditional comic books.
'TV Century 21' was also an important early comic strip
media form for early Whovians, though more geared towards those immersed in the
throes of 'Dalekmania': fronted economically by Gerry Anderson, creator of the
'Thunderbirds' primarily as a vehicle for his own creations, Terry Nation licensed
his creations the Daleks to appear in the pages. Thus the earliest 'origins' of
the Daleks were told, ghost-written by television series story editor David
Whitaker. The stories were limited to depicting the Daleks as 'good guys' who
strictly operated defensively, fending off cosmic invaders to their home
colonies in a complete role reversal from the series' depiction of them as a
ruthless and cunning alien menace. To be fair, the campy nature of many of the
stories evoke a pleasant, retro 'Buck Rogers' feel and are worth seeking. The
Doctor himself never makes an appearance, though other elements of the
whoniverse created and owned by Nation, such as Sara Kingdom from 'The Daleks'
Masterplan', does.
Though these examples serve to illustrate that 'Doctor Who'
was, from virtually the first transmission of the series, considered an
excellent license for merchandisers to seek out and exploit, the products
themselves suffered from 'also-ran' status; once the money had changed hands
and the comic strips, comic books, or annuals, had been printed, it was clear
that those in charge simply felt that printing the words 'Doctor Who' and
crudely drawing a cartoony TARDIS would suffice, that fans would purchase the
products regardless of the inattention to detail or seeming lack of care given
to it. In many ways, they were right; 'Doctor Who' comic appearances of this
time period were all-ages affairs, momentary additions to a young fan's
devotion to the series. At no point was there any consideration given to penning
serious stories that would take full advantage of the character. That would
come much later.
As much as Great Britain had and has its own history of
home-grown comic book products, much like Canada they tend to be rather staid
and lacklustre, lacking in proper dynamism and panache. The reserved nature of
the British culture precluded the creation of many over-the-top, colourful
adventure heroes; even James Bond answers to his superior, Her Majesty.
Influential comic book talent such as Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Dave Gibbons,
Bryan Hitch, and Neil Gaiman, all of whom would go on to work upon 'Doctor Who'
in one form or other, found themselves wasting away in the U.K, uninspired and
under-appreciated. What saved them all, indeed what saved 'Doctor Who' as a
viable comic property, was making the jump 'across the pond', and being born
again in the wild and heady, capes-and-cowls, action-packed world of American
comics.
While DC Comics is credited with getting the ball rolling
when their superhero character Superman started to leap tall buildings in a
single bound and inspire scores of imitators that quickly populated early newsstands
and earned fan interest, it was and is Marvel Comics that truly changed the
world of comics forever. Around the time that 'Doctor Who' was first
transmitting in the U.K, in the U.S.A Marvel was initiating the 'Marvel Age Of
Comics', resurrecting World War Two comic hero Captain America to lead the
mighty Avengers super team, demonstrating with Spider-Man that 'with great
power comes great responsibility', and allowing readers to feel a sense of
familial connection to the world's first superhero family, The Fantastic Four.
If DC Comics was classical music, then Marvel was
rock-and-roll. Featuring flawed characters who struggled with universal notions
of identity, depression, jealousy, anger, rebelliousness, financial and
personal hardship, Marvel, dubbed 'The House Of Ideas', hit upon what was, on
paper, an excellent one: create a newsmagazine about 'Doctor Who', and
eventually merge the Whoniverse into their Marvel 'multiverse', allowing The
Doctor to interact with Marvel characters. After all, in a satisfying example
of wibbly-wobbly, timey-whimey, it had been the American servicemen stationed
in the U.K during World War Two who indirectly inspired the creation of the
British comic book market, distributing their U.S forces-approved American
comic books to eager children and fellow Allied soldiers.
In 1972, Marvel created Marvel U.K, primarily to service the
British market with reprints and also-ran material, shipping numerous copies of
popular American titles to their British cousins for them to enjoy. Some titles
would be altered to suit the sensibilities of the British market, considered
unquestionably more formal and button-down than the teen-angst American one;
'G.I. Joe' was re-named 'Action Force', for example, while 'The Transformers',
in the U.S considerably more violent and action-packed and reflective of the
cartoon it was based upon, was in the U.K certainly more philosophical, apt to
spend pages upon pages with robotic characters pondering the moral implications
of their unending civil war rather than engaging in massive and destructive
brawls.
As a 'made in the U.K' product, however, 'Doctor Who' under
Marvel U.K initially was treated with the respect that a home-grown product
would be expected to; the early days of the magazine first entitled 'Doctor Who
Weekly', then 'Doctor Who Monthly', and now, under the sticker-and-collector
cards publisher Panini simple 'Doctor Who Magazine' or 'DWM' to fans, reported
nothing salacious or gossipy. They preferred instead to run 'making of'
articles about upcoming televised adventures, offered mail-in competitions,
printed quiz material, and featured bare-bones interviews with production
personnel. When John Nathan-Turner assumed full producer ship of the TV series,
however, and in tandem with the growing cheeky attitudes on display everywhere
else in British tabloid journalism, 'Doctor Who Magazine' became a hotbed for
controversial opinions and hard-line stances, along with headlines that
screamed low-brow and often inaccurate news.
In terms of the comics themselves, Marvel U.K produced comic
strips 'in house' for publication within the magazine, leading to work by the
afore-mentioned British comic talents such as Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
These stories were and are often collected and feature some of the finest
examples of the genre, chiefly among them 'The Mark Of Mandragora', a sequel to
the television episode 'The Masque Of Mandragora', and featuring the Seventh
Doctor re-teaming with the popular companion Sarah Jane Smith. Numerous other
examples abound of the quality of the 'Doctor Who Monthly/Magazine' comic
strips; once it regenerated from its 'Weekly' status, the comic strip became
one of the true examples of quality original stories. Within Whovian fandom,
the canon of the comic strips, while certainly considered at the very least to
be 'secondary', has been given the respect to be virtually interchangeable with
that of the other major licensee, Big Finish Productions audio plays, to such a
degree that often characters and story lines depicted within the comic strips
find their way, sometimes in altered form, into the audio plays, and vice
versa.
The dawn of the current BBC series would see an offer made
by Russel T Davies as television series producer to 'DWM' editorship to
officially depict the canon regeneration of Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor into
the then-current Christopher Eccleston Ninth, an indication of the respect
level given to the magazine and to the comic strips. The offer was declined on
grounds that the editors did not think the allocated space given to them could
possibly justify depicting such a momentous Whoniverse event, and they could
also not adequately resolve their storyline with the Eighth Doctor in such a
way as to accommodate the request.
As much good as Marvel, the 'House Of Ideas', was to 'Doctor
Who' in terms of the creation, publication, distribution, and marketing of
'Doctor Who Magazine', which quickly rose to become the industry standard tome
for fans and remains so to this day, the same cannot be said for their
treatment of the character itself once they got hold of him. Appearing in
back-up stories in titles such as 'Incredible Hulk Presents', and encountering
characters such as Death's Head, a robotic mercenary, the Doctor traipses merrily
across the Marvel Universe...or, at the very least, one of the several thousand
'Earth' designations that Marvel assigns to a wider 'multiverse', in order to
differentiate between titles that feature encounters between licensed
characters such as the Doctor and established Marvel characters.
The 'universe' created by the likes of Stan Lee and Jack
Kirby way back in 1961 is called 'Earth 616', to give an indication of just how
'many' different and varied universes exist within Marvel. For the record, the
'All New Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe', volume 1, #7, assigns the
Whoniverse as 'Earth 5556'. As the majority of the Marvel U.K line is
encompassed within this, the Doctor primarily encountered them to the exclusion
of the more popular cape-and-cowls heroes such as Spider-Man. The Knights Of
Pendragon, Death's Head, Motormouth, and Dragon's Claw all appeared with or
referenced the Doctor or some other element of the Whoniverse on occasion.
While Marvel U.S generally performed admirably with their
licensed characters, integrating diverse characters such as Godzilla into their
universe and providing it a nemesis in the form of S.H.I.E.L.D agent and
well-known supporting character Dum-Dum Duggan, the same cannot be said for
'Doctor Who'. Denied proper integration which would have helped American
readers familiarize themselves with the character, given zero advance publicity
in the pages of other Marvel U.S titles and with scarcely a mention in the
well-read and popular 'Stan's Soapbox' feature in which Marvel CEO Stan Lee
hyped upcoming projects, the good Doctor first appeared in an American title in
the form of Fourth Doctor Tom Baker.
In the pages of the comic book 'Marvel Spotlight', an
anthology series intended to be a 'proving ground' for possible new series or
re-tooled ideas, The Doctor first tested the waters of American comic
books...even though the story itself, spanning issues #57 to #60 and collected
since under the title 'The Star Beast Saga', was a poorly re-inked reprint of a
'Doctor Who Weekly' strip. With such limited exposure and within the pages of a
title that did not see the distribution of much better known titles as 'Amazing
Spider-Man' and other A-list material, these issues did not in any way set
sales records, nor was there 'any' rush to head back to the printers to order
further printings.
Two important considerations must be made to demonstrate
'why' Marvel chose to debut 'Doctor Who' as a Marvel comic after its four-issue
test, since neither sales figures nor industry buzz could possibly account for
it. First, on the 'Doctor Who' side of things, this period in series history
coincided with a directed push from the BBC first and with producer John
Nathan-Turner later, to attempt to crack the elusive American mainstream
market; as detailed in previous blogs, efforts were made not only to popularize
'Doctor Who' on U.S television by providing PBS stations with hours upon hours
of content in the form of episodes, but this period also began the emergence of
'Doctor Who' stars and production personnel on the stages of multiple American
conventions. Comic books, that quintessentially American pop culture media
form, were simply another outlet to exploit.
Second, Marvel, the largest and most productive American
publishing company of comic books at the time, were masters of maximizing their
profits while minimizing their overhead. Actively seeking to obtain licenses to
produce everything from 'Planet Of The Apes' titles to special 'KISS' magazines
to even the life-story of Pope John Paul II, Marvel diversified its output to
appeal to fans of both the popular and the cult, and did so as cheaply and
economically as possible. The way they figured it, they had established Marvel
U.K in order to stretch their profits on already-produced American material
that was repackaged for a European audience; they simply 'reversed the
polarity' when it came to 'Doctor Who'. This time, it would be the American
readers who would be given the second-run material, repackaged in the U.S as a
comic series from material already published in strip form in the U.K.
'Doctor Who' the Marvel comic series began its run in
October 1984, and finished just under two years later, in August 1986, for a
total of 23 produced issues. The fantasy of the 'House Of Ideas' providing new
and fresh stories full of the pathos, characterizations, drama, and appeal that
was its hallmark among comic fans quickly was dashed with the reality of
cost-cutting, editorial confusion, and artistic apathy. Titular editor Jim
Shooter, 'still' a controversial figure within the comics industry to this day,
primarily for work he actually did during this period of time with Marvel,
clearly spent 'no' time overseeing this title from an editorial standpoint. The
same man who crafted 'Secret Wars' and its sequel, the same man who oversaw one
of the finest stories in Marvel, if not comics, history, 'The Dark Phoenix
Saga', and the same man who created an entire 'Legion Of Superheroes' with its
sweeping future history of DC Comics at the age of fifteen years old...never
bothered to 'once' attempt to craft, initiate, or influence any story published
during the 23 issues. Shooter is an editor in name only on 'Doctor Who'; it's
doubtful he was even aware his name appeared within.
On the writing side of it, for the first 14 issues, the
series is handled more or less well thanks to the writing team of Pat Mills and
John Wagner. Both had submitted story ideas to the television series, and both
had grown weary of the seemingly endless re-writes required in order to fit
their pitches into workable episodes. When artist Dave Gibbons was given the
opportunity to become the artist on 'Doctor Who Weekly', he suggested both of
them be named writers, and to turn their rejected and neglected stories into
comic form instead. While some of the ideas, such as the Doctor turning into a
werewolf, a killer midget alien called Beep The Meep, and the Doctor battling a
'Time Witch', are all unimaginative and childish, they 'did' reflect the
declining nature of the series itself at the time.
Gibbon's art was sparse and workmanlike, and that was yet
another contributing factor to this series falling under the radar; despite the
obvious attempt to 'jazz up' the covers to visually hook readers with the
tried-and-true action shots and multiple uses of exclamation points, Gibbon's
clean yet mundane style does not lend itself to the chore. Had Marvel coughed
up a few bucks to assign a different cover artist who could provide some
much-needed visual flair, perhaps it would have stood out from the herd more.
As it was, for a visual medium like comics, both the cover and interior art
simply were nothing to call Winston Churchill from a TARDIS red phone over.
Marvel didn't even bother to hire anyone to re-draw panels, clean up the
inking, or polish the title in any way; they obtained the original artwork,
removed the references to its source at 'Doctor Who Weekly', and shipped it to
the printers. Done.
From issue #15 onwards, however, Mills and Wagner departed
and the writing chores were handled by Steve Parkhouse, another British comics
veteran, but one that definitely began to steer the series (more accurately,
the comic strip upon which the series is collected), into 'traditional American
comic book' territory. Whether by accident or design, the Doctor, at this point
the Fifth, is characterized much more as a typical American comic book
protagonist; he battles not just villains but super villains; he is pithy and
makes caustic remarks woefully out of character for the Fifth Doctor; he is
more apt to strike a pose. Encumbered with both art and writing chores on the
title, Parkhouse benefits slightly from the transition to glossier paper that
the comic industry as a whole was experimenting with at the time, but this is
cold comfort in the end.
Marvel's handling of 'Doctor Who' as a property could and
'should' have been much more. With the right artists, writers, editors, and
with the power of proper marketing, 'Doctor Who' could have made an impact much
greater than it did. Comic book fans today still talk about legendary series
such as 'A Death In The Family', 'Days Of Future Past', and 'Dark Phoenix
Saga'. Had Marvel wished to pair a properly motivated writer and artist team
and give them free reign over their licensed corner of the Whoniverse, there is
no end to the type of epic stories that 'could' have been fashioned. Instead,
as happens so often with 'Doctor Who' in comic form, from 'TV Countdown'
through to Marvel and now to IDW Publishing, the characters are given to people
who either do not know the series or simply do not care, or both.
Marvel shut down its U.K branch ten years after it cancelled
'Doctor Who' the comic. It continued to publish
'Doctor Who Magazine' until it sold that to Pannini. Therefore, issue #23 of the comic, with its American
comic book-style cover screaming 'Is This The End Of The Doctor?!' as a
warplane dive bombs the Doctor, who strangely is running 'away' from the safety
of the TARDIS, remains the last gasp of Marvel's attempt to 'superhero-ify' the
Time Lord. A massively misused opportunity summarizes the tenure of The Doctor
in the Marvel universe.
Marvel is to be applauded for its creation of what is now
'Doctor Who Magazine', and for securing the rights to 'Doctor Who' and
producing a comic title. It is to be deriding for nickel and diming 'Doctor
Who' when it could easily have utilized its vast supply of talented writers and
artists, that it refers to constantly as 'the bullpen', and made 'Doctor Who'
the comic a giant success. However, at the end of the day, Marvel was and is no
different than many other licensees and even the BBC itself, in that the brand
power of 'Doctor Who' has been obtained for a cheap price and results in cheap
merchandise based upon it. At least there's a corner of the Marvel Multiverse set
aside for 'Doctor Who'. It's not much..but it's something to hang one's Whovian
hat on.
IDW Publishing, much further down the totem pole well behind
DC and Marvel, announced in 2007 they had acquired the rights to publish
'Doctor Who' comics. As NOW Comics and Dark Horse Comics had done decades
beforehand, IDW eschewed the notion of establishing its own comics titles
within a shared 'universe' in favour of producing licensed titles based on
popular films and television series. Today the current publisher of a variety
of 'Doctor Who' titles, annuals, and a regular series, IDW has done a lot of
good work and done more with the character and the license than any previous
publisher has..they also have produced an awful lot of cringe-worthy material.
Ask 'Whostorian' podcast host Steve Lake about the 'Star Trek/Doctor Who'
crossover miniseries 'Assimilation Squared', for further information.
In the blog entries to come, we will be reviewing stories
drawn from all published eras of 'Doctor Who' comics, from the days of The
Doctor and his 'grandchildren' to the days of The Doctor teaming up with the
Sleaze Brothers, right through to the current IDW series. The hopeful
expectation will be a review of a story pulled from each era per blog; a 'TV
Action' story, a Marvel story, an IDW story. This is dependent upon time
considerations as well as availability of titles, but my collection of
Whoniverse merchandise is bigger on the inside! So, I shall do my best!
I hope you have enjoyed this truncated and rambling introduction
to 'Doctor Who' comic books. Do yourself a favour and seek some of these out.
Not only is the Marvel series collected in graphic novel format, the earlier
'TV Action' stuff was likewise reprinted by 'Doctor Who Magazine' under the
title 'Doctor Who Classic Comics', and of course the IDW stuff remains readily
available at comic shops and online stores, including smartphone apps. Any
questions, comments, invitations to play the Game Of Rassilon, please feel free
to email me at the links provided, or post on the Facebook 'Whostorian podcast'
fan page group wall. And remember to download and support the podcast!
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