First Doctor comic stories: Difference between revisions

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{{Doctor comics}}As with the television series, the [[William Hartnell]] version of the Doctor was '''the original comic strip Doctor'''. However, the actor's portrayal of the character was often lost in ''[[TV Comic]]'', the dominant publication to feature [[First Doctor]] stories. At a superficial level, the character wasn't called "the Doctor", but "Dr. Who". Yet at a basic level, the comics were hampered by the inclusion of two children as his companions. Though they may well have made it easier for kids — the primary target audience for the comic strips — to relate to the Doctor, they made it almost impossible for a well-rounded portrayal of the First Doctor's many qualities. Especially profound was the loss of the Doctor's inherent "grumpiness"; with no adults around, the Doctor had no target for his anger. Thus, the comic First Doctor was reduced to being just a grandfather with a time-space ship.
{{Doctor comics}}As with the television series, the [[William Hartnell]] version of the Doctor was '''the original comic strip Doctor'''.


However, even these two points were somewhat in doubt.
The first ''Doctor Who'' comics to be printed were those featured in ''[[TV Comic]]''. Consistently labeled as little more than the series' title for the entire run, all but one of the original ''First Doctor'' stories were given titles much later by comic strip and ''Who'' historians. The original comics introduced the characters of the Doctor's grandchildren, [[John and Gillian]], who served as the strip's replacements to [[Susan Foreman]]. The strip introduced them as having lived on [[20th century]] [[Earth]] before meeting their grandfather, but never expounded on their origins before the comic, nor their relation to Susan. Because of this, stories exploring the Doctor's family or history on [[Gallifrey]] have almost consistently "forgotten" about John and Gillian, and the lack of an acceptable "gap" for these stories to take place has often confounded fans interested in the timeline of the Doctor's life (an issue that would continue on through the [[Fourth Doctor comic stories|Fourth]] and [[Fifth Doctor comic stories|Fifth Doctor's comic adventures]]). Despite this, John and Gillian's adventures have not gone totally ignored by other stories, being briefly mentioned in such things as the [[BBC Audio]] story ''[[A Sting in the Tale (audio story)|A Sting in the Tale]]'' and the [[Short Trips (series)|Short Trips]] story ''[[The Man Who (Nearly) Killed Christmas (short story)|The Man Who]]''.


The comic [[the Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]] wasn't actually much of a time-travel device. As almost every story was set in the far future, it was little more than a simple spaceship. That threw the First Doctor's inclination towards historical adventures out the window. In addition, his status as "grandfather" was a point of incredulity, as well. How could he be the grandfather to [[John and Gillian]]? What was their relationship to the never-referenced [[Susan Foreman|Susan]]? How did the stories told in the comic strips relate to the television series? These were all questions left completely unanswered.
The First Doctor also appeared in a series of ''[[Give-a-Show Projector]]'' strips in [[1965 (releases)|1965]], which featured the only comics to date of him battling the [[Dalek]]s. He would later be featured in ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' adventures both in their main series and in specials.
 
Worse still, the comic First Doctor was deprived even of the [[Dalek]]s. Since [[Terry Nation]] had licensed the comic Daleks to appear only by themselves from 1965 to 1967, the comic First Doctor never encountered them. He was forced instead to repeatedly face the ''TV Comic'' "substitute", the [[Trod]]s.
 
The best the ''TV Comic'' First Doctor could muster by way of resembling himself was a lone story that tied in with an atypical television adventure: ''[[On the Web Planet|Dr. Who and the Zarbi on the Web Planet]]''.
 
It really wasn't until ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' began publishing a handful of original First Doctor stories that the William Hartnell portrayal was really seen in comics. Consequently, most of the First Doctor's companions didn't have their comic debuts until the early 1990s. By then, thirty years after the fact, it was really a case of "too little, too late". Comic readers are ''still'' waiting for the First Doctor to encounter the Daleks.
 
Given these facts, it is perhaps not surprising that, as a matter of ''Doctor Who Magazine'' continuity, the entirety of the First Doctor's ''TV Comic'' run was [[Retroactive continuity|retconned]] out of existence as a dream of the [[Eighth Doctor]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Land of Happy Endings (comic story)|The Land of Happy Endings]]'')


== Comic strip companions of the First Doctor ==
== Comic strip companions of the First Doctor ==
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=== Titan Comics ===
=== Titan Comics ===
==== Back-up strips ====
==== Back-up strips ====
* ''[[Day of the Tune (comic story)|Day of the Tune]]'' ([[12D 9]], a flashback featuring the first Four Doctors)
* ''[[Prologue: The First Doctor (comic story)|Prologue: The First Doctor]]'' ([[10DY2 12]] featuring [[Susan Foreman]])
* ''[[Prologue: The First Doctor (comic story)|Prologue: The First Doctor]]'' ([[10DY2 12]] featuring [[Susan Foreman]])


Revision as of 18:21, 10 August 2017

As with the television series, the William Hartnell version of the Doctor was the original comic strip Doctor.

The first Doctor Who comics to be printed were those featured in TV Comic. Consistently labeled as little more than the series' title for the entire run, all but one of the original First Doctor stories were given titles much later by comic strip and Who historians. The original comics introduced the characters of the Doctor's grandchildren, John and Gillian, who served as the strip's replacements to Susan Foreman. The strip introduced them as having lived on 20th century Earth before meeting their grandfather, but never expounded on their origins before the comic, nor their relation to Susan. Because of this, stories exploring the Doctor's family or history on Gallifrey have almost consistently "forgotten" about John and Gillian, and the lack of an acceptable "gap" for these stories to take place has often confounded fans interested in the timeline of the Doctor's life (an issue that would continue on through the Fourth and Fifth Doctor's comic adventures). Despite this, John and Gillian's adventures have not gone totally ignored by other stories, being briefly mentioned in such things as the BBC Audio story A Sting in the Tale and the Short Trips story The Man Who.

The First Doctor also appeared in a series of Give-a-Show Projector strips in 1965, which featured the only comics to date of him battling the Daleks. He would later be featured in Doctor Who Magazine adventures both in their main series and in specials.

Comic strip companions of the First Doctor

Regular

One-off

List

Many of the early comic strip stories did not have individual story titles so there is no "correct" title for many of the strips. Commentary and listings from older sources may use variant titles.

  • The titles given below conform to widely accepted titles (as referenced by Jean-Marc Lofficier and revised by John Ainsworth (comic historian)). The titles below were also adopted and used by Doctor Who Magazine and throughout Doctor Who Classic Comics (to which John Ainsworth was a major contributer).
  • The titles used below are firstly taken from the strip itself or from titles given by the preceding issue. In some cases the writer/artist has been able to provide a title for a given piece of work.

The listing below shows first publication details only. Reprint details can be found by following the story links.

TV Comic

Travelling with John and Gillian

TV Comic annuals

TV Comic holiday specials

Doctor Who annuals

Doctor Who Magazine

Parodic

Doctor Who Yearbook

 IDW Publishing

Miniseries

Doctor Who (2012)

  • Dead Man's Hand (DW12 15 featuring Matrix projections of the first eleven Doctors and the War Doctor)

Prisoners of Time

Titan Comics

Back-up strips

Parody

External links

 
First Doctor comic stories
v • e
First Doctor TVC comic stories
Neville Main era
(November 1964 -
September 1965)
Weekly strip
Holiday stories
Annual stories
Pick of the Jokes
TV Terrors
Bill Mevin era
(September 1965 -
April 1966)
Weekly strip
Pick of the Jokes
John Canning era
(April 1966 -
December 1966)
Weekly strip
Holiday special
Annual
Canning's run on TVC continues until 1971,
with a second run 1975-1979.
v • e
Doctor Who annual comic stories
Doctor Who
Annual
1st
1967
2nd
1968
1969
1970
3rd
1974
1975
4th
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
5th
1983
Doctor Who
Yearbook
7th, 4th, 3rd
1992
7th
1993
1st & 7th, 4th
1994
4th, 5th
1995
4th
1996
Doctor Who
Annual
9th
2006
Doctor Who
The Official
Annual
10th
2007
2008
2009
2010
11th
2011
2012
2013
50th
12th
2015
2016
2017
2018
13th
2019
N/A
2022
14th
2024
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