TV Comic

TV Comic was a weekly magazine published by Polystyle Publications, Ltd. in Britain from 1951 to 1984. It printed Doctor Who strips from 1964 to 1979.

History

Throughout the TV Comic strips, the Doctor was primarily called "Dr. Who" by his companions and the narration. For convenience, the later-established incarnation numbering schema is used on this page to disambiguate between, for instance, William Hartnell's Dr. Who and Patrick Troughton's Dr. Who.

The TV Comic strips are notable for introducing a number of original characters, including companions and aliens. Original companions included the Doctor's grandchildren, John and Gillian, as well as Arnold. As the comic rights to the Daleks were initially held by competing magazine TV Century 21, original villains called the Trods were used in their place; however, in 1967 the Dalek rights reverted to TV Comic, the Daleks were shown to massacre the Trods in The Trodos Ambush.

From the years 1971 to 1973, new Doctor Who comics were instead printed in TV Comic's sister magazine, TV Action/Countdown.

Beginning with TVC 1386 in July 1978, old TV Comic Second and Third Doctor strips were reprinted with new art showing the then-current Fourth Doctor's face. This modification and reuse of preexisting material continued until TVC 1430 in 1979, when the rights to Doctor Who comics moved to Marvel Comics UK's new magazine Doctor Who Weekly. The TV Comics run of concluded with TVC 1430 on 11 May 1979.

Comic stories

William Hartnell's Dr. Who

Title	Featuring	Printed in	Released
The Klepton Parasites	John Who and Gillian Who, Kleptons	674-683	9 November 1964-11 January 1965
The Therovian Quest	John and Gillian	684-689	16 January - 22 February 1965
The Hijackers of Thrax	John and Gillian	690-692	1 - 15 March 1965
On the Web Planet	John and Gillian, Zarbi	693-698	22 March - 26 April 1965
Untitled	Police officer	696	12 April 1965
The Gyros Injustice	John and Gillian	699-704	3 May - 7 June 1965
Challenge of the Piper		705-709	14 June - 12 July 1965
Prisoners of Gritog		Holiday Special 1965	1 July 1965
TV Terrors	Monica, Buttons, Cuthbert	709	12 July 1965
Moon Landing	John and Gillian	710-712	19 July - 2 August 1965
Time in Reverse		713-715	9 - 23 August 1965
Lizardworld		716-719	30 August - 20 September 1965
Prisoners of the Kleptons	John and Gillian, Kleptons	Annual 1966	1 September 1965
The Caterpillar Men	John and Gillian	Annual 1966	1 September 1965
The Ordeals of Demeter		720-723	27 September - 18 October 1965
Enter: The Go-Ray		724-727	25 October - 15 November 1965
Shark Bait		728-731	22 November - 13 December 1965
A Christmas Story		732-735	20 December 1965 - 10 January 1966
The Didus Expedition		736-739	22 January - 12 February 1966
Space Station Z-7		740-743	19 February - 12 March 1966
Plague of the Black Scorpi		744-747	19 March - 9 April 1966
The Trodos Tyranny	John and Gillian, Trods	748-752	16 April - 14 May 1966
The Secret of Gemino	John and Gillian	753-757	21 May - 18 June 1966
The Haunted Planet		758-762	25 June - 23 July 1966
Guests of King Neptune		Holiday Special 1966	1 July 1966
The Gaze of the Gorgon		Holiday Special 1966	1 July 1966
The Hunters of Zerox		763-767	30 July - 27 August 1966
Deadly Vessel		Annual 1967	1 September 1966
Kingdom of the Animals		Annual 1967	1 September 1966
The Underwater Robot		768-771	3 - 24 September 1966
Return of the Trods	John and Gillian, Trods	772-775	1 - 22 October 1966
The Galaxy Games	John and Gillian	776-779	29 October - 19 November 1966
The Experimenters	John and Gillian	780-783	26 November - 17 December 1966

Patrick Troughton's Dr. Who

Title	Featuring	Printed in	Released
The Extortioner	John and Gillian	784-787	24 December 1966 - 14 January 1967
The Trodos Ambush	John and Gillian, Trods, Daleks	788-791	21 January - 11 February 1967
The Doctor Strikes Back	John and Gillian, Daleks	792-795	18 February - 11 March 1967
The Zombies	John and Gillian	796-798	18 March - 1 April 1967
Master of Spiders	John and Gillian	799-802	8 - 29 April 1967
The Exterminator	John and Gillian, Daleks	803-806	6 - 27 May 1967
The Monsters from the Past	John and Gillian	807-811
The Tardis Worshippers		812-815
Space War Two		816-819
Egyptian Escapade		820-823
The Coming of the Cybermen	John and Gillian, Cybermen	824-827
The Faithful Rocket Pack	John and Gillian	828-831	28 October - 18 November 1967
Flower Power	John and Gillian, Cybermen	832-836	25 November - 23 December 1967
The Witches	John and Gillian	837-841	30 December 1967 - 27 January 1968
Cyber-Mole	John and Gillian, Cybermen	842-845	3 - 24 February 1968
The Sabre-Toothed Gorillas	John and Gillian	846-849	2 - 23 March 1968
The Cyber Empire	John and Gillian, Cybermen	850-853	30 March - 20 April 1968
The Dyrons	John and Gillian	854-858	27 April - 25 May 1968
Dr. Who and the Space Pirates		859-863	1 - 29 June 1968
Car of the Century		864-867	6 - 27 July 1968
The Jokers		868-871	3 - 23 August 1968
Invasion of the Quarks	John and Gillian, Jamie McCrimmon, Quarks	872-876	31 August - 28 September 1968
The Killer Wasps	Jamie, Quarks	877-880	5 - 26 October 1968
Ice Cap Terror	Jamie	881-884	2 - 23 November 1968
Jungle of Doom	Jamie, Quarks	885-889	30 November - 28 December 1968
Father Time	Jamie	890-893	4 - 25 January 1969
Martha the Mechanical Housemaid	Jamie	894-898	1 February - 1 March 1969
The Duellists	Quarks	899-902	7 - 28 July 1969
Eskimo Joe		903-906	5 - 26 April 1969
Peril at 60 Fathoms		907-910	3 - 24 May 1969
Operation Wurlitzer		911-915	31 May - 28 June 1969
Action in Exile		916-920	5 July - 2 August 1969
The Mark of Terror		921-924	9 - 30 August 1969
The Brotherhood		925-928	6 - 27 September 1969
U.F.O.		929-933	4 October - 1 November 1969
The Night Walkers	Time Lords	934-936	8 - 22 November 1969

Third Doctor


title	featuring	printed in
The Arkwood Experiments	The Brigadier	944-949
The Multi-Mobile		950-954
Insect		955-959
The Metal-Eaters	The Brigadier, Liz Shaw	960-964
The Fishmen of Carpantha		965-969
Doctor Who and the Rocks from Venus		970-976
Doctor Who and the Robot	The Brigadier	977-984
Trial of Fire		985-991
The Kingdom Builders		992-999

After TVC 999, the Doctor Who strip was moved to Countdown (ultimately called TV Action) for a couple of years, returning to TVC only in issue 1133.

Fourth Doctor

Edited reprints

(mostly Third Doctor stories, these were altered to feature the Fourth Doctor)

Mighty Midget Doctor Who comic (included with TVC 1292) - Doomcloud
1386-1389: The Duellists
1390-1396: The Amateur
1397-1403: The Magician
1404-1408: The Wanderers
1409-1415: The Metal-Eaters
1416-1423: Moon Exploration (Lords of the Ether)
1424-1430: Size Control

Other uses

TV Comic used the Doctor and the Daleks in four known back-up comics, featured in a section titled "Pick of the Jokes." One notable aspect was that these jokes appear to follow licensing restrictions: for instance, Daleks did not appear in these comics until TV Comic obtained permission to put them in comics.

These comics are:

The Doctor fights with a police officer, wanting to get to his TARDIS.

Two Daleks talk, in TV Comic 798.

TVC 696, the Doctor attempts to get back to the TARDIS, or perhaps just a police box, but is blocked by an officer.
TVC 740: the Doctor enters a police box, only to find an officer exiting. The Doctor responds "Oops! Sorry! Wrong box!"
TVC 794: In an otherwise non-Who strip, a child carried a small Dalek on a leash.
TVC 798: Two Daleks talk, one speaking of their Trans-sister

Special issues

TV Comic

First Doctor

TV Comic Annual

First Doctor

TV Comic Annual 1966: Prisoners of the Kleptons and The Caterpillar Men
TV Comic Annual 1967: Deadly Vessel and Kingdom of the Animals

Second Doctor

TV Comic Annual 1968: Attack of the Daleks and Pursued by the Trods
TV Comic Annual 1969: The Time Museum and The Electrodes
TV Comic Annual 1970: Death Race and Test Flight

Third Doctor

TV Comic Annual 1971: Castaway and Levitation
TV Comic Annual 1975: Petrified

Fourth Doctor

TV Comic Annual 1976: Woden's Warriors
TV Comic Annual 1977: The Tansbury Experiment
TV Comic Annual 1978: Master of the Blackhole and Jackals of Space
TV Comic Annual 1979: The Sea Devil and Milena

External links