SCRIPT: Pat Mills and John Wagner (actually written by Pat Mills)
ART: Dave Gibbons
EDITOR: Dez Skinn

ISSUES: 1 - 8
COVER DATES: 17 October 1979 - 5 December 1979
ON TV: City of Death - Nightmare of Eden (Season 17)
REPRINTS: Doctor Who Summer Special 1980, Marvel Premiere, Issues 57 and 58 (December 1980 - February 1981, in colour), Doctor Who Summer Special 1985 (in  colour), The Iron Legion, Panini ‘graphic novel’, published 2004, Doctor Who Classics, IDW, Issues 1 and 2, December 2007 - January 2008, then in trade paperback by IDW, July  2008, then again by IDW in Doctor Who Classics Omnibus, June 2010, then again by IDW in The Dave Gibbons Collection, December 2011.

Landing in an English village (see here for the name of the village) to stock up on provisions, the Doctor finds the place under attack from robotic legionnaires. The shopkeeper is killed, but the Doctor’s two hearts confuse the robots, allowing him to remove and examine its  head. General Ironicus, meanwhile, in communion with the gods, asks them for the war that has raged for millennia to continue until the end of time. The dimension duct is ready to transport the legionnaires and their captured slaves back home when the Doctor appears. He races for the TARDIS but the legionnaires open fire and the Doctor is hit.

The Doctor made it to the console before the blast, but the TARDIS is now caught in a dimensional disturbance. Meanwhile, the Rome Hyp-Arena is scene to the triumphant televised return of General Ironicus, but the entrance of the child Emperor Caesar Adolphus and his mother is upstaged by the materialisation of the TARDIS. The Doctor is promptly arrested as he realises that he has landed on an alternative Earth where Rome never fell. Ironicus demands the TARDIS’s secrets. When he refuses, he is cast into the arena to face the Ecto-Slime.

Ironicus is talking to the gods, who the Doctor recognises as the Malevilus, most terrible of alien races.

As the Malevilus devour the human prisoners seized from the village, the Doctor explains that they feed off death and are only five in number - Babiyon, Abiss, Epok, Nekros, and Magog, the foulest of all. Vesuvius mentions that he knows the secret of the gods, but they are discovered by one of Ironicus’ legionnaires before the robot can reveal anything further. Morris turns the tables and he, the Doctor and Vesuvius escape in an aircar, but are pursued by the Malevilus. They crash through an observation window but are caught between the Malevilus inside and a robot flying squad outside.

General before transforming into her natural form and attacking the Doctor.

As the Bestiarus attack and revolution spreads, Magog mentally tortures the Doctor. He seizes a TV camera and broadcasts images of Magog throughout the Empire, urging the citizens to turn against the abomination at the heart of Rome. But Magog is still not beaten and drags the Doctor inside his TARDIS, intending to use it to conquer all creation. However, the Doctor tricks her into activating a conduit to an empty dimension and she is sucked inside. The other Malevilus attempt to blast off in their ship which explodes. With Vesuvius installed as the new Emperor, the Doctor recommends Caesar Adolphus be sent to a strict boarding school on Cryos Four before departing himself for a holiday in Benidorm.

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Mentioning the Doctor’s two hearts (the first reference to them in the comic strip), Abominable Snowmen, Autons, Axos, Daemons, Daleks and dinosaurs cleverly tells us that Doctor Who Weekly knows its Doctor Who far better than TV Comic ever did. That it then goes on to tell a strong story with great confidence and panache capturing some of the magic of the television series is a Doctor Who comic strip revolution the likes of which we haven’t seen since the early days of Countdown. The Iron Legion, with its cast of memorable characters, meaty villains and beautiful and highly detailed artwork, is still glorious, fresh and exciting over thirty years later and it is little surprise that it has been celebrated with so many reprints throughout that time. There is one small flaw, though, as much is made of Vesuvius knowing the secret of the Malevilus, which is then never revealed. Some interesting facts? Oh, okay then! In the first instalment, the Doctor tells us he hasn’t eaten since he took off from Zaggar-Six. The year is given as 3021 (MMMXXI). Kronkburgers get a mention, which are later referenced in Russell T. Davies’ television episode The Long Game.
 

SCRIPT: Unknown
ART: Unknown

This ten panel advertising strip appeared regularly in Doctor Who Weekly (and presumably other publications) through the first few months of the publication. It was actually to advertise ’the amazing Dr Who radio for all space kids’, which boasts such super features as a ‘mind blowing volume control’, ‘a built in radio receiver’ and a ‘radio tuner for crystal clear reception’. Oh, and a ‘time warp bleeper control switch’.

Despite such clever advertising, I can’t ever remember pestering my parents for a TARDIS Tuner...

SCRIPT: Unknown
ART: Paul Crompton

A cosmic storm damages the TARDIS controls and forces the Doctor to land the ship on the planet Xaboi for repairs. With heavy snowfall leaving K9 stranded in the ship, the Doctor and Romana go to find help. They venture into a nearby cavern, whereupon they discover the remains of a group of locals. Uneasy, they continue, but are chased by a horrific creature further into the cave. There they discover a tribe who have yet to develop the power of speech but despite this the Doctor persuades one of them to return with them past the now sleeping beast back to the TARDIS in order to help, but the primitive panics, attacks the beast and is killed. The Doctor hurriedly returns to the ship to collect a stun-sensor and goes to deal with the beast. The primitives are in danger but the gun, in stun mode, has no effect. He is forced to set the gun to kill the beast in order to save the primitives, before returning to the TARDIS, pondering that he might one day return to see if they have evolved.

SCRIPT: Unknown
ART: Paul Crompton

The TARDIS lands in what the Doctor believes to be 20th Century England. As he goes to investigate, Romana is captured by a white knight and his men, but a Black Knight and his warriors attack with a laser weapon that kills the White Knight. The Doctor meanwhile has found a castle and discovers he and his companions are not in the time he thought they were. Believed to be an intruder, he is held at lance-point, but before he has time to explain who he is, the remaining warriors of the White Knight return with Romana and K-9. The Doctor explains that the weapon is an intervention of the forces of evil, and the balance with good must be restored. The Black Knight and his warriors soon attack but their leader is blasted by K9. As a battle erupts, the Doctor and his friends escape back to the TARDIS despite Romana’s protestations. The Doctor says their job was only to restore balance between the two opposing forces and that evil will ultimately be defeated by itself.

The TARDIS lands in the City where all emotion is outlawed. Those with feelings are murdered and the population rids itself of emotions by plugging themselves into harmony booths. Attempting to prevent a woman from neutralising her emotions, the Doctor is quickly captured by a Moderation Squad. He is sentenced to death.

Matter transmitted to the Watchtower where the Moderators watch over the city of Zombos, the Doctor is searched and presented to the Moderator General who explains that the inhabitants of the planet Zom used to be a violent criminal race, until the ruling Brains Trust realised that all crime was caused by emotion, which they outlawed, installing the citizens with cranial sockets so that the Harmonisers can erase all feelings. The Doctor is  outraged, but taken to be treated with the Ultra-Harmoniser, which wipes the brain clean. However, as the Moderators prepare him for the machine, the building is attacked by members of the Zom Emotional People’s Organisation, a group of rebels intent on liberating the prisoners.

The rebels rescue the Doctor. Getting out of the city proves more of a challenge, but the Doctor and his new friends manage it. Meanwhile, in Zombos, the Brains Trust sense the danger posed by the Doctor and order his destruction.

Reaching out with their minds, the Brains Trust locate the rebel base. Moderators are dispatched to destroy it. The Doctor reaches the rebel base where he learns that each of the rebels practices a single emotion, keeping it alive for the time when they overthrow the Brains Trust. Big Hate, however, wants to attack the city with millions of ravenous   carrion-eating bugs called Barabara. As the Moderators attack, Big Hate releases the

SCRIPT: Pat Mills and John Wagner (actually written by Pat Mills)
ART: Dave Gibbons
EDITOR: Paul Neary

ISSUES: 19 - 26
COVER DATES: 20 February 1980 - 9 April 1980
REPRINTS: Doctor Who (US) in colour, Issues 1 and 2, October - November 1984 , Doctor Who Classic Comics, Issues 25 - 26, October - November 1994, Panini’s The Iron Legion ‘graphic novel’, published 2004, in colour in Doctor Who Classics, IDW  Publishing, Issues 4 - 5, March - April 2008, then in trade paperback from IDW, December 2008, then again by IDW in Doctor Who Classics Omnibus, June 2010, then again by IDW in The Dave Gibbons Collection, December 2011.

An alien spaceship plummets down onto Blackcastle in the North of England, crashing in the steel works. Next day, on their way to school, Sharon and Fudge discover the wounded Meep hiding in a shed. Fudge is all for selling it to the local pet shop, but Sharon says it is their secret. Meanwhile, in space, the Wrarth Warriors are closing in to kill the Meep when the TARDIS materialises aboard. The Wrarth are immediately hostile, decapitating K9 and seizing the Doctor.

The Doctor passes out and the Wrarth Warriors operate on him, implanting a bomb inside his stomach. Sharon and Fudge, meanwhile, hide the Meep at Fudge’s house in his bedroom before going off to search for the crashed spaceship. The Doctor recovers consciousness and escapes aboard the TARDIS, just as the Wrarth Warriors planned. Picking up a news broadcast from Earth, the Doctor realises a spaceship has crashed there and sets the coordinates. However, he does not realise he has Wrarth Warriors stowed away on board who plan to detonate the bomb in his stomach as soon as he makes contact with the Meep.

Hastily and ineffectually repairing K9, the Doctor, plagued by a stomach ache, lands the TARDIS at Blackcastle steel mills then steps out to investigate. Sharon and Fudge are also investigating. Sharon is seized by the Wrarth, but the Doctor uses the ship’s defences to save her before all three flee back to Fudge’s house. The Meep has fully recovered, but the Doctor suddenly works out why they were allowed to escape and the significance of his stomach ache: he has been turned into a living bomb.

Wrapping his stomach in lead from the roof, the Doctor blocks the detonation signal. The Wrarth plan to wait until dark before moving in for the kill. The Meep explains that the Wrarth Warriors came to his planet and tortured and killed his people. Now he is the last of his kind and the Warriors plan to destroy him too. As the Wrarth move in, the Doctor constructs a fizgig which projects ultra-white light that drives back the light-sensitive Wrarth. However, the Meep shows his true colours when he kills one of the Warriors in cold blood. The Wrarth swear revenge and the Doctor, the duplicitous Meep, Sharon and Fudge are forced to flee.

The Doctor, Meep, and Sharon escape on a bus, but the Doctor realises he must go back to help Fudge and Mrs Higgins. There he gains the confidence of the Wrarth Warriors, Sergeant Zogroth and Constable Zreeg, who explain that the Meeps were originally a peaceful race who mutated into cruel beasts intent on conquest when their world strayed into the influence of a black sun. Eventually the Star Council ordered the use of biological constructs known as Wrarth Warriors to end the peril. Only the Meep leader escaped, and now, the Doctor realises, it has Sharon in its grasp.

The Meep and Sharon gain access to the crashed spaceship, and the Meep uses the strange powers of the ship’s energy source to bring UNIT soldiers and local workers under its control. When the Doctor, Zogroth and Zreeg enter the mill, they see the workers rebuilding Beep the Meep’s ship, and Sharon, controlled, at the Meep’s side. However, when the Doctor attempts to rescue her, she lunges at him, and both of them plunge from a gantry.

Landing without harm, Sharon is shaken from the Meep’s control, but is distraught to learn that Beep the Meep is evil. The Doctor saves her from Beep’s attempt to shoot her and confronts the furry dictator. The Meep plans to star jump from Earth aboard its repaired ship, which will destroy the planet. The Doctor and Sharon escape and attempt to sabotage the ship, but are caught again. Beep activates his ship’s black sun drive and Blackcastle is sucked into a black hole with the Doctor at the epicentre.

The Wrarth rescue the Doctor who reveals that he reduced the power of the Meep’s star drive, giving him just enough energy to leave Earth, saving the planet but destroying the steel mill. The Doctor gets all the humans aboard the TARDIS and takes them home,

then the Wrarth board the Meep’s ship and arrest the creature. With the gratitude of the Wrarth, the Doctor takes Sharon aboard the TARDIS, intent on getting her home.

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
And we’re back in classic strip territory with the rich texturing and sparkling characterisation of Pat Mills. Beep the Meep and the Wrarth Warriors are brilliant creations, Sharon less so. The plot, based on the age-old idea of appearances being deceptive is at its best in its early instalments and loses its momentum a little once the Meep’s true nature has been revealed, and the ending is perhaps a little easy and lacking in danger, but this is still a good, solid strip with plenty of excitement and confident and dynamic artwork, and the idea of the Doctor having a bomb implanted inside him was surely inspiration for the sequence with Captain Jack in Torchwood: Children of Earth. Angela Rippon, contemporary newsreader, makes a couple of cameo appearances. We also get references to UNIT, Cybermen, the Black Guardian and the randomiser. Beep the Meep would return to the Doctor Who comic strip for Star Beast II and TV Action! whilst the Wrarth Warriors put in brief cameos in the first of these plus Party Animals and  A Life of Matter and Death.
 

those who have been scratched transform into Werelox. Meanwhile, Joe Bean aboard his haulage ship the ‘Spacehog’ is having trouble making radio contact with New Earth when the TARDIS lands on the bridge. The Doctor, K9 and Sharon, who were hoping for Blackcastle, are confronted by Joe and co-pilot Babe Roth who tell them the TARDIS is interfering with radio transmissions. However, it seems more likely the source of the interference is coming from a huge spaceship heading straight towards them.

Held in tractor beams, the ‘Spacehog’ is boarded by Werelox. While Sharon and Babe Roth head to the engine room, the Doctor releases Joe’s cargo into space and the ship speeds away, but some Werelox have already got inside. K9 takes care of a couple of them and Joe another, but both are immobilised and the Doctor surrounded by Werelox.

The Werelok leader is called Brill, and the Doctor defeats him with a bag of marbles before K9 stuns him. Two Werelok soldiers have gone down to the engine room, but by the time the Doctor arrives, Babe Roth has dealt with them. Three Werelox survive and the Doctor studies them in the med-bay, noting venom ducts in their claws. Sharon talks to Babe Roth about her life as the ‘Spacehog’ continues on to New Earth. However, when Sharon goes to tell the Doctor they are about to arrive, the Doctor transforms into a Werelox!

Unable to control himself, the Doctor boards the TARDIS with K9 and dematerialises into limbo. There he struggles to find an antidote, which he finally does, rematerialising back aboard the ‘Spacehog’ just ten minutes after leaving. On New Earth, he meets President Wilson K. Wilson and explains that he suspects they have yet to meet the real enemy overrunning the colonies. Hypnotising Brill, the Doctor learns that the Werelox’s masters are the Daleks.

The Daleks intend to exterminate all life in the New Earth system and purify it with fire. When Queen Victoria colony is obliterated, the Doctor decides he must infiltrate the Dalek ship. He takes K9 and Brill with him, the latter now hypnotised and believing himself on the Doctor’s side. However, when they materialise aboard the Dalek ship, they are immediately discovered and forced to run for their lives.

Running for their lives while K9 holds back the Daleks and the Werelox, the Doctor and Brill discover an alien zoo aboard the Dalek ship, but are soon cornered by Daleks. Joe Bean and Babe Roth, meanwhile, have packed the ‘Spacehog’ with high explosives and intend to crash through the Dalek defences and ram the ship. The Daleks explain that they intend to use the

into an escape pod - and pushes Babe Roth in too. He will make the final run alone. However, as impact approaches and the Daleks break into the nerve centre, the Doctor finishes his work and flips a switch, placing the whole ship in a time lock forever. Reunited with Sharon, Babe Roth and Joe Bean back on New Earth, the Doctor decides it’s time to get Sharon home.

SCRIPT: Unknown
ART: Unknown

Another advertising feature that ran for a while in the pages of Doctor Who Weekly (and presumably other publications too). This one was to promote the Genesis of the Daleks LP (a sort of large format CD-shaped object made out of black vinyl that magically produced sound when the surface was rubbed against a ‘stylus’ - you couldn’t make this stuff up). The record (or super modern tape cassette) featured a heavily abridged version of the television story. It is because of this record that I can quote large chunks of the story from memory.

Daleks with names (as featured in this advertisement) are something of a rarity. At this point in the series’ history, the only precedents are Zeg (from The Dalek Chronicles) and Alpha, Beta and Omega from The Evil of the Daleks.

Sharon follows the Doctor through the split, and both land in a cavern where they meet Meltron, Guardian of the Gateway, who - influenced by the Doctor’s thoughts - offers them tea. The split is strong enough to drag the TARDIS through, but when Sharon suggests escape, the Doctor elects to leave it where it is for the moment. Brimo sees Meltron entertaining the time travellers and attacks.

Realising that the Doctor and Sharon are not figments of her imagination, Brimo tries to use Meltron against them, but the Doctor’s will is equally strong and the mental battle only divides Meltron into two warring creatures. However, Brimo is not beaten yet and summons up an army of ruthless killers.

The Doctor counters by creating a large hole and the army falls into it. The TARDIS is blocking the dimensional gateway, meaning Brimo cannot draw more energy from our universe. The only way she can create something new is by destroying something old. The Doctor continually outwits her attacks, then challenges her to think of the most terrifying thing she can think of. Unwittingly, Brimo does so, but the most terrifying thing is the eternity capsule, which traps her once more. Back aboard the TARDIS, the split in time is running straight through the console room, dividing the ship in two. The Doctor reintegrates the ship, but the process ages both him and Sharon by four years. For him, this is nothing, but for Sharon the difference is huge - she is now grown up.

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
After the epic settings and diverse and larger-than-life characters of previous strips, Steve Moore’s main comic strip debut initially feels lightweight and lacking in plot twists, but remains a well thought out tale despite being half the length of previous offerings. As a child, the Doctor and Brimo’s battle reminded me of the duel between Merlin and mad Madam Mim in Disney’s Sword in the Stone.

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Dragon’s Claw has always been one of my favourite Doctor Who comic strips. Its setting is richly detailed and accurately portrayed, the artwork is gorgeous, Chang, Hsiang and Kuang are great characters who really come alive, the reveal of the Sontarans as the villains of the piece is brilliantly done (here making their main comic strip debut), and the epic four hundred mile trek in part two of the strip lends it a genuinely epic feel akin to Marco Polo. The Doctor mentions that he first encountered the Sontarans ‘about three hundred years ago... Your time...’ which is a rather nice and subtle reference to the Medieval-based events of The Time Warrior.

SCRIPT: Steve Moore
ART: Dave Gibbons
EDITOR: Paul Neary

ISSUE: 46
COVER DATE: November 1980
ON TV: Full Circle - State of Decay (Season 18)
REPRINTS: Doctor Who (US) in colour, Issue 8, May 1985, Panini’s Dragon’s Claw ‘graphic novel’, published 2005, in colour in Doctor Who Classics, IDW  Publishing, Issue 10, July 2008, then in trade paperback from IDW, December 2008, then again by IDW in Doctor Who Classics Omnibus, June 2010, and then again by IDW in The Dave Gibbons Collection, December 2011, then in the 100 Page Spectacular 2012, also by IDW, July 2012 (Cover not shown).

The Doctor returns a reluctant Sharon to Blackcastle, only for the TARDIS to be teleported to what appears to be an old house located in the asteroid belt. The Doctor, Sharon and K9 investigate, discovering people from Earth time periods trapped in time-stasis capsules and continuing their day to day lives as if nothing strange were happening. Escaping through the third and eighteenth century capsules, they meet Varan Tak from the anthropology unit on Oskerion who realises they are not specimens from twentieth century Earth and offers to send them home. But the Doctor demands explanation and Tak says that, two thousand years ago, he was on his way to conduct a study of Earth when his ship was struck by asteroids and crashed. The ship, whose sole function is to protect and sustain him, rebuilt itself as a house to keep him comfortable and alive, creating the teleport so he could continue his studies and also creating a humanoid form for its own main brain unit to act as a companion. But the ship refuses to allow Tak to leave its confines, protecting the teleporter with a force field every time he approaches. The Doctor agrees to help Tak escape, using K9 to blast the forcefield then sending Tak to Earth. However, the humanoid form enters, furious, and destroys K9. She reverses the teleporter, but Taran Vak is

SCRIPT: Steve Moore
ART: Dave Gibbons
EDITOR: Paul Neary

ISSUES: 47 - 48
COVER DATES: December 1980 - January 1981
ON TV: State of Decay - Warriors’ Gate (Season 18)
REPRINTS: Doctor Who (US) in colour, Issue 8, May 1985, Panini’s Dragon’s Claw ‘graphic novel’, published 2005, in colour in Doctor Who Classics, IDW  Publishing, Issue 10, July 2008, then in trade paperback from IDW, December 2008, then again by IDW in Doctor Who Classics Omnibus, June 2010, and then again by IDW in The Dave Gibbons Collection, December 2011.

A handsome hero named Karith fights to save his lissom Lyan from hideous Kroads watched helplessly by Garret and Camilla. This is all a group dream organised by Scylla, who works for Dreams Deluxe. As she leaves the Berrace residence on Uniceptor IV, the TARDIS lands. The Doctor is old friends with the Berrace household, having visited six or seven years previously. Garret explains that three years ago one of the native animals, the Slinth, was discovered to have telepathic powers, allowing humans to share dreams. They arrange for a dream session for the Doctor with Vernor Allen, but before the session begins, Garret receives word that Lord Veith, his dreamer and two other people have been killed in mysterious circumstances. The dream begins and all is pleasant until a strange procession led by the deceased Lord Veith approaches. The dream descends into a nightmare, with Vernor Allen, who is supposed to control the dream from outside, sucked into the illusion. He warns that they could all die from mental shock. His Slinth rears above them, huge and ferocious.

In the dream-room, K9 detects that the Doctor’s pulse rate is approaching critical and severs the connection, freeing the dreamers from the dream. The Doctor realises that, during the dream sessions, the Slinths have been feeding on psychic energy, growing stronger, waiting to attack. Now they have that strength and, as the Doctor, Sharon and Vernor follow reports on the news, they discover that the Slinths have formed themselves into a gigantic devil-shaped creature, a form guaranteed to generate more psychic energy in humans. The creature grows ever larger by absorbing energy. Vernor shoots a few Slinths with a projectile weapon, but it is left to the Doctor to short the creature out with a loop of electrical cable and the hose from a fire engine. The menace ended, Sharon decides to stay on Uniceptor IV with Vernor where they can forge a new life together.

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Dreamers of Death doesn’t satisfy me like some of the previous strips. It feels like there aren’t enough developments in the plot or enough twists and turns in the narrative to make it truly memorable, and consequently it feels somewhat condensed into two parts. I do usually like my comic strips a little longer and a little more involved. Still, there are good ideas at work here and - even if she doesn’t actually do anything - it provides a reasonably effective farewell for poor, underused and possibly misconceived Sharon who is bundled off with the first black guy that she meets. The Slinths forming themselves into a huge devil creature at the end evokes memories of Quatermass and the Pit. The TARDIS once again lands silently here.

As they run for cover, they are observed by a group of scientists. The two parties meet up. One of the scientists is Wooding, Svenson’s assistant. Wooding explains that deputy controller Daneman is responsible for the warrior robots; she says

SCRIPT: Steve Moore
ART: Dave Gibbons
EDITOR: Alan McKenzie

ISSUES: 49 - 50
COVER DATES: February 1981 - March 1981
ON TV: Keeper of Traken - Logopolis (Season 18)
REPRINTS: Doctor Who (US) in colour, Issue 9, June 1985, Panini’s Dragon’s Claw ‘graphic novel’, published 2005, in colour in Doctor Who Classics, IDW  Publishing, Volume 2 Issue 1, July 2008, then in trade paperback from IDW, December 2008, then again by IDW in Doctor Who Classics Omnibus, June 2010, and then again by IDW in The Dave Gibbons Collection, December 2011.

Sucked through a temporal/spatial anomaly, the TARDIS lands on a strange beach where the Doctor discovers Prometheus chained to a rock. Prometheus explains that he stole the spark of life and was punished by Zeus by being chained to a mountain. The mountain has eroded to a small rock, and the Doctor decides that he has been punished enough and has K9 set him free. Prometheus pilots the TARDIS to the planet Olympus where they receive a hostile reception from Aphrodite who delivers them to an audience with Zeus. Before Zeus, Aphrodite, Hermes, Ares and Apollo, Prometheus states his case for creating life, but Zeus will not be swayed and has him imprisoned and the Doctor taken to a scientist named Asclepius. Ascelpius plans to dissect him.

Using K9 to distract Ascelpius and Hermes, the Doctor makes his escape. In the throne room, he overhears a conversation between Zeus and Selene and Helene, the latter two urging for Zeus to release life into the universe. Zeus refuses until life has been perfected as peace-loving creatures. Realising he may have allies, the Doctor releases Prometheus who immediately goes to Ascelpius’ laboratory and steals the life spores once again. They escape in Helius’ chariot and, despite Zeus’ best efforts to stop them, make it back to the TARDIS. In deep space, Prometheus departs to spread life across the universe. This leaves the Doctor wondering if Olympus was really Earth or if Prometheus is now heading there.

SCRIPT: Steve Moore
ART: Dave Gibbons
EDITOR: Alan McKenzie

ISSUE: 52
COVER DATE: May 1981
REPRINTS: Star-Lord, Issue 1, February 1981, abridged and with rudimentary colour by Ed Hannigan, Doctor Who (US) in colour, Issue 10, July 1985, Doctor Who Magazine, Issue 182, 22 January 1992, Panini’s Dragon’s Claw ‘graphic novel’, published 2005, in colour in Doctor Who Classics, IDW  Publishing, Volume 2 Issue 2, July 2008, then in trade paperback from IDW, December 2008, then again by IDW in Doctor Who Classics Omnibus, June 2010, and again in The Dave Gibbons Collection, December 2011 (see cover above).

The Terrain Survey Vessel Excelsior, commanded by Louis B Frederic, lands on planet UX-4732. They find the TARDIS nearby, and the Doctor steps out to greet them. He introduces them to a primitive but idyllic village populated by deaf, mute humanoids. They witness a procession in which the villagers carry animal carcasses onto an altar, standing on a structure that looks like a giant spider web. It turns out to be just that, as an enormous spider emerges from a nearby cave and begins encasing the villagers in cocoons. Frederick assumes the spider intends to eat the villagers, and the survey team destroy it. The villagers pelt them with rocks, driving them back to the Excelsior. The next morning, the village is deserted. The survey team locates another village, with another spider web and numerous villagers spun into cocoons. They witness a humanoid infant hatching from an egg. As they destroy the giant spiders there, the Doctor realises that the spiders and villagers are symbiotic; in exchange for the animal carcasses (which the spiders eat), the spiders encase the villagers (actually larvae) in the cocoons they require to hatch into giant butterfly creatures. Frederic is stunned.

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Bleak, visceral, violent and filled with cannibal jokes that actually only serve to make the atmosphere darker and even more queasy, this is like Doctor Who meets Cannibal Holocaust. This is almost certainly the most adult comic strip up to this point. The story is simple enough, but given great strength by the downbeat ending. The art is frequently disturbing, always excellent. This strip really is as wonderful and powerful as it is horrible and dark. Of course, humans trapped in a closed system beneath a vast city is the idea behind Russell T. Davies’ TV episode Gridlock, and the shark-teethed cannibals, not to mention the terrible bleak fate awaiting the survivors, are echoed in Utopia. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if this was RTD’s favourite comic strip. It certainly comes high on a list of mine.

SCRIPT: Steve Parkhouse
ART: Dave Gibbons
EDITOR: Alan McKenzie

ISSUES: 56 - 57
COVER DATES: September 1981 - October 1981
REPRINTS: Doctor Who (US) in colour, Issue 12, September 1985, Panini’s Dragon’s Claw ‘graphic novel’, published 2005, in colour in Doctor Who Classics, IDW  Publishing, Volume 2 Issue 3, August 2008, then in trade paperback from IDW, December 2008, then again by IDW in Doctor Who Classics Omnibus, June 2010, and then again in IDW’s the Dave Gibbons Collection, December 2011 (see cover above).

The Doctor is holidaying at the Festival of Five Planets, playing video games and indulging his sweet tooth. There, he meets Doctor Ivan Asimoff, an alien writer of science-fiction. Within moments of their meeting,  the TARDIS comes under attack from four strangers, who have mistaken it for a vending machine. The strangers introduce themselves as the Freefall Warriors. The Festival of Five Planets, it turns out, sponsors a space race - and the Warriors challenge the Doctor to take part. He accepts for both himself and Asimoff and the pair are bundled off in the spacecraft belonging to Machine Head, one of the Warriors. Machine Head takes an early lead. Unfortunately, his speed lands him in the path of an oncoming fleet of Space Raiders. These Raiders, who come from a sixth planet within the system, intend to disrupt the Festival, and are using one of the elements of the race to help them. The race, it turns out, was supposed have a "mock battle" as one of its features. Thus, Machine Head is caught unawares when he encounters their fleet. Only after his craft takes damage and plunges toward a nearby planet does he realise the attack is real.

The Doctors are called upon to repair the ship during the unexpected pit stop. Meanwhile, Machine Head is able to contact his fellow Freefallers and warn them of impending attack. The others react quickly enough to begin picking off the Raider fleet. His ship repaired, Machine Head re-enters the fight. By this time, the main opposition left is that of the Raider Leader. Machine Head’s ship can withstand the effects of a star, so he plays a game of ‘chicken’ with the Raider Leader, tempting the Leader to fly straight into the sun.

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Really the most memorable thing about this strip is that it introduces Doctor Ivan Asimoff, who would go on to feature in a solo comic strip adventure in the 1982 Summer Special called The Fabulous Idiot, and who would return during the Sixth Doctor’s comic strip run in Polly the Glot. Asimoff is the first recurring character who wasn’t a companion.  However, equally important is that the Free-fall Warriors were the first characters from the strip spun off into their own strip in the larger Marvel universe, something we would see more of during the era of the Seventh Doctor. The Free-fall Warriors also put in cameos in Party Animals and A Life of Matter and Death.

for scrap. The Doctor is awakened by the noise of Dutch's drill and emerges somewhat peeved at the disturbance, but is even more annoyed to find a dormant Cyberman amongst their collection of galactic scrap. Flotsam and Jetsam have a lucrative side business collecting inert Cybermen, reprogramming them and selling them as butlers. The Doctor accidentally reactivates the Cyberman.

The Cyberman steals the TARDIS with Jetsam inside. As the Doctor, Flotsam and Dutch

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Given the usual standard of the annual comic strips, this isn’t actually too bad, telling a logical and well developed story (although what Bemar hopes to get out of it is anyone’s guess) with a sensible conclusion. The artwork suffers as a result of the printing quality, but the composition and the likenesses are actually very good, even if the whole thing does have the slight look of having been coloured in with felt tips. Definitely one of the better annual comic strips. It also, according to Hopwood, has a hidden meaning - the villain Bemar is World editor Mae Broadley, the flesh-eating Druden represent World's parent company and their victim 'Stylo' equals the 'writers'.

SCRIPT: Clive Hopwood
ART: Mel Powell

The Doctor, Adric and K9 arrive in a small village on Publius to find all the villagers at a meeting where they harangue Bemar, their leader, about the strange deaths and disappearances that have beset them. When Adric attempts to defend a man called Stylo, Bemar accuses him and the Doctor of being the culprits. K9 and Adric are captured, but the Doctor escapes and is given shelter by Kidson who explains that Bemar has seized control as a tyrant, but is getting outside help from an insectoid race known as the Druden. The Druden have manufactured a plague that is killing the villagers, and the diseased flesh is being used to feed the Druden hatchlings. Soon they will transport to the village to feast. The Doctor destroys the Druden matter transporter and Kidson crashes his strato-cruiser into their mountain hideaway, burying them forever. K9 synthesises enough antidote to cure the villagers of the plague.

SCRIPT: Steve Parkhouse
ART: Dave Gibbons
EDITOR: Alan McKenzie

ISSUE: 60
COVER DATE: January 1982
ON TV: Castrovalva - Four to Doomsday
REPRINTS: Doctor Who (US) in colour, Issue 14, November 1985, Doctor Who Classic Comics, Issue 9, July 1993, Panini’s Dragon’s Claw ‘graphic novel’, published 2005, in colour in Doctor Who Classics, IDW  Publishing, Volume 2 Issue 4, September 2008, then in trade paperback from IDW, December 2008, then in IDW’s Doctor Who Classics Omnibus Volume 2, released August 2011 (see cover above), and then yet again from IDW in the Dave Gibbons Collection, December 2011.

Earth, in the far future, and the fearsome Neutron Knights, led by the bloodthirsty warlord Catavolcus, descend on the inner sanctum of the fortress of an unnamed King and his few remaining defenders. The King's wizard summons the Doctor and his TARDIS via mental control. The wizard reveals to the Doctor the heart of the inner sanctum, a colossal fission reactor called the Dragon which the Neutron Knights aim to possess. The wizard sets the Dragon to overload, hoping to consume the enemy in the ensuing explosion while the King and his men escape in the TARDIS, but the Neutron Knights storm the sanctum. As the wizard and the King's forces take refuge in the TARDIS, the King stays behind to face off against Catavolcus. The Doctor is stunned to discover that the King and wizard are Arthur and Merlin. Catavolcus slays King Arthur, and the TARDIS dematerialises shortly before the Dragon erupts, destroying the fortress, Catavolcus, and the Neutron Knights. The Doctor awakens outside the now unoccupied TARDIS in a wooded area, and muses on what he has experienced... perhaps a dream, or a time-loop where past and future merge? Back in the TARDIS, a shadowy image of Merlin appears, informing the Time Lord that they will meet again.

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The Fourth Doctor’s final regular comic strip isn’t really an end, more a beginning, as it feeds directly into The Tides of Time. As such it is difficult to judge in isolation as its thin plot works better tied into the larger plot. The artwork is in places stunning, though there are a lot of panels crammed in there and it can sometimes look a little dense, but it remains an exciting appetiser for what is to come.

SCRIPT: Louise Marks
ART: Colin Howard
COLOUR: Steve Whitaker
LETTERS: Sophie Heath

ISSUE: 161
COVER DATE: June 1990

In a similar vein to the 1972 Radio Times Colony in Space adaptation, this Masque of Mandragora one page strip turns the opening moments of the story into a comic strip.

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
This adaptation is a very nice idea, and it’s a shame Doctor Who Magazine only did one other strip in this fashion (Terror of the Autons). The artwork is excellent and the colour is lovely, though it must have been a very expensive way to introduce a synopsis and fact file.

SCRIPT: Unknown
ART: David Sutherland (?)

ISSUE: 24
COVER DATE: (Month unknown) 1990

Teacher is boring his class with a history reader and begins to reminisce about the cane which he was once allowed to smack naughty pupils with. Nowadays, the only punishment he can inflict is scraping chalk on the blackboard. He demonstrates, and the almighty sound attracts the attention of Doctor Wotsit in his time travelling telephone box, who lands to investigate. Meeting his heroes, the Bash Street Kids, he takes them and Teacher on a trip through time to investigate corporal punishment through the ages.

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
It seems odd to depict Doctor Wotsit as a version of the Doctor that had last appeared eight years previously, especially given the average age of Beano readers. How amusing you find this depends on how funny you actually think the Bash Street Kids are. Personally, I didn’t like them even as a child...

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Horrible art with terrible likenesses of the regulars and nasty and frequently unsympathetic colour masks a simple but quietly effective tale that comfortably fills its length.

SCRIPT: Dan Abnett
ART: Colin Andrew
LETTERS: Enid Orc
EDITOR: Gary Russell

ISSUES: 212 - 214
COVER DATES: 11 May - 6 July 1994

On Kolpasha, Brenna Frall, having just sprayed herself with Vitality hypo-spray, is murdered, despite the computer claiming that she is alone. The Doctor and the second Romana, meanwhile, are attempting to replenish the TARDIS wardrobes among the fashioneers on Kolpasha. Gevaunt, Noma and Vachis meet in secret, believing that Kolpasha represents everything sick and twisted in the human condition and plotting revenge. The instrument of their revenge is the perfume Vitality. The Doctor and Romana visit fashioneer Dara Clayd, but find her murdered. As they attempt to discover from her computer what befell her, they are caught by Kolpashan security.

They are detained by Madlen Xel of Kolsec, who informs them of Brenna Frall’s murder but who realises their innocence after watching the computer log. Having viewed the inventories of both victims’ homes, the Doctor and Romana realise that both used Vitality hypo-spray. Gevaunt, Noma and Vachis meet again, but Noma notices blood on Gevaunt’s sleeve. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Romana visit an old friend called Racheem Al-Hite, and Romana uses his chemical analysis equipment to study a sample of Vitality. She discovers that the hypo-spray really does reverse human ageing, but that repeated use causes human flesh to biodegrade to a protein compound, making human beings easier to digest. The Doctor meanwhile investigates the Vitality warehouse but is discovered by Gevaunt... who transforms into a hideous alien.

The Doctor identifies Gevaunt as a Quoll, a rapacious carnivore that has eaten the Reft Sector bare. But humans are indigestible to the Quoll, so they require them to use Vitality to make them edible. Romana and Racheem report their findings to Madlen Xel who is eventually convinced enough to interrogate Noma and Vachis. The Doctor arrives, and Gevaunt shortly after, but he is back in his human disguise. The Doctor tempts him into revealing his true form by spraying himself with Vitality. The Quoll kills Noma and Vachis before the Doctor sprays it with Vitality. The creature promptly exlodes.

SCRIPT: Warwick Gray
ART: Charlie Adlard
COLOUR: Steve Whitaker
LETTERS: Jane Smale
EDITOR: Gary Russell

On Vortis, the Doctor and Sarah revive a wingless Menoptra named Jresta who was investigating strange energy emissions in the area. Together they discover a strange structure of fused silica, but are confronted by a Menoptra called Vursus with his troops. Despite the Doctor’s protestations, Vursus orders one of his men to break off a fragment of the structure, but when he does, the structure emits a bright light that draws the winged Menoptra to it, destroying them utterly. The Doctor saves Vursus. The structure is sentient and called Cylenx, a parasite from ancient Vortis, made dormant by the power of the Animus but now growing strong by feeding once again on the Menoptra. The Doctor destroys the Cylenx by shattering its crystalline structure with the sonic screwdriver.

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
More poor likenesses and horrible artwork, but here only masking a frothy runaround that thanklessly riffs on ideas from the Key to Time season.

SCRIPT: Gareth Roberts
ART: Paul Peart
LETTERS: Elitta Fell
EDITOR: Gary Russell

On Vyga 3, right under the noses of surveilling mobsters, the Doctor seizes a briefcase that he believes to be a segment of the Key to Time. When the mobsters intervene, K9 stuns them and the Doctor and Romana beat a hasty retreat to a cafe. There K9 analyses the case and declares that it is not a segment, but something similar enough to confuse the tracer. As the Doctor, his curiosity piqued, tries to open the case, they are surrounded by rival mobsters. Escaping the rival gang, the time travellers head back to the TARDIS, but there they are met by both gangs of mobsters now in an alliance. The Doctor surrenders the case and he, Romana and K9 retreat inside ther TARDIS. The mobsters open the case, but it contains a fluctuating chronon wave, which kills the mobsters horribly. The Doctor and Romana continue their quest.

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Okay, so this is an insubstantial revisiting of ideas last seen in Star Beast, but it’s also a lot of fun. A particular delight is seeing Fudge all grown up, but it’s also a nice touch that the Doctor was heading for Uniceptor IV, as he told Sharon at the end of Dreamers of Death that any attempt to visit her there would probably land him in Blackcastle!

SCRIPT: Gary Gillatt
ART: Martin Geraghty
COLOUR: Paul Vyse
LETTERS: Elitta Fell
EDITOR: Scott Gray

The Meep comes up for parole and his freedom is restored after fifteen years of incarceration. However, the black star drive with which he enslaves races has been removed from his ship, so he is forced to return to Earth to collect the secondary drive. The Doctor, meanwhile, intending to visit Sharon on Uniceptor IV, arrives in Blackcastle at the new multiplex cinema run by Mr Higgins. Leaving K9 in the TARDIS, he decides to watch a Lassie film.

The Meep arrives and holds the Doctor at gunpoint whilst it detonates a grenade to expose the secondary black star drive buried beneath the complex. During the explosion, the Doctor escapes and runs into Mr Higgins - Fudge, now grown up (see here). The two men run to the projection room, where the Doctor uses the projector as a black light receiver, imprisoning the Meep in the film he was watching - the Lassie film.

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Adrian Salmon was an inspired choice when reprising the look and feel of the original Junkyard Demon strip, and he does a good job too of giving this strip its impressive visuals. The colour work, too, is bold and excellent. Story-wise this doesn’t do much more than remind us of the original, but there’s still plenty of fun to be had.

SCRIPT: Alan Barnes
ART: Adrian Salmon
LETTERS: Peri Godbold
EDITOR: Scott Gray

Joylove McShane arrives on planet A54 attempting to buy out Arrold Flotsam and Halbert Jetsam’s lucrative Cyber-reconditioning business. When they refuse, he attempts the same by more intimidating techniques - his manservant Stinker. The Doctor arrives and runs into Dutch, Flotsam and Jetsam’s robotic ‘living sculpture’ who explains what has happened. The Doctor confronts Joylove McShane, who reveals himself to be a gunrunner working for Eric Klieg and the Brotherhood of Logicians. McShane activates the Cybermen, but they refuse to obey him and he, Flotsam, Jetsam and the Doctor are forced to flee. The Doctor wires Dutch into the Cybermen’s mainframe, effectively making him a Cybercontroller, who is then able to shut down the Cybermen. However, one survives, and it is aboard McShane’s ship as he and Stinker beat a hasty retreat. It kills them both. The Doctor blows up the Cybership on A54, but Jetsam has found a pod of Cybermats he thinks he can turn into robot boot polishers. The Doctor beats a hasty retreat.

The Doctor survives the blast, but Arkady has transformed into a huge incorporeal cloud. Harry realises there is something odd about the structure of Ivan’s blood cells. They are attacked by a zombie, but it dissolves when it touches Ivan. They race to tell the Doctor. Sarah has realised that Takhail was devastated by Chernobyl, killing everyone apart from Arkady over a ten year period. Now Arkady wants revenge for those that perished, and heads off to Moscow. The Doctor, Ivan, Harry and Sarah follow in the TARDIS where the Doctor confronts Arkady. The creature attempts to kill the Doctor, but Ivan intercedes. Positive meets negative and Arkady is destroyed. As the time travellers depart, they are watched by the same unknown force that abducted Sarah... (See here for more information)

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Black Destiny tries its hardest to make us feel the Season 12/13 vibe, even paraphrasing lines from Revenge of the Cybermen and Pyramids of Mars, but its use of Chernobyl and nuclear fears leaves us in no doubt that this is a product of a later time. Its use of Chernobyl instead of a fictitious disaster makes me feel uneasy, and not in a good way, because this genuine tragedy is being exploited for what is - in essence - a piece of fluffy fiction with an extremely poor resolution and a ludicrous explanation for that resolution. The artwork feels very static with no sense of dynamism and with extremely poor likenesses of the regulars.

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Incredibly juvenile, very rude and also rather funny, this one-off one page strip has clearly been created by someone with more than a passing acquaintance with the series, as references to Metebelis III, Xeraphas and the Master’s TARDIS in the shape of a grandfather clock abound, though Jamie’s inclusion is strange. It is not to be confused with the considerably more innocent (but admittedly not as amusing) Doctor Poo from 1976!.

SCRIPT & ART: Sean Longcroft
LETTERS: Elitta Fell
EDITOR: Gary Gillatt & Scott Gray

ISSUE: 243
COVER DATE: 25 September 1996

Not strictly speaking a story featuring an adventure of the Fourth Doctor, but more a meta-fictional account of watching the television adventures of the Fourth Doctor and the process of growing up and becoming a fan of the show.

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Echoing my own life almost exactly (slightly different timescale, but there you go), and I suspect the lives of many others, this beautiful, haunting, poetic and, above all, deeply honest strip is just a delight from beginning to end. Ruminating as it does on what it means to be a fan and perfectly capturing what it is that we get out of Doctor Who, this is just one of the most elegant strips ever printed.

they are soon confronted  by French soldiers from 1810. The Doctor and Romana head East and spot the mime artist who leads them to a Minotaur called Taureau. The Minotaur demands they answer three riddles. If they fail, then he will eat them. If they succeed, all captives will go free. Romana wrongly answers his first riddle, but the Doctor has picked the Minotaur’s pocket whilst offering it a jelly baby and taken the key to the catacombs. Mime artist and Minotaur vanish as the door is opened.

ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
So, you choose an evocative setting, create an interesting puzzle as the Doctor meets soldiers from two hundred years  ago, then throw it all away on some nonsense about a riddle-setting Minotaur. That the Doctor does nothing more ingenious than pick the creature’s pocket shows the absolute lack of imagination on display in this badly drawn strip.