Doctor Who Weekly, cover date 12 December 1979

Dec 12

Dec 12 Doctor Who Weekly, cover date 12 December 1979

One of telly’s greatest monster designs in close-up on the front of one of history’s greatest comics makes for a superb cover. Aged 9, I loved Doctor Who, I loved DWW, and Zygons scared the Y-fronts off me. A true classic.

This issue of Marvel’s DWW introduced the City of the Damned comic, written by John Wagner (with Pat Mills) and drawn by Dave Gibbons. I took these Doctor Who strips so seriously, repeatedly poring over the script – so intelligent, compelling – and art – so captivating, iconic.

It’s been several decades since I last looked at this strip, but some of these panels made such an impression that it seems like yesterday. If anyone ever mentions Benidorm I instantly think of the Fourth Doctor looking down on this city.

Interesting suggestion here that the Doctor boasts ‘the complete E-wave [emotional] spectrum’. Was this true of the Fourth Doctor? In its early days the DWW characterisation of the Doctor was probably more neurotypically idealised than Tom Baker’s TV portrayal.

The comic ran two back-up strips, including this adaptation of HG Wells’ The War of the Worlds by Chris Claremont and Yong Montano (first published by Marvel in 1976). I’ve read, watched and listened to many adaptations of TWOTW but this version is how I'll always visualise it.

Steve Moore and Steve Dillon created The Stolen Tardis for the non-Doctor, Whoniverse-based series of comics at the end of DWW. This particular tale, set on Gallifrey, includes the first instance of what would become the famous ‘Vworp! Vworp!’ TARDIS dematerialisation effect.

As well the comic strips, DWW included lots of lovely articles and regular features, including A Letter from the Doctor, Crazy Caption and Who Cares! I cut the Photo-File out of every issue of my original collection and blu-tacked them to my bedroom wall.

I’m sure this Thrills, Spills & Chills advert will be very familiar to original readers of a certain age, as will the thrilling Cushing movie film poster reproduced on this issue’s back cover.