The comics reprinted things like Micronauts, Daredevil, Kirby's Black Panther, Defenders, Iron Man and strangely, Dazzler. Usually on the letters or editorial page was a short three panel comedy cartoon called "Earth 33 1/3".
Featuring a host of Marvel characters old and new, the strip was a quick "one-two-three" of corny jokes, puns and satire.
The team also produced another, film influenced, strip called "Flickers" for "Starburst" magazine between 1981 and 1985. I'd not heard of it until browsing the internet for some notes for this blog post (I wasn't a Starburst reader for some reason). I particularly like film critic Edward P. Sloth...
With issue 64 of Doctor Who Monthly, dated August 1982, Quinn and Howett began what could be argued as their most famous collaboration - "Doctor Who?". This new book from the always excellent Miwk Publishing sees a collection of every cartoon published in DWM, together with the full page comics from the various specials.
It's fascinating to see the evolution of the material. In the early days they were very much in the vein of the Earth 33 1/3 strips - quick little three-panel gags with the current Doctor and companions. For the 1982 and 1983 DWM Specials, Quinn and Howett had full pages to play with, which resulted in "So You Think You'd Make A Good Companion For Dr. Who!" and "Dr Who The Next 20 Years". These were obviously popular, because we then got the ten part "Doctor Who History Tour" which ran sporadically in DWM between issues 108 and 135 alongside the normal cartoons.
Expanding the scope beyond just the current Doctor, no actor, character or monster was safe from the relentless satire of the dynamic duo. Some of it was pretty broad - poor Colin Baker had jokes about his weight and there was stereotypical Scottish dialogue from McCoy. Even the production team came in for some gentle ribbing. JN-T was always depicted as a "hairy gooseberry" wearing a Hawaiian shirt covered in stars and planets and there were jokes about costume limitations and BBC cutbacks. .There was also a hilarious four page "unscreened edition" of An Unearthly Child in the 1983 Winter special.
From issue 146 of DWM onwards (March 1989) , the strips were promoted to full colour, and it's these that are of the most interest to me, as I had stopped buying the magazine regularly by this point. If anything the scripts get even wackier, with Ice Warrior acting classes, the Malus on a tube train, Bruce Forsyth as the Eighth Doctor, Ken Russell directing everyone in the nude and an unfortunate team up between Shockeye and the Kandyman. Oh and don't forget Pater Haining releasing an 'anniversary celebration' book at any opportunity and "Unlikely things to hear whilst viewing Dimension In Time". The last regular three panel comic appeared in DWM issue 225 (May 1995) with a one off reappearance for issue 350 (December 2004).
The middle section of the collection is taken up with complete reprints of the 64-page "Doctor Who Fun Book" and it's sequel "It's Bigger On The Inside" published in 1987 / 1988. These contained all-new material and allowed Quinn and Howett to break free of the usual restrictive format. Looking back, they most remind me of the comics annuals and summer specials I used to devour in my youth - the occasional longer-form story surrounded by jokes, single panel cartoons, illustrated and text features, puzzles, quizzes, fun facts and other assorted nonsense. Although I bought these at the time of release, I had forgotten the sheer inventiveness on display. Don't like a joke? Don't worry, there will be twenty more along on the next page. The double page spreads are just superb. The two magazines were a love-letter to the days of The Beano and The Dandy.
The final part is a real treasure trove of pretty much every other remaining rare scrap of Doctor Who related stuff produced by Quinn and Howett. This includes unused or changed strips, sketches, private commissions for Christmas cards and convention booklets and even work from the BBC staff magazine 'Ariel". Rounding it out is a selection of newspaper cuttings and private photos (I hadn't realised that Dicky played a BBC cameraman in "An Adventure In Space And Time"). The warning letter from Marvel management and the article on "Channel 33 1/3" being accused of breaking obscenity laws are fascinating inclusions. I really like the picture from the 80s of the two lads with Colin Baker - all three with luxuriant long curly hair! There is also a shot of Dicky on the 1988 ITV Telethon which I remember vividly. The last couple of pages reprints a lovely interview from the exquisite Vworp Vworp magazine of a few years ago.
For me the strips have not aged at all. They are still as relentlessly madcap and anarchic as I remember and captured the joy and love the gents had for the long-running show. The likenesses were not always spot on, but you could always tell who each figure was meant to be (Howett admits in the book that he struggled with some charactisations and was asked to reduce the size of Peri's breasts). The reproduction quality is also uniformly excellent. Pages have been carefully restored and where possible scanned from the original artwork. Miwk Publishing's books are always of high quality and this is no exception.
I have really fond memories of many of the cartoons included in this book and having everything all in one place means I can dip in and out at leisure (which will be often I'm sure). If you have any love for Doctor Who, humour strips or just comics in general, you owe it to yourself to get this book. You can buy it direct from Miwk Publishing here. Hurry because stock is becoming limited.
Absolutely brilliant review of us! Couldn't agree more.
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