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Doctor Who Classics
Doctor Who Classics Omnibus, Vol. 1
Featuring work from some of the most prominent names in comics including Dave Gibbons and Grant Morrison, follow along as the Doctor plays out his classic tales, all featuring state-of-the-art coloring by Charlie Kirchoff. Stories collected include "City of the Damned," "Dreamers of Death," "Iron Legion," "Spider-God," "Changes," and more!
360 pages, Paperback
First published May 18, 2010
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154 people want to read
About the author
Pat Mills
848 books230 followersPat Mills, born in 1949 and nicknamed 'the godfather of British comics', is a comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since.
His comics are notable for their violence and anti-authoritarianism. He is best known for creating 2000 AD and playing a major part in the development of Judge Dredd.
His comics are notable for their violence and anti-authoritarianism. He is best known for creating 2000 AD and playing a major part in the development of Judge Dredd.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 24, 2010
This was an interesting compilation of several stories from the Doctor Who Classics comic series. Most of the stories follow the Fourth Doctor, though there are a few stories with the Sixth Doctor, Peri & Frobisher and one with the Seventh Doctor. Like the tie-in novels from a few years ago and the Big Finish audios, these stories extend the reigns of these classic Doctors.
Definitely a must read for any classic Doctor Who fan!
Definitely a must read for any classic Doctor Who fan!
July 3, 2023
Three-and-a-half stars, rounded up. This 2010 anthology gathers 19 comic book stories by a variety of authors and artists, originally published in the pages of Doctor Who Magazine between 1979 and 1988. And while I wouldn't necessarily call any of them essential for fans, they collectively represent a fascinating look at a somewhat obscure corner of the long-running sci-fi franchise. There's the Doctor's first canonical companion of color Sharon Davies, introduced 28 years before Martha Jones on TV. There's the ultimate fate of Jamie McCrimmon, erstwhile companion to the Second Doctor, coupled with a surprising revelation about the origins of the villainous Cybermen. There are several plots that couldn't have aired on the contemporary show, due to either budgetary considerations or the level of just plain weirdness possible on the written page with less direct BBC oversight (or both, in the case of fan-favorite companion Frobisher, a shapeshifting alien whose natural form looks like a regular earth penguin). And there's The Star Beast, the storyline that introduces the infamously innocuous-looking furry megalomaniac and war criminal Beep the Meep, set to make his live-action debut later this year in either an adaptation or sequel to that tale. (The publicity remains unclear.)
It's sort of an odd collection, and the criteria for inclusion are not particularly obvious. There are installments here with the Fourth, Sixth, and Seventh Doctors, along with their companions K-9 and Peri -- plus those I've already mentioned -- but not always in order and with plenty of remaining issues from the same eras left out. The quality is definitely variable from sequence to sequence too, as is the length, with some adventures spanning only a few pages and others representing the kind of serialized fiction that would have played out over many months in the original format. But I've enjoyed seeing this side of a series so dear to my heart, and would recommend it for any comic readers looking to explore the wider Whoniverse.
[Content warning for gun violence, cannibalism, and genocide.]
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It's sort of an odd collection, and the criteria for inclusion are not particularly obvious. There are installments here with the Fourth, Sixth, and Seventh Doctors, along with their companions K-9 and Peri -- plus those I've already mentioned -- but not always in order and with plenty of remaining issues from the same eras left out. The quality is definitely variable from sequence to sequence too, as is the length, with some adventures spanning only a few pages and others representing the kind of serialized fiction that would have played out over many months in the original format. But I've enjoyed seeing this side of a series so dear to my heart, and would recommend it for any comic readers looking to explore the wider Whoniverse.
[Content warning for gun violence, cannibalism, and genocide.]
Like this review?
--Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
--Subscribe here to support my writing and weigh in on what I read next!
https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
--Follow along on Goodreads here!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6...
--Or click here to browse through all my previous reviews!
https://lesserjoke.home.blog
March 24, 2012
The Doctor hangs out with a shapeshifting alien penguin? Yes, please.
February 9, 2023
Not a bad collection or anything along those lines, but these were largely inconsequential stories made impressive mostly by who worked on them. A number of future higher profile British comics creators had a hand in these, most notably Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons, whose beautiful artwork covers most of this volume, including all but one of the Fourth Doctor stories here. That said, I think the ones I liked best were a pair of Sixth Doctor stories written by Grant Morrison. Nothing bad, but nothing earth-shattering here either.
January 20, 2023
Really fun. With it being a collection of stories, it is a little bit and miss. But there are some fantastic stories in here. Well worth it!
December 9, 2015
This book collects nearly 350 pages of comics from Doctor Who Magazine, mostly starring the Fourth Doctor but with two sixth Doctor strips and a seventh Doctor strip thrown in. The comics were originally in black and white but are colorized beautifully in this collection.
The book begins with "The Iron Legion," the first Doctor Who comic story to appear in Doctor Who Magazine. In many ways, it had hallmarks of the previous TV comics strip that many Doctor Who stories appeared in previous with a companionless Doctor travelling into danger. However, this story of a Roman Empire in space is simply fantastic with so many great twists and turns. It's fast paced given the demand of weekly publication that there be some dramatic moment every four to six pages.
The City of the Damned into a city where emotion is a crime and the Doctor is set to have his emotions extracted. He's rescued by a ragtag group age of rebels who have a problem of their own, they can feel emotions but they can only each feel one. The story has some serious points but also some incredibly light touches with a great ending.
Time Slip is an eight page comic that creates an excuse for the Doctor to change back to his prior regenerations. With only four, it's a lot less impressive than stories involving ten or eleven. This story is noteworthy for featuring Canine.
Doctor Who and the Star Beast introduces the twisted evil of a very cute looking character called, "The Meep" and also gives the Doctor his first DWM Companion in Sharon, an English teenager.
Doctor Who and the Dogs of Doom features the Doctor battling Werelocks, a sort of Werewolf style creature and one of the Doctor's oldest enemies.
Doctor Who and the Time Witch has the Doctor and Sharon pulled into a pocket dimension controlled by the Titular Time Witch. This is an okay story but Sharon ages forward four years and is sort of non-plussed about the whole thing.
The Dragon's Claw plays off the popularity of martial arts films in the late 1970s and we meet yet another old foe in a believable and exciting story.
The Collector is a story reminiscent of War Games with someone kidnapping people from history. The ending is a bit of copout as it involves the Doctor travelling through his own timestream for a very weak the time stream for a very weak reason. It's the type of plot device that could be overused to solve every problem the Doctor faces.
The Dreamer of Death is a sort of a precursor to 1990s tales warning of Virtual Reality machines. It marks Sharon's unceremonious departure marry random person, reminiscent of how Leela left the TV series.
Then we get three Grant Morrison stories from the mid-1980s. "Changes" is an amusing but predictable tale of the Sixth Doctor, Peri, and Frobisher encountering another shapeshifter in the TARDIS. The story is fun but predictable. The Seventh Doctor talks to a cell culture and seeds a planet with life in, "Culture Shock."d
The Sixth Doctor reunites with Jamie in a mystery involving a dead Time Lord in a story that's interesting but with a sort of cynical edge that John Byrne brought to American comics with Man of Steel.
The Fourth Doctor Comics resume after this but with less of a Doctor Who feel and more of a genery. ral science fiction story, perhaps to match John Nathan Turner coming to helm Doctor Who on TV.
The Doctor meets Promethus and explores Greek mythology in, "The Life Bringer." in "War of the Words," the Doctor finds a clever way to stop a war. In, "Spider-God," the Doctor doesn't really anything but lecture humans for doing something foolish. In, "The Deal," ia criminal hijacks his way on to the TARDIS. In, the "End of the Line," The Doctor lands in a post-apocalyptic city and has an adventure with a very depressing ending. In, "The Free-Fall Warriors," the Doctor gets involved in a space race in a limited plot episode where the Doctor mostly takes backseat.
Overall, I thought the first 60% of the book was simply smashing with the early adventures of the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who Magazine which told stories that were good and which worked great in the comic format (looking even better colorized). The rest of the book is okay, but just okay as we get some interesting stories, but many of them are also pretentious or don't really fit into the world of Doctor Who. So, it's a mixed bag but much more good than bad.
The book begins with "The Iron Legion," the first Doctor Who comic story to appear in Doctor Who Magazine. In many ways, it had hallmarks of the previous TV comics strip that many Doctor Who stories appeared in previous with a companionless Doctor travelling into danger. However, this story of a Roman Empire in space is simply fantastic with so many great twists and turns. It's fast paced given the demand of weekly publication that there be some dramatic moment every four to six pages.
The City of the Damned into a city where emotion is a crime and the Doctor is set to have his emotions extracted. He's rescued by a ragtag group age of rebels who have a problem of their own, they can feel emotions but they can only each feel one. The story has some serious points but also some incredibly light touches with a great ending.
Time Slip is an eight page comic that creates an excuse for the Doctor to change back to his prior regenerations. With only four, it's a lot less impressive than stories involving ten or eleven. This story is noteworthy for featuring Canine.
Doctor Who and the Star Beast introduces the twisted evil of a very cute looking character called, "The Meep" and also gives the Doctor his first DWM Companion in Sharon, an English teenager.
Doctor Who and the Dogs of Doom features the Doctor battling Werelocks, a sort of Werewolf style creature and one of the Doctor's oldest enemies.
Doctor Who and the Time Witch has the Doctor and Sharon pulled into a pocket dimension controlled by the Titular Time Witch. This is an okay story but Sharon ages forward four years and is sort of non-plussed about the whole thing.
The Dragon's Claw plays off the popularity of martial arts films in the late 1970s and we meet yet another old foe in a believable and exciting story.
The Collector is a story reminiscent of War Games with someone kidnapping people from history. The ending is a bit of copout as it involves the Doctor travelling through his own timestream for a very weak the time stream for a very weak reason. It's the type of plot device that could be overused to solve every problem the Doctor faces.
The Dreamer of Death is a sort of a precursor to 1990s tales warning of Virtual Reality machines. It marks Sharon's unceremonious departure marry random person, reminiscent of how Leela left the TV series.
Then we get three Grant Morrison stories from the mid-1980s. "Changes" is an amusing but predictable tale of the Sixth Doctor, Peri, and Frobisher encountering another shapeshifter in the TARDIS. The story is fun but predictable. The Seventh Doctor talks to a cell culture and seeds a planet with life in, "Culture Shock."d
The Sixth Doctor reunites with Jamie in a mystery involving a dead Time Lord in a story that's interesting but with a sort of cynical edge that John Byrne brought to American comics with Man of Steel.
The Fourth Doctor Comics resume after this but with less of a Doctor Who feel and more of a genery. ral science fiction story, perhaps to match John Nathan Turner coming to helm Doctor Who on TV.
The Doctor meets Promethus and explores Greek mythology in, "The Life Bringer." in "War of the Words," the Doctor finds a clever way to stop a war. In, "Spider-God," the Doctor doesn't really anything but lecture humans for doing something foolish. In, "The Deal," ia criminal hijacks his way on to the TARDIS. In, the "End of the Line," The Doctor lands in a post-apocalyptic city and has an adventure with a very depressing ending. In, "The Free-Fall Warriors," the Doctor gets involved in a space race in a limited plot episode where the Doctor mostly takes backseat.
Overall, I thought the first 60% of the book was simply smashing with the early adventures of the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who Magazine which told stories that were good and which worked great in the comic format (looking even better colorized). The rest of the book is okay, but just okay as we get some interesting stories, but many of them are also pretentious or don't really fit into the world of Doctor Who. So, it's a mixed bag but much more good than bad.
July 7, 2017
This book collects the comics from the first 57 issues of the Doctor Who Magazine, originally published between 1979 and 1981 [1]. For reasons unknown, a few later strips are also inserted, seemingly at random.
The comics star the then-current TV Doctor, as played by Tom Baker, though he usually bears only a passing resemblance to his TV persona. He has the big grin and laughing eyes, but the contrasting gravitas that was a key aspect of the character is largely missing. A notable exception is 'End of the Line', where the Doctor encounters the handful of survivors of a collapsed civilisation that must once have resembled our own--it's a story that out-bleaks even the bleakest of season 18's episodes. For the most part he's the wide-eyed fun-loving eccentric that he was only occasionally, but memorably, on TV.
I never paid much attention to the DWM comics when I regularly read the magazine in the late 80s and the 90s. Mostly I'd skip them. Not a big fan of comics in those days. The great exception was the issue that introduced Frobisher, in the first issue I bought, in 1984. Despite being only a few pages long, that instalment was plainly vastly superior to anything we'd seen on TV in years. But that's a review for another time.
The comics collected in this book are aimed at a fairly youthful audience, and occasionally this jars for an adult fan. But I was mainly impressed with their breadth of imagination, and their ability to do things the TV show couldn't.
There's a sense that this Doctor inhabits a boundless, richly imagined science fiction universe, peopled by a wide range of intelligent aliens who are just people, not monsters. The makers of the TV series might have loved to evoke the same sense of cosmic diversity, but budget limitations prevented it.
The Doctor's companion in many of the strips is Sharon, a black teenager from an industrial town in England, through whom the comic crosses barriers of class, race and geography that the 20th century version of the TV series seldom or never did. After several adventures with the Doctor, a time-accident ages Sharon to adulthood in an instant. Possibly the editors wanted to start giving her sexier outfits. Possibly they just enjoyed the thrill of transforming a character in a way that would be impossible on TV.
The Doctor's robot dog K9 is also present, no doubt because the publisher didn't have to pay an actor for the use of his likeness. He vanishes without explanation around the same time he left the TV series. None of the other TV characters gets a mention (except in the handful of much later strips that are unaccountably included). It's refreshing that no attempt is made to reconcile any of these comics with the TV show, or to say which episodes they're supposed to be set between, even while the Doctor's outfit evolves in parallel with the TV version.
These comics were originally published in monochrome, and have been coloured for this book. Ordinarily I'm a stickler for things being republished in their original form, but the colouring is good enough that I could easily forgive it.
[1] Yes, I know it was called Doctor Who Weekly and Doctor Who Monthly in those days, but such pedant-appeasing detail would break up the flow of my opening sentence.
The comics star the then-current TV Doctor, as played by Tom Baker, though he usually bears only a passing resemblance to his TV persona. He has the big grin and laughing eyes, but the contrasting gravitas that was a key aspect of the character is largely missing. A notable exception is 'End of the Line', where the Doctor encounters the handful of survivors of a collapsed civilisation that must once have resembled our own--it's a story that out-bleaks even the bleakest of season 18's episodes. For the most part he's the wide-eyed fun-loving eccentric that he was only occasionally, but memorably, on TV.
I never paid much attention to the DWM comics when I regularly read the magazine in the late 80s and the 90s. Mostly I'd skip them. Not a big fan of comics in those days. The great exception was the issue that introduced Frobisher, in the first issue I bought, in 1984. Despite being only a few pages long, that instalment was plainly vastly superior to anything we'd seen on TV in years. But that's a review for another time.
The comics collected in this book are aimed at a fairly youthful audience, and occasionally this jars for an adult fan. But I was mainly impressed with their breadth of imagination, and their ability to do things the TV show couldn't.
There's a sense that this Doctor inhabits a boundless, richly imagined science fiction universe, peopled by a wide range of intelligent aliens who are just people, not monsters. The makers of the TV series might have loved to evoke the same sense of cosmic diversity, but budget limitations prevented it.
The Doctor's companion in many of the strips is Sharon, a black teenager from an industrial town in England, through whom the comic crosses barriers of class, race and geography that the 20th century version of the TV series seldom or never did. After several adventures with the Doctor, a time-accident ages Sharon to adulthood in an instant. Possibly the editors wanted to start giving her sexier outfits. Possibly they just enjoyed the thrill of transforming a character in a way that would be impossible on TV.
The Doctor's robot dog K9 is also present, no doubt because the publisher didn't have to pay an actor for the use of his likeness. He vanishes without explanation around the same time he left the TV series. None of the other TV characters gets a mention (except in the handful of much later strips that are unaccountably included). It's refreshing that no attempt is made to reconcile any of these comics with the TV show, or to say which episodes they're supposed to be set between, even while the Doctor's outfit evolves in parallel with the TV version.
These comics were originally published in monochrome, and have been coloured for this book. Ordinarily I'm a stickler for things being republished in their original form, but the colouring is good enough that I could easily forgive it.
[1] Yes, I know it was called Doctor Who Weekly and Doctor Who Monthly in those days, but such pedant-appeasing detail would break up the flow of my opening sentence.
August 6, 2013
"Time Slip" is probably the most Doctor Who story line in the collection (and also the best and worth reading through).
I had some of these books from the first time they went around, and they plucked the nostalgia strings, albeit not deftly. They are interesting science fiction comic books, but they're not particularly Doctor Who comic books. I think I've seen some similar stories in other scifi comics. Wasn't there a terrible Star Trek comic book pitting the crew of the Enterprise against Greek gods?
Has the Doctor really been this violent all along but deflects the violence through a surrogate? I know it's been a trend, but in this collection it seems to be a constant theme.
I had some of these books from the first time they went around, and they plucked the nostalgia strings, albeit not deftly. They are interesting science fiction comic books, but they're not particularly Doctor Who comic books. I think I've seen some similar stories in other scifi comics. Wasn't there a terrible Star Trek comic book pitting the crew of the Enterprise against Greek gods?
Has the Doctor really been this violent all along but deflects the violence through a surrogate? I know it's been a trend, but in this collection it seems to be a constant theme.
January 16, 2023
The Iron Legion
4/10
City of the Damned
6/10
Time Slip
2/10
The Star Beast
6/10
The Dogs of Doom
6/10
The Time Witch
9/10
Dragon's Claw
8/10
The Collector
7.5/10
Dreamer of Death
7/10
War of the Worlds
6.5/10
Spider-God
7.5/10
Had no idea where it was going, whacky.
The Deal
4/10
the doctor just lets a guy die
The end of the line
6.5/10
Pretty dark
The Freefall Warriors
6.5/10
Odd choice to have three random comics from other Doctors slapped in there
4/10
City of the Damned
6/10
Time Slip
2/10
The Star Beast
6/10
The Dogs of Doom
6/10
The Time Witch
9/10
Dragon's Claw
8/10
The Collector
7.5/10
Dreamer of Death
7/10
War of the Worlds
6.5/10
Spider-God
7.5/10
Had no idea where it was going, whacky.
The Deal
4/10
the doctor just lets a guy die
The end of the line
6.5/10
Pretty dark
The Freefall Warriors
6.5/10
Odd choice to have three random comics from other Doctors slapped in there
June 14, 2010
This is the first volume of these classics. Most of them are very entertaining Who stories. For the most part, its Baker's Doctor that you follow, so don't expect this to be like Tennant's or Smith's. Much less darkness. Sometimes, it seems like the Doctor can only save the world through pure silliness. But that makes most of these short tales a good summer read.
Looking forward to volume 2, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend this. You should already be a Who fan if you are going to read this.
Looking forward to volume 2, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend this. You should already be a Who fan if you are going to read this.
February 16, 2014
This book is an omnibus version of the Doctor Who Classics comics published by IDW. Most of the stories contain the 4th Doctor, while a couple contain the 6th and 7th Doctors.
If you read this then chances are you are already a fan of Doctor Who and comics, so there is a good chance that you will like this. Since this is an omnibus, the collection varies in the quality of the stories but overall they are fun to read. In many cases it is clear why these are short stories adapted for comics instead of some other medium. Overall, this book is a fun, light read for Doctor Who fans.
If you read this then chances are you are already a fan of Doctor Who and comics, so there is a good chance that you will like this. Since this is an omnibus, the collection varies in the quality of the stories but overall they are fun to read. In many cases it is clear why these are short stories adapted for comics instead of some other medium. Overall, this book is a fun, light read for Doctor Who fans.
September 30, 2012
Most of these are interesting stories, but not necessarily good *Doctor Who* stories. Nonetheless, taken together they form an interesting, at times compelling narrative. The exception are the Grant Morrison stories, which are all very good. The World Shapers is superb, with its careful attention to continuity (though I find IDW's constantly jumping around in continuity when they *could* have printed everything in order up to at least the 7th Doctor, to be very annoying).
October 15, 2013
It's a bit of a slog at times but it's a pretty good read overall, especially for a Doctor Who fan. It's interesting to see how different writers and artists tackle the same subject matter. This volume even includes a Grant Morrison story, which is exactly as loopy as it sounds like.
June 8, 2012
Terrible writing. Terrible.
December 26, 2014
Very funny and clever stories in here. Very enjoyable read especially if you're a doctor who fan.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews