The amazing Vworp Vworp! Volume 3 zine – dedicated as ever to all things Doctor Who comics and related titles – may have been a long time coming, but it was well worth the wait, leading with Alan Moore‘s first-ever interview about his work on the Doctor Who comic strips, a terrific free Dalek CD gift, variant covers and more.
Running to a staggering 208 pages of features and strips, the team are just spoiling us this time around, even if it does mean you’ll have to suffer an interview with me (and be exposed to scary pictures of me taken some thirty years ago, which are far worse than the inside of a Dalek and should really have carried some kind of Health and Safety warning).
This is a high-end, low print run not-for-profit publication that is definitely well worth the £9.99 cover price. Congratulations to all those involved.
The highlight of the issue for comic fans is surely the exclusive in-depth interview with comics writer Alan Moore, exploring the Doctor Who backup strips published in Doctor Who Weekly and Monthly in 1980 and 1981. Featuring the Cybermen, the Autons and the Time Lords, these strips were not only Alan’s very first professional work, but would go on to influence both comics and Doctor Who in ways he could never have foreseen.
“I decided that if I couldn’t use Daleks then the next biggest Doctor Who enemy would probably be the Cybermen,” says Alan, for example, of his 1980 tale, “Black Legacy”. “As I understood it, the main part of the Cybermen ethos was efficiency, and a kind of a hygiene. Physical and mental disease would be completely unknown to the Cybermen. So I thought, what if there was something that could reintroduce these forgotten terrors to this race that has evolved beyond the fear of mental and physical illness?”
Alan also shares his idea for the ultimate Doctor Who TV story, and Vworp! Vworp! also talks to the artists who worked on Alan’s Doctor Who strips, John Stokes and V for Vendetta’s David Lloyd.
Free with this issue is a brand new full-cast audio play written by Kaldor City’s Alan Stevens, with sound design by Alistair Lock. This one-off homage is available only with Vworp Vworp! and is inspired by “The Mechanical Planet”, a comic strip published in 1965. The play stars David Graham, beloved as Parker from Thunderbirds, and who, alongside Peter Hawkins, provided the original voice of the Daleks from their first appearance in 1963 through to the epic story The Daleks’ Master Plan.
As the Golden Emperor of the Daleks, David voices a Dalek for the first time since 1966. The cast is completed by Sasha Mitchell, best remembered as Arlen, the Federation officer who brought down Blake’s 7 in the final shocking episode transmitted just over 25 years ago.
“The Mechanical Planet” is only available with the magazine on CD and, for a lucky few with the TV Century 21-inspired issue cover, a proper vinyl 7-inch record, created in homage to the brilliant 1965 Century 21 record that featured highlights from the final episode of The Chase with narration by David Graham.
Also in the issue:
Deadline to Doomsday, an exciting seven-part Dalek strip, was begun by the late artist Ron Turner in 1997 and completed seamlessly for Vworp Vworp! by Dalek artist supremo Lee Sullivan and Charlie Kirchoff
BRAND NEW COMIC STRIPS
Vworp! Vworp! add a bittersweet coda to TV Century 21’s “Robot Agent 2K“, showcasing the work of writer Tim Quinn and artist Tim Keable; a stunning multi-Doctor epic “The Woman Who Killed the Doctor“, written by Daniel O’Mahony and drawn by Steve Andrew; and “The Lawman“, an authentic Doctor Who Weekly-style back-up strip penned by John Peel and drawn by Baz Renshaw
• TV CENTURY 21
Prolific science fiction author Stephen Baxter (The Massacre of Mankind, Doctor Who: The Wheel of Ice), together with Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore (authors of The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guides to Blake’s 7/ The Prisoner/ Battlestar Galactica) lead readers through an in-depth analysis of these extraordinary Dalek strips and their close cousins in the much-loved 1960s and 1970s Dalek annuals.
“The Daleks” artists Richard Jennings, Eric Eden and Ron Turner are profiled; while Tat Wood put the strips in context with a detailed examination of Dalekmania in general; horror author Stephen Laws and Doctor Who historian Jeremy Bentham remember growing up during those exciting years; plus Matthew Sweet on TV Comic and David Quantick reflects on canon
TARGET BOOKS
Remember the thrill, the smell, the feel of a brand new Doctor Who novelisation? Nicholas Pegg does, and salutes the people behind them
THE AGE OF CHAOS
Vworp! Vworp! journeys back to 1994 to explore the creation of this memorable Marvel one-shot penned by the Sixth Doctor himself, Colin Baker, with exclusive interviews with Colin, editor Gary Russell, and artists John M Burns and Barrie Mitchell
DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE EDITORS INTERVIEWED
Featuring John Freeman, Gary Russell, Marcus Hearn, Alan Barnes, Clayton Hickman, Peter Ware and Tom Spilsbury in conversation. •
BRIEF ENCOUNTERS
Vworp! Vworp! also chat about Abslom Daak with Richard Starkings, Lee Sullivan, Paul Cornell and Ben Aaronovitch; Halo Jones with Andrew Cartmel; investing in Doctor Who Weekly with Matthew Waterhouse; and illustrating the very first Dalek novelisation with legendary Hollywood graphic designer Arnold Schwartzman and Armada artist Peter Archer.
• Vworp! Vworp! Issue number: 3 Price: £9.99 On sale: February 2017 Order it now from www.vworpvworp.co.uk
Covers
• “Business as Usual” cover by Martin Geraghty (above)
• “Black Legacy” cover by Adrian Salmon
• “TV Century 21“cover by Gavin Rymill, Phil Stevens, James O’Neill, Andrew Orton and Colin Brockhurst
Vworp! Vworp! Issue 3 is edited and designed by Colin Brockhurst, published by Gareth Kavanagh/Malevilus Publications
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, Doctor Who, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Television