Doctor Who comic artists join eBook project to help raise funds for writer Tommy Donbavand

By John Freeman on March 10, 2018

Screenwriter and author Paul Ebbs (Casualty, Doctors, BBC Radio 4 and more) wants you to help fellow writer Tommy Donbavand and his essential fund to provide for his family while he undergoes treatment for cancer – for a second time.

Visit http://www.tommyVcancer.com/ for more info. Image courtesy of the legend that is Nigel Parkinson.

Art by Nigel Parkinson

Doctor Who author and Scream Street creator Tommy Donbavand first went through a gruelling round of treatment for throat cancer after being diagnosed back in 2016. Just as he was beginning to get over that and started approaching publishers for work, he’s now been diagnosed with lung cancer, which will require even further treatment.

All of this has had a huge impact on Tommy’s ability to earn money for his family, so his creative friends have rallied once more to encourage support for this great writer.

With that goal in mind, Paul Ebbs has put together a collection of his own Doctor Who related #SLEDGEHAMMER reviews, short stories, Doctor Who audio scripts and novel proposals to BBC Books. He then asked Doctor Who artists Adrian Salmon, Martin Geraghty and playwright and polymath Elton Townend Jones to provide accompanying original artwork and photographs.

The collaborative eBook, Tommy’s Top Ten, is almost 600 pages of free Doctor Who stuff and nonsense. It includes a story about the death of the Doctor’s most famous companion, an audio script about the time the Doctor had to work with a Dalek to beat a common enemy, a visit to the well known comics setting of Stockbridge to have another adventure with Maxwell Edison, and a script ‘Revenant’ written especially for Colin Baker that fell through at the eleventh hour, which is presented here for the first time anywhere.

Art for Tommy’s Top Ten by Martin Geraghty

The ‘Top Ten’ of the title is a list Tommy provided to Ebbs of his ten favourite Doctor Who stories. This list has been pitched against stunning brand new illustrations by Adrian Salmon and Martin Geraghty and then followed by Ebbs’ tartly irreverent (and a bit sweary) reviews from his 2017 #SLEDGEHAMMER diary.

The rest of the stories and scripts have been augmented by Elton’s Townend Jones’ joyous photographs of Doctor Who toys.

To get this book, for free, the second charity anthology created to support Tommy, people should make a donation to Tommy’s Fund here – https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/tommydonbavand

And then send a copy of their confirmation email from Just Giving (just the date and time of donation – no personal information needed) to this email address: TommysTopTen27@yahoo.com

Any donation amount will do, but Ebbs suggests “between £5-£10 would be a great ballpark figure to pay for the eBook. Once the email has been received, information will be sent out on how to download the PDF of Tommy’s Top Ten.”

There are no plans as yet to make physical copies, but if there is enough interest, that may change.

Paul Ebbs

“Please help Tommy,” Paul appeals, “and get yourself access to some brilliant brand new illustrations and photographs, plus a load of old Doctor Who nonsense from me.”

“Cancer is a horrible thing that has an impact – whether directly or indirectly – on pretty much every one of us at some stage in our lives,” says British Fantasy Award-winning author Mark Morris, who has voiced support for the eBook project. “Every donation, however small, will help to ease Tommy and his family’s anxiety at least a little bit. Thank you.”

• To get this book, for free, the second charity anthology created to support Tommy, people should make a donation to Tommy’s Fund here – https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/tommydonbavand

Then send a copy of their confirmation email from Just Giving (just the date and time of donation – no personal information needed) to this email address: TommysTopTen27@yahoo.com

• Tommy has been documenting his fight against cancer on his blog www.tommyvcancer.com – and there’s a book too, which has over 50 amazing five-star reviews on Amazon.co.uk

Buy it

• UK: http://amzn.eu/0vO6kfd

• US: http://a.co/8gHhwpJ

• OZ & NZ: http://amzn.to/2uEQeIC

John Freeman

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.