ebay store The Movie Reliquary has a number of Doctor Who rarities for sale at present, including production pages for the Doctor Who Magazine comic story “Train-Flight“, written by Andrew Donkin and Graham S. Brand, drawn by John Ridgway.
It should be stressed that what’s on offer is not original art (and the seller makes that very clear), but some of the high quality bromides shot from John’s work, by either DWM editor John Freeman or, possibly, designer Gary Gilbert, published in 1990, in Issues 159 – 161. The bromides were generated inhouse, utilising a sometimes temperamental repro camera.
The process was part of the daily routine of the magazine designer or editor back then, along with physical paste up involving cow gum, Letraset and other trappings of the pre-digital age, although by this time Marvel UK was moving toward Desktop Publishing.
“Train-Flight“, the first continuing strip to be edited by John Freeman for DWM, taking over that role from Richard Starkings in addition to the title’s overall production, guest stars Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith alongside the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy), Elisabeth paid a £40 “appearance fee” for each issue as part of Equity agreements for likeness use agreed between the magazine and the actors union after Anthony Ainley led demands for the use of BBC photography featuring actors in the title during Sheila Cranna‘s tenure as editor on the title.
(These payments extended to the use of BBC photographs of monsters such as Daleks, Cybermen and Yeti, whose rights were either co-owned or owned outright by their creators such as Terry Nation, Kit Pedler, and others).
You can bid on the production pages here on eBay.
The story was printed in full colour in the graphic novel The Mark of Mandragora. An additional colour version was produced by IDW for the series, Doctor Who Classics.
The Movie Reliquary also currently has original art by Lee Sullivan for Doctor Who DVD Files Magazine, for their Death to the Daleks issue and his art for their Terror of the Autons issue for sale, Doctor Who Original Studio Scripts for The Trial of a Timelord signed by actors Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant on offer, an Original Production Used Doctor Who Set plan from Time and the Rani, and other items from TV and film production history.
• Check out The Movie Reliquary here on eBay
UPDATE 10th September 2024 – these rarities sold for £127
Further Reading…
• A guide to the “Train-Flight” story on the TARDIS Wiki
• Repro camera – Camerapedia Guide
• Open Culture: The Lost Art of Paste Up – A Guide
How Magazine Pages Were Created Before Computers: A Veteran of the London Review of Books Demonstrates the Meticulous, Manual Process
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: Art and Illustration, British Comics, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Magazines, Other Worlds
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