Coming Soon from Telos Publishing: “The Fanzine Book: The Golden Age of the Doctor Who Underground Press”

By John Freeman on July 10, 2023

Telos Publishing are putting the final touches to their upcoming The Fanzine Book: The Golden Age of the Doctor Who Underground Press, which should prove a glorious trip down memory lane for many fans of the long-running television show.

The work of author and graphic designer Alistair McGown, a reglar congtributor to the Doctor Who Chronicles, the book covers Doctor Who fandom’s earliest beginnings in the 1960s, through to the “golden age” of the 1970s and 1980s.

Several hundred different fanzine titles are documented, discussed and displayed in this fully-illustrated coffee-table hardback, due for release later this year, from hand-stapled newsletters to full colour, professionally-printed magazines.

*The Doctor Who Fanzine book explorers zines such as the monthly zine ORACLE, produced by David J Howe, and many other titles. Photo: Alistair McGown*

The book features a brilliant Afterword from former Who producer Chris Chibnall, and a Foreword from the Fanzine Legend that is Martin Wiggins.

Featuring over one thousand images of fanzines through the years, The Fanzine Book offers an exhaustive history of UK fanzines and fandom from the very beginning through to 1989, and an A-Z listing of every UK fanzine the Telos team could find from the period, too.

Fantastic work, and eagerly anticipated!

• Don’t miss out on a hardback copy of The Fanzine Book – pre-order it here direct from Telos Publishing | 288pp approx. 11 × 8.5 format full colour hardback. ISBN: 978-1845832209 | Published Autumn 2023

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.