Following up on the imminent release of the first volume of Doctor Who Back-Up Tales from the pages of Doctor Who Weekly comes word the second volume will be released on 1st October 2024.
Doctor Who: Black Sun Rising: The Complete Doctor Who Back-Up Tales Volume 2 includes back-up strips by creators including Steve Moore, David Lloyd, John Stokes, Paul Neary and Mick McMahon – and the “Black Sun” stories written by Alan Moore.
These influential strips about early Gallifrey, the Time Lords home planet, have rarely been reprinted.
Doctor Who: The Return of The Daleks – The Complete Doctor Who Back-Up Tales is released next week (1st July), and includes all the early Abslom Daak – Dalek Killer strips, complete with the Kill-Mechs featured in the original presentation of his adventures, hastily added when rights issues scotched the use of Daleks. (The Daleks were restored in later presentations, such as the Abslom Daak – Dalek Killer graphic novel published by Marvel UK, thanks to artist David Lloyd retaining the original art).
These short back-up comic stories first appeared in addition to the issue’s main story, the Doctor a “presenter” to a wide variety of stories, focusing on other characters within the wider Doctor Who universe. Most backup comic stories were published in Doctor Who Weekly and Doctor Who Monthly prior to 1982, and so were printed in issues that otherwise featured the Fourth Doctor.
As we previously reported, rights issues and costs of reprinting these strips featuring monsters such as the Daleks, Cybermen, Silurians and many more has previously made such collections complicated, to say nothing of the restoration costs involved. But after collections editor Ed Hammond hinted that such collections were in the works in a Panel to Panel podcast last year, and reprints of some of these strips in previous collections (not forgetting, of course Doctor Who Classic Comics), Doctor Who fans have been eagerly awaiting these dedicated compendiums, their patience is now rewarded.
• Doctor Who: The Return of The Daleks – The Complete Doctor Who Back-Up Tales Volume 1 is available here on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | 148 Pages | ISBN 978-1804912263
• Doctor Who: Black Sun Rising: The Complete Doctor Who Back-Up Tales Volume 2 is available here on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)| 116 Pages | ISBN 978-1804912461
Volume One features the following strips…
Doctor Who Weekly 1-4
The Return of the Daleks written by Steve Moore, art by David Lloyd and Paul Neary, featuring the Daleks
Doctor Who Weekly 5-7
Throwback: The Soul of a Cyberman written by Steve Moore, art by Steve Dillon – first appearance of Kroton, the Cyberman with a soul, featuring the Cybermen
Doctor Who Weekly 8
The Final Quest written by Steve Moore, art by David Lloyd and Paul Neary, featuring the Sontarans
Doctor Who Weekly 9-11
The Stolen TARDIS written by Steve Moore, art by Steve Dillon, featuring the Time Lords
Doctor Who Weekly 12
K-9’s Finest Hour written by Steve Moore, art by Paul Neary, featuring the K9
Doctor Who Weekly 13-14
Warlord of the Ogrons written by Steve Moore, art by Steve Dillon, featuring the Ogrons
Doctor Who Weekly 15-16
Deathworld written by Steve Moore, art by David Lloyd, featuring the Ice Warriors and Cybermen
Doctor Who Weekly 17-20
Abslom Daak… Dalek Killer written by Steve Moore, art by Steve Dillon, featuring the Daleks and marking the first appearance of Abslom Daak
Doctor Who Weekly 21-22
Twilight of the Silurians written by Steve Moore, art by David Lloyd, featuring the Silurians
Doctor Who Weekly 23-24
Ship of Fools written by Steve Moore, art by Steve Dillon, featuring Kroton the Cyberman
Doctor Who Weekly 25-26
The Outsider written by Steve Moore, art by David Lloyd, featuring the Sontarans
Doctor Who Weekly 27-30, Doctor Who Monthly 44-46
Star Tigers written by Steve Moore, art by Steve Dillon (Doctor Who Weekly 27 – 29 and David Lloyd (Doctor Who Weekly 30)
• Doctor Who “Back-Up” Strips Checklist
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, British Comics - Collections, British Comics - Current British Publishers, Comic Previews, Comics, Doctor Who, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Other Worlds, Science Fiction, Television
Leave a Reply