I keep threatening fellow downthetubes contributor Richard Sheaf, curator of the brilliantly eclectic and absolutely indispensable Boys Adventure Comics Blog, that I would start finding stuff in my attic. But today’s discovery, a lost Gwanzulum story, was a bit of a revelation. Partly because I’d forgotten all about it, and also because it got published twice – by the same Doctor Who-inspired fanzine!
What’s that? You don’t remember Marvel UK’s Gwanzulum? But it was our version of Crisis on Infinite Earths! Secret Wars! (No, it wasn’t, stop fibbing – Ed).
Born during an after work pub get together in The Cheshire Cheese close to Marvel UK’s Arundel Street headquarters – a venue home to many crazy ideas – then MUK Editor-in-Chief Richard Starkings and I (and, probably, others, too, who will I’m sure deny everything) came up with the idea of alien creatures, the Gwanzulum, who would pop up in various stories across the company’s titles.
Would fans collect them all? We had no idea, but we did it anyway, culminating in their grandest appearance, perhaps, in the two-part Doctor Who twenty-fifth anniversary strip, “Planet of the Dead“, written by myself, drawn by Lee Sullivan.
The Gwanzulum made their debut in Transformers and Action Force #160 (cover dated 9th April 1988) and a full appearance in #161, cover dated 16th April 1988, battling Combat Colin, the creation of Lew Stringer.
In addition to appearing in Doctor Who Magazine, they also cropped up in Thundercats #66/67 (#66 cover dated 18th June 1988), in a story titled “Double Jeopardy“, plotted by the late Gerry Conway, scripted by Mike Collins, with pencils by Martin Griffiths, inked by Simon Coleby, coloured by Weasel (Louise Cassell) and lettered by “Dozy”; and in “Too Many Ghostbusters“, a story written by me, in The Real Ghostbusters (#9, cover dated 18th July 1988), featuring art by Brian Williamson and Tim Perkins. They were also profiled in The Real Ghostbusters #20.
“Planet of the Dead“, ran in Doctor Who Magazine Issue 141 and 142, published in September and October 1988.
We have no idea if many readers noticed this “Secret Invasion” crossover by shape-changing aliens (the Gwanzulum have no known connections to the Skrulls), but at the time, some Doctor Who fans – including the team behind the zine, Dreadfully Written Bulls***, certainly did, because it seems they asked me to write a story about them, which apparently had a mangled publication in #2, and was represented in #3, an issue offering readers a free “Paul Cornell Pin the Money Pouch Comp“.
Dreadfully Written Bullshit, the title parodying a well-known prozine of the day, was distributed at monthly Who fan gatherings at London’s The Fitzroy Tavern (yes, another pub link!), but this edition was foisted on the unsuspecting at the Nebula 90 convention at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool. I was one of the guests.
The zine was edited by Bill Cook and Siobhan Gallichan (later the publisher of the Who zine Private Lives), and included contributions from a variety of Tavern goers, including Marcus Judge and Peter Linford, roping in other contributors along the way – including me.
“Originally, myself and Siobhan Gallichan tasked ourselves with writing and producing a free Tavernzine within the time the Fitzroy opened (or whatever time we could get there) and the evening,” Bill Cook recalls. “The results were …. well, dreadfully written bullshit….
“As I recall, that premise was abandoned pretty quickly, Siobhan took it over and it morphed into Private Lives.”
The legacy of Private Lives is preserved online through the Staggering Stories network. Sadly, Siobhan passed in 2024, aged just 57.
Anyway… since I apparently wrote the Gwanzulum-inspired “Freeman’s Foibles” story that ran in #2 in some form (I don’t have a copy) and in #3, apparently, I hope you’ll enjoy reading this odd addition to the Gwanzulum canon, perhaps for the very first time, below… and yes, I know it’s a trifle self indulgent!
Yes, there are many “Who” in jokes, and I do hope Paul Cornell will forgive me… in my defence, I did commission him – a lot!
Head downthetubes for…
• Doctor Who: A Cold Day in Hell (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
The Seventh Doctor embarks on more thrilling adventures in time and space in this first volume of collected comic strips from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine! Features eleven stories: “A Cold Day in Hell!,” “Redemption!,” “The Crossroads of Time,” “Claws of the Klathi!,” “Culture Shock!,” “Keepsake,” “Planet of the Dead,” “Echoes of the Mogor!,” “Time and Tide,” “Follow that TARDIS!,” and “Invaders from Gantac!”
• Marvel UnApp Entry: The Gwanzulum
• Gwanzulum – The Real Ghostbusters Fandom Wiki
• Thundercats Comic: Marvel UK Comics Wiki
• Gwanzulum – Doctor Who Fandom Wiki
• The legacy of Private Lives is preserved online through the Staggering Stories network
Thank you, Siobhan, whichever plane of reality you are on now, and thanks to Bill Cook for background information
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as 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, Comics, Creating Comics, Doctor Who, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Other Worlds
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