Out next month, and great fun it is too, is a new Doctor Who comic strip collection from Panini UK, Daleks: The Ultimate Comic Strip Collection, Volume 2, packed wall to wall with tales of the pepper pot perils.
Following hot on the heels of the previous collection, the Daleks are back, waging an endless war of conquest across all of space and time. Discover more of their greatest comic tales, first published in Doctor Who Magazine, as the Doctor clashes with these cold-hearted killing machines and their equally merciless creator, Davros.
This second collection offers six stories: “Emperor of the Daleks”, a Seventh (and Sixth!) Doctor tale, written by Paul Cornell, with art by Lee Sullivan, which sees a time-twisting return of Abslom Daak – Dalek Killer, a story commissioned in part to resolve dangling plot threads and questions from Remembrance of the Daleks; and “Bringer of Darkness” by Scott Gray (as Warwick Gray), with art by Martin Geraghty, which sees the Second Doctor, Jamie and Victoria encounter a the crew of a damaged Dalek spaceship, who are building a beacon with which to summon rescue. (This story is more about the fracturing relationship between the Doctor and Victoria than the Daleks, but it’s beautifully written).
Also included is “Up Above the Gods”, by Richard Starkings, with art by Lee Sullivan, a Sixth Doctor story that has its roots in Genesis of the Daleks, but acts as an addition to “Emperor”, as the Doctor and Davros discuss his turn to the dark side, and the Time Lord offers him the opportunity to change his destiny; and “Daleks versus the Martians”, a lovely tribute to the late Peter Cushing as “Doctor Who”, written by Alan Barnes, with art by Lee Sullivan.
Finally, we have two Eighth Doctor stories, “Fire and Brimstone” by Alan Barnes with art by Martin Geraghty and Robin Smith; and “Children of the Revolution”, an Eighth Doctor tale – a thought provoking mashup of Dalek driven continuity harking back to Evil of the Daleks and Cthulhu styled mythos, by Scott Gray and Lee Sullivan, coloured by Adrian Salmon. Story threads in these may have you digging out your Eighth Doctor comic collections to retrace the Doctor’s battles with the Threshold.
Aside from the continuation of “The Daleks” strip from TV Century 21, which ran in Doctor Who Magazine issues 249 – 254*, and the Daleks appearance in the new, ongoing story starring the Fourteenth Doctor, “Liberation of the Daleks”, the first DWM strip to feature the Daleks as a major force in years, these two Daleks collections offer every originated Dalek strip in the official magazine, and are a rather splendid amalgam of adventures.
As with Volume One, this new collection includes commentary from the artists and writers, along with a wealth of other behind-the-scenes details, including sketches, scripts and more.
Now fans of course are asking – will Cybermen “Ultimate” collections follow?
• Daleks: The Ultimate Comic Strip Collection, Volume 2 | £19.99 | 172 pages | Age 10+ | Official on sale date: 1st December 2022| ISBN: 978-1-80491-064-1 | Buy it from AmazonUK | Buy it from Panini UK
• Daleks: The Ultimate Comic Strip Collection, Volume 1 | £19.99 | 164 pages | Age 10+ | Released: 1st October 2022 | ISBN: 978-1-80491-059-7 | Buy it from AmazonUK | Buy it from Panini UK
Contains six complete adventures: “The Return of the Daleks”, “Abslom Daak – Dalek Killer”, “Star Tigers”, “The Dogs of Doom”, “Nemesis of the Daleks” and “Metamorphosis”
• Also Available The Daleks | ISBN 978-1846532771 | Released 2020
The hard to find, ultimate collectors’ Bookazine edition of the classic 1960s strip. (Copies do surface on eBay). First published in TV Century 21 from 1965 to 1967, The Daleks was devised by Terry Nation and largely written by Doctor Who’s first story editor David Whitaker.
For this collectors’ edition, all 104 instalments were digitally restored – the vast majority from the original artwork, in part in response to appeals to fans here on downthetubes
* “The Return of the Elders”, the continuation of “The Daleks” strip from TV Century 21, written by John Lawrence and drawn by Ron Turner ran in Doctor Who Magazine 249 – 254, and two unlettered pages of a second story, “Deadline to Doomsday”, featured in DWM 276
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, Comics, Doctor Who, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features, Other Worlds, Reviews, Television
I thought Ron Turner’s new episodes of the TV21 Dalek strip were scheduled to appear in this collection? No sign of them, guess I must have been mistaken.