Doctor Who comics review: The Fourth Doctor Anthology is so much fun to read
By James Aggas
When comparing the different versions of The Star Beast, I decided it was worth reading Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Anthology. At over 300 pages long, this is a huge volume that collects all of the Fourth Doctor's comic strips from Doctor Who Weekly/Monthly, now known as Doctor Who Magazine.
As such, this is a fascinating collection that provides a good look at Tom Baker's era outside of the TV series itself. Or at least, a part of it - Doctor Who Weekly didn't begin until Oct 1979, when Tom Baker's penultimate season had already begun. So it might not be the best representation of the Fourth Doctor's entire era. But is it a fair representation of the Fourth Doctor himself?
I'd definitely say so, especially during the early run. The earliest comics were written by Pat Mills and John Wagner - two big names in British comics. Pat Mills is the creator of long-running anthology 2000AD, and has written a lot of great comic stories over the years. John Wagner, meanwhile, is the co-creator of Judge Dredd and still stands out as one of the very best writers for the character.
The Iron Legion and The Star Beast
So unsurprisingly, Mills and Wagner provide us with a great run of stories. Highlights include The Iron Legion, which opens the comic strip with an incredible visual of robotic iron Romans invading an English village. Naturally, the story escalates from there, with the Doctor fighting monsters in the
Colosseum and battling evil gods.
It’s all brilliantly brought to life by Dave Gibbons. Yes, comic fans, that Dave Gibbons. Just a few years before his work on the incredibly influential Watchmen, Gibbons provided artwork for almost all of the Fourth Doctor’s comics in Doctor Who Magazine. The first page of The Iron Legion alone is amazing to look at, and this extremely high quality is maintained for the rest of his run as the main artist for the series.
Another stand-out story is, of course, The Star Beast. Despite being over four decades old, it still holds up extremely well, and it's easy to see why Russell T Davies wanted to adapt it for television. It also introduced new companion Sharon, the first ever black companion in Doctor Who in any media. Considering this was 27 years before the introduction of Martha Jones - or even 25 years before semi-regular character Mickey Smith - this was certainly ahead of its time (or at least the BBC).
Fantasy and darkness
For a while, Steve Moore took over writing duties. While the run wasn't quite as strong as Mills's or Wagner's take, we're still provided with a few enjoyable stories. A couple of these include some rather unusual uses of time travel, especially in The Collector, which features the Doctor breaking a fundamental rule to save a single life.
We’re also given stories like The Life-Bringer, featuring the Doctor meeting actual gods like Prometheus and Zeus, so the comics don’t avoid straying into fantasy. In fact, the comics would delve even further into fantasy and mythology by the time that the Fifth Doctor comes along.
However, as fantastical as the stories are, they also become gradually darker, as well. This happens after Sharon leaves, and even K9 - the one TV companion who appears in the comics - is gradually phased out. The darker tone particularly develops when Steve Parkhouse takes over as lead writer. Right from his debut story The Deal, the Doctor starts to find himself in more violent and even more morally complex situations.
End of the Line
The biggest example of this is End of the Line. Featuring the Doctor chased by cannibals in a post-apocalyptic city, the story feels closer to a John Carpenter movie than a story from Tom Baker’s era, even one from his final season. It also has an incredibly bleak ending that Who wouldn't do on television, at least not at this point.
But then again, considering both the title and the fact that the story was published after Logopolis had been broadcast on TV, the overall tone at this point feels strangely appropriate. It’s not quite the Fourth Doctor’s final story in Doctor Who Monthly, but it is representative of the comic strip’s long goodbye to one of the show’s most iconic Doctors.
Overall, The Fourth Doctor Anthology is an essential purchase. Not just for fans of the Fourth Doctor or even Doctor Who overall, but also for fans of British comics. Full of imaginative stories and created by major writers and artists in comics, this is a very easy comics anthology to recommend.