Doctor Who Classics


 * Not to be confused with the 1990s Marvel UK publication, Doctor Who Classic Comics or a line of Target Books reprints in the late 1980s.

Doctor Who Classics from IDW Publishing, is a North American title. It reprinted the early Doctor Who Magazine Fourth Doctor stories, beginning with "The Iron Legion". Doctor Who Classics Series 2 followed the original title. It concentrated on publishing Fifth Doctor stories. The two magazines offered American readers access to newly-colourised versions of stories that had mostly been reprinted several times before — many in Marvel Comics' Doctor Who (1984). However, the line did move past Marvel's old stopping point to deliver comics never-before reprinted in the United States.

Overview
Like Marvel Premiere and Doctor Who (1984), IDW reprinted the stories, complete with opening and closing captions. They were also coloured anew. Generally, each issue of the magazine had at least two new and distinct covers: one by a current IDW artist and one by a classic artist like Dave Gibbons.

Each issue contained thirty-two full-colour, quality printed pages, of which only twenty-two were actually devoted to Doctor Who reprints. The remaining pages were divided between a "next issue" page, IDWords (news and interviews from IDW Publishing) and pages promoting other titles.

In July 2008, IDW compiled the first half-dozen issues of Doctor Who Classics into a single graphic novel release, Doctor Who Classics Vol. 1, with a second volume scheduled for release in December 2008 and a third announced for May 2009. In October 2008, IDW suspended Doctor Who Classics for two months, replacing it with a specialty reprint title, Grant Morrison's Doctor Who. Following the two-issue run of that special, a Doctor Who Classics Series 2 was published beginning in December 2008. As of April 2009, the Fifth Doctor's DWM comic run had begun in the pages of the magazine. With the issue published in September 2009, the series moved on to stories that had not previously been featured in the 1984 Marvel Comics series.

In mid-2010, IDW announced it was cancelling Doctor Who Classics at the conclusion of its reprints of the Sixth Doctor stories. However, a few months later IDW reversed its decision and announced a new series of Doctor Who Classics would be launched in February 2011, picking up with reprints from the Seventh Doctor era.

After a break, IDW resumed the Sixth Doctor comic strips, branded as 'Doctor Who Classics Series IV' (though this was actually the fifth series, if you include the Seventh Doctor series from the previous year).

Comic Books

 * Follow the links below for coverage of each issue with contents and further information.