Doctor Who (1984)


 * See also Doctor Who (disambiguation).

Doctor Who was a monthly comic book published from October 1984 to August 1986. It was published by Marvel Comics and re-printed Doctor Who Magazine comic stories featuring the Fourth and Fifth Doctors. Until the advent of IDW's 2008 Doctor Who title, it was the only Doctor Who comic to have been published in the United States. For this reason, many fans consider it "the American Doctor Who comic book", even though it no longer is the only such publication; in particular, all the stories featured in this series have since been reprinted by IDW in its Doctor Who Classics line.

Background
Following the positive feedback to the Doctor's comic strip stories as featured in issues 57 through 60 of Marvel Premiere, a separate, "glossy format" title, rather than Marvel Premiere's traditional comic book format was premiered. The magazine reprinted the Doctor's comics adventures from Doctor Who Weekly and Monthly stories with new coloring (the original comics had appeared in black and white), new covers by original Doctor Who Weekly artist Dave Gibbons, new articles and features and a letter's column. It ran for twenty-three issues. Its first issue featured the first installment of The Star Beast, featuring the Fourth Doctor. The series concluded with Lunar Lagoon featuring the Fifth Doctor and introducing Gus.

For the first fourteen issues, the publication used a unique version of the Doctor Who logo which combined the "diamond" motif of the Fourth Doctor era with the lettering used from 1963-66. Beginning with issue 15, the comic switched to using the then-current "neon tube" logo of the Fifth Doctor.