These are the adventures of the fourth Dr, played by Tom Baker, from Tv Comic to Doctor Who Monthly, including specials and annuals.
Obviously comics of the fourth Dr have been produced in more recent eras but I will just be looking at his adventures in comic format during his time.
THE DR WHO COMIC STRIPS PART 4:TOM BAKER
Re: THE DR WHO COMIC STRIPS PART 4:TOM BAKER
STORY 1: DEATH FLOWER!
TV COMIC 1204 - 1214
WRITER:UNKNOWN
ART:GERRY HAYLOCK
DATES:11/01/75 - 22/3/75
The Doctor and Sarah are pitted against Professor Sarric, the head of agricultural research development company Vegpro.
Reading this story again today, while the obvious connection, with humans mutating into plants, is the Tv story "The Seeds of Doom" (which wouldn't be on TV until the climax of Toms' second series, the following year, there are also echoes of "Robot" (on TV at the time this was published) and future TV series stories, "Pyramids of Mars" and "The Android Invasion" .
This is a truly brilliant story and one of my all time favourite Tom Baker comic strips.
Also of note is the way that TV comic handle the regeneration from Jon Pertwee into Tom Baker.
When the first Dr regenerated into the 2nd Dr, the comic strip made no mention of this and just continued the following week with the 2nd Doctor (TV comic issues 783 - 784).
With the 2nd Drs' regeneration into the 3rd, readers of TV comic were treated to an actual series of events beginning with the Dr in exile in Earth (Tv comic 936) and culminating with the Timelords capturing him to regenerate him (Tv comic 936).
There is then a 7 week gap until Jon Pertwee begins his TV comic run in Tv Comic 944.
With the 3rd Drs' regeneration into the 4th, his last story seems to prefigure the regeneration with Pertwees' Dr believing that he may have come to the end of his travels (TV Comic 1203) "This must be the end...".
With the introduction of the 4th Dr, the story starts with paragraphs of text that explain recent events in the tv series and the altered appearance of the Dr.
My point to all of this is that I remember Dr Who Magazine being very rude about the handling of regeneration of Drs during the strips TV Comic tenure (its actual main home for the majority of the original classic tv series) and this was completely unfounded and inaccurate.
In reality it was never handled better and remains a fine testament to the comic.
TV COMIC 1204 - 1214
WRITER:UNKNOWN
ART:GERRY HAYLOCK
DATES:11/01/75 - 22/3/75
The Doctor and Sarah are pitted against Professor Sarric, the head of agricultural research development company Vegpro.
Reading this story again today, while the obvious connection, with humans mutating into plants, is the Tv story "The Seeds of Doom" (which wouldn't be on TV until the climax of Toms' second series, the following year, there are also echoes of "Robot" (on TV at the time this was published) and future TV series stories, "Pyramids of Mars" and "The Android Invasion" .
This is a truly brilliant story and one of my all time favourite Tom Baker comic strips.
Also of note is the way that TV comic handle the regeneration from Jon Pertwee into Tom Baker.
When the first Dr regenerated into the 2nd Dr, the comic strip made no mention of this and just continued the following week with the 2nd Doctor (TV comic issues 783 - 784).
With the 2nd Drs' regeneration into the 3rd, readers of TV comic were treated to an actual series of events beginning with the Dr in exile in Earth (Tv comic 936) and culminating with the Timelords capturing him to regenerate him (Tv comic 936).
There is then a 7 week gap until Jon Pertwee begins his TV comic run in Tv Comic 944.
With the 3rd Drs' regeneration into the 4th, his last story seems to prefigure the regeneration with Pertwees' Dr believing that he may have come to the end of his travels (TV Comic 1203) "This must be the end...".
With the introduction of the 4th Dr, the story starts with paragraphs of text that explain recent events in the tv series and the altered appearance of the Dr.
My point to all of this is that I remember Dr Who Magazine being very rude about the handling of regeneration of Drs during the strips TV Comic tenure (its actual main home for the majority of the original classic tv series) and this was completely unfounded and inaccurate.
In reality it was never handled better and remains a fine testament to the comic.
Re: THE DR WHO COMIC STRIPS PART 4:TOM BAKER
STORY 2 : RETURN OF THE DALEKS !
TV COMIC: 1215 - 1222
WRITER: DENNIS HOOPER
ARTIST: MARTIN ASBURY
DATES: 29/03/75 - 17/05/75
A renegade Timelord, Shazar, working in tandem with the Daleks, succeeds in capturing the Doctors' Tardis .
The Daleks wish to create a fleet of Tardises.
Asburys' art and his depictions of the Tardis, Daleks, Timelords and the Doctor and Sarah are truly excellent.
The story is very good but my advice to anyone that tracks this strip down is to ignore panel 6,page 1 of episode 1, where the Doctor says to Sarah , "I'll personally brain you".
This is only the third time in the history of the strip that a regular character from the current tv series joins the Doctor for a series of comic strip adventures, the only other examples so far being Jamie in the Second Doctor strips and Liz Shaw in the Third Doctor strips.
Other appearances previously of television companions have been consigned to annuals and specials.
TV COMIC: 1215 - 1222
WRITER: DENNIS HOOPER
ARTIST: MARTIN ASBURY
DATES: 29/03/75 - 17/05/75
A renegade Timelord, Shazar, working in tandem with the Daleks, succeeds in capturing the Doctors' Tardis .
The Daleks wish to create a fleet of Tardises.
Asburys' art and his depictions of the Tardis, Daleks, Timelords and the Doctor and Sarah are truly excellent.
The story is very good but my advice to anyone that tracks this strip down is to ignore panel 6,page 1 of episode 1, where the Doctor says to Sarah , "I'll personally brain you".
This is only the third time in the history of the strip that a regular character from the current tv series joins the Doctor for a series of comic strip adventures, the only other examples so far being Jamie in the Second Doctor strips and Liz Shaw in the Third Doctor strips.
Other appearances previously of television companions have been consigned to annuals and specials.
Re: THE DR WHO COMIC STRIPS PART 4:TOM BAKER
STORY 3: THE WRECKERS !
TV COMIC: 1223 - 1231
WRITER: DENNIS HOOPER
ARTIST: MARTIN ASBURY
DATES: 24/05/1975 - 19/07/1975
The Tardis is dragged down by an unknown force to a moon where the Doctor and Sarah discover a graveyard of spaceships. They are soon involved with the Equinans' struggle against the Kryllians ,the alien race who are forcing craft down to steal from them.
The Doctor finds that an old enemy of his is waiting in the shadows and the real mastermind behind everything, the Vogans....
TV COMIC: 1223 - 1231
WRITER: DENNIS HOOPER
ARTIST: MARTIN ASBURY
DATES: 24/05/1975 - 19/07/1975
The Tardis is dragged down by an unknown force to a moon where the Doctor and Sarah discover a graveyard of spaceships. They are soon involved with the Equinans' struggle against the Kryllians ,the alien race who are forcing craft down to steal from them.
The Doctor finds that an old enemy of his is waiting in the shadows and the real mastermind behind everything, the Vogans....