Doctor Who Magazine has just published its five hundredth issue with all the magnificence the Guiness World Record-breaking magazine deserves, in not one but two 116-page magazines, a boxed giant party. Current editor Tom Spilsbury asked readers to showcase their collections, which set Twitter alight with comic stacked high in piles, shelves bulging and floors paved with covers. Why not? From October 1979 to June 2016 is a fantastic run, for many people it's not a collection but part of your life, from a childhood love to an adult obsession. DWM welcomed everyone, whether you dipped in and out or proudly own all 500. There is never any fan snobbery, which is how it should be. So I decided to join in too. I counted up my copies and lay out my reasonably size collection of 182 issues, together with 16 Specials, 26 Doctor Who Classic Comics and 8 Doctor Who Poster Magazines, plus one very special Doctor Who Weekly souvenir issue.
A nostalgic way to look back at my life with images of where and when I read the magazine. This got me thinking just how important it was and still is to the comic and magazine industry and its fans. I found myself arguing that the world of comics wouldn't be the same, nor would the magazines we see on supermarket shelves. Now don't laugh but there are unquestionable points to back this up. Let's start at the beginning with the Fantastic First Issue. 11th of October 1979 the start of an adventure of a lifetime. 
Dez Skinn was shaping MarvelUK into a brand that he felt would survive the coming decade with his Marvel Revolution, monthlies where promoted for more mature readers, with The Savage Sword of Conan, Ramage Magazine, Marvel Superheroes and his own Starburst magazine. The weeklies where strengthen with Spider-man getting the cream of superhero action, The Mighty World of Marvel becoming simply Marvel comic, the boys own style action/adventure package, the Hulk got his own weekly with British artists and writers given a platform to show off and Star Wars Weekly left to blossom in glorious sci fi gloss. The Star War Weekly, Hulk Weekly and Starburst productions lead the way for a new fan favourite to be born. A weekly comic with fantastic tales from our TV hero. Now even though I was the perfect age to get this comic, being a comic mad nine year old, but my local distribution was poor. A problem that's marred many a magazine. I wish I had a TARDIS so that I could go back in time and tell my young self to try harder. Whenever I'd get a chance to read those old stories, whether in reprints in specials/Doctor Who Classic Comics or buy back issues I jump at them with adolescent joy. The greatest British creators of the time, if not ever worked on those strips. Not just the lead Doctor Who adventure but the back up strips too. Pat Mill, John Wagner, Dave Gibbon on the Doctors stories and back ups from Paul Neary, David Lloyd, Steve Moore, Steve Dillon and Alan Moore, all worked magic in those weekly Doctorless "missions to the unknown." I know people will say that Skinn was using those creators in House of Hammer/Horror, Hulk comic, Star Wars weekly and Starburst, as and when he could. And that 2000AD and Skinn's own Warrior are better examples of the British comic revolution, but Doctor Who Weekly really pushed those talents into the view of not just comic fans but TV fans too. All that time and space shenanigans, plus articles on the TV series with behind the scenes and passed story reviews and comments. Early signs of a bright future.
But another reason why the magazine is so important is that it kept going while the parent program was off air. Not just ticking over but loud and proud about how great the show was. It never slagged off the production when it was on TV, so when it rested the magazine took hold up the reins and steered it through the storm. Together with those Virgin novels, the comic strip was the only place to get your fix of the Doctors adventures. It was the video age so I would pay and watch all the tapes I could buy, but the strip was very important to me. In many ways more important than the articles in the magazine, at least to me at the time. My fix of Doctor Whoness. Although those articles told us just how good the show was and soon others would try to show us too.
The magazines patience payed off when Philip Segal brought the good Doctor back, with a good intentioned TV movie. I really loved it, I really loved how the magazine embraced it. It was a good time to be a DWM reader, cracking articles, great coverage and a brilliant strip. The Paul McGann Doctor strip has always been one of my favourites. If only the TV version had been as much a success. The TV Doctor disappeared once more, but not for long, maybe it wasn't a unsuccessful as many though. A man called Russell had thought it was marvellous too.
Like the Doctor the Magazine has always Regenerated. New life was given to the fandom with the strong return of the Doctor. Russell T Davies latest reboot exploded onto the TV screen with action, adventure and a lot of heart! The patience of the fans lead by the Magazine had really payed off this time. It wasn't just Cult TV fans or comic strip fans that got the best from this NuWho, but the every day viewer. You didn't have to be a fanatic to be a fan, you just had to enjoy the show. A new love was born, a new fan. What better place to explore this new world, to some at least was the new Magazine, where everybody was welcomed. This glossy, slick publication became the standard that every other sci fi magazine followed. Always fair, always fun, just the right amount of sucking up and the right amount of critic. Always a great read, that's why it's so important to the British comic/magazine industry. And maybe to the world.
In less than a year it went from a weekly to a monthly with September 1980 issue 44. Some may claim that this was a sign of decline, but it was a shrewd move that would save the comic and give birth to the magazine we know and love today. The strips stayed the same wonderfully high standard, with Steve Parkhouse, Alan McKenzie, John Ridgway, Mick McMahan and Mick Austin joining an already stellar cast of creators. The articles got better too. Early signs to a publication growing up with its readership.
Now I wasn't a collector of the mag in those early days, mores the pity, but I would dip in when the chance occurred, I was probably more a superhero comic fan but I've always extremely enjoyed the TV series, so it was alway a pleasure to read the mag when I fancied a change. More so when the TV series left our screens in those wilderness years.
Many TV production talents worked on the magazine with Gareth Roberts, Paul Cornell, Andrew Cartnel, Gary Russell producing comic strip scripts, TV story board artist Mike Collins always showing fantastic artwork and even the Doctor himself, Colin Baker writing a brilliant script that made its was into a DWM special, The Age of Chaos.
Other great British talent who worked on the strip are worth naming, Alan Abnett, Grant Morrison, Jamie Delamo, Alan Barnes, Simon Furman, John Freeman, Arthur Ransom, Lee Sullivan and Adrian Salmon amongst many more.
But another reason why the magazine is so important is that it kept going while the parent program was off air. Not just ticking over but loud and proud about how great the show was. It never slagged off the production when it was on TV, so when it rested the magazine took hold up the reins and steered it through the storm. Together with those Virgin novels, the comic strip was the only place to get your fix of the Doctors adventures. It was the video age so I would pay and watch all the tapes I could buy, but the strip was very important to me. In many ways more important than the articles in the magazine, at least to me at the time. My fix of Doctor Whoness. Although those articles told us just how good the show was and soon others would try to show us too. The magazines patience payed off when Philip Segal brought the good Doctor back, with a good intentioned TV movie. I really loved it, I really loved how the magazine embraced it. It was a good time to be a DWM reader, cracking articles, great coverage and a brilliant strip. The Paul McGann Doctor strip has always been one of my favourites. If only the TV version had been as much a success. The TV Doctor disappeared once more, but not for long, maybe it wasn't a unsuccessful as many though. A man called Russell had thought it was marvellous too. Like the Doctor the Magazine has always Regenerated. New life was given to the fandom with the strong return of the Doctor. Russell T Davies latest reboot exploded onto the TV screen with action, adventure and a lot of heart! The patience of the fans lead by the Magazine had really payed off this time. It wasn't just Cult TV fans or comic strip fans that got the best from this NuWho, but the every day viewer. You didn't have to be a fanatic to be a fan, you just had to enjoy the show. A new love was born, a new fan. What better place to explore this new world, to some at least was the new Magazine, where everybody was welcomed. This glossy, slick publication became the standard that every other sci fi magazine followed. Always fair, always fun, just the right amount of sucking up and the right amount of critic. Always a great read, that's why it's so important to the British comic/magazine industry. And maybe to the world.It's never rested on its laurels, MarvelUK or Panini spun off some brilliant companions, with seasonal Summer, Autumn and Winter Specials, the spectacular Doctor Who Poster Magazine, Doctor Who Classic Comics with old Doctor tales from pre DWM and their own archives, plus the coffee table gloss of Doctor Who Magazine Special Editions. My summer holidays could never be the same without a thick bound edition to read while I relax.
Thanks to all those editors Dez Skinn, Paul Neary, Alan McKenzie, Cefi Ridout, Stella Cronna, John Freeman, Gary Russell, Marcus Hearn, Gary Gillatt, Alan Barnes, Clayton Hickman and Tom Spilsbury. Happy 500 Doctor Who Magazine, Splendid mags, every issue.
Thanks to all those editors Dez Skinn, Paul Neary, Alan McKenzie, Cefi Ridout, Stella Cronna, John Freeman, Gary Russell, Marcus Hearn, Gary Gillatt, Alan Barnes, Clayton Hickman and Tom Spilsbury. Happy 500 Doctor Who Magazine, Splendid mags, every issue. "Doctor? Doctor who?"
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