lokster71's review
4.0
It seems a little like cheating to count this on my list but I suppose it is long enough to be considered a graphic novel.
This collects the TV Century 21 comic strips that ran between 1965 to 1967. Written by David Whittaker, who probably knows how to write Daleks better than their creator Terry Nation, they focus purely on the Daleks from their creation to their discovery of the Earth's existence and could be seen as a prelude to The Dalek Invasion of Earth.
The stories usually see the Daleks faced with some kind of threat that they either defeat or they don't. The Mechanoids crop up and there's also some inter-Dalek conflict, including a lovely little story when some Daleks that believe in beauty rebel. Only to be destroyed. (Perhaps an influence on Evil of the Daleks, also written by David Whittaker.)
The best strips are those illustrated by Ron Turner, which doesn't just seem more modern but has creativity about their layout that is missing from some of the earlier strips. They reminded me a little of the Trigan Empire comic strip, but that might be a false memory. It has been some time since I looked at the Trigan Empire strips - I last saw them in issues of Look and Learn - so the memory might be cheating.
A lovely thing to have and a reminder of a time where Daleks were the most marketable part of Doctor Who. They never got their own TV series in the end though did they?
This collects the TV Century 21 comic strips that ran between 1965 to 1967. Written by David Whittaker, who probably knows how to write Daleks better than their creator Terry Nation, they focus purely on the Daleks from their creation to their discovery of the Earth's existence and could be seen as a prelude to The Dalek Invasion of Earth.
The stories usually see the Daleks faced with some kind of threat that they either defeat or they don't. The Mechanoids crop up and there's also some inter-Dalek conflict, including a lovely little story when some Daleks that believe in beauty rebel. Only to be destroyed. (Perhaps an influence on Evil of the Daleks, also written by David Whittaker.)
The best strips are those illustrated by Ron Turner, which doesn't just seem more modern but has creativity about their layout that is missing from some of the earlier strips. They reminded me a little of the Trigan Empire comic strip, but that might be a false memory. It has been some time since I looked at the Trigan Empire strips - I last saw them in issues of Look and Learn - so the memory might be cheating.
A lovely thing to have and a reminder of a time where Daleks were the most marketable part of Doctor Who. They never got their own TV series in the end though did they?
thecommonswings's review
5.0
Something of a holy grail for lovers of sixties comics and old school Doctor Who fans: I’ve seen bits of this before but never in as beautifully reproduced condition as this. The stories are very entertaining and have hints of stuff the show would later mine to effective use in stories like Power of the Daleks, but it’s also lovely to see the strip in the proud history of Dan Dare, the Thunderbirds comics and the Trigan Empire. It’s also fascinating to see Frank Bellamy’s work as sort of the perfect crossing over of this style and the show itself. I may not be a huge fan of the show itself these days, unlike I was as a teenager, but by god this stuff is thrillingly beautiful
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