Episode 5: "Wham, Bam, Thank You Dalek" - Classic Doctor Who Comics Double Feature - Patreon Exclusive

COMIC STRIP REVIEW #1: "The Therovian Quest" (January 18 - February 22, 1965) TV Comic, Six Issues (Two Pages Per Week) Writer/Artist: Neville Main

The First Doctor's TARDIS crashes on an alien planet where he and grandchildren John and Gillian encounter Grigg, a spaceship pilot whose vessel is also stranded. Grigg desperately seeks a cure for a plague that has incapacitated everyone on his homeworld of Theros except himself. In a shocking decision, the Doctor repairs Grigg's ship and abandons the still-damaged TARDIS on the planet to help this stranger - a moment of tension as they literally leave the time machine behind and never mention it again until the story's end!

The quest takes them to the ice planet Ixon to harvest medicinal moss, where they're captured by Ixon warriors. King Ixa provides equipment including a sled to reach the dangerous caves, but secretly plans to steal the moss and sell it at exorbitant prices to the Therovians. After Grigg battles a furry cave monster (throwing it into an ice ravine), they retrieve the moss but are captured again. The Doctor sets fire to something (possibly the moss itself?) creating chaos and smoke that allows their escape back to Grigg's ship, returning to Theros to save the plague victims before finally returning to repair the mysteriously-fixed TARDIS.

John and Jim's Analysis:

• Jillian's disappearing act continues - The female companion has maybe two word balloons throughout the entire six-issue story, to the point where the Doctor and John briefly forget she exists. The hosts lament this "all-he-man, no-girls-allowed club" mentality in a strip based on a show meant to be all-inclusive.
• Neville Main's artwork shines - Both hosts appreciate the visual presentation, particularly the spaceship designs and background details. Main clearly uses Hartnell photo references, though his TARDIS-in-flight depiction (a corkscrew swirly line suggesting rapid spinning) amuses the hosts.
• The Doctor as spaceship engineer - Jim questions when the Doctor became qualified to repair alien spacecraft faster than their actual owners.
• Grigg's suspicious appearance - Designed to look villainous initially, subverting expectations when King Ixa becomes the actual antagonist.
• John's bloodthirsty evolution - The grandson appears drawn older in close-ups, as if maturing into a violent young man over time.
• "Doctor Who" naming persists - The strip continues calling the protagonist "Doctor Who" rather than "the Doctor."

Jim declares this "on the same level as the first storyline" - straightforward space opera that doesn't connect much to the TV series, though the art remains enjoyable.

COMIC STRIP REVIEW #2: "Genesis of Evil" (January 23 - February 6, 1965) TV Century 21, Three-Part Story (One Page Per Issue) Writer: David Whitaker (from Terry Nation's plot) Artist: Richard Jennings

Jim's immediate reaction: "Gorgeous."

This landmark Dalek origin story appeared in the back pages of TV Century 21 magazine, forcing young fans to buy multiple publications for their Doctor Who fix. Set on the planet Skaro, the strip reveals how the robotic Dalek shells came to exist following a catastrophic event that irradiated the planet (here depicted as a meteor storm hitting nuclear stockpiles, contradicting the TV series' neutron bomb).

Two blue-skinned humanoid Daleks (members of the original Dals/Kaleds race) crawl from the rubble and encounter a horrifying sight - one of their own people, so mutated by radiation that he's encased himself in a mechanical pepper-pot shell. This robotic Dalek reveals he created the protective casing and now the survivors must build more shells for the remaining Daleks. The story establishes the Dalek Emperor character (gold and ruby-plated) who will feature in subsequent strips, creating a hierarchy absent from early TV stories.

John and Jim's Analysis:

• Stunning artwork - Richard Jennings delivers detailed, beautifully colored pages that exceed the Doctor Who strip's quality. Jim calls it an "eye opener."
• Terry Nation's contractual power - Nation receives prominent billing despite David Whitaker doing the actual scripting, showing the Dalek creator's early leverage (eventually buying a manor with Dalek profits).
• Canon contradictions - The strip doesn't contradict the first TV Dalek serial and actually fleshes it out nicely, but future TV story "Genesis of the Daleks" will completely reimagine the origin. The hosts discuss how ancillary products are always subordinate to on-screen canon.
• Perfect pacing - The compact one-page-per-issue format keeps the story moving efficiently without lingering, unlike the sometimes padded Doctor Who strip.
• Thals connection - The strip references the Thal people from the TV series, maintaining continuity while expanding the mythology.
• The Emperor's absence - John wonders why this gold Emperor wasn't in "The Daleks" TV story, speculating future strips might explain it.

Jim enthusiastically declares: "I enjoyed this way more than the Doctor Who strip" and looks forward to continuing Dalek adventures.

LOOKING AHEAD The hosts preview their upcoming Friday Patreon release covering "The Web Planet" - John approaches it fresh without having started watching, hoping for better appreciation than his initial expectations. Jim looks forward to eventually finding a story where John declares "this is horrible" so he'll "feel justified."

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