Abslom Daak, Dalek Killer, returns...

Well, all right, that headline is a little misleading. I'm not talking about new stories (although there have been some, find out more below...). Rather, the release of Doctor Who: Nemesis of the Daleks, a Seventh Doctor comic collection from Panini Books.

Although I plugged this project on social media on release, I've just realized I inadvertently failed to mention this compendium here, which leads with the cracking Abslom Daak - Dalek Killer story 'Nemesis of the Daleks', penned by Richard Starkings and John Tomlinson (writing as Richard Alan), drawn by Lee Sullivan.

There's a host of other goodies, including the first professional comic strips I edited for Doctor Who Magazine and Paul Cornell's first-ever professional comics commission, drawn by Gerry Dolan – along with Steve Moore, Steve Dillon and David Lloyd's original Daak tales.

This book is crammed with Seventh Doctor comic stories, including the never-before-collected, oft-maligned but fun Incredible Hulk Presents strips whose creators include myself, Dan Abnett, John Ridgway, Simon Furman, Andrew Wildman, John Tomlinson and many more.

Doctor Who: Nemesis of the Daleks is the fifteenth volume in the ongoing series of Doctor Who Graphic Novels published by Panini Books, collections of comic strips that originally appeared in the pages of Doctor Who Magazine and other related titles.

Nemesis of the Daleks, named after the book’s opening strip, is the second volume of Seventh Doctor comic strips (picking up where the previous A Cold Day in Hell!, published in 2009, left off). The stories in this collection originally appeared in 1989 and 1990. At that time the strips not only ran in Doctor Who Magazine but also in a second Marvel Comics UK title, The Incredible Hulk Presents.

In addition to the Seventh Doctor strips, the book includes the popular ‘back up’ strips featuring Abslom Daak from 1980 issues of Doctor Who Weekly and Doctor Who Monthly, to tie-in with the character’s appearance in the 'Nemesis of the Daleks' story.

Panini again commissioned me to provide a detailed commentary on the stories, which includes some fantastic contributions from many of the writers and artists, with reproduced script pages from John Tomlinson and 'Nemesis' design work by Lee Sullivan.

I'm very grateful for the time many took out of busy schedules to answer my questions - asking them to dredge up their memories of strips written almost 20 years ago taxed me, too!

Panini have done a terrific job restoring the strips (Peri Godbold, as ever, the vital cog in this process), and I'm particularly grateful to Steve White for putting me in contact with Incredible Hulk Presents editor Andy Seddon, who I don't think has ever been interviewed about his time at Marvel UK before, and talks extensively about his memories of IHP.

Here is the full list of strips included in the graphic novel. (Titles marked * are reprinted for the first time in this collection.)

I hope you'll go out and buy. Train-Flight by Graham S. Brand & Andrew Donkin, drawn by John Ridgway, included in this volume, is my first work as a comics editor and includes a guest appearance by Sarah Jane Smith (an early example of actress Elizabeth Sladen's support for the Magazine).

While financial circumstances on the title at the time meant we couldn't risk running long form epics like those written by Steve Parkhouse during the Davison era (I would have hated to have started one only for the title to have been cancelled part way through, which was still a possibility, even at this point, because of the show's presumed cancellation), Train-Flight also marks the start of a loose 'arc' that builds to Dan Abnett and Lee Sullivan's brilliant Mark of Mandragora story. An arc that doesn't get in the way of the main storyline at any point, I might add, and utterly confuse its audience...

• Nemesis of the Daleks (Doctor Who Magazine #152-155)
• Stairway to Heaven (Doctor Who Magazine #156) *
• Once in a Lifetime (The Incredible Hulk Presents #1)
• Hunger from the Ends of Time! (The Incredible Hulk Presents #2-3)
• War World! (The Incredible Hulk Presents #4)
• Technical Hitch (The Incredible Hulk Presents #5)
• A Switch in Time! (The Incredible Hulk Presents #6)
• The Sentinel! (The Incredible Hulk Presents #7) *
• Who’s that Girl! (The Incredible Hulk Presents #8-9) *
• The Enlightenment of Ly-Chee the Wise (The Incredible Hulk Presents #10) *
• Slimmer! (The Incredible Hulk Presents #11) *
• Nineveh! (The Incredible Hulk Presents #12) *
• Train-Flight (Doctor Who Magazine #159-161)
• Doctor Conkerer! (Doctor Who Magazine #162)
• Abslom Daak: Dalek Killer (Doctor Who Weekly #17-20)
• Star Tigers (Doctor Who Weekly #27-30, Doctor Who Monthly #44-46)

Oh, and if after this you are looking for new Abslom Daak stories, then try and track down copies of  Vworp Vworp Magazine penned by Steve Dillon and drawn by Martin Geraghty.

•  Buy Doctor Who: Nemesis of the Daleks from amazon.co.uk

• Buy Doctor Who: Nemesis of the Daleks from forbidden planet.com

• Read an online interview with Steve Moore about Abslom Daak on the Altered Vistas web site

Remembering Lis Sladen, aka Sarah Jane Smith

Aurum Press will release Doctor Who actress Elisabeth Sladen's autobiography this week - an occasion tempered with sadness, given her untimely death back in April - but a release that prompted my own memories of 'working' with the accomplished actress back when I was editing Doctor Who Magazine.

When Lis first appeared as journalist Sarah Jane Smith in the 1973 Doctor Who story The Time Warrior, little did she know the character would become one of the most enduring and fondly remembered of the series' long history.

The years that followed saw Lis traverse time and space alongside classic Doctors Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, whilst a generation of children crouched behind the sofa, terrified but transfixed as their tea-time heroine found herself menaced by Daleks, dinosaurs, Cybermen, Egyptian mummies, actors in green Bubble Wrap and even the Loch Ness Monster.

By the time she quit the TARDIS in 1976, making front-page news, Lis had become one of the most familiar faces of a TV golden age.

But you don't just walk away from Doctor Who. Fandom made Sarah Jane Smith their own, while Lis Sladen took on another adventure - bringing up her daughter. But even then, she was asked to reprise her role many times, appearing in anniversary specials, the ill-fated 1981 spin-off with robotic sidekick K-9, radio plays, for the BBC's Children in Need and, in the first Doctor Who comic strip I edited for Doctor Who Magazine, Train Flight.

Written by Andrew Donkin and Graham S. Brand, drawn by John Ridgway, I recall I wanted to make a statement with my first edited strip and like editors before me, put my own 'stamp' on what I wanted to see in the magazine's comic section. That included, on occasion, utilising more elements of the TV show than just the Seventh Doctor, such as featuring some TV monsters and, eventually having Ace (played on TV by Sophie Aldred) join the Time Lord in the TARDIS.

John Ridgway work in progress
for Train-Flight

I'd already been in contact with Lis Sladen before her comic appearance: as part of its obligations to the BBC and actors union Equity, in my time as editor DWM had a requirement to pay 'appearance fees' to actors for the use of BBC photographs not connected with recently-transmitted episodes. While these fees were quite low, the paperwork required to secure permissions from actors and their agents (and the owners of rights on some of the monsters such as the Daleks, Cybermen and Yeti) was quite time consuming (but needed to get new photos from the BBC Photographs department featuring those actors) and hadn't been carried out for some time before I took on the Magazine.

As a result there was a small backlog of monies owed to some actors, which I got resolved with the support of the rest of Marvel UK's magazine department (even though I think they thought I was mad to take on such a task).

Despite the cost, the bonus of sorting out this paper work was a much improved relationship with some of the show's key actors and rights holders. It meant that when I asked Lis if she would give permission to feature her likeness, as Sarah, in the strip, she happily agreed for the princely sum of £40 per issue.

It was also, I believe, the beginning of her stepping back into attending more fan events: I recall the first of these was one in Birmingham, which I went to along with then Who producer, the late John Nathan-Turner.

I don't recall if Lis liked her comic appearance but she gave permission for a further use (in a K-9 & Company inspired strip drawn by Vincent Danks), so it can't have been too badly received.  John Ridgway did a cracking job on the art, I felt, which I'm sure didn't hurt.

During my time as editor (and even after I had moved on from DWM) Lis occasionally phoned me up and asked me advice on some matters relating to fan invitations and other opportunities relating to her role as Sarah Jane Smith. She was always a pleasure to deal with.

Down the years, she toured the weird, wide and wonderful world of Doctor Who fandom and of course, as we know, became one of the series' all-time favourite companions. So when TV wunderkind Russell T Davies approached her to come back again, this time to a show backed by multi-million-pound budgets and garlanded with critical plaudits, how could she refuse?

This warm and witty autobiography, completed only months before Elisabeth died, tells her remarkable story, from humble beginnings in post-war Liverpool, through an acclaimed theatrical career working alongside stage luminaries such as Alan Ayckbourn, to Coronation Street, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and the furthest reaches of the Universe.

A unique insider's view of the world's longest-running science fiction series, and of British television yesterday and today, Elisabeth's memoir is funny, ridiculous, insightful and entertaining and a fitting tribute to a woman who will be sadly missed by millions - myself included.

• Elisabeth Sladen: the autobiography is published by Aurum Press on 7th November 2011 at £18.99

• Inside Doctor Who Magazine: an article about a day in the DWM office while I was editor by David Bishop

In Review: The Amulet of Samarkand

By Jonathan Stroud and Andrew Donkin (script), Lee Sullivan (art) and Nicolas Chapuis (colour)
Publisher: Corgi Children's (UK, paperback) Disney Hyperion (US, hardcover)
Out: Now (hardcover) 3rd February 2011 (paperback)

The Book: The first volume in the brilliant, bestselling Bartimaeus sequence, now adapted into a stunning graphic novel format - this is Bartimaeus as you've never seen him before!

Nathaniel, a young magician’s apprentice, has revenge on his mind. Desperate to defy his master and take on more challenging spells, he secretly summons the 5000-year-old djinni, Bartimaeus. But Bartimaeus’s task is not an easy one – he must steal the powerful Amulet of Samarkand from Simon Lovelace, a master magician of unrivalled ruthlessness and ambition. Before long, Bartimaeus and Nathaniel are caught up in a terrifying flood of intrigue, rebellion and murder.

Set in modern-day London controlled by magicians, this brilliant adaptation of Jonathan Stroud’s bestselling novel will enthral readers of all ages.

The Review: I had better declare my allegiances before you continue reading this review: I worked with script writer Andrew Donkin while editing Doctor Who Magazine - I believe his co-authored story, Train Flight, was one of his first professional commissions. Lee Sullivan is a superb artist but someone I have also worked with many times on Doctor Who (if you need Daleks drawing, he's your man...). So you can imagine I might be a little biased in my comments.

Reviewed here is the paperback edition of a hardcover edition released last year by Disney Hyperion, based on story in the world famous Bartimaeus Trilogy by Stroud, consisting of The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem’s Eye and Ptolemy’s Gate. Stroud says these are his most popular books, published in 38 countries worldwide, so it's perhaps no surprize the first has now been adapted into graphic novel form - and a very enjoyable adaptation, too.

The story itself is superb – centring as it does on the exploits of the devious djinni, Bartimaeus,  summoned by a young apprentice, Nathaniel, and directed to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from the powerful magician, Simon Lovelace. (At first, Nathaniel's motive is pure revenge for the way Lovelace has treated him – but as the story develops, it quickly turns out that the older magician deserves everything he gets).

Set in an alternate Britain where magician defend the realm (a tradition begun by Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone, it seems), Lee Sullivan - who describes the most intensive comic work he's ever produced – brings Stroud's glorious fantasy novel to life with aplomb, and Stroud and Donkin's script makes good use of the different narratives in the story, with Bartimaeus telling his side and Nathaniel his.

Of course, even at 144 pages, it's some challenge to bring the full depth of Stroud's story to life and I'd have to say that with a higher page count the team might have been able to make more of some of the action sequences; and the final publication size of the book is a disappointment. This is a production crying out for the print equivalent of wide screen, in my opinion.

Despite this, Lee's art is stunning, especially his realization of alternate London, which includes Crystal Palace and overviews of the House of Commons and more. His character work is great, particularly Bartimaeus, the various fantasy creatures such as letter-delivering imps and magician-guarding sentries. He also brings some real wamrth to scenes between Natahnie and the kind-hearted Mrs Underwood, the only person who shows the young boy any decency. Chapuis' colouring more than does the work justice: although a more subtle palette might also have suited some older readers, the target audience will enjoy the brighter colour choices, especially when things explode and demons manifest.

All in all, a terrific adaptation of a great novel (and one I'll now be hunting down to read in original form).

• Buy The Amulet of Samarkand from amazon.co.uk

• Buy the hardcover edition from amazon.co.uk



• Buy The Amulet of Samarkand from amazon.com


• Buy the hardcover edition from amazon.com

• The official Bartimaeus website

Creator Web Links

• Jonathan Stroud


• Andrew Donkin


• Lee Sullivan
View production work and some final pages from the book here on his site



• Nicolas Chapuis

• There will be a signing and Q&A by Jonathan Stroud to promote this book, plus live art by Andrew Donkin and Lee Sullivan at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR, on Thursday 24th February 6 – 7.00pm. More info on the Forbidden Planet web site