THE DR WHO COMIC STRIP:PART 3:JON PERTWEE

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jim244
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Joined: 15 Jun 2023, 22:02
Location: Moonbase Alpha

Re: THE DR WHO COMIC STRIP:PART 3:JON PERTWEE

Post by jim244 »

STORY 14: GEMINI PLAN
COUNTDOWN ISSUES 1-5
WRITER:DENNIS HOOPER
ART:HARRY LINDFIELD
DATE: 20/02/71 - 20/03/71

We have been told in previous TV Comic stories that the Doctor has been trying to fix his TARDIS whilst working for the Brigadier.
In the first Countdown story, the Dr is finally successful and the Tardis takes flight.
It lands in the Northern territory of Australia and the Dr is captured in an underground scientific complex.
Rudolph Steiner plans to bring Venus closer to Earth and must be stopped.
It is lovely to see a Dr Who strip in colour again, whilst the Tv Comic 1971 annual story "Castaway" had been the first appearance of Jon Pertwees' Dr in a colour comic strip, the weekly series had not been in colour since October 1968.
It's also nice to see the Tardis once more,which hadn't been seen since Patrick Troughtons' final strip,"The Night Walkers" in November 1969.
TV Comic had already started to move away from their more whimsical Doctor Who strip stories with the advent of the third doctor and started to write stories that were more connected to the television show.
Somehow it felt as if it had all been planned and that something was going to happen.....
Countdown WAS that something.

jim244
Posts: 690
Joined: 15 Jun 2023, 22:02
Location: Moonbase Alpha

Re: THE DR WHO COMIC STRIP:PART 3:JON PERTWEE

Post by jim244 »

STORY15: TIMEBENDERS
COUNTDOWN ISSUES 6-13
WRITER:DENNIS HOOPER
ART:HARRY LINDFIELD
DATE: 27/03/71- 15/05/71

The Doctor is transported in time and space to 1942,France, due to an invention of Professor Vedruns' design, a French scientist captured by Nazis.
This story is in my personal top 20 of greatest Dr Who strips ever.
Harry Lindfields' art; Dennis Hoopers' writing and the most serious story that has appeared at this stage in DR Who comic strips combine to make a classic.
Also,I would note that the previous Countdown story wasn't really any different to previous TV Comic stories, frankly it presents Australian aborigines in a cave communicating by using sign language, the DR landing on an alien planet that turns out to be Australia, the concept of moving Venus closer to Earth.....It's pure TV Comic!!!!
This isn't. This is brutal and brilliant and better than the Tv show and shows the power of the medium of comics.

jim244
Posts: 690
Joined: 15 Jun 2023, 22:02
Location: Moonbase Alpha

Re: THE DR WHO COMIC STRIP:PART 3:JON PERTWEE

Post by jim244 »

STORY 16: THE VOGAN SLAVES
COUNTDOWN ISSUES 15-22
WRITER:DENNIS HOOPER
ART:HARRY LINDFIELD
DATE: 29/05/71 - 17/07/71

In the earlier story, "The Gemini Plan", the Doctor gets the Tardis working but it develops a fault. At the start of this story it is revealed that the Doctor has "rediscovered the circuit" and is free to roam in time and space again.
The Tardis lands on an apparently deserted space ship and the Doctor finds it is controlled by robots with humanoids kept in suspended animation.
The Doctor revives a girl, Trandi, who explains that the Vogans have rescued her race from their dying planet and are transporting them to a new home.
This is the first time that the Doctor visits an alien world since the September 1969 strip "Robot King" in The Dr Who Annual.

jim244
Posts: 690
Joined: 15 Jun 2023, 22:02
Location: Moonbase Alpha

Re: THE DR WHO COMIC STRIP:PART 3:JON PERTWEE

Post by jim244 »

STORY 17: THE CELLULOID MIDAS
COUNTDOWN ISSUES 23 -32
WRITER:DENNIS HOOPER
ART:HARRY LINDFIELD
DATE: 24/07/1971 - 25/09/1971

The Doctor is brought in to solve a mystery by Sir Oswald from the Ministry of Defence.
The actors and crew filming a television series have been turned into plastic statues.
This story sees the continuation of the TV comic link with the show, it is plainly influenced by Terror of the Autons and The Daemons.
An excellent story with exceptional art and the longest running story since the very first strip story, "The Klepton Parasites" from 1964.
The Doctors' cottage first features in this strip.
Last edited by jim244 on 06 Feb 2025, 01:01, edited 1 time in total.

jim244
Posts: 690
Joined: 15 Jun 2023, 22:02
Location: Moonbase Alpha

Re: THE DR WHO COMIC STRIP:PART 3:JON PERTWEE

Post by jim244 »

STORY 18: THE PLANT MASTER
COUNTDOWN ANNUAL 1972
WRITER:DENNIS HOOPER
ART:JIM BAIKIE
DATE: SEPTEMBER 1971

The story starts with the Doctor having issues with the Tardis circuits and he makes a sudden landing which almost causes a motorcyclist, Dave Lester (not related to Red Dwarf) to crash into his ship.
Dave gets the Dr involved in a mystery involving the Carradine Estate.
This strip is reminiscent of the 1976 TV story "The Seeds of Doom" despite being written half a decade before.
I believe that this was the very first Jon Pertwee strip I read, getting the annual from one of my schools' jumble sales, the ebay of the seventies.
Absolutely love this strip.

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