Into the time vortex

The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine is out today, with another 84 pages of great material. Amongst the many features there's the regular 12 page comic strip of course, with part two of Spirits of the Jungle by Jonathan Morris and John Ross (with colours by James Offredi). Anyone who believes the myth that British comics don't have the standard of artwork they used to needs to look at this. Fantastic work by John Ross.

There's also another Daft Dimension strip by me, in which you'll meet this trio...

Plus illustrations for The Time Team feature by Adrian Salmon...

Doctor Who Magazine No.490 is in the shops today, priced £4.99.

Let's not forget DWM's companion mag for younger readers. Doctor Who Adventures No.5 came out last week with 36 pages of stories, features, and fun, plus free gifts. 

There's a complete 9 page comic strip featuring the 12th Doctor and Clara in Trust by Jason Quinn and Russ Leach...

...plus a three page text story featuring The Paternoster Gang. 

Doctor Who Adventures No.5, out now, £3.99.

Support UK comics!

New Adventures for the Doctor

As reported here a few weeks ago, Panini UK now have the licence to publish Doctor Who Adventures, a magazine previously published by Immediate Media Ltd. Panini's new version launched today with a new first issue.

Doctor Who Adventures is pitched at a younger target reader than Panini's long-running Doctor Who Magazine. The contents of DWA had previously been very lightweight, mostly featuring puzzle pages and pin-ups, and, frankly, quite a breezy read. Panini's revamp, edited by Jason Quinn, retains a few puzzle pages and pin-ups but offers the readers better value for money with more story pages and interesting features. 

Previously, DWA had just featured a 4 page Doctor Who strip. The revamp increases it to a 9 page strip plus a three page text story. For a kids magazine to include 12 pages of fiction these days is quite impressive. The articles also offer a bit more to read than before, and there's a good science feature on how to make a battery out of lemons and coins. Don't get me wrong; DWA is still not as sophisticated as Countdown was, but it's a welcome step in the right direction away from magazines that dumb down (or 'young up' as one editor called it). 

Good quality free gifts too, with plastic framed 3-D glasses, a note pad, and plenty of stickers. 

A few days ago, John Freeman's Down the Tubes website featured an interview with DWA editor/writer Jason Quinn and you can read that here:
http://downthetubes.net/?p=21447

Doctor Who Adventures No.1, 36 pages, out now, £3.99.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Also from Panini UK today, The Incredible Hulks No.14 is a good 'jumping on point' with the start of a new Hulk saga and the return of the She-Hulk in a new series. 

And what may interest long-time readers is that the back up strip is a reprint of X-Men No.66 from 1970. The story will be serialized across three issues in seven page episodes, just like Fantastic used to do back in 1968. Good to see some classic material again. 

The Incredible Hulks No.14, 76 pages, £3.50.

(Yes, it's not a typo. The comic is indeed using the plural Hulks, - because it features more than one Hulk. Yeah, irritating I know, as it's the character's name. It's as daft as if they had a comic called Thors. Well, I'm afraid Marvel in America are doing just that with Thors No.1 out soon! With more than one Cap around now can Captain Americas be far behind?) 

DWA regenerates

All-new first issue.

The issue of the junior Doctor Who comic Doctor Who Adventures that's in the shops now is the last one to be published by Immediate Media. In three week's time the mag relaunches with a new No.1 and a new publisher, - Panini UK.

As Panini UK are already the publishers of the longest-running Doctor Who publication, Doctor Who Magazine, it seems only right somehow that they've now been awarded the license to publish the junior title too.

Panini's new version of Doctor Who Adventures, edited by Jason Quinn, will completely regenerate the magazine, with a new design, new features, and new creators on the comic strip. John Freeman has an exclusive sneak peek of artist Russ Leach's strip pages over on the Down the Tubes blog here:
http://downthetubes.net/?p=20946   

The new Doctor Who Adventures No.1 is published on Thursday 23rd April at £3.99.