1960s Strips

Last update: April 2008.

The first comic strip appearance of the Daleks came in the Dalek Book 1965 (which was actually released in 1964), an annual-style publication that featured an enviable six strips featuring Skaro’s finest.

This book tells the story of the Daleks’ attempted invasion of the Solar System, and fits well with continuity later established in the TV Century 21 strip. Many of the stories also fit with ideas later mentioned in the Curse of the Daleks stage play, making its stories a valuable addition to alternative Dalek continuity.

ARTISTS: Richard Jennings, John Wood, A.B. Cornwell WRITERS: David Whitaker/Terry Nation.

If anyone can identify the individual credits for each story, please contact us at the usual address.

INVASION OF THE DALEKS


	Skaro enters the solar system and the Daleks attack Earth colonies. Scientists Jeff and Mary Stone are taken prisoner, but their brother Andy swears to rescue them and free Venus of the invaders.

THE OIL WELL


	Intent on rescuing Mary, Jeff and Andy attack a Dalek oil installation and thwart the Daleks’ efforts to speed up the refuelling of their space craft.

CITY OF THE DALEKS


	Jeff Stone infiltrates the Dalek city on Skaro and takes back to Earth a secret document detailing the anatomy of a Dalek.

THE HUMANOIDS


	Looking for Daleks on Mars, Mary, Jeff and Andy discover a plot to infiltrate the Earth with android replicas, an idea that would later find currency in the series itself - first through Nation’s own The Chase, then through his The Android Invasion and finally through Resurrection of the Daleks.

MONSTERS OF GURNIAN

Captured by the Daleks, Andy and Mary must survive the savage two-headed Horrorkon monsters on the planet Gurnian, but the Horrorkons prove unusual allies.

This story features the wonderfully bizarre Marsh Dalek, seen above on its long, stilt-like legs.

The two-headed and ferocious Horrorkons are clearly the ancestors of the Terrorkons who would later terrorise the pages of the TV21 Dalek strip.

BATTLE FOR THE MOON




	The Daleks sue for peace, but on the moon, a Dalek task force prepares to bombard the Earth with moon dust.

On 23rd January 1965, the Daleks made their first appearance in their own full colour comic strip on the back page of the lavish new children's weekly comic TV Century 21. Written largely by David Whitaker, who was Doctor Who’s original script editor, and illustrated by legendary comic strip artists as Richard Jennings, Ron Turner and Eric Eden, this popular one-page strip ran for sixteen stories over one hundred and four instalments, and finally concluded on the brink of the Daleks' planned attack on the inhabitants of Earth, which ties in very nicely with the continuity established in The Dalek Book (see above).


	DWCC = Doctor Who Classic Comics DWW = Doctor Who Weekly DWM = Doctor Who Monthly/Magazine GENESIS OF EVIL ARTIST: Richard Jennings ISSUES: 1-3 REPRINTS: DWW Issue 33 (black & white), DWM Issues 180-182 POWER PLAY ARTIST: Richard Jennings ISSUES: 4-10 REPRINTS: DWW Issues 33-34 (black & white), DWM Issues 183-188 DUEL OF THE DALEKS ARTIST: Richard Jennings ISSUES: 11-17 REPRINTS: DWW Issues 35-36 (black & white), DWM Issues 189-193 THE AMARYLL CHALLENGE ARTIST: Richard Jennings ISSUES: 18-24 REPRINTS: DWW Issues 36-37 (black & white abridged), DWCC Issues 1 & 2 THE PENTARAY FACTOR ARTIST: Richard Jennings ISSUES: 25-32 REPRINTS: DWW Issues 37-39 (black & white), DWCC Issues 2 & 3, this strip was also reprinted in the 1977 Dalek Annual. PLAGUE OF DEATH ARTIST: Richard Jennings ISSUES: 33-39 REPRINTS: DWW Issues 39-40 (black & white), DWCC Issues 3 & 4 THE MENACE OF THE MONSTRONS ARTIST: Richard Jennings ISSUES: 40-46 REPRINTS: DWW Issues 40-42 (black & white), DWCC Issues 4 & 5, this strip was also reprinted in the 1977 Dalek Annual. EVE OF THE WAR ARTIST: Richard Jennings & Ron Turner ISSUES: 47-51 REPRINTS: DWM Issues 53-54 (black & white), DWCC Issue 6, this strip was also reprinted in The Amazing World of Doctor Who (1976, a promotion from Ty-Phoo tea, under the title A Fresh Start.)).	Please note that on their original publication, the sixteen stories did not have individual titles and are presented here in this format purely for ease of reference. THE ARCHIVES OF PHRYNE ARTIST: Eric Eden ISSUES: 52-58 REPRINTS: DWM Issues 54-55 (black & white), DWCC Issue 6 ROGUE PLANET ARTIST: Ron Turner ISSUES: 59-62 REPRINTS: DWM Issues 56, 58-60, DWCC Issue 8, this strip was also reprinted in the 1978 Dalek Annual. IMPASSE ARTIST: Ron Turner ISSUES: 63-69 REPRINTS: DWM Issues 61-66, 68, DWCC Issue 12, this strip was also reprinted in the 1978 Dalek Annual. THE TERRORKON HARVEST ARTIST: Ron Turner ISSUES: 70-75 REPRINTS: DWCC Issue 14 LEGACY OF YESTERYEAR ARTIST: Ron Turner ISSUES: 76-85 REPRINTS: DWCC Issues 15 & 16 SHADOW OF HUMANITY ARTIST: Ron Turner ISSUES: 86-89 REPRINTS: DWCC Issue 17 THE EMISSARIES OF JEVO ARTIST: Ron Turner ISSUES: 90-95 REPRINTS: DWCC Issue 18 THE ROAD TO CONFLICT ARTIST: Ron Turner ISSUES: 96-104 REPRINTS: DWCC Issue 19



All sixteen strips were reprinted by Marvel, in full colour, in their 1994 release The Dalek Chronicles, with an additional article and a full colour wraparound cover produced by Ron Turner. This special edition can now fetch quite a tidy sum on eBay.

THE TIDDLERS

A very small cameo appearance for two Daleks in Issue 72 of Wham! (6 November 1965 - one week before The Daleks’ Master Plan began its epic run on TV). This issue is a Fireworks Special, and teaches children the fun they can have with potentially lethal explosives.

In case you can’t see one of the Daleks even when you squint at the cover here (the other one is in the crowd of children almost in the centre of the cover), click on the image to enlarge the section with that Dalek on it.

Interestingly, the Dalek is being pursued and shot at by a helicopter which says U.N.C.L.E. on the side of it. Is this some comment on the respective fortunes of the two shows?

ARTIST/WRITER: Leo Baxendale.
ISSUE: 72
COVER DATE: 6th November 1965.

RESCUED FROM THE DALEKS




	Not a comic strip in the traditional sense, but a story told in seven frames that could be projected onto a wall with the Chad Valley Give-A-Show projector to provide whole minutes of solid entertainment. The Doctor and Ian rescue a scientist from the universe’s most fearsome oppressors by throwing Ian’s jacket over its ‘tele-eye’ (eyestalk to the likes of you and me). *ARTISTS/WRITERS:* Unknown. RELEASE DATE: 1965. If anyone can identify the individual credits for this strip, please contact us at the usual address.

As with most annuals, the actual year of publication was the year before the cover date. This volume contained five strips featuring the Daleks, and also starred the Mechanoids.

In a rare piece of continuity with the television series, we also see the Mechanoids’ city on Mechanus and encounter the Fungoids, with their aversion to light, though their shape has changed somewhat from their one and only television appearance.

ARTISTS/WRITERS: Richard Jennings, John Wood, A.B. Cornwell, Wiggins.

If anyone can identify the individual credits for each story, please contact us at the usual address.

THE MECHANICAL PLANET

Threatened by a mechanical planet, Earth rearms the Daleks who, after repelling the threat, vow to once more conquer Earth.

Which is no more than you would expect of them, really.

TREASURE OF THE DALEKS


	Brit is forced by two stowaways to land on Skaro. The men intend to steal the Daleks’ treasure, which is protected by a hideous Dredly monster. No really...

THE WORLD THAT WAITS




	Mechanus is attacked by the Daleks, but they seem to have met their equals when they come up against the Mechanoids...

MASTERS OF THE WORLD


	Unispace agent Meric investigates an underwater city full of Dalek copies of Earth leaders.

THE INVISIBLE INVADERS


	An invisible enemy attacks the Daleks’ compressed water factory, threatening all of Skaro in the process. The Daleks retaliate in typical Dalek style.

Doctor Who and the Daleks


	To tie in with the launch of the first Amicus film Doctor Who and the Daleks in 1965, Dell Comics released a 31-page comic strip adaptation of the film in 1966 under the banner Movie Classic. ‘Everywhere! Watching and waiting... The incredible robots, the Daleks!!’ announced the cover. Well, indeed.

Landing on Skaro, Doctor Who helps the Thals to defeat their old enemy, the Daleks.

ARTISTS: Dick Giordano and Sal Trapani WRITER: Terry Nation.
REPRINTS: Doctor Who Classic Comics Issue 9.

Again, actually released in 1966 in time for Christmas that year, the Dalek Outer Space Book is most notable for seeing the appearance of Sara Kingdom, who featured in Doctor Who’s The Daleks’ Master Plan. She has the strength of ten men. Apparently.

ARTISTS/WRITERS: Richard Jennings, John Wood, Leslie Waller, Art Sanson, Terry Nation.

If anyone can identify the individual credits for each story, please contact us at the usual address.

THE DALEK TRAP


	The Daleks kidnap two Earth astronauts and send them on a quest for a mineral hidden in the caves of Skaro which will enhance their firepower.

SARA KINGDOM SPACE SECURITY AGENT


	Sara Kingdom rescues a top scientist from a Dalek slave colony. His knowledge of metallurgy makes him a valuable asset to the Daleks.

THE SUPER SUB


	Jeff Stone (remember him?) discovers the wreck of a Dalek submarine.

THE SECRET OF THE EMPEROR


	The Dalek Emperor orders that a gigantic, static casing should be built for him in the heart of the Dalek city after one Dalek dares to criticise him.

THE BRAIN TAPPERS


	The Daleks place a device in Earth’s orbit that allows them to read human minds.

A Doctor Who strip had been appearing in TV Comic since 1965, but, since the rights to use the Daleks in comic strip form were already held by TV Century 21, the Daleks remained noticeably absent from the Doctor’s voyages, replaced instead by the robotic Trods. However, when TV21 finished its Dalek strip in 1966, TV Comic was quick to take up the rights, and celebrated in an initial story in January 1967 by showing the Daleks brutally massacring the Trods. ‘Exterminate them! Show no mercy! No survivors!’ indeed. Ah, the cut-throat world of comics...

THE TRODOS AMBUSH aka AMBUSH

The Doctor travels to Trodos to make peace with his old enemy the Trods, but the Daleks have defeated the Trods and are now setting a trap for the Doctor.

ARTIST & WRITER: John Canning.
ISSUES: 788-791.
COVER DATES: 21st Jan 1967, 28th Jan 1967, 4th Feb 1967, 11th Feb 1967.
REPRINTS: Doctor Who Classic Comics Issue 8

THE DOCTOR STRIKES BACK aka FIGHT-BACK


	The Doctor infiltrates the Dalek base in a stolen casing determined to destroy the Daleks. This he does by ordering the garrison to self-destruct. Ruthless, isn’t he? *ARTIST & WRITER:* John Canning. ISSUES: 792-795. COVER DATES: 18th Feb 1967, 25th Feb 1967, 4th Mar 1967, 11th Mar 1967. REPRINTS: Doctor Who Classic Comics Issue 11.

THE EXTERMINATOR


	The Doctor derails a super-train carrying a giant exterminator gun that the Daleks plan to use against the Earth. *ARTIST & WRITER:* John Canning. ISSUES: 803-806. COVER DATES: 6th May 1967, 13th May 1967, 20th May 1967, 27th May 1967. REPRINTS: Doctor Who Classic Comics Issue 20.

JUNGLE ADVENTURE




	Whilst testing his latest invention, the Doctor, John and Gillian discover Daleks in a jungle... and wipe them out with ruthless efficiency. *ARTIST & WRITER:* Patrick Williams COVER DATE: May 1967. Note in the illustrations above and below Patrick Williams’ insistence on drawing the Daleks with only one light on their dome.

ATTACK OF THE DALEKS


	The Doctor, John and Gillian defeat a squad of Daleks by throwing rocks at them. I kid you not. Perhaps it should have been called Attack on the Daleks instead. *ARTIST & WRITER:* Patrick Williams Not the most auspicious end to the Daleks’ comic strip career in the 1960s, which had seen the Daleks enjoy their first peak of popularity in every medium.



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