Cybermen in the Comics Part 2

After a wealth of strips in the 1960s, the 1970s were rather leaner years for the poor old Cybermen. However, better times were ahead...

DEATHWORLD


	The Ice Warriors are on Yama-10 searching for supplies of trisilicate. However, they soon find that the Cybermen are also on Yama-10, and a battle to their mutual deaths begins...




	*ARTIST:* David Lloyd WRITER: Steve Moore ISSUE: 15-16. COVER DATES: Jan 23rd 1980, Jan 30th 1980.

TIMESLIP


	The Cybermen make their first cameo appearance in the main Doctor Who Weekly strip - and in the same panel as the Daleks’ first appearance. *ARTIST:* Paul Neary. WRITER: Dez Skinn (Plot), Paul Neary (Script). ISSUES: 17-18. COVER DATES: Feb 6th 1980, Feb 13th 1980. REPRINTS: Reprinted in full colour in IDW’s Doctor Who Classics No. 4 (2 versions), in March 2008. The colouring was done by Charlie Kirchoff.

SHIP OF FOOLS




	Kroton’s ship is picked up by a spaceship caught in a time warp. Kroton succeeds in freeing the ship, but time catches up with those aboard, ageing the crew to death. Kroton is alone once more. *ARTIST:* Steve Dillon. WRITER: Steve Moore. ISSUE: 23-24. COVER DATES: Mar 19th 1980, Mar 26th 1980.



		The first of many return appearances for Kroton, the Cyberman with emotions.

BLACK LEGACY

Cybermen land on Goth, intent on discovering the terrible weapons of the long-extinct Deathsmiths. However, even as Cyberleader Maxel becomes obsessed with finding the Deathsmith’s Ultimate Weapon, something hunts them in the darkness, destroying the Cybermen one by one...

ARTIST: David Lloyd
WRITER: Alan Moore
ISSUE: 35-38.
COVER DATES: 12th June 1980, 19th June 1980, 26th June 1980, 3rd July 1980.

The Deathsmiths of Goth are mentioned by Russell T. Davies in his feature about the Time War in the Doctor Who Annual 2005. He likes his comic strips does our Russell.

JUNKYARD DEMON


	A Cyberman, long deactivated and forgotten in an intergalactic junkyard, becomes reactivated. It kidnaps a mechanic named Jetsam and hijacks the TARDIS, intent on reviving a Cyberleader named Zogroan. Jetsam turns him instead into a super-butler. *ARTISTS:* Mike McMahon and Adolfo Buylla. WRITER: Steve Parkhouse. ISSUE: 58-59. COVER DATES: November 1981, December 1981. REPRINTS: Reprinted in Doctor Who Comics Issue 13, and also in the Panini graphic novel Dragon’s Claw, which was released in November 2005. The Cybermen meet the Doctor in the comic strip for the first time since 1969. And the cloth-faced Cybermen of old also make a return for the first time since 1969. It is surprising that it took 58 issues before the Cybermen were introduced into the main strip.

DOCTOR WHO?




	Assorted ‘funnies’, frequently featuring the Cybermen. *ARTIST:* Dicky Howett. WRITER: Tim Quinn. ISSUES: 71, Winter Special 1982 (Full Page), Summer Special 1983 (Full Page), 91, 94, 97, 100, 101, 103 (Full Page), 110 (Full Page), 115, 118, 123, 125, 126, 128, 129, 131, 134, 25th Anniversary Special (Full Page), 153, 154, 157, 163, 167, 169 (Full Page), 171, 182 (Regular and Full Page), 199, 200, 202, 204, 211, 212, Yearbook 1992 (Full Page). *REPRINTS:* 71, 91, 97 and 101 are reprinted in their entirety in David Banks’ 1988 book Cybermen. Tim Quinn and Dicky Howett provided a regular ‘funny’ virtually every month from 1982-1996, sometimes expanding to a whole page of ‘hilarious’ Doctor Who related ‘wit’. These frequently referenced the Cybermen, as in the above strip. If anybody would like to list all the appearances of the Cybermen in the two books The Doctor Who Fun Book and It’s Bigger on the Inside, then you are a braver person than I, but would earn my eternal thanks.

KANE’S STORY





	The Cybermen are just one of the races defeated by the Skeletoids before the Doctor, Peri, Frobisher, a Draconian, Kane and an alchemist called Abel Gantz are drafted to save the galaxy. *ARTIST:* John Ridgway. WRITER: Alan McKenzie (writing as Max Stockbridge) ISSUE: 104. COVER DATE: Sept 1985. REPRINTS: Doctor Who Classic Comics Issues 19. Also reprinted in black and white as part of Doctor Who Voyager, published by Panini in 2007 as a graphic novel. The cover for this publication is shown below. A brief one-frame cameo for the Cybermen. Oddly, considering their popularity on television during the Eighties, this was one of only five appearances in the ongoing comic strip during the whole decade.

FROBISHER’S STORY






	Later in the same story (despite the different title), in fact in the final frame, we catch a glimpse of the Cybercontroller rather bizarrely attending a peace conference. *ARTIST:* John Ridgway. WRITER: Alan McKenzie (writing as Max Stockbridge) ISSUE: 107. COVER DATE: Dec 1985. REPRINTS: Doctor Who Classic Comics Issues 19. Also reprinted in black and white as part of Doctor Who Voyager, published by Panini in 2007 as a graphic novel. The cover for this publication is shown above. For those who can’t see him, he’s on the right of the table, just behind the alien with lots of eyes.

EXODUS/REVELATION/GENESIS

Having encountered fleeing farmers, the Doctor investigates their stories on the planet Sylvaniar, where a mad scientist called Doctor Sovak has been converting people into Cybermen. He intends to use them to seize control of the castle, but miscalculates and blows up the laboratory and his grisly work.

ARTIST: John Ridgway.
WRITER: Alan McKenzie.
ISSUE: 108-110.
COVER DATES: Jan 1986, Feb 1986, March 1986.
REPRINTS: Doctor Who Classic Comics Issue 16. Also reprinted in black and white as part of Doctor Who The World Shapers, published by Panini in June 2008 as a ‘graphic novel’. The cover for this publication is shown below.

THE WORLD SHAPERS

Responding to a distress call, the Doctor arrives on Marinus where he finds a dying Time Lord. As the Time Lord dies, his last words are ‘Planet Fourteen’. The Doctor only vaguely understands the reference, so heads to Scotland to visit a now old Jamie Robert McCrimmon. He reminds the Doctor that the Cyber-Controller remembered the two of them from Planet Fourteen and they return to Marinus to find that, in the week they’ve been away, an age has passed on the planet and it is now barren. The Voord are evolving into Cybermen with the aid of a worldshaper, with which they plan to devastate the galaxy. Jamie sacrifices his life to destroy the worldshaper and the Time Lords arrive to stop the Doctor interfering more than he should.

ARTISTS: John Ridgway and Tim Perkins (inks)
WRITER: Grant Morrison
ISSUES: 127-129
COVER DATES: Aug 1987, Sept 1987, Oct 1987.
REPRINTS: reprinted in black and white as part of Doctor Who The World Shapers, published by Panini in June 2008 as a ‘graphic novel’. The cover for this publication is shown below.

In something far worse than the worst excesses of the Eighties television series, continuity abounds as Jamie, Cybermen, Time Lords, a passing mention of Planet 14 from The Invasion, Marinus and the Voords all combine to create something that is actually a rather thinly plotted mess, and hardly a fitting end for either Jamie McCrimmon or the final regular strip outing of the Sixth Doctor.

THE GOOD SOLDIER




	As the Doctor and Ace arrive in a service station in 1950s Nevada, soldiers, led by Colonel Rhodes, are nervously anticipating an attack by flying saucers. However, their unseen enemy transports a whole section of the desert up to a waiting warship. Cybermen erupt from the ground, killing many of the soldiers, capturing others. Only Ace and the Doctor escape. Colonel Rhodes is conditioned and hooked into the warship’s control pod, as it requires an aggressive, warlike pilot. With this ship they plan to attack the Earth. However, the Doctor tricks the Cybermen and sets back their invasion plans. *ARTISTS:* Mike Collins and Steve Pini (inks) WRITER: Andrew Cartmel ISSUES: 175-178 COVER DATES: July 10th 1991, 7th Aug 1991, Sept 4th 1991, Oct 2nd 1991. Written by Doctor Who’s last television script editor.

TIME AND TIME AGAIN


	The Cybermen receive another brief cameo in this story of the Key to Time. *ARTISTS:* John Ridgway. WRITER: Paul Cornell. ISSUE: 207. COVER DATE: 22nd December 1993. Written by the author of Father’s Day, Human Nature/The Family of Blood, not to mention several Doctor Who novels.

THE CYBERMEN


	Sometimes continuity-laden, convoluted and mystical, but an always visually stunning and beautifully coloured strip charting the birth of the Cybermen. *ARTIST:* Adrian Salmon WRITER: Alan Barnes ISSUES: 215-238 (in colour from Issue 221 onwards) This one page strip, which attempts to do for the Cybermen what The Dalek Chronicles did for the Daleks, ran from 1994 until 1996. The individual stories are as follows: The Dead Heart (Issues 215-220) The Flesh Unbound (Issues 221-223) The Black Sky (Issues 224-226) The Hungry Sea (Issues 227-229) The Dark Flame (Issues 230-233) The Future Perfect (Issue 234) The Ugly Underneath (Issues 235-238)

TARGET PRACTICE




Two-panel cameo for the Cybermen - and a host of other baddies - in this Third Doctor strip. *ARTIST:* Adrian Salmon. WRITER: Gareth Roberts. ISSUE: 234. COVER DATE: 17th January 1996.

DREADNOUGHT

The Cybermen attack a spaceship where they convert the crew. All except Stacy, who escapes with the Doctor. However, they are soon captured and the Cyberleader plans to gain mastery over all time and space through the Doctor and his TARDIS. But the Doctor and Stacy rely on the last vestige of humanity left in one of the coverted crewmen and manage to eject the Cybermen from the TARDIS.

ARTISTS: Lee Sullivan and Alan Craddock (colour)
WRITER: Gary Russell

This half-page comic strip, which began its run the week after the TV Movie aired in the UK, was first published in the issue dated 1 - 7 June 1996, the last part in the issue dated 22 - 2 March 1997, a total run of 42 issues. It featured the Cybermen only in its opening ten-part story.

THE FANGS OF TIME


	Yet another cameo for the Cybermen in this glorious and nostalgic strip about what it is to be a Doctor Who fan of a certain age. *ARTIST/WRITER:* Sean Longcroft ISSUE: 243 You will note that the cloth-faced Cybermen again make an appearance, making them the single most popular design of Cybermen ever to have appeared in the comics!

JUNKYARD DEMON II


	The Brotherhood of Logicians (Tomb of the Cybermen) send a gunrunner named Joylove to recover the Cybermen that Flotsam and Jetsam have been reconditioning and sending out as butlers and menial workers. But the Cybermen have other ideas... *ARTIST:* Adrian Salmon WRITER: Alan Barnes A follow up to the strip that first appeared in Doctor Who Monthly Issues 58-59, again featuring those cloth-faced Cybermen...

HAPPY DEATHDAY






	Another cameo for every conceivable type of Cyberman in this light-hearted 35th anniversary story. *ARTIST:* Roger Langridge WRITER: Scott Gray ISSUE: 272. COVER DATE: 15th Dec 1998. REPRINTS: Reprinted in black and white as part of Doctor Who The Glorious Dead, published by Panini in October 2006 as a ‘graphic novel’. The cover for this publication is shown at the bottom of this page.

UNNATURAL BORN KILLERS

Sontarans attack a primitive village incapable of defending itself. However, they discover too late that the primitives have a champion, a Cyberman with emotion named Kroton...

ARTIST/WRITER: Adrian Salmon.
ISSUE: 277.
COVER DATE: 5th May 1999.
REPRINTS: Reprinted in black and white as part of Doctor Who The Glorious Dead, published by Panini in October 2006 as a ‘graphic novel’. The cover for this publication is shown at the bottom of this page.

This strip features neither the Doctor nor Izzy, and acts instead as a means to reintroduce Kroton, last seen in Ship of Fools way back in 1980.

THE COMPANY OF THIEVES

The TARDIS is caught up in a space pirate attack, a prelude to finally meeting Kroton. With the Doctor and Izzy, Kroton investigates the pirates and discovers they are in the pay of a madman named Tobal Reist who destroyed his home planet while testing a weapon that turned out to be far more powerful than he imagined. Kroton joins the TARDIS crew.

ARTIST: Adrian Salmon and Fareed Choudhury (inks).
WRITER: Scott Gray.
ISSUE: 284-286.
COVER DATES: 17th Nov 1999, 15th Dec 1999, 12th Jan 2000.

REPRINTS: Reprinted in black and white as part of Doctor Who The Glorious Dead, published by Panini in October 2006 as a ‘graphic novel’. The cover for this publication is shown below.

This strip marks the first meeting between the Doctor and Kroton and also bridges the gap between 1999 and 2000.




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