Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Launched in 1979 as Doctor Who Weekly, the magazine became a monthly publication the following year. With 13 issues a year, as well as producing triannual deluxe Special Editions (2002–) and Bookazines (2013–), the publication features behind the scenes articles on the TV show and other media, as well as producing its own comic strip. Its founding editor was Dez Skinn, and the longest-serving editor was Tom Spilsbury who served from 2007 to 2017. He was succeeded by Marcus Hearn, who took over from Spilsbury in July 2017. The incumbent editor is Jason Quinn, who took over from Hearn in September 2023. DWM is recognised by Guinness World Records as the longest running TV tie-in magazine, celebrating 40 years of continuous publication on 11 October 2019. The magazine published its 600th issue on 1 February 2024.
Warrior was a British comics anthology that ran for 26 issues between March 1982 and January 1985. It was edited by Dez Skinn and published by his company Quality Communications. It featured early work by numerous figures who would go on to successful careers in the industry, including Alan Moore, Alan Davis, David Lloyd, Steve Dillon, and Grant Morrison; it also included contributions by the likes of Brian Bolland and John Bolton, while many of the magazine's painted covers were by Mick Austin.
Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US-produced stories for the British weekly comic market. Marvel UK later produced original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dillon, and Grant Morrison.
Derek Graham "Dez" Skinn is a British comic and magazine editor, and author of a number of books on comics. As head of Marvel Comics' operations in England in the late 1970s, Skinn reformatted existing titles, launched new ones, and acquired the BBC license for Doctor Who Weekly. After leaving Marvel UK, Skinn founded and edited Warrior, which featured key works by Alan Moore.
FAB 1 is a pink, six-wheeled car seen in the 1960s British science-fiction television series Thunderbirds, its three film adaptations and its reboot, Thunderbirds Are Go.
TV Zone was a British magazine that was published every four weeks by Visual Imagination that covered cult television. Initially, it mostly covered science fiction, but branched out to cover other drama and comedy series.
Visual Imagination Ltd. was a British company that produced genre magazines. It was founded in 1985 by Stephen Payne and originally only published the science-fiction magazine Fantasy Image.
Hulk Comic was a black-and-white Marvel UK comics anthology published under the editorship of Dez Skinn starting in 1979.
Comics International was a British news and reviews magazine about comic books. Founded in 1990, it was published monthly by Quality Communications until 2006, and then by Cosmic Publications Ltd. until 2010.
Paul Neary was a British comic book artist, writer and editor.
Fantasy Advertiser, later abbreviated to FA, was a British fanzine focused on comic books, founded in 1965 by Frank Dobson, the "Godfather of British Fandom." Considered the first British comics fanzine, Fantasy Advertiser started out as an adzine focused on the sale of primarily second-hand comics; it eventually transitioned into a true comics fanzine. FA now operates as a comics webzine.
Richard Burton is a British comic publisher and editor who had a lengthy career at IPC Magazines. While an assistant editor at 2000 AD, he became known to readers as Tharg the Mighty's bumbling assistant Burt, who appeared in a number of strips with him. Earlier in his career, Burton published the popular fanzine Comic Media News, and was a co-founder of the Eagle Awards.
Tom Spilsbury is a British writer, magazine editor and journalist. As of 2021, he is a feature writer for TV Choice and Total TV Guide magazines. A former pupil of Bristol Cathedral School, he was, for ten years, editor of Doctor Who Magazine (DWM).
Notable events of 1979 in comics.
The British Comic Art Convention was an annual British comic book convention which was held between 1968 and 1981, usually in London. The earliest British fan convention devoted entirely to comics, it was also the birthplace of the Eagle Awards.
Speakeasy was a British magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. It published many interviews with both British and American comics creators.
Bernie Jaye is a British writer, editor, colorist, and letterer in the comic book industry. She was editor-in-chief of Marvel UK in the early 1980s, and is the co-creator of Dark Angel.
The Society of Strip Illustration (SSI), later known as the Comics Creators Guild, was a British network for all those involved in any stage of the creative process of comics production. The SSI, which was co-founded in 1977 by Denis Gifford, met monthly in London, published a newsletter, and distributed annual awards for achievement in the field. Despite the organization's name, most members were comic book creators, as opposed to those of comic strips like those found in The Beano and The Dandy.
The House of Hammer was a British black-and-white magazine featuring articles and comics related to the Hammer Film Productions series of horror and science fiction films. The brainchild of Dez Skinn, almost every issue of the magazine featured a comics adaptations of a Hammer film, as well as an original comics backup story, such as the long-running feature Van Helsing's Terror Tales.
Williams Publishing was the short-lived European comics and magazines publishing division of Warner Communications in the 1970s. Headquartered at the Columbia-Warner House in London, Williams had European-language divisions in Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and West Germany. Comics titles were for the most part translations of American publications — many of them Warner properties — as well as some U.K. and European titles. Initiated in 1971, most of the Williams publishing divisions were closed or sold off in the period 1974–1979.
