The 60th anniversary of Doctor Who promises to be a new type of meta-crisis for the Time Lord, his companions, and us. Not only is David Tennant’s familiar face somehow returning as the Doctor’s 14th incarnation, but parts of the wider Doctor Who universe will make their TV debut, too.
Comic book spin-offs have been an essential part of the Doctor Who mythos for decades. Doctor Who comics were published by Marvel for much of their run. The BBC gave the license to print Doctor Who comics to their British subsidiary, Marvel UK, in 1979, creating a continuous line of publications as the imprint became Panini and other licensees gained rights to print comic stories, including BBC Magazines, Titan Comics, and IDW.
The Doctor’s adventures in the pages of Marvel Comics led to some fascinating quirks. Doctor Who earned its own designation in the Marvel multiverse as Earth-5556, and famous creatives who worked on the series, including Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, introduced characters that moved between Doctor Who and Marvel continuities.
Beep the Meep’s live-action Doctor Who debut
Beep the Meep and the Wrath Warriors are set to make their live-action debut during Doctor Who’s 60th-anniversary specials. Here’s a bit more on these characters and other comic book originals that would be a good fit for the Doctor’s future TV adventures.
Beep the Meep
*This section contains some mild spoilers that may play a part in the plotlines of 2023’s Doctor Who specials*
Adorable and sweet, but not everything is as it appears. One warning sign is that the fluffy, wide-eyed alien refers to himself as the ‘Most High.’ In the comics, the Fourth Doctor discovers Beep when he crashes in the small English town of Blackcastle, escaping the terrifying Wrath Warriors.
Readers of the classic comic story Doctor Who and the Star Beast soon discovered appearances were deceptive. The warriors’ scary look has been directly lifted from the comic for their live-action debut, but they were biologically assembled to deal with one dangerous threat: the meeps! Once a peaceful and advanced civilization, the meeps had been corrupted by black sun radiation, and Beep became their scheming leader.
Beep was created by legendary British comics writers Pat Mills and John Wagner and adorably penciled by Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons. Fans have spent 40 years wishing Beep into live-action to confirm his canonical status. What better time than the Doctor’s 60th anniversary?
Poly the Glot
Zyglots were massive space creatures that first appeared in the comics in the early 1980s. Later, the Sixth Doctor helped an old friend Dr. Ivan Asimoff (naturally, a science fiction writer from the planet Sigma), save one Zyglot called Poly. She had more than a punning name — Poly blooms when Asimoff and the Doctor free her from captivity.
We’ve encountered giant space creatures like the Star Whale of series 5’s The Beast Below, and it would be great to see many more wonders of the universe lifted from the pages of the comics.
Absalom Daak
The Doctor may not be too happy with the reputation, but he’s the undisputed nemesis of the Daleks, right? Not if Absalom Daak has anything to do with it. Writer Steve Moore and artist Steve Dillon introduced the ultimate Dalek killer to Doctor Who comics in 1980. A crazed human from the 26th century, Daak chose a Dalek-facing suicide mission over vaporization for his crimes.
Of course, he survived his first encounter, and fans grew to love him as the Daleks learned to fear him. Daak subsequently traveled with the Eleventh Doctor, expressing his frustration that so few Daleks were left in the universe following the Time War. With rumors that the Whoviverse is set to expand with further spin-off series, a charismatic Dalek Hunter could be part of an explosive series.
Frobisher
Fan-favorite Frobisher was a companion to the comic book Sixth and Seventh Doctors between 1984 and 1987, and his immense popularity has scored him several spin-off appearances. Frobisher may look like a penguin, but he’s a shapeshifting Whifferdill and private detective with a broad American accent. Much of his appeal came from his antiheroic personality, as Frobisher wasn’t opposed to crime. He first met the Doctor trying to claim a bounty on the Time Lord’s head. But after infiltrating the TARDIS and mimicking the time rotor, he was won over by the Doctor’s charms.
Frobisher wasn’t the first changeling companion — in the early 1980s, the android Kamelion had proved famously difficult to realize on TV. The new co-production between BBC and Disney+ could be the time to introduce one of the Doctor’s most interesting companions.
The Iron Legion
Another brilliant invention from writers Mills and Wagner, and like The Star Beast, a classic comic story that’s been adapted for audio. The Iron Legion was an army of robot legionnaires — the future of the Roman army on an alternate Earth where their Empire never fell. The Fourth Doctor encountered them when they invaded the sleepy town of Stockbridge under the command of the brilliantly named General Ironicus.
The Time Lord was soon dragged into their Eternal War. We’ve already seen alternate realities in the show and the rise of Cyberman on a parallel Earth — it would be great to see the series dip into some high-concept sci-fi like this.
Josiah W. Dogbolter
You’d be right if you thought this character sounds like a bad guy. In the far future, Dogbolter is a capitalist who owns Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. He wrongly assumes the Fifth Doctor and his companions are rebels but doesn’t miss the potential of the TARDIS. After all, time is money, so what could a timeship do for this avaricious villain?
Resembling a humanoid frog, Dogbolter rose to be President of the Solar System, although he never stopped his attempts to eliminate the Doctor. A popular villain, he’s returned to take on the Sixth and Twelfth Doctors in the comics and featured in a spin-off audio adventure.
Kroton the Cyberman
Nearing the end of his life, the Eleventh Doctor was accompanied by the adorable disembodied head of a Cyberman he called Handles. In the comics continuity, he’d already gone a step further in his eighth incarnation. Kroton the Cyberman first appeared in the Fourth Doctor’s era, although he never encountered the Doctor in Throwback: The Soul of a Cyberman.
Kroton was a fully converted Cyberman who somehow retained his emotional capacity. He appeared sporadically in the comics before meeting the Eighth Doctor and becoming a valuable companion and friend to the Time Lord. We’re used to Doctor Who spinning characters off into other series, but following his comic book journey, this could be a character that works his way into the main show from a spin-off.
The Special Executive
The Flux event introduced a special operations team led by the Fugitive Doctor during the Dark Times, which could have taken its inspiration from the comics. The Special Executive is a direct crossover between Doctor Who comics and Marvel Comics continuity thanks to legendary comic creator Alan Moore.
Moore introduced them in the comic 4-D War, where the High Council of Gallifrey contracted the mercenaries for dark missions. When he moved to Marvel UK’s Captain Britain, Moore took the Special Executive with him. As the Doctor’s taken a step closer to Marvel on Disney+, Doctor Who-Marvel crossovers like this could come to live-action.
Destrii
One of the most interesting companions unique to comic continuity was Destrii. Joining the TARDIS during the Eighth Doctor era, she was a genetically enhanced Oblivioner introduced as an enemy before becoming a companion.
An impulsive fighter, Destrii was a throwback to classic-era companion Leela. Less human in appearance, she sometimes concealed her distinctive looks on trips to Earth using a holographic disguise. Destrii almost continued her journey with the Ninth Doctor when the show returned to TV in 2005, but in the event, her departure remained unexplained post-regeneration. That’s something the series could pick up. Seeing more non-human companions join the TARDIS as the show expands would be good.
Shayde
The Time Lords have been through the wringers over the last few years. As the Timeless Child mystery revealed yet another forgotten part of Gallifreyan history, the Master wiped out his race and used their corpses to create regenerating Cybermasters. It shows there’s always a skeleton in the robe closet or maybe a Shayde.
Looking a bit like Mysterio under a raincloud, Shayde was an artificial extension of the Gallifreyan supercomputer, the Matrix, comprising the minds of the dead Time Lords and able to travel through time without a TARDIS. Although it was a servant of Rassilon, Shayde has helped the Doctor on several occasions, even saving the Eighth Doctor’s life. Could Shayde be a way back for the Time Lords?
Published: Jan 2, 2023 06:00 pm