Doctor Who Weekly No. 1
Fantastic First Issue · Tom Baker / Dalek · original 1979 launch issue · free transfer absent
17 October 1979 cover date (on sale 11 October 1979) · ★ Gold Star object
The first issue of Doctor Who Weekly launched Marvel UK’s dedicated Doctor Who publication in October 1979. It combines television imagery, original British comics, archival features and reader participation in the hybrid format devised by editor Dez Skinn.
Read the catalogue note →- Issue
- No. 1 · 17 October 1979 cover date · inaugural issue
- Publisher
- Marvel Comics Ltd. (Marvel UK)
- State
- Raw · 28-page magazine-size weekly comic · saddle-stapled · colour cover / predominantly black-and-white interior
- Condition
- Very Good+ overall; approximately 5.0–5.5 visually from supplied photographs.
- Completeness
- Main issue complete under the standing TMR rule; the original cover-mounted free transfer advertised on the front cover is absent.
- Rarity
- Not assessed
Catalogue note
The first issue of Doctor Who Weekly launched Marvel UK’s dedicated Doctor Who publication in October 1979. It combines television imagery, original British comics, archival features and reader participation in the hybrid format devised by editor Dez Skinn. Most significantly, it opens “Doctor Who and the Iron Legion” by Pat Mills, John Wagner and Dave Gibbons and begins the publication lineage that survives as Doctor Who Magazine. The supplied copy is the original 12p first issue attribution and retains the main publication, but not the original cover-mounted transfer.
Writer: Pat Mills · John Wagner · Steve Moore
Artist: Dave Gibbons · Paul Neary · David Lloyd
Cover: Photographic cover — Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor with a Dalek; photographer not identified in supplied evidence
Edition: Original 1979 UK launch issue attribution; 12p newsstand edition. Original cover-mounted transfer was issued with the comic but is absent from this copy. Distinct from the 2004 facsimile reprint supplied with Doctor Who Magazine #350.
Why this object matters
The original Doctor Who Weekly launch begins a durable British television/comics publication lineage and Iron Legion. That foundational significance retains Gold. The missing original transfer is a documented limitation of this copy’s launch completeness, warranting 9.3 rather than 9.5.
Evidence limits: Main issue complete under the standing TMR rule; the original cover-mounted free transfer advertised on the front cover is absent.
Score and assessment method
Archive Importance: 9.3 / 10 · Gold Star.
This is a curatorial judgement, not a measurement accurate to one tenth or a market valuation. Read the explanation and its evidence limits together.
How Archive Importance is assessed →Use this record
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Connections use the catalogue’s named people, organisations and themes.
Recorded contributions · 6
- Pat MillsWritingCatalogue credit
Writing credit: Pat Mills · John Wagner · Steve Moore Original catalogue credit
Find other objects with this contribution → - John WagnerWritingCatalogue credit
Writing credit: Pat Mills · John Wagner · Steve Moore Original catalogue credit
Find other objects with this contribution → - Steve MooreWritingCatalogue credit
Writing credit: Pat Mills · John Wagner · Steve Moore Original catalogue credit
Find other objects with this contribution → - Dave GibbonsArtworkCatalogue credit
Artwork credit: Dave Gibbons · Paul Neary · David Lloyd Original catalogue credit
Find other objects with this contribution → - Paul NearyArtworkCatalogue credit
Artwork credit: Dave Gibbons · Paul Neary · David Lloyd Original catalogue credit
Find other objects with this contribution → - David LloydArtworkCatalogue credit
Artwork credit: Dave Gibbons · Paul Neary · David Lloyd Original catalogue credit
Find other objects with this contribution →