Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher which has published " Doctor Who " comic books , magazines and graphic novels , both in the United States and in Britain . Marvel ' s connection with " Doctor Who " began in 1979 , when the BBC transferred the license to print " Doctor Who " comics from Polystyle to Marvel ' s British imprint , Marvel UK . Marvel UK . Though Marvel UK initially enjoyed exclusive rights to " Doctor Who " in comics form , their rights have gradually contracted since 1996 , when the Eighth Doctor debuted in a series of strips that ran in " Radio Times " . Since the second series of the BBC Wales production , they have been one of several companies to enjoy publishing rights to the comics adventures of the Tenth Doctor . Nevertheless , their strip in " Doctor Who Magazine " is generally considered by most fans to be the " main " " Doctor Who " comic strip , with other comics , like those found in the BBC - produced " Doctor Who Adventures " , construed as " niche " comics for a specific audience . At the height of their influence , Marvel UK began to publish directly in the US market during the mid - 1990s . Though they enjoyed initial success , they soon found themselves up against the wall of the general downturn in the US comics industry that decade . Having committed much of their resources to success in America , they were quickly reduced to a company that mainly reprinted Marvel US comics in Britain . By the turn of the 21st century , almost the only original work they were still doing was in " Doctor Who " and the " Transformers " . Badly cash - strapped , they were saved from extinction by the intervention of Panini Comics , a European publisher who had the Marvel reprint license for the continent . Panini ' s acquisition of Marvel UK had the net effect of Marvel Europe extending its territory to encompass the United Kingdom . Hence , from one perspective , the BBC ' s license to print " Doctor Who " comics and news didn ' t change hands , so much as the British license to print Marvel Comics . In other words , Marvel UK still technically exists as of 2008 , with its licenses intact , but they are now owned by Panini , which also owns Marvel Europe . For this reason , it ' s within Panini ' s rights to now reprint a " Doctor Who " comic from a 1985 issue of " Doctor Who Magazine " , whereas special permission must be sought for Panini to reprint something from the Polystyle era . Publications . " Doctor Who Magazine " . Initially Marvel UK exercised the BBC ' s license in " Doctor Who Weekly " , a publication that was a fairly even mix between comics and " Doctor Who " news . In the very earliest days of that magazine , it served not only as a location for a regular comic strip featuring the then - current Doctor , but also for a variety of other sequential art . These non - Doctor stories included some tales that were set in the Whoniverse , but featured original characters , along with irregular reprints of material from " The Dalek Chronicles " . It also featured 1970s Marvel adaptations of classic science fiction stories , and reprints from American Marvel Comics published from the of the 1950s and 1960s . For these stories , tenuous connection was established to the Fourth Doctor in that he appeared in the first and last panels as a sort of " - cum - narrator " . Consequently some major American Marvel artists like , and have credits in " DWM " . Over the years , the title of the publication , its page count , and its target audience changed . Whereas it had started with a significant number of pages devoted to a variety of comic strips , it gradually became more of a news and reviews magazine with a single comic strip featuring the Doctor . It began as a child - oriented magazine and gradually became more interested in attempting to be something closer to a journalistic exercise that happened to have some comic content . Its name changed over the years until finally settling on " Doctor Who Magazine " , by which it is most commonly known today . " Doctor Who Special " . Soon after the launch of " Doctor Who Weekly " , Marvel UK also began publication of a seasonal , sister publication initially called " Doctor Who Special " . It was a biannual publication , which in many ways was like an American comics " " . Although it could be purchased separately from the main magazine , it was also a subscriber bonus . Like " DWM " , it began as primarily a repository of fiction and gradually became heavily oriented towards non - fiction , journalistic articles . These specials became increasingly thematic as the run continued . Whereas reprinted comics were common early on , later issues featured exclusively original comic material , or , in one case , the complete reprinting of " TV Century 21 " s " The Dalek Chronicles " . It was a significant source of comic material featuring past Doctors and companions . In fact , a number of different companions , whose TV runs had been previously ignored by both Marvel and Polystyle , made their first comic appearances in " DWS " , including : Vicki , Steven , Benny , and Mel . Others , such as Romana I had their first " Marvel " treatment in the pages of " DWS " , rather than the parent publication . Confusion over the title is both common and understandable in fandom . Later issues which place the word " Magazine " on the cover , suggest that one possible title for the publication is " Doctor Who Magazine Special " . Also , the common inclusion of these issues with subscriptions of " DWM " force some to include that it ' s not really a separate title from " DWM " . In fact , though , no issue of the run has the word " Magazine " in the indicia title . And it was called " Doctor Who Special " for at least its first five issues . Thereafter , the publication dropped its legal promise to be " published twice yearly " , and was technically published as a series of one - shots bearing the name of the season . In effect , " Doctor Who Special " morphed into " Doctor Who Summer Special " and " Doctor Who Winter Special " , along with the odd unique special , like the " Doctor Who 30th Anniversary Special " or " Dalek Chronicles - A Doctor Who Summer Special " . Practically , the need for these specials was eclipsed somewhat by Marvel ' s decision in 1990 to switch " DWM " from a monthly to a 4 - weekly publication . This increased the annual output of " DWM " itself to 13 issues . Marvel would go on publishing the specials , however , for a few more years , eventually stopping them altogether after Marvel UK faltered in the US market in 1996 . " Doctor Who Yearbook " . The Marvel Company also briefly produced another series , called the " Doctor Who Yearbook " , from 1992 - 1996 . Sometimes considered " annuals " , they are perhaps most accurately thought of as hardbound issues of " Doctor Who Special " . Whereas a true British " annual " is a collection of prose and comics stories featuring the then - current stars of a property — it marks that year in television , film , or sport — the " Yearbook " appeared at a time when " Doctor Who " was firmly off the air . Thus it became a retrospective look at the program " as a whole " , and featured a variety of different companions and Doctors . Like " Doctor Who Specials " , it occasionally reprinted material from " Doctor Who Magazine " , but was largely used to feature new stories . Its comics featured Marvel ' s first non - parodic attempt at Ian and Barbara , along with the first Marvel usage of Jo , Leela and Nyssa , " Doctor Who Classic Comics " . Marvel UK was briefly involved in a project to reprint material not generally available to " Doctor Who " fans in the 1990s . In a series that lasted less than 30 issues , " Doctor Who Magazine " s resident comic experts attempted to reprint important stories from both the Polystyle and Marvel UK runs . Where necessary , they also colourised stories that had originally been in black and white . The magazine ended long before it had gotten anywhere close to being a comprehensive collection of the Polystyle era , but it nevertheless offered the only taste of that time that most fans had experienced . The publication also had significant text articles which gave details as to the names and artists that worked on every known " Doctor Who " comic adventure . Because of this , it is today still considered the " de facto " definitive guide to early " Doctor Who " comics . Many reference websites , including the Doctor Who Reference Guide , use this Marvel UK title as their primary reference for the comics of the first seven Doctors . Though in many ways just a reprinting of the " Stripped for Action " column that had begun appearing in " DWM " a couple of years before , " DWCC " offered expanded coverage of the subject . Graphic Novels and One - Offs . Marvel also occasionally printed some single - issue " Doctor Who " comics , marketed as " graphic novels " . Of these , only " The Age of Chaos " was both wholly graphic and a single , novel - length story . The others — " Abslom Daak - Dalek Killer " and " Voyager " — would be considered by North Americans to be trade paperbacks or " collected editions " . Marvel US . Marvel UK ' s parent company , Marvel Comics , had some minor involvement with " Doctor Who " during the height of US " Doctor Who " fandom in the 1980s , consisting of colourised reprints of DWM comic strips , beginning with a Fourth Doctor story arc that appeared as part of an anthology series entitled " Marvel Premiere " . The first appearance of the Doctor in an American comic book was " Marvel Premiere " # 57 in 1980 . This was followed by a monthly comic in 1984 entitled , simply , " Doctor Who " which featured additional DWM reprints featuring the Fourth and , later , Fifth Doctor . About two - dozen issues were published . Marvel also issued a North American edition of the Sixth Doctor DWM story arc , " Voyager " in an omnibus graphic novel edition . Marvel US created no significant original " Doctor Who " material , other than covers , pinups , and the odd prose feature in the " Doctor Who " comic . In addition to the above , Marvel US also distributed " Doctor Who Magazine " along with the UK reprint title " Doctor Who Classic Comics " , the " Doctor Who Yearbook " , and the " Who " - related title , " Death ' s Head " , before Panini took over the license . From 2007 to 2013 , another US publisher , IDW , issued new reprints of the DWM stories previously issued by Marvel US in " Marvel Premiere " and " Doctor Who " . The Doctor and the Marvel Universe . Over time , Marvel UK began publishing a number of original stories featuring a variety of mainstream Marvel US characters , such as the Hulk , Spider - Man , and the Fantastic Four . Eventually , these British versions of mainstream Marvel characters , combined with a few characters that were wholly original to Marvel UK , began to create a continuity that diverged somewhat from the mainstream American Marvel Universe . Thus , comic observers began to posit the notion of a " Marvel UK Universe " . The " Doctor Who " comic strips came to be viewed as a part of that universe , and , indeed , a number of characters that originated in " Doctor Who Weekly " and its successor titles crossed over into other titles within the Marvel UK Universe . Even the Doctor , in his Seventh persona , could be said to be a part of the Marvel UK universe . Indeed , because of subsequent appearances of Marvel UK characters in the mainstream Marvel US Universe — in particular Death ' s Head — it is possible to consider the Doctor a minor part of the Marvel Universe , generally . The specific part of the Marvel megaverse that the Doctor possibly inhabits is called . After Panini Comics took over the licence for Marvel UK content , the 2015 " Doctor Who Magazine " story " Blood and Ice " has the Twelfth Doctor ' s companion Clara Oswald say that her layers of clothing make her as big as Baymax . This implies that the continuity of the Marvel property , or at least , is fictional according to Panini ' s " DWM " continuity .