DWM backup comic stories

In the early days of Doctor Who Magazine, short backup comic stories appeared in addition to the issue's main story. These strips typically did not include the Doctor other than as a "presenter", and tended to focus on other characters within the wider Doctor Who universe. Most backup comic stories were published prior to 1982, and so were printed in issues that otherwise featured the Fourth Doctor.
The term "DWM backup comic story" does not actually designate a formalised series. There was never a masthead featuring the term, and there was no particular consensus as to which strips could be considered "backups".
On this wiki, the term means any strip appearing in any issue of DWM or its predecessors which:
* is set in the DWU
* doesn't feature the Doctor, or at least doesn't use them as the main protagonist
* isn't clearly a part of the main strip's narrative
* has no other series name
* is original to the pages of DWM
Therefore, strips under the Tales from the TARDIS banner or Dalek Chronicles reprints are not covered by this article. Also not considered here are the occasional stories which are integral to the main strip's narrative, like Darkness, Falling, Me and My Shadow and Unnatural Born Killers, or the various long-running series of three-panel comic strips such as Doctor Who? and The Daft Dimension.
== Early history ==
Because the format of Doctor Who Weekly originally included a greater concentration of comic strips, the magazine's comic staff was initially comprised of two creative teams. One group — Dave Gibbons, Pat Mills and John Wagner — was assigned to the "main" strip. This was the strip that was often featured on early covers and involved the Fourth Doctor.
It then fell to another team — initially Alan Moore, Steve Moore and David Lloyd — to make strips that didn't involve the Doctor. These tended to feature well-known villains, such as the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Sontarans and others. During this period, the Doctor often served as "host" of the stories, appearing in the opening and closing frames as a kind of narrator. Though many of the individual characters slipped into obscurity, the series did produce at least a couple of stand-outs. Both Abslom Daak and Kroton originated in the backups, but went on to be used in the main strip.
Appearing regularly through issue 59, the strip was initially absent in DWM #60, and was effectively cancelled after The Fires Down Below in DWM #64. Secondary stories that appeared thereafter were not original, but rather reprints from TV Century 21 or, more rarely, TV Comic.
== Latter day "backups" ==
Disregarding "special issues" of DWM, non-Doctor stories were incredibly rare after 1982. In fact, the next time a non-Doctor story appeared in a regular issue of DWM was in issue 183's Conflict of Interests —with the next occasion over a hundred issues after that.
These latter-day stories generally didn't fit the mould of a "backup story", however, in that they were the only comic story in the issue. Thus, they weren't so much "backups" as the main story of the issue. Nevertheless, because there are so few of this kind of story, this wiki has simply elected to consider them the thematic heirs of the early 1980s stories.
== List ==
DWM 	Title 	Writer 	Featuring 	Collected In
1-4 	The Return of the Daleks 	Steve Moore 	Daleks 	The Return of the Daleks 
Daleks: The Ultimate Comic Strip Collection
5-7 	Throwback: The Soul of a Cyberman 	Steve Moore 	Cybermen, Kroton 	The Return of the Daleks
8 	The Final Quest 	Steve Moore 	Sontarans 	The Return of the Daleks
9-11 	The Stolen TARDIS 	Steve Moore 	Gallifreyans 	The Return of the Daleks
12 	K-9's Finest Hour 	Steve Moore 	K9 	The Return of the Daleks
13-14 	Warlord of the Ogrons 	Steve Moore 	Ogrons 	The Return of the Daleks
15-16 	Deathworld 	Steve Moore 	Ice Warriors, Cybermen 	The Return of the Daleks
Cybermen: The Ultimate Comic Strip Collection
17-20 	Abslom Daak... Dalek Killer 	Steve Moore 	Abslom Daak, Daleks 	The Return of the Daleks
Cybermen: The Ultimate Comic Strip Collection
21-22 	Twilight of the Silurians 	Steve Moore 	Silurians 	The Return of the Daleks
23-24 	Ship of Fools 	Steve Moore 	Kroton 	The Return of the Daleks
25-26 	The Outsider 	Steve Moore 	Sontarans 	The Return of the Daleks
27-30, 44-46 	Star Tigers 	Steve Moore 	Abslom Daak, Star Tigers, Daleks 	The Return of the Daleks
31-34 	Yonder... The Yeti 	Steve Moore 	Robot Yeti 	The Return of the Daleks
35-38 	Black Legacy 	Alan Moore 	Cybermen 	
40-43 	Business as Usual 	Alan Moore 	Autons 	
47 	Star Death 	Alan Moore 	Rassilon, Time Lords 	Cybermen: The Ultimate Comic Strip Collection
48 	The Touchdown on Deneb-7 	Paul Neary 	K9 	
49 	Voyage to the Edge of the Universe	Paul Neary 	Azal 	
50 	Crisis on Kaldor 	Steve Moore 	Kaldor androids 	
51 	4-D War 	Alan Moore 	Time Lords 	
56 	The Greatest Gamble 	John Peel 	Celestial Toymaker, Gaylord Lefevre	
57 	Black Sun Rising 	Alan Moore 	Time Lords 	
58, Winter 1981	Skywatch-7 	Maxwell Stockbridge	Zygon 	
59 	The Gods Walk Among Us 	John Peel 	Sontaran 	
61 	Devil of the Deep 	John Peel 	Sea Devil 	
64 	The Fires Down Below 	John Peel 	UNIT, Dominators, Quarks 	
=== Other comics ===
These are comics that do not feature the Doctor and were not published as backup comics in DWM regular issues.
==== DWM special issues ====
DWM 	Title 	Featuring 	Collected In
Winter 1981 	Minatorius 	Time Lords 	
Summer 1982 	The Fabulous Idiot 	Ivan Asimoff 	
Summer 1982 	A Ship Called Sudden Death	Freefall Warriors 	
Holiday 1992	City of Devils 	Sarah Jane, K9, Silurians	
==== DWM Main Comics ====
The following served as the main comic story in the issues they were published. However, the Doctor was not present, making them akin the earlier backup stories.
DWM 	Title 	Featuring 	Collected In
183 	Conflict of Interests 	Sontaran 	Evening's Empire
277 	Unnatural Born Killers	Kroton 	
311 	Character Assassin 	 	Oblivion
318 	Me and My Shadow 	Feyde 	Oblivion
455 	Imaginary Enemies 	Amy, Rory, Mels 	Hunters of the Burning Stone
475-476	The Crystal Throne 	Paternoster Gang	The Eye of Torment
Category:DWM features
Category:Comic overviews