DWM 180: Doctor Who - Evening's Empire, ep 1, pp 31

Grail Alert!

Written by the final TV season's script editor Andrew Cartmel, and illustrated by then up-and-coming artist (Hellblazer, with Jamie Delano) Richard Piers Rayner (both of whom were purposefully commissioned by then editor John Freeman), the story (and art) had all the detail, introspection and JCR meta-textualness that were characteristic of Doctor Who in the 1990s. From the Virgin New Adventures, onwards through the abortive 1996 Movie and beyond, this way of presenting the show without TV set the stage for Doctor Who's revival in 2005: when it was to be dominated by TV production professionals, the very same fans who had spent the last decade keeping the flame alight...

Evening's Empire has had a checkered history. This is the ORIGINAL title page of the first episode of 8 pages...but thanks to ineptitude of the British post office, Rayner's painfully slow practice (all done with a Rotring pen from photo-reference!), AND his impending divorce, this was the ONLY episode to be published in Doctor Who Monthly (#180, 27th November 1991).

It was subsequently resurrected in a stand-alone issue of Doctor Who Classic Comics (edited by Gary Russell) in October 1993, re-lettered (by Annie Parkhouse, no less!), colourised (by Paul Vyse), and Cartmel added (to my mind; sorry, Andrew!) an unnecessary 4 page prologue.

In 2016 it was released again in a Panini Comics collected edition (edited by Scott Gray), with the colours removed, and the prologue and re-lettering retained. However, in the intervening 23 years Rayner had sold a number of pages, some of which had gone forever, so the reprint included seven recreated pages, in Rayner's mature style. Honed by working for mainstream comics in the USA and as artist-residence for Middlesbrough FC (the Middlesbrough transporter bridge is clear feature on this page, and the city is a prominent character throughout the story), this was as detailed, but had dumped the Rotring for extravagant washes of grey water colour.

I only knew of the story through the Classic Comics reprint, but the 2016 version whetted my appetite, as did the various vicissitudes of the tale of the tale, so when this original title page came up from Richard, I leaped on it. Even in its mutilated condition (no hard feelings, Gary!), this is an important page in the history of Doctor Who and Doctor Who comics...and I love it!

Pen, ink, whiteout, Letraset on DC Comics page (presumably left over from Hellblazer)
Page 17" x 11"
Image 14" x 8.5"

Letters: Annie Parkhouse