Doctor Who Classic Comics - Evening's Empire (pp 42)

"My beautiful city...and you lot have ruined it!"

Evening's Empire, a 7th Doctor and Ace tale from 1991, is an absolute key text from the 'wilderness years' (1989 - 2005) of Doctor Who.

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 page 42 of the October 1993 full run Evening's Empire in Doctor Who Classic Comics, edited by Gary Russell and colourised by Paul Vyse.

Thanks to Rayner's painfully slow practice (all done with a Rotring pen from photo-reference!), AND his impending divorce, only episode 1 was published in Doctor Who Monthly (#180, 27th November 1991). Episode 2 was dispatched from Middlesbrough to London, but never arrived...

Richard takes up the story:
"I'm pleased to confirm that this is a genuine piece of my artwork. It's from the original publication by Marvel UK of Doctor Who: Evening's Empire. It's actually one of the 'missing' pages that I re-drew for the more recent Panini Comics reprint. When the reprint was first suggested there were several pages that, through the years, I'd sold to collectors and, despite an internet appeal that successfully located some, 7 pages were unaccounted for and were re-drawn. This was one of them."

So found at last is one of the mysterious '7 missing pages', that Richard redrew for the 2016 reprint! A piece of Doctor Who comics history returns!

This signature is Richard Piers Rayner, and, I understand, it was made out to Rebecca Levene, an editor at Virgin Books in the early 1990's.

Panel 2 is a photocopy from page 23. The page is in a fair old state (but i like them like that), apparently rescued in a house clearance!

Pen, ink, whiteout, on Marvel UK art paper with photocopy.
Page 17" x 11"
Image 13 3/4" x 9"

Letters: Annie Parkhouse