The Comicon Advent Calendar 2022: Day 7 – The First Doctor Meets Santa Claus…
by Richard Bruton
Another day in December, another wonderful Comicon Advent Calendar entry to enjoy. Today, we have something classic, a Doctor Who Christmas strip from 1965…
Today’s Advent delight comes from TV Comic #732-735 in December 1965, the Christmas adventure of the first Doctor Who, portrayed in the TV show by William Hartnell. Published across the centre pages with gorgeous artwork by Bill Mevin.
The strip was reprinted in Marvel UK’s 1990s Doctor Who Classics title, which collected together material from vintage British comics and magazines including TV21, TV Comic, Countdown, and TV Action. Issue 15 of the title reprinted Mevin’s strip along with a new cover by the artist – you can just see his name peeking out from under the barcode.
Bill Mevin (1928 – 2019) was a veteran illustrator and comic artist from the UK whose work adorned the pages of so many publications across his long career in animation, comics, and newspaper strips, including Eagle Extra, Express Weekly, Pippin, TV Comic, with strips including Barney Bear, Bugs Bunny, Popeye, Supercar, The Perishers, and Doctor Who, amongst so many more.
Anyway, in those four Doctor Who Christmas strips from December 1965, the Doctor and his grandchildren, John and Gillian, have landed on a snow-covered planet of magic and wonder, complete with reindeer, sleighs, even Santa Claus…
But Santa has a bit of a problem, as there’s a ‘demon magician’ who ‘interferes all the time,’ not to mention all the children wishing for something called a Tardis for their Christmas presents.
The Doctor, with encouragement from his grandchildren, sets about to help, using his ‘magic box’ to set about duplicating toys, before heading off to the Tardis… only to seemingly disappear, with just some sinister footprints in the snow for clues… which turn out to be from a polar bear, swiftly dispatched with some help from, again, the magic box of the Doctor’s…
But that’s not the end to it, as the mysterious demon magician pops up again, determined to cause as much mischief and disruption as possible…
As you’d expect though, all comes good in the end, thanks once more to the Doctor and his magic box, and it all ends with a lovely message from Santa…
Here’s the whole thing, all four weeks of colour double-page spreads…
(Thank you to Lew Stringer’s excellent BLIMEY! blog for the images)