Doctor Who: The Dogs of Doom Comic Strip

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Copyright BBC and Marvel

When Doctor Who Weekly launched, the one thing that stood head and shoulders above the rest as was its comic strips. They were epic and pushed the envelope whilst still retaining the wit and scope of the show. We already had the Iron legion, the Star Beast (as seen in the 60th anniversary), City of the Dead and then came my favourite one: the Dogs of Doom. It was based on a submitted and rejected story idea for the show and thank God they did as the budget could not meet the ideas and visuals here.

The Doctor, Sharon and K9 arrive in the New Earth systems consisting of over 30 planets where the colonies are under attack from savage werewolf like humanoids called the Werelox. They are attacking colonies and anyone bitten by them turn into Werelox just like Earth werewolves. Our heroes met space truckers Joe Bean and Babe Roth, the Doctor discovers what is really behind the Werelox attacks. After all, they are not the most intelligent of beings but they storm and overrun the colonies with a savagery rarely seen. When the Doctor meets Brill, a Werelox trooper that is not exactly enamoured with his masters, the Doctor discovers that the Werelox armies are paving the way for the real invaders, the Daleks.

That blew my mind as a kid and still does as I own both the British and the American versions of the this comic storyline to this day. Werewolves and Daleks in the one story was and still is a brilliant concept. Lunar light to trigger the werewolf transformation is always a fun thing in a sci-fi environment. By pure coincidence I have been rewatching all the old Wolfman movies and their crossovers at the time so it’s little wonder the Dogs of Doom holds a place dear in my heart. The comic covers say it all, from the Doctor turning into a Werelox to him, Brill and K9 being chased by a red Dalek down a corridor filled with caged monsters, they are just breathtaking and highly evocative to any potential writer. It never fails to remind us that ‘anything goes’ in a story, especially Doctor Who.

A Time Lord werewolf hybrid is as mad as they come but raises the bigger question of how lethal or useful would that be to the Daleks who are master geneticists? A werewolf that could regenerate and its cells distributed to Daleks is a scary thought. The sequence where the Doctor fights against the werewolf part of him in the Tardis to create a cure is tense and exciting especially as we learn he has been away for three months. Add to that we get K9 battling Daleks which we were denied on the television show and it is a fan’s dream come true.

Once again the Daleks have a nefarious plan behind their release of the Werelox hordes to weaken the galaxy. They are forever plotting and scheming and this time is no different. The Doctor learns the Daleks are fed up losing due to inferior numbers so intend to sterilise the entire system so it can be turned into a Dalek breeding ground. To that end they intend to enhance themselves and have searched the galaxy to find the most suitable animals with traits they can use to improve themselves. Showing the Doctor their alien zoo they boast about their plans. The monstrous Xxarqon has a capacity for slyness unmatched while the Tentrax is more cruel than any Dalek could ever display. The Glarosus has an insane hatred for everything and when they are distilled into each new Dalek they will be unstoppable. However when K9 joins the battle several cages are damaged allowing the monsters to escape but they attack the Daleks for experimenting on them so cruelly allowing the Doctor and Brill to escape. .

Meanwhile Mrs Roth and Joe Bean launch a suicide attack on the Dalek ship. They will smash into it at full speed but the Doctor’s companion Sharon has stowed away on board. Mrs Roth’s kids beg her to turn back but she is doing it for them and everyone else rather than let the Daleks destroy everything they have built. The Daleks have to be stopped at any cost. But Joe forces Sharon and Mrs Roth into a life pod and ejects them into space. He cannot let her leave her kids. He will do it alone.

Overwhelmed by the Dalek forces, the Doctor, Brill and K9 use the Tardis to get into the heart of the Dalek ship, the Room of Many Centuries. Brill reveals the Daleks brought the Werelox from the past to spearhead their campaign confirming the Doctor’s suspicion that the sealed room conceals time travel equipment. The Doctor is able to time lock the Daleks, the Werelox and all the aliens in a single moment in time. The ship vanishes into the singularity meaning Joe survives. Brill joins the security forces of the new colony leaving the Doctor, Sharon and K9 to take off to their next advdenture.

I love everything about this story and it captures the fourth Doctor perfectly. This is a big scale story that could really only have been done properly with today’s technology. The coloured version brings it to life in a way that makes it television standard. We have multiple coloured Daleks including the good old red one.

If you haven’t read it; go get a copy. The Doctor has faced werewolves, vampires, fish men, mummies and zombies in his time and the Dogs of Doom is one of the best of them all.