With the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who approaching, I thought it’d be a great idea to travel back in time to 2013 – and take a look at what the then-license holders of the comic book series, IDW, did for the Doctor’s 50th Anniversary.

IDW’s year long celebration for the Doctor’s half century anniversary was an ingenious idea: a 12 issue storyline featuring all of the numbered Doctors that had appeared until that point.

That meant getting an issue a month, each of which focused on a different Doctor – from the First to the Eleventh, in order – with a final issue tying up the storyline.

The first issue was, therefore, a First Doctor (played in the TV series by William Hartnell) story, with a framing story featuring a shadowy villain whose plan was to entirely isolate the Doctor by removing his companions – with every version of the Doctor falling prey to this nefarious scheme.

The second issue featured Patrick Troughton’s Doctor thwarting a slavery operation on a planet renowned for its commerce.

Naturally, by the issue’s end, his companions were mysteriously and suddenly whisked away.

In issue three, we’re on an adventure with Third Doctor Jon Pertwee, who has one of the most unique runs of any Doctor even now.

Pertwee’s Third Doctor spent most of his time exiled to Earth, without a TARDIS.

He worked closely with military/science organisation UNIT – defending the world from extra terrestrial threats.

It wasn’t just the setting that changed; the Doctor himself became a flamboyant, immaculately dressed man of action – who also liked to use an awful lot of them state of the art gadgets.

It was, perhaps, more Bond than Who; yet the flexibility that Doctor Who’s premise allows – with episodes and stories in every era showcasing a huge variety in tone and content – meant that it still fit (and is fondly remembered) within the show’s canon.

This issue does a fantastic job of highlighting the Third Doctor’s more action oriented style, as well as the Earthbound 70s setting.

The art also really stands out as the strongest of the series thus far, with a really tangible sense of time and place – really evoking the less studio-bound, more location-based feel of the Third Doctor’s era.

If I have any criticism, it’s the same one I’ve had for the previous two issues too: it feels like a ‘lost episode’ of the show, with the crossover aspect tacked on in the final panels.

Again, it’s perhaps a bit too ambitious as a concept – we’ll see how it fares as the series continues, but it does feel as if the crossover could have been omitted entirely and we wouldn’t be missing anything from the series at all.

You can buy the full collected edition of Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time from Amazon here.

Enjoyed what you’ve read? Want to support my blog? There’s no pressure of course, but every penny helps to keep this site running, as I earn no income from my writing here (though I may earn small fees from affiliate links posted on my pages).

However, I’d be truly grateful for any support that you could offer – and it’s easy to do so at either of these links: Ko-Fi.com/geekmid or PayPal.

Any donations are truly appreciated – and I also appreciate you taking the time to read my articles. Thank you so much!