Doctor Who Magazine first debuted as Doctor Who Weekly in 1979; right from the start, it included my favourite magazine feature to date: the comic strip. Back in the 70s, the comic strip was weekly and technically within the Marvel Comics canon (this was before Panini bought Marvel UK, who originally owned the publication). Yep, the Doctor was in the same universe as Iron Man and Captain America. The first Doctor Who Weekly story was The Iron Legion and is considered to be a Doctor Who comic strip classic.

As someone who didn't start reading Doctor Who Magazine until 2011, it is strange to see the words 'Stan Lee Presents' above some of The Iron Legion comic strips. To think that the famous comics genius behind the likes of the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man once contributed to Doctor Who comic strips is incredible and you can see clear Marvel influence throughout. In The Iron Legion, the fourth Doctor arrives in a parallel universe where the Roman Empire never fell and instead conquered the galaxy with their army of robots commanded by General Ironicus. The Doctor teams up with old robot Vesuvius and ex-gladiator Morris to overthrow the empire and Emperor Adolphus's 'mother' Magog (revealed to be a member of an alien race called the Malevilus, who helped the Romans in providing the technology for the robots).

The most obvious Marvel Comics influence is the design of the Iron Legion robots of the title. They bare a striking resemblance to the Sentinels (robots who hunt mutants).

And then there's also the way it is written, with character monologues and the way the description boxes effortlessly set the scene.

That's one of my favourite things about Marvel compared to DC: they are much stronger at providing the context and establishing early on the narrative of the piece. It helps considerably to immerse you into the action. Before I go any further, I must stress that the comic strip is in black and white and the above picture is from a colourised version that was released in the U.S.

The narrative itself is one big, epic saga; it utilises the comic strip medium to the advantage by using a story that will likely never be able to be achieved onscreen. It would take a considerable budget to realise the Doctor's gladitorial fight with the Ectoslime or the robot flying squad.I doubt even the new series would be able to afford to realise those scenes. Doctor Who comic strips on the other hand don't have to worry about budgeting; this story is therefore exactly the kind Doctor Who comic strips should be exploring.

General Ironicus and the robots feel like a very credible threat for the Doctor too and at many times during the narrative you wonder how he is going to win. The odds seem firmly stacked against him (especially considering he has just come from his universe's Earth the robots managed to invade) and that's a quality that can be found in some of the best Doctor Who stories. Sometimes the Doctor is at his best when he is the underdog as opposed to an all-conquering God-like figure. When he fights Magog during the story's conclusion, it actually looks like he's going to lose. Magog appears to be in the most power as the Doctor explains the TARDIS controls, which makes the conclusion all the more appealing when his trickery concerning a certain button he is hiding is revealed.

It's a shame that they didn't decide to keep Vesuvius on as a comic strip companion as he is a fantastic character and I have a feeling he could have gone to be as popular as the shape-shifting penguin Frobisher. Vesuvius is endearing as a cranky old robot and has one of the best comic strip catchphrases in 'these days'. Like Frobisher, his eccentric quality suits the Doctor Who comic strip perfectly and whilst on TV he would probably come across as annoying in the comics format he offers a fun dynamic with the Doctor. For this Doctor in particular he feels like a well-suited supporting character; let's not forget this is the Doctor who asked for a talking cabbage as his companion.

If there's one thing that doesn't quite work for this story, it's the black and white aesthetic. Due to the cost of colour during the 1970s, all Doctor Who Weekly comics were published in black and white and to this story it feels detrimental. There's so much going on in the panels that sometimes it can be hard to follow without colour as a visual guide. My copy of The Iron Legion is a part of the Collected Comics offered to premium subscribers as part of the Doctor Who Complete History partwork collection; unfortunately they opted for the Panini Doctor Who Magazine reprints rather than the Dave Gibbons Collection colourisation. In colour I imagine the story would work much better.

Overall, The Iron Legion is a fantastic use of the comic strip medium to tell a narrative that the TV series would not be able to do with their allocated budget. The story feels suitably epic with strong opposition for the Doctor and a brilliant supporting character in Vesuvius who really should have been made a comics companion. My only negative point is that the black and white aesthetic can make the story hard to follow; however there is a colourisation version available as part of The Dave Gibbons Collection if the black and white styling puts you off.