Stunning artwork, which helps build this world and concepts remarkably, with some good ideas, which ultimately feel overstuffed and a little too heavy, which lets down the concepts in execution.

In 1979, this was used as Doctor Who would enter into the comic world in the United States as part of Marvel Premiere.  The comic was gobbled up and proved to be a success as easily as the fact that Doctor Who was a success in the US and Canada. The following year would see Marvel create a Doctor Who comic book, which ran from 1980 to 1983, using old Doctor Who Weekly , Monthly, and old Doctor Who magazine comic strips. In 1984, Doctor Who Magazine, the one we know at present, would hit magazine racks in the US and Canada.

We got so lucky. At children’s magazine at this time could have afforded to aim for a far less mature approach. They are treating their audience with a lot of respect, not speaking down to children, instead filling their heads with ideas. Not just in the writing but the art style, which is at points chilling and psychedelic. How would a child of the 70s reacted to the sight of Tom Baker’s skeleton face?

While this story is a bit of a run around at points, the idea of a futuristic Roman legion in an alternate reality is a very elevated idea which is successfully explored. It points to a very promising run for the DWM comics. It also shows how much of a field of their own Pat Mills, John Wagner and Dave Gibbons are in. They are drawing from the TV show but in no means being limited by it.

The amount they are able to do with only 4-5 pages per issue is phenomenal. Setting the mould for everything that follows.

Oh. And now I know where the kronkburger originates from!

The Iron Legion - ★★★½☆

What makes The Iron Legion such a good first story for the Magazine is how full of wonder it is. It has a lot of creative, engaging ideas that come to life quite well with a gorgeous art; it never loses steam and is fun the whole way through. There a quite a lot of colorful characters, my favorite being the old robot Vesuvius.

The Iron Legion starts when the Fourth Doctor encounters the titular characters slaughtering an entire village. The first page alone is very evocative. The Doctor then is caught up in an interdimensional conflict when he finds out the Iron Legion came from an alternative Earth that never saw the fall of the Roman Empire, which is now determined to conquest all things.

The quick pace is both a blessing and a curse. I have come to appreciate it because these comics reminded me how much you can fit in so few pages, but we are still in the early days of the strips - we have only four pages per part, which establishes a weird pace to the story (I much prefer the 8 to 12 pages we get with later Doctors) and don't let all of the wonderful locations we visit be exploited to their fullest. The ending is also a bit rushed. I do think the villains are a cool idea - demon-like aliens influencing time itself by manipulating ancient history is quite fun - but I'm not in love with the execution. They end up just a little bland.

Just a few tweaks and The Iron Legion could be an absolute classic. It kind of is already, to be fair. Weirdly enough, there are quite a lot of ideas not completely realised here that a future DWM story would use wonderfully - how religious devotion can turn out a tragedy and justify horrors, a city made a hellscape by that belief, a "cult" bent in bringing the end of the world, and an even bigger menace behind it all just waiting to take its chance at the Doctor. Still, I like it for what it is. It's worth a read.

I'm immediately in love with the art here, that '80s (I know it's '79 but close enough) black and white British comic aesthetic is great, and it's put to incredible use here depicting the robots and future tech of this parallel Rome.

The Iron Legion leap out of the page from panel one, giving an incredible Judge Dredd/Warhammer 40K vibe, and I loved the art for every single panel. Specific kudos to the horrifying image of Tom Baker from the final part.

Unfortunately though, despite absolutely adoring the art, I found the story itself a little lacking. The cliffhangers every four pages weren't the worst most of the time, though there were a few times where it felt just very jarring. The plot itself also felt a little lacking, almost emulating the classic-who runaround, jumping from one location to the next in this parallel world, but you don't really get the chance to rest and take in any of the locations which is a real shame.

The ending also fell a little flat for me, I mean they did basically have only three pages to do it, and I think they did well with what they had, but that doesn't stop it from being a shame.