Panini UK has announced Doctor Who Adventures has gone on hiatus, effective immediately, although we’re told it may be re-launched with the arrival of a new series lead in 2018.
The company has published over 20 issues of the title, taking it over from Immediate Media. However, recent ABC sales data has indicated numbers have been disappointing and a far cry from the title’s early success.
The decline in sales in recent years has in part been attributed by some to the erratic schedule of the show in recent years.
(The Audit Bureau of Circulation twice yearly, February 2008, report gave the Doctor Who Adventures title a circulation figure of 150,763 a rise of some 44 per cent on the previous six months, making it one of the top performing titles published in the UK, and positioned it top in the children’s sector, and the 52nd top title overall from all categories).
The full statement from Panini, posted on the company website on 16th June 2017, is as follows:
We are pausing the publication of Dr Who Adventures magazine and will not be publishing regular issues in the near future. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your loyalty to the magazine, which we greatly appreciate and we hope that you have enjoyed the title as much as we have. Current subscribers will be contacted in due course with regards to refunds.
First published by BBC Magazines, from Issue 248, Doctor Who Adventures – whose frequency has varied throughout its shelf life since it launched in 2006 – was published under licence from BBC Worldwide by Immediate Media. The title was aimed squarely at younger Who fans with a mix of comic strips, features and text stories, supported by a range of cover mounted gifts.
After Issue 363, DWA was relaunched with a new issue 1, published by Panini edited by Jason Quinn. The lead strip was drawn by Russ Leach and written by several creators, including former Doctor Who TV series script editor Andrew Cartmel and Tommy Donbavand.
We’re sorry to see the title go. The mix of fiction – who couldn’t like a talking horse as the Doctor’s companion? – and features were great fun. Sadly, the title’s demise seemed almost inevitable when it went bi-monthly, despite the start of a new Doctor Who TV season.
Let’s hope that as hinted, Doctor Who Adventures may yet return when the show itself regenerates with a new Doctor next year.
Via DownTheTubes.Net by John Freeman
