Mike Collins is the most dominant penciller of Doctor Who Magazine comic stories since the broadcast of Rose. However, owing to an earlier period of involvement with DWM, his total experience with Doctor Who comics stretches back to the Sixth Doctor's era. He has illustrated every Doctor from the Seventh to the Eleventh.^{[fn 1]} He was the only artist to draw the Ninth Doctor for DWM, and drew all but one issue of Rose Tyler's DWM run. Furthermore, he has, as of 2010, handled the magazine's opening stories for each Doctor of the BBC Wales era.

History with Doctor Who Edit

First efforts Edit

Despite being primarily a penciller, Collins actually debuted in DWM as a writer. He was responsible for the Sixth Doctor adventure, Profits of Doom. The first issue in which Collins was credited was therefore the then-Doctor Who Monthly #120. He then wrote one of the earliest Seventh Doctor stories, Claws of the Klathi, that began in issue #136. His next work was for Marvel UK, but not DWM. He co-wrote Slimmer for The Incredible Hulk Presents.

Collins' Doctor Who artistic debut should have also been in Hulk, but the story, Doctor Conkerer, was transferred to issue #162, when Hulk suddenly ceased publication. He was again used for the art in the 1991 Andrew Cartmel story, The Good Soldier.

Collins then took a hiatus from the pages of DWM, during which he enjoyed a long and varied career with a number of major titles for DC and Marvel, amongst others.

Return to the TARDIS Edit

After 12 years away, Collins returned to the pages of DWM late in the post-Izzy Eighth Doctor run, with 2003's Doctor Who and the Nightmare Game. He was called back for the start of the Ninth Doctor's run, for which he was the sole artist, as well as being the writer of Art Attack. He continued an uninterrupted run through David Tennant's first year as the Doctor. Thus, he was DWM's only penciller from, roughly, the transmission of Rose to the broadcast of The Runaway Bride. During this period, he also wrote and drew a Tenth Doctor story called The Futurists, and was the artist for Tony Lee's first published Doctor Who story, F.A.Q.. During this period he also significantly drew Gareth Roberts' The Lodger, which was the basis for the televised Eleventh Doctor story of the same name. Aside from the lone Roger Langridge-drawn one-parter, The Green-Eyed Monster, he is the only DWM artist to have illustrated Rose Tyler. Though other pencillers were eventually brought in during 2007, he still continued to be an active part of the DWM art team, drawing roughly a story a year thereafter. He easily has the record for most companions drawn since 2005, having rendered Rose, Mickey, Martha, Majenta, and Amy, as well as DWM stalwart, Maxwell Edison. Collins was also the illustrator of the graphic novel The Only Good Dalek. In 2013, he drew the third issue of Prisoners of Time, a 50th anniversary comic story which bought back many former Doctor Who comic artists.

As documentary subject Edit

As a freelance employee of Doctor Who Magazine, rather than a part of the BBC Wales production team, Collins has not been, as of 2010, the focus of many documentary explorations. However, he was interviewed by BBC Radio around the time of the arrival of the Tenth Doctor, and compared the challenges of drawing Christopher Eccleston versus David Tennant. (AUDIO: Doctor Who at the BBC: The Tenth Doctor)

Outside Doctor Who Edit

Collins has drawn for virtually all the major DC Comics superheroes, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, The Flash and Hawkman — both as an artist on Justice League titles and on each hero's solo title. He has also drawn most of DC's other major "super groups", like the Teen Titans and the Legion of Super-Heroes. He has also been a significant force on Star Trek comics, during both the DC and Marvel runs. In that capacity, he drew virtually every major character in the entirety of the Star Trek franchise. He has been a part of American and British runs of The Transformers, and has had a brief run on the iconic British title, 2000 AD, as well as some infrequent work on some X-Men and Spider-Man titles.

Footnotes Edit