Flashback - You Will Come with Usss ... (RTP! #2)

And so we come to issue 2 (December 1997). Issue 1 had been published and was avaliable at the Christchurch Chapter meeting that followed its publication. Matt Kamstra and Wade Campbell had wasted no time in beginning to work on the follow up, no doubt to demonstrate that the fanzine wasn't a flash-in-the-pan one-issue-wonder, but also because of the pressure of losing access to the computers and software of Shirley Boys' High School that had helped with the creation of the first issue.

In comparison with the first issue there were a number of changes. The page count had increased by 12 pages (and I've often wondered if that was because of the 14 page monstrosity that was Part One of Pulp Who—The Doris Situation), there were far less spelling/grammer errors and in-jokes, and in blessed relief there were also pages numbers!

Birdy—The Fattest Bird in the Universe! makes its debut (some eight months after TARDIS Tales had come to an end in TSV), Graham Muir's new strip as every bit funny and cynical as Saucer's adventures had been.

And finally, there was a list of things to expect from upcoming issues:

More installments of the immensely popular Pulp Who

An amusing suggestion given that at the time of writing such a line only the editors had read the comic!

'You WILL Obey Me!' - The Master as an Anti-Hero
'Where's My Toast?' - War and the military in the reign of the Third Doctor

A couple of articles that never materialised and it is not like Matt and Wade had the excuse that they somehow got lost in the post either ...

We're organising an interview with a Doctor Who author as we speak!

Really? Go on, pull the other leg. That one's got bells on it!

A super-competition involving you and some cool prizes!

A super-competition? And that is different from a competition, how? Not that any competition, super or otherwise, would be seen in the following issues (unless you count the Cybermat cartoon one, or the Who Farted? one ...)

None of it nearly as witty as the observation in issue 1 that 'Coming Up Next Issue' was 'Corey French's Lunch!'

In comparison to the first issue, I don't recall the Christchurch Chapter as being quite so involved in the ongoing development of the issue. However I do recall turning up at Wade's place quite late in the afternoon one day to hand over the completed first part of Pulp Who and apologising for not only being late with my delivery, but also in the fact that it was six pages longer than promised.

What I found really interesting was Matt and Wade's assertion in the Editorial that I would be stepping in as an editor while Matt ventured off to Japan. In reality I would have little to do with the editing of issue 3, but it did foreshadow the coming year ...