January 31st, 2021 16 comments

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On Target: Fans Share Tributes to Chris Achilléos Artwork

You can order the Hardback or Paperback Book now from www.candy-jar.co.uk

The Paperback is available to pre-order from www.amazon.co.uk and www.forbiddenplanet.com

In 2019 Candy Jar Books asked for fan memories of Chris Achilléos’ Doctor Who Target work (for inclusion in Kklak: The Doctor Who Art of Chris Achilléos). After receiving a plethora of contributions, Candy Jar is pleased to announce the final list of contributors.

Head of Publishing at Candy Jar, Shaun Russell, says: “We were overwhelmed by the response, and the obvious love for Chris’ outstanding Doctor Who legacy. It was very difficult selecting the final contributions as Chris’ work is iconic and the heartfelt memories we received supported this. I just hope we’ve done him proud.”

The pieces selected are written by Stephen Pasque, Andrew Chalmers, David Bickerstaff, Russell Cook, Michael Nesbitt, Paul Pickford, Anthony Zehetner, Edward O’Hare, Steve Corke, and Jon Waudby. The dozen evocative pieces reflect on Achilléos’ enduring influence.

These sit alongside an exclusive foreword by the much-missed Terrance Dicks, extended contributions from David J. Howe, Colin Howard, Gary Russell and Jon Culshaw, and a testimonial by Peter Capaldi.

Newly released from Candy Jar, Kklak! collects the entirety of Chris Achilléos’ Doctor Who artwork for the first time. Alongside this are Chris’ recollections of working on the Target range, and full-page reproductions of his original compositions.

All the contributors share one thing: a lifelong love of Chris’ work and an understanding of the unique contribution he has made to Doctor Who fandom…

“They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but with the launch of the Doctor Who Target range… this phrase was immediately dispatched to the darkest reaches of the constellation of Kasterborous.” – Russell Cook

In the days before video recorders or repeats, Achilléos’ covers defined a generation’s image of the Doctor and his adventures. Lavishly detailed, with psychedelic overtones and an unapologetically pulpy sensibility, his work both reproduced and reinterpreted the eccentric energy of the show’s golden era…

“As the years progressed, the Target books became my escape from reality… Arguments were frequent in my house, so… I’d stay in my room drawing the covers… I can’t stress how important the Doctor Who Target covers are to me now.” – David Bickerstaff

His work made the Target books collectables in their own right, objects that:

“No amount of baseball cards, Star Wars figures or assorted sweet combinations would priseaway.” – Steve Pasque

Their visual flair was such that fans often remember their initial disappointment, when finally they got their hands on the televised originals, with the standard of their special effects!

“Anyone who has had the pleasure of watching The Web Planet could accurately describe it as ambitious and charming, but not as cool and slick as [Achilléos’] artwork promised it was… He gave the stories…visual production values which they could never have.” – Paul Pickford

By introducing a new generation to past adventures, the Target range was pivotal in expanding the Doctor’s domain outside of the TV set and into other media. More than anything, it was the Target range that established the importance of Doctor Who in prose, a medium in which the character has thrived ever since.

“Just as the works of Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl did for other children, [Target] led me to realise that reading was something to be enjoyed rather than dreaded.”– Edward O’Hare

Critical to their success was Achilléos’ visionary artwork:

“Usually I did judge the book by its cover. It had to look brilliant… My first? Doctor Who and the Cybermen. I didn’t know his name, but the man who illustrated my new Doctor Who book cover would be with me for the rest of my life.” – Andrew Chalmers

No retrospective of his work would be complete without these unique perspectives on how, with little more than an airbrush and a reprograph pen, one man introduced Doctor Who to innumerable young readers.

“To me, Chris Achilléos is one of the greatest fantasy illustrators of all time, and an iconic part of everything that is visual in the Doctor Who universe.” – John Waudby

Kklak! is the definitive collection of Chris Achilléos’ seminal Doctor Who artwork, a testament to his unique vision, and a unique insight into a pivotal moment in the evolution of Doctor Who.

“Chris Achilléos was the wallpaper of childhood for a couple of generations and his like will never be seen again.” – Anthony Zehetner

To this day, Doctor Who alumni tip their hat to the influence of Achilléos’ work. The opening of the 2016 exhibition of his cover art attracted the series’ then showrunner, Steven Moffat, as well as twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi.

“Without Chris and his sublime work, I would not be a Doctor Who fan.” – Michael Nesbitt

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