View source for D.R. & Quinch

{{Infobox comics meta series <!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics--> 

|image               = CoverCompleteDR&Quinch.jpg
|noimage             = 
|imagesize           = <!-- default 250 -->
|caption             = Cover to ''The Complete D.R. & Quinch'', 2006 featuring the title characters. Art by [[Alan Davis]].
|schedule            = Weekly
|titles              = ''[[2000 AD (comics)|2000 AD]]''
|SciFi               = y
|publisher           = Originally [[IPC Media]] ([[Fleetway]]) until 1999, thereafter [[Rebellion Developments]]
|startmo             = May
|startyr             = 1983
|endmo               = August
|endyr               = 1987
|issues              = 
|main_char_team      = 
|writers             = [[Alan Moore]]<br>[[Jamie Delano]]
|artists             = [[Alan Davis]]
|pencillers          = 
|inkers              = 
|letterers           = Steve Potter
|colorists           = 
|editors             = [[Tharg]] ([[Steve MacManus]])
|creative_team_month = 
|creative_team_year  = 
|creators            = [[Alan Moore]]<br />[[Alan Davis]]
|nonUS               = y
|reprint             = 
|TPB                 = 
|ISBN                = 
|TPB2                = 
|ISBN2               = 
|TPB3                = 
|ISBN3               = 
|altcat              = 2000 AD comic strips
|sort                = D.R. & Quinch
}}

'''''D.R. & Quinch''''' is a [[comic strip]] about two delinquent alien drop-outs. It was created by [[Alan Moore]] and [[Alan Davis]] for the British weekly [[comics anthology]] ''[[2000 AD (comics)|2000 AD]]''. It first appeared in 1983. The strip was the tale of how two alien teenage students Waldo "D.R." (for "Diminished Responsibility") Dobbs, a scheming criminal mastermind, and Ernest Errol Quinch, his muscular purple-skinned companion in crime, have influenced Earth's history in various anarchic ways.

==Publication history==
===Creation and concept===
''D.R. and Quinch'' began in ''2000 AD'' as a one-off comic in the ''[[Tharg's Time Twisters|Time Twisters]]'' series titled “D.R. and Quinch Have Fun On Earth”. The characters were initially meant to only appear once but they proved so popular that they were given their own semi-regular series.<ref name="Sequart">{{cite web|last1=Lebel|first1=Mario|title=The Complete D.R. & Quinch: Alan Moore's Sci-Fi Fun Time|url=http://sequart.org/magazine/61680/the-complete-d-r-quinch-alan-moores-sci-fi-fun-time/|website=Sequart Organization|access-date=31 May 2016}}</ref>

D.R. and Quinch were inspired by the ''[[National Lampoon (magazine)|National Lampoon]]'' characters ''[[O.C. and Stiggs]]''.<ref name="Magic" /> The film ''[[Animal House]]'' has also been cited as an influence.<ref name="TwoMorrows">{{cite book|last1=Nolen-Weathington|first1=Eric|title=Alan Davis|date=2006|publisher=TwoMorrows|location=Raleigh, N.C.|isbn=9781893905191|page=40}}</ref> Alan Davis took visual inspiration from the cartoon style of [[Leo Baxendale|Leo Baxendale’s]] ''[[Grimly Feendish]]''.<ref name="TwoMorrows" /> Alan Moore has described ''D.R. & Quinch'' as belonging to the tradition of British teenage delinquency comics, comparable to ''[[Dennis the Menace and Gnasher|Dennis the Menace]]'' except with “a thermonuclear capacity”.<ref name="Magic" >{{cite book|last1=Parkin|first1=Lance|title=Magic Words: The Extraordinary Life of Alan Moore|date=2013|publisher=Aurum Press Ltd|location=London|isbn=9781781310779|page=156}}</ref>

=== Later appearances ===
The pair's last storyline, "D.R. and Quinch Go to Hollywood," ran from progs 363 to 367 and is considered to be Moore and Davis's finest ''D.R. and Quinch'' story.<ref name="Wolk" /> However, at the time, the Moore/Davis partnership was undergoing strain due to Moore refusing permission for their ''[[Captain Britain]]'' work to be reprinted. The pair's last ''D.R. and Quinch'' work together was in the ''2000 AD Sci-Fi Special'' in 1985.

D.R. and Quinch continued to appear in ''2000 AD'' from progs 525 to 534 in the form of an [[advice column]] with readers sending in [[Comic book letter column|letters]] with personal problems solved by D.R. and Quinch in their own way. One such column was "hijacked" by D.R.'s girlfriend Crazy Chrissy. These later episodes were written by [[Jamie Delano]].

In 1986 [[Titan Books]] released a collection of all ''D.R. and Quinch'' stories from ''2000 AD'' called ''D.R. and Quinch's Totally Awesome Guide To Life''. It became one of Titan's best selling books in their lines of ''2000 AD'' reprints. The book went out of print several times and it has since been collected as ''The Complete D.R. and Quinch'' ({{ISBN|1-84023-345-1}}) in 2001.

In 2018, INDIO comics released a story, "D.R. & Quinch Hijack Free Comic Book Day", which was part of a "2000 AD Regened" all-ages comic created for [[Free Comic Book Day]]. The strip was created by Owen Michael Johnson and Colin Bell.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://2000ad.com/post/2721|title=2000 AD announces all-ages title for Free Comic Book Day 2018 {{!}} 2000 AD|website=2000ad.com|date=19 December 2017 |language=en|access-date=2017-12-21}}</ref>

== Characters ==
* '''Waldo "D.R." Dobbs''' — scheming criminal mastermind
* '''Ernest Errol Quinch''' — D.R.'s muscular purple-skinned companion 
* '''Crazy Chrissy''' — D.R.'s girlfriend, formerly known as '''Chrysoprasia''', or Chirpy to her friends
* '''Pulger''' — paranoid veteran of the Ghoyogi slime jungle wars

==Reception==
''D.R. & Quinch''<nowiki/>'s anarchic humour was popular with its original audiences — the feature won the 1985 [[Eagle Award (comics)|Eagle Award]] (for comics published in 1984) for Character Most Worthy of Own Title; and the supporting characters Pulger and Chrysoprasia were both nominated for Favourite Supporting Character.<ref>TH. "1984 Eagle Awards announced," ''The Comics Journal'' #101 (Aug. 1985).</ref> In addition, the first collection of stories, ''D.R. & Quinch's Totally Awesome Guide to Life'', won the 1987 Eagle Award for Favourite Comic Album.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120314223555/http://www.eagleawards.co.uk/category/previous-winners/1987/ Previous Winners: 1987] at the Eagle Awards website, archived at The Wayback Machine. (Retrieved 22 September 2018.)</ref>

The series has had a strong reputation since it was first published. It stands out as something so obviously different when compared to the rest of Moore’s body of work that it is worthy of attention.<ref name="Sequart"/> It has been called the "absurd, cartoony, delightfully vicious other side of ''[[Halo Jones]]''".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tor.com/2012/05/07/the-great-alan-moore-reread-dr-a-quinch/|title=The Great Alan Moore Reread: D.R. & Quinch|last=Callahan|first=Tim|date=7 May 2012|website=Tor|access-date=31 May 2016}}</ref> Writing for ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', [[Douglas Wolk]] described it as, for the majority of its run, "one of the funniest comics ever"<ref name="Wolk" >{{cite magazine|last1=Wolk|first1=Douglas|title=Emanata: Something Something Oranges Something|url=https://techland.time.com/2010/06/18/emanata-something-something-oranges-something/|magazine=Time|access-date=31 May 2016|date=18 June 2010}}</ref> and [[Neil Gaiman]] has credited it with being one of the greatest ''2000 AD'' stories.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Robertson|first1=Cameron|last2=Lea|first2=Richard|last3=Sprenger|first3=Richard|title=Judge Dredd takes Edinburgh: A celebration of 2000AD|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/video/2013/aug/09/judge-dredd-edinburgh-celebration-2000ad-video|website=The Guardian|access-date=31 May 2016|format=Video|date=9 August 2013}}</ref>

In a later interview, however, co-creator Moore expressed discomfort with how the series exploits violence for comic effect, claiming that it has no “lasting or redeeming social value”.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Molcher|first1=Michael|title=2000 AD: The Creator Interviews: Volume 2|date=2015|publisher=2000 AD Books|location=Oxford|isbn=9781849979849|chapter=Man on the Outside: Alan Moore}}</ref><ref name="Magic" />

==Bibliography==

*"''[[Future Shocks|Time Twisters]]'': D.R. and Quinch Have Fun On Earth" (written by [[Alan Moore]], art by [[Alan Davis]], in ''2000AD'' #317, 1983) [http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=thrill&page=thrillviewer&choice=funonearth]
* "D.R. and Quinch Go Straight" (by [[Alan Moore|Moore]] & [[Alan Davis|Davis]], in ''2000AD'' #350-351, 1984)
* "D.R. and Quinch Go Girl Crazy" (by [[Alan Moore|Moore]] & [[Alan Davis|Davis]], in ''2000AD'' #352-354, 1984)
* "D.R. and Quinch Get Drafted" (by [[Alan Moore|Moore]] & [[Alan Davis|Davis]], in ''2000AD'' #355-359, 1984)
* "D.R. and Quinch Go to Hollywood" (by [[Alan Moore|Moore]] & [[Alan Davis|Davis]], in ''2000AD'' #363-367, 1984)
* "D.R. and Quinch Get Back to Nature" (by [[Alan Moore|Moore]] & [[Alan Davis|Davis]], in ''2000AD Sci-Fi Special 1985'')
* "D.R. & Quinch's Incredibly Excruciating Agony Page" (written by [[Jamie Delano]] and [[Alan Davis]], art by [[Alan Davis|Davis]], inks: [[Mark Farmer (comics)|Mark Farmer]], in ''2000 AD'' #525-534, 1987)
* "D.R. & Quinch Hijack Free Comic Book Day" (written by Owen Johnson & Colin Bell, art by Indio! & Dom Regan, in ''2000 AD Regened: Free Comic Book Day'', 2018)

===Collected editions===
There have been three [[trade paperback (comics)|trade paperbacks]]:

* ''D.R. and Quinch's Totally Awesome Guide To Life'' ([[Titan Books|Titan]], 1986 {{ISBN|0-907610-69-2}}) which contains only the Moore/Davis stories in original black and white
* ''The Complete D.R. and Quinch'' ([[Titan Books|Titan]], 2001 {{ISBN|1-84023-345-1}} [[Rebellion Developments]], 2006 {{ISBN|1-904265-48-0}}) which contains all of the above stories (up to 1987) in original black and white
* ''D.R. and Quinch - Definitive Edition'' ([[Fleetway]], 1991 {{ISBN|1-85386-255-X}}) which contains only the Moore/Davis stories in color
* ''The Complete D.R. & Quinch'' (2006, Rebellion, {{ISBN|1904265480}})

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051105161420/http://www.2000adonline.com/index.php3?zone=thrill&page=profiles&choice=QUINCH 2000AD Online profile]
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/comics/2000adstrips/drandquinch/drandquinch01.shtml ''D.R. and Quinch Have Fun On Earth'', the very first story from issue 317 of ''2000AD''.]
*''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WJGX49n1iw The 2000 AD A.B.C. #29: D.R. & Quinch]'' at [[YouTube]]

{{Alan Moore}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:D.R. and Quinch}}
[[Category:British comics]]
[[Category:2000 AD comic strips]]
[[Category:2000 AD characters]]