One of the joys of the Target Books has always been their cover art, from the earliest, in Frank Bellamy comic style, to the later, more photorealistic “blue spines”. Here are 10 of my favourites, sticking to no more than one per artist.

1. Doctor Who – The Three Doctors, by Chris Achilleos. Literally inspired by a comic (a 1966 edition of Fantastic Four), this is peak Achilleos, with trademark stippled monochrome portraits of the first three Doctors dominated by Omega, hands outstretched, firing bolts of energy. It’s a much more dramatic version of Omega than made it into the TV episodes, and a gorgeous cover.

2. Doctor Who and the Face of Evil, by Jeff Cummins. Cummins provided a number of excellent covers, many (including The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Talons of Weng-Chiang) incorporating a bold coloured border to the artwork. I think this is the greatest: how apt that Leela’s introductory story should see her stepping out of the frame to face the viewer, while a brooding Doctor stares into the distant jungle like an Edwardian adventurer.

3. Doctor Who – Death to the Daleks, by Roy Knipe. Possibly the iconic cover, as a (screen accurate) Dalek’s head explodes in a blaze of fire. Like many of the best Target covers, it’s inspired by images from the TV serial, but turned up to 11.

4. Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons, by Alun Hood. By way of contrast, this bears no relation to anything in the episodes, instead depicting a creeping horror that wouldn’t look out of place on the front of a Pan anthology. A rearing caterpillar with a single human eye, grotesquely melded with a crab and an octopus, beneath a queasy mustard yellow version of the Doctor Who logo. Had this appeared on screen, Mary Whitehouse would have exploded with rage like a Roy Knipe Dalek.

5. Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion, by Andrew Skilleter. The 1980s reprint of The Auton Invasion is wrapped inside a cover that evokes the opening shot of Spearhead from Space, and perfectly captures the idea of the Pertwee Years. A vast cosmic terror reaches out its tendrils to caress the blue marble of Earth, as it prepares to descend to feed. Genius.

6. Doctor Who – Inferno, by Nick Spender. A scientist is depicted mid-transformation into a Primord, like something from a werewolf movie, while behind the landscape is choked in smoke and fire. Again, it’s both brilliantly scary for a kid, and incredibly evocative of the TV episodes.

7. Doctor Who – Fury from the Deep, by David McAllister. My tastes follow a similar theme – I prefer a haunting image that evokes the story rather than a montage of elements. This one really leans into the brilliant title (some might say the best thing about the story) to turn the idea of base under siege into a single picture of an isolated gas rig menaced by something monstrous rising from the fathoms.

8. Doctor Who – The Seeds of Death, by Tony Masero. I love how this is cleverly inspired by the famous 1968 Earthrise photo from Apollo 8 (rudely photobombed by an invading Martian), given how the TV story is so wrapped up with the idea of the Moon landings and the space programme.

9. Doctor Who – The Wheel in Space, by Ian Burgess. In some respects it’s a very straightforward picture of a Cyberman in front of a space station. But it is a beautifully drawn, splendidly impassive Cyberman, that recalls Bill Donohoe’s cover for the reprint of Doctor Who and the Cybermen, with the “silver giants” imagined as ghostly white figures walking through space – a scene that actually happens in this TV serial. Also extra marks for the space station looking like the one in Moonraker.

10. Doctor Who – Survival, by Alister Pearson. The artist takes his canvas, which is a beautifully painted series of heads with a screen-accurate Cheetah Planet sky, and puts five, cat’s-claw slashes through it. Very witty, and it elevates this one straight into my Top 10.