SDCC '07: TALKING DR. WHO WITH IDW

[ChrisArrant]

by Steve Fritz

As any true Whovian knows, every time you think the Doctor is good and dead, he'll regenerate and come back at ya. Why shouldn't the comic based on everyone's #1 Time Lord be any different?

Much like the TV show in the U.S., the history of the Doctor in comics had him fading in and out of the public consciousness. His first appearance in the funny pages was actually in 1966, when Dell did a print adaptation of the two Who movies under the title of Dr. Who & The Daleks. In the meanwhile, a newspaper script of the Gallifreyan would appear in the UK, which Marvel then collected in a 1981 issue of Marvel Premiere #57 (with Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor). It also apparently included some sketches by Dave Cockrum and historic text by Jo Duffy.

Publishing in earnest would begin in 1984 under the title Doctor Who Magazine. This time it included some guest art by Walt Simonson and more historic text from Duffy. While the TV show would star Tom Baker, the TV series was starring the controversial sixth Doctor, Colin Baker. On the plus side, they included covers by Dave Gibbons. Oddly enough, the monthly title would continue to publish after the show was cancelled, and over time include the work of Alan Moore, and would also show the never-televised regeneration of the eight Doctor Eric McGann into the ninth, Chris Eccleston.

Now, later this year, IDW will begin publishing a new title based on the tenth Doctor, with stories by TV show script writer Gary Russell and art by Nick Roche. We sat down with Russell, Roche and IDW boss Chris Ryall to get the basics about their plans. Here's what they had to say:

Newsarama: When growing up, who was your favorite Doctor, and why?

Chris Ryall: Growing up in California, the only Doctor I was ever aware of--and this was only because of the Marvel Comic or the occasional airings on Public Television--was Tom Baker's 4th Doctor. I never saw any others until Sci Fi started airing the new show here, although I've seen been getting familiar with all the Doctors.

Nick Roche: Only a casual viewer as a nipper, never quite managing to win a battle for television supremacy against my soap-watching mother. So the only one I got see with any degree of consistency was Peter Davidson's Doctor, though I caught some Pertwee action a few years previous to Nu-Who and really liked it.

Gary Russell: As a child of the late 60s/70s, Jon Pertwee was the one for me. Dashing, sophisticated, heroic and clever. Pertwee I mean, not me. I've never been any of those things.

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[Somebody]

Publishing in earnest would begin in 1984 under the title Doctor Who Magazine. This time it included some guest art by Walt Simonson and more historic text from Duffy. While the TV show would star Tom Baker, the TV series was starring the controversial sixth Doctor, Colin Baker. On the plus side, they included covers by Dave Gibbons. Oddly enough, the monthly title would continue to publish after the show was cancelled, and over time include the work of Alan Moore, and would also show the never-televised regeneration of the eight Doctor Eric McGann into the ninth, Chris Eccleston.

Now, laer this year, IDW will begin publishing a new title based on the tenth Doctor, with stories by TV show script writer Gary Russell and art by Nick Roche. We sat down with Russell, Roche and IDW boss Chris Ryall to get the basics about their plans. Here's what they had to say:

1) DWM (which has a comic section, but is mostly a magazine with articles, etc) has never shown the 8-->9 regeneration. They did Eighth Doctor strips for years, they switched to Nine when the TV show started up and are now doing Ten strips, but no regenerations.
2) While Gary Russell works for the TV show these days, he's not written a script for S1-3 (and I'm 90% certain he's not announced for S4). He's written novels and audioplays (the latter for a company called Big Finish Productions, who he managed the Doctor Who range of - centred mostly around Doctors 5-8, since they're the ones able & willing to do Who stuff for them - for a good few years), but not the TV show itself.

Oh, and the link from the article goes to an Al Gore thread rather than here...

[Greg McElhatton]

"Somebody" is correct on all counts. And indeed, the writers for next year's Series 4 were announced and Gary Russell's name wasn't on the list.

[KyleCowstar]

Chris Ryall. You are the best. Very excited.

[Scavenger]

A feel much better about this plan now that I know Gary Russel is involved!

[protege]

Yet another reason for me to break my "marvel/DC" only, rule..

[SpyGuy]

Originally Posted by ChrisArrant

Publishing in earnest would begin in 1984 under the title Doctor Who Magazine. This time it included some guest art by Walt Simonson and more historic text from Duffy. While the TV show would star Tom Baker, the TV series was starring the controversial sixth Doctor, Colin Baker. On the plus side, they included covers by Dave Gibbons. Oddly enough, the monthly title would continue to publish after the show was cancelled, and over time include the work of Alan Moore, and would also show the never-televised regeneration of the eight Doctor Eric McGann into the ninth, Chris Eccleston.

Nick Roche: Only a casual viewer as a nipper, never quite managing to win a battle for television supremacy against my soap-watching mother. So the only one I got see with any degree of consistency was Peter Davidson's Doctor, though I caught some Pertwee action a few years previous to Nu-Who and really liked it.

"The eight Doctor Eric McGann"? Peter "Davidson"? Honestly, taking a little time to proof these articles would really be appreciated, guys. There are only hundreds of DOCTOR WHO sites (not to mention Wikipedia) on the internet, after all.

Errors aside, I am obviously jazzed about this news and can't wait to put this title down on my Diamond order form! Here's hoping the mini-series does well enough to warrant additional DOCTOR WHO projects!

[BillReed]

WOOHOO!

Awesome awesome awesome. I will buy this. Yes. I am now hopelessly addicted to Who.

And dammit, I was holding that 1966 Doctor Who & the Daleks in my hands just the other day and didn't buy it. I feel like I should now-- I didn't realize it was the Doctor's first comics presence! Even if it was the Peter Cushing version.

[Korvac]

I'm willing to buy the first couple of issues, but I'm not sold on the idea yet. I did like the Dave Gibbons-drawn Who comics from the 1980s, though.

[Speedball93]

I have been loving the show since it started airing on the Sci Fi Channel. I hope the comic can showcase that same appeal.

[SpyGuy]

Originally Posted by BillReed

WOOHOO!

Awesome awesome awesome. I will buy this. Yes. I am now hopelessly addicted to Who.

And dammit, I was holding that 1966 Doctor Who & the Daleks in my hands just the other day and didn't buy it. I feel like I should now-- I didn't realize it was the Doctor's first comics presence! Even if it was the Peter Cushing version.

Hey, shouldn't that be...

WHOWOO!

[jakob1978]

Originally Posted by Somebody

1) DWM (which has a comic section, but is mostly a magazine with articles, etc) has never shown the 8-->9 regeneration. They did Eighth Doctor strips for years, they switched to Nine when the TV show started up and are now doing Ten strips, but no regenerations.
2) While Gary Russell works for the TV show these days, he's not written a script for S1-3 (and I'm 90% certain he's not announced for S4). He's written novels and audioplays (the latter for a company called Big Finish Productions, who he managed the Doctor Who range of - centred mostly around Doctors 5-8, since they're the ones able & willing to do Who stuff for them - for a good few years), but not the TV show itself.

Oh, and the link from the article goes to an Al Gore thread rather than here...

I would also point out that DWM (which started as Doctor Who Weekly) started in 1979 not 1984. They did show a regeneration for the eighth doctor into a ninth doctor (which was modelled on Nick Briggs, who is now the voice of the daleks), but it was all a trick (and occured long before the revival). Maybe that's where the confusion comes from.

Gary Russell hasn't written (nor is he pencilled in) to write for the show, but he is a script editor for the show. He also produced the animated version "The Infinate Quest" which was shown in the children's show "Totally Doctor Who" (he also edited DWM for 4 or 5 years in the 90's as well as all writing loads of audio's and novels).

[DaVeO]

And my first IDW title is DR. WHO! Great news. Now if they can only include K9 in the series...

[philip_ayres]

Originally Posted by jakob1978

I would also point out that DWM (which started as Doctor Who Weekly) started in 1979 not 1984. They did show a regeneration for the eighth doctor into a ninth doctor (which was modelled on Nick Briggs, who is now the voice of the daleks), but it was all a trick (and occured long before the revival). Maybe that's where the confusion comes from.

Gary Russell hasn't written (nor is he pencilled in) to write for the show, but he is a script editor for the show. He also produced the animated version "The Infinate Quest" which was shown in the children's show "Totally Doctor Who" (he also edited DWM for 4 or 5 years in the 90's as well as all writing loads of audio's and novels).

I think the reference to DWM in the 3rd paragraph starts by talking about the old Marvel US reprints of the Tom Baker stuff (Gibbons etc) and then gets confused trying to shoehorn in some stuff about the UK based DWM.

[delltechdude]

Finally new from SDCC that I can actually give a damn about. IDW keep up posted I want to know when this puppy is out so I can order from you guys directly!

[booster]

*wince* Some serious fact checking needed in the first section of the article. Really, Eric McGann???!

But overall, good news and I'll certainly be looking closely at the previews regarding it. Interesting to see it's featuring Martha as the companion.

[OM]

...Ok, if these guys want to *really* give us what we Doctor fans want, then they need to do the following:

1) Have a meeting between Tennant's Doctor and Davison's. They're the two most similar doctors, and it would be interesting to see how the contrast & compare.

2) Send Tennant's doctor back to take on - you guessed it - The Clanton Gang at the OK Corral. Yep, The Gunfighters needs a sequel, dammit!

3) Screw this "we're too wussy to take on the big guns!" crap. It's time Tennant took on the Rani. Especially since he's now got companions not afraid to kick ass!

4) Omega *has* to show up in all this. Especially if he's dead.

5) Let's go exploring in the TARDIS itself. One of the more fun episodes was where the Master put the TARDIS into an internal loop, and another one involved going into areas of the TARDIS we'd never seen before. So far, all we've seen in the new "organic" TARDIS is the control room!

6) Let's settle the debate here once and for all: Was the Warlord really an early regeneration of the Master before Troughton regen'd into Pertwee?

7) Hey, if Bucky can come back, so can Adric!

8) Isn't it about time to reveal that Dodo is now a high-ranking member of the House of Commons? Or that Ben & Polly's kids are now old enough to go travelling where their parents went before? Or that Zoe has Jamie's love child? Or that Ace blew herself up finally? Seriously, we need to see what's happened to those old companions, and if the BBC is too cheap to hire back those actors for one episode...

9) Finally, one word: Davros.

...In any case, I'm onboard for this one.

[Scavenger]

1) Have a meeting between Tennant's Doctor and Davison's. They're the two most similar doctors, and it would be interesting to see how the contrast & compare.

In some ways, they're more opposite...Davison's was the old man in a young man's body...Tennant is more young man/young man.

And I guess it depends on how much the license covers. (for example, Big Finish's only cover 1-8...this being tied to the new series might only have 9 & 10--though the reprints give hope).

[Josiah Rowe]

Yeah, the author seems a bit confused about Doctor Who's comics history. Here's the skinny:

The first Doctor Who comic was a two-page strip in the weekly TV Comic, starting in 1964. It featured the first Doctor and two grandchildren, John and Gillian, who had been invented for the comic. The TV Comic strip continued through the '60s (the Doctor continuing to travel with John and Gillian, with no explanation given when he changed from a white-haired old man to a hobo with a Beatles 'do).

Also in the '60s, the Daleks had a comic of their own, in TV Century 21 (published by a different company). This was a single full-color page on the back of the weekly magazine, and ran from 1965 to 1967.

The Dell movie adaptation was the first US Doctor Who comic, but the TV Comic and TV Century 21 comics predate it in the UK.

TV Comic's Doctor Who strip continued into the early '70s. Shortly after transitioning from the more childish John-and-Gillian strips to a new format with the Third Doctor, Liz Shaw and UNIT, the publishers moved the strip to a more action-oriented comic called Countdown. Countdown changed its name a couple of times (first to TV Action + Countdown and then to TV Action), and eventually folded in 1973, at which point the Doctor Who strip returned to TV Comic, where it stayed (in strips featuring the third and fourth Doctors) until 1979.

In 1979, Polystyle (publishers of TV Comic) lost the Doctor Who comics license to Marvel UK, which quickly launched Doctor Who Weekly. This magazine contained Doctor Who text features and a four- or five-page black-and-white comic. The first several strips were written by Pat Mills and John Wagner, and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. The magazine became a monthly in 1980, eventually changing its name to Doctor Who Magazine in 1984. It has continued to publish a Doctor Who comic ever since, sometimes using companions from the television series and sometimes using original characters. Panini bought the magazine from Marvel in 1995, and still publishes it.

The Dave Gibbons strips which originated in Doctor Who Weekly and its successors were reprinted in standard comic-book format by Marvel US, starting with four issues of Marvel Premiere in 1981, and then in Marvel's Doctor Who comic, which ran from 1984 to 1986. All the strips were reprints from Doctor Who Magazine, mostly of Gibbons-drawn material.

More recently, the Doctor Who Magazine strip has been joined by a more kid-oriented comic in the pages of Doctor Who Adventures. The IDW comic book, however, will be the first Doctor Who comic book to tell original Doctor Who stories that haven't been previously printed elsewhere.

[ParisCub]

Originally Posted by DaVeO

And my first IDW title is DR. WHO! Great news. Now if they can only include K9 in the series...

They probably won't be able to as K9 is a separate licence, believe it or not.

[Nighttech]

Maybe we will finally see the story of the Time Wars in print now, followed by the the 10 Doctors......maybe Torchwood (Although I have yet to see it...and the way things are going it might be next year before I finally do).

[SpyGuy]

Originally Posted by Nighttech

Maybe we will finally see the story of the Time Wars in print now, followed by the the 10 Doctors......maybe Torchwood (Although I have yet to see it...and the way things are going it might be next year before I finally do).

The Time War is extremely doubtful, especially with Russell T. Davies acting as the TV series' showrunner. Based on interviews I've read over the past three years, Davies prefers to drop only teasing hints about the Time War and has no inclination of revealing what happened because it will take away some of the Doctor's mysteriousness.

He's also reportedly against multiple Doctor stories (Me, I love 'em), but then again, he also said he didn't want to bring back the Master and look how that turned out...

Oh, and TORCHWOOD airs in the U.S. on BBC America in September. Not as long of a wait as you expected...

[kelvingreen]

One wonders how Tom Brevoort feels about this. I know he's a huge Who fan, and I've wondered whether he's tried to get something moving at Marvel since the show returned.

I hope to see Frobisher return in the new comic, since I doubt he'll be appearing in the telly show any time soon!

[JLAJRC]

Originally Posted by Speedball93

I have been loving the show since it started airing on the Sci Fi Channel. I hope the comic can showcase that same appeal.

I'm with you. This and Eureka are my two favorite shows on SCI-FI. I even think Eureka would make a good comic, also.

[Nighttech]

Posted by SpyGuy
Oh, and TORCHWOOD airs in the U.S. on BBC America in September. Not as long of a wait as you expected...


yeah but I don't get BBC America...I have a friend who just got direct tv...so I might see if he can record it for me if he gets it on direct tv.