Blog

IDW and Doctor Who are a great combination. With their Doctor Who: Classics, and Doctor Who: Classics Series 2, numerous one-shots, and mini-series; their library of Doctor Who titles is quite impressive, and some are true Indy Gems.

Doctor Who isn’t a stranger to comic books, and has graced the pages of many comics and magazines. Doctor Who first appeared in comics almost 1 year to the day after his initial appearance on television in November 1963. His first appearance in an American comic wouldn’t be for almost 20 years, when Marvel ran its first Doctor Who story arc in Marvel Premiere #57, published December 1980. Marvel would then run a stand alone Doctor Who comic, which ran for a total of 23 issues, from Oct 1984 through Aug 1986. Doctor Who then disappeared from comics in the U.S. for the next 20 years.

Doctor Who: Classics, Doctor Who: Classics Series 1 & 2

Writer: Pat Mills, John Wagner
Artist: Joe Corroney, Dave Gibbons, Charlie Kirchoff

Both of these series reprint some of the great Doctor stories from the 80s Marvel run. These are still great stories that were well written, and are great reads even today. While this series is just reprints, it is still a great read, and much easier to find than a complete run of the 80s Marvel Doctor Who. Check this series out if you are a fan of science fiction or Doctor Who.

Doctor Who: Room With a Deja View

Writer: Rich Johnston
Artist: Eric J
Colors: Kris Carter
Letters: Neil Uyetake

This one-shot is a cool little story where the Doctor encounters a murder where the main suspect is a member of the counter race, whose time flows backwards in relation to the rest of the universe.

Doctor Who: The Forgotten

Writer: Tony Lee
Artists: Kent Archer, Shaynne Corbett, Pia Guerra, Charlie Kirchoff, Nick Roche, Neil Uyetake

This is one of my favorite Doctor Who mini-series; it is well written and draws you in with a compelling story. The Doctor is trapped in what appears to be a museum of his life. Various items from all of the Doctor’s previous incarnations are on display everywhere. Each item invokes a flash back from the good Doctor, of a previous regeneration. Being a long time Doctor Who fan, it was nice to see Doctors from the past being brought to life in the comic. I would strongly suggest this series to  everyone; it serves as a great introduction to the Doctor and provides a good idea of what his previous incarnations were.

Doctor Who: Autopia

Writer: John Ostrander
Artist: Kelly Yates
Colors: Kris Carter
Letters: Kubikiri

The Doctor and Donna Noble land on a beautiful, perfectly landscaped and maintained planet; whose inhabitants have sealed themselves off from the rest of the galaxy, and built an army of robotic servants to take care of their everyday menial tasks. They now devote their entire existence to meditation and lounging about. When the Doctor shows up, the locals are none to happy, and try to have him executed! Instead, the Doctor talks the robotic servants into a rebellion, and out of a bloody one!

Doctor Who #1-#3

Publisher: IDW
Writer: Tony Lee
Artists: Al Davison issues #1 & #2, Matthew Dow Smith issue #3
Colors: Lovern Kindzierski issues #1 & #2, Charlie Kirchoff issue #3
Letters: Robbie Robbins issue #1, Chris Mowry issues #2 & #3.

For those of you who know me, you would have expected way more Doctor Who stuff by now. I’ll admit I’m a huge fan of the Doctor and have been since Tom Baker donned the scarf.  That being the case, I made it a point not to do too many Doctor themed articles. The fact that this week’s column is a Doctor Who rundown of IDW’s Doctor Who line, means that these series truly shine and have  great potential. Doctor Who is the first ongoing Doctor Who based comic book here in the U.S. since the Marvel one back in the 80s. Issues #1 and #2 are one story arc, Silver Scream, where the Doctor is in 1920s Hollywood. Issue #3 starts the next story arc, The Fugitive, where our good Doctor is on trial by the Shadow Proclamation. The writing truly captures the spirit and dialogue of the show; Tony Lee has an excellent grasp of Doctor Who as a character. Tony has been in the comic book industry since the late 90s; some of his previous work includes X-Men Unlimited, 2000 A.D., Hope Falls, Doctor Who: The Forgotten, Starship Troopers: Blaze of Glory, and Untold Tales of the New Universe. I’m excited about this title; the writing has been pretty solid, and I’m quelling my Doctor fix.

These are most of the Doctor Who titles IDW has put out, a collection of great science fiction comics. Doctor Who fans and science fiction aficionados now have a new series of titles to look for! Now if I could only find a K9 comic, I think my Doctor Who Comic Collection would be complete.

Scott Andrews
scott@comicattack.net