IDW's DOCTOR WHO Series To Regenerate In January 2011

Comic BookTV Doctor Who by LiamK

In January, IDW's ongoing Doctor Who series will reboot with a new first issue and a new Doctor.  The Eleventh Doctor, as portrayed by Matt Smith on the show, will be replacing David Tennant's Tenth Doctor, and he's bringing Amy Pond and Rory Williams, the show's current companions, with him.  The stories will still be penned by Tony Lee, who has done a great job on the series, with artist Andrew Currie for the first issue.  Richard Piers Raynor (Road to Perdition), the ironically named Matthew Dow Smith (Starman), and Chris Samnee (Thor: The Mighty Avenger) will all be handling interior art duties in coming issues.

The first issue finds the three travelers "battling holographic spam and 'friending' requests on a planet that's hours from destruction by an alien race."

"IDW's new ongoing comic book series promises not to dial down the excitement, offering holographic spam fighting Mad Max-esque mercenaries, Victorian Jack The Ripper suspense, penalty shoot-outs against Vikings and Cybernetic Space Pirate Dinosaurs among the many adventures that the Eleventh Doctor will be having."

Editor Denton J. Tipton says:

"There's going to be something for everyone in this story. For example, fans of the classic series should be on the look out for a classic Doctor Who villain!"

Lee adds:

"I could tell you who they are, but I'd have to kill you.  Let's just say we've been given special dispensation to use them, and we have a killer story - in all senses of the word!"

Who might these villains be?  As major an opponent like the Daleks, Cybermen, or the Master, or something a little more off the beaten path?  When his first series began, Lee stated he was steering clear of the Daleks.  Maybe he's proven himself to the point that he's been given the keys to some of the bigger toys.  Showrunner Steven Moffat has hinted that he's shelving them until he has a really good story for them.  During development of the previous season, he said he'd rather create new villains than raid the archives for preexisting ones, although he did break down and roll out the Daleks.  The Cybermen had a very brief couple of appearances at the end of the season.  Did Lee spin a good yarn involving one of those shelved antagonists?  Tipton said "villain" singular, while Lee said "them".  Lee also mentioned getting permission to use them.  The Dalek rights are jointly held by the BBC and the estate of creator Terry Nation.  I don't know if there are any other characters that might require special permission that might be required due to complicated rights.  That said, the Daleks are featured in an unrelated graphic novel that is soon to be released, Doctor Who:  The Only Good Dalek, so I don't know whether that hurts the chances of them being featured here or has no impact whatsoever.

Time will tell, no pun intended.  Whatever the case, I'm looking forward to it.  Lee's Tenth Doctor stories have been great, and I've loved Matt Smith's Doctor, so it's going to be fun seeing him cross over into other media.  And thinking of the Tenth Doctor as a classic Doctor now, imagining him as a glowing Jedi ghost who watches from beyond, and viewing his episodes as "old" episodes gives one a whole new way to enjoy his run.

 

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