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FCBD18 Interview: Titan Comics Brings New Adventures to Your Favorite Doctors

In 2014, Titan Comics acquired the license to Doctor Who, and is filling the Doctor Who universe with adventures fans never even knew about. Titan is creating and sharing adventures from past Doctors that fans never got to see on the BBC TV series.

In this Free Comic Book Day special, fans are treated to the beginning of the adventures and exploits of the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, as well as a sneak peek at the new Thirteenth Doctor who, portrayed by Jodie Whittaker in the series, is the first female incarnation of the Doctor!

Read our interview below with Andrew James, managing editor of Doctor Who, to learn more about what secrets to expect in the pages of the Doctor Who comics, and what James is looking forward to on Free Comic Book Day! Then, click here to read through our PREVIEWS Prevue of the comic! 


 Free Comic Book Day (FCBD): Fans are excited to see Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor and you’ll be bringing her to comics for the first time in this FCBD issue. Talk about how this issue not only debuts the new Doctor, but is a new beginning for Doctor Who comics?  

Free Comic Book Day, FCBD, Titan Comics, Doctor Who

While we’ll have only the smallest of snippets of the Thirteenth Doctor in this issue – prior to her full debut on TV this fall, there’s not much we can spoil without being thrown unprotected into the Time Vortex by our friends at the BBC!

There’s a buzz of regenerative energy throughout all of Doctor Who right now, and we can’t wait for fans to see what Chris Chibnall, Matt Strevens, Sam Hoyle and the rest of the new show running team are cooking up for the new Doctor Jodie Whittaker to face, come Fall!

It’s a brilliant time for the series, whether you’re encountering it for the first time due to Jodie’s casting, or witnessing its rebirth as a long-term fan. There’s nothing quite like the frisson of excitement that comes with a new Doctor and a new showrunner, but I know only the faintest outline of the plans at this point, and they’re already mind-blowingly good.

Change is literally baked into the Doctor’s alien DNA, and it’s thrilling – and frightening! – every time it happens. But it’s always the good kind of change.

FCBD: For those who might be new to your comic book, give us a quick rundown of the story!

Doctor Who is the official comic book of the long-running science fiction TV show!

Since we acquired the license in 2014, we’ve published a wide range of series, both limited miniseries and on-goings, focusing on specific incarnations of the many-faced Doctor.Each of those series is completely self-contained, so retailers and readers can feel free to jump on to whichever Doctor catches their eye – or whichever incarnation they first fell for on TV.

As for what Doctor Who itself is about: The Doctor is an immortal Time Lord, member of a species that conquered time travel, before almost being wiped out by their equally powerful foes.

The Doctor is more of a wanderer, though; a dreamer, someone who wants to see all the amazing sights the universe has to offer. So, they stole away from their homeworld of Gallifrey, aboard the TARDIS, a time ship that’s been locked in the shape of a British Police Telephone Box for as long as anyone can remember.

Now the Doctor travels from place to place, and from time to time, making friends, changing lives, challenging fate, and bringing hope to the corners of the galaxy that most need their help. And when the Doctor is mortally wounded, instead of dying, they regenerate – gaining a new face and body, and a new set of priorities – but the same memories of their long, long life.

FCBD: What genre is your title?

Doctor Who’s greatest strength is that depending on the week – or the issue! – the Doctor and all the rest of your favorite characters can be in an entirely different genre, setting, or time period. 

FCBD: What has been your favorite part of the book or main character(s) to tackle?

I think the biggest thrill of working on the comics – and the most challenging aspect, too! – is that sense of infinite possibility. It really is, ‘the Doctor, a friend or two, a box that travels through time and space – now where do you want to go?’ So EVERY new arc and every collection is a great jumping-on point, not just the first issues.

I think my favorite thing in the comics so far has been the new characters and companions our amazing creative teams have conjured up especially for the comics. If I’m proud of any one thing on the Doctor Who range, it’s those wonderful characters – and the amazing writers and artists that have brought them to life.

FCBD: What other titles would you compare to yours? “If a comic reader likes _______ , they should pick up my title?”

Doctor Who is a glorious mélange, in that it’s a blend of all kinds of influences, and there are all sorts of points of entry! If you like the science fiction horror of Alien, you’ll enjoy the stories where the Doctor and friends are stalking through ancient space stations in search of a hideous monster. If you’re more interested in historical tales, we have those as well. And if a reader likes the kind of British-but-universal humor of something like the amazing Giant Days, they’d get on well with Doctor Who, too!

They’re true ‘all ages’ books, in that the content is of the same level as you’d see on TV, so if you’re a parent who’s comfortable with their kids watching the show, you’ll get the same level of story in the comics. We have readers from eight to eighty and beyond, much like the show, and although a large proportion of fans will lean towards ‘their’ Doctor, we’ve had young fans who love the Third Doctor the most and lifelong fans who now call Matt Smith or Peter Capaldi their favorite!

FCBD: Looking to the future, is there anything you can tease about what's upcoming for the title and its characters?

We’re shaking things up a little in 2018 for the Doctor Who range, just because we’re in-between TV Doctors for a little, and after three years of barnstorming on-goings, it’s time to take a fresh look. We’ve got a brand-new classic Doctor series debuting in June (with a sneak peek all-new story in the FCBD Special that leads directly into it!), another ongoing series kicking off in July, a stonking double-sized two-part miniseries in November – tying into Doctor Who Comics Day, and wrapping up an epic story arc we’ve been running since 2014, in a super-accessible, two-Doctors-for-the-price-of-one package… and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

If fans are just discovering the Titan range of Doctor Who titles, then there’s an astonishing wealth of backlist collections to dive into, from all across the range and spectrum of Doctors past – but we’re just getting started on our Doctor Who future…

FCBD: What initially got you interested in comics? (or What is your favorite thing about working in comics?)

I’ve always been interested in comics, from childhood. Always writing, drawing and crudely self-publishing my own. I drifted away a little bit during high school, when I was ‘supposed’ to be focusing on prose, but my first week in college I stumbled into the local comics store and fell straight back in. That was around the time Ultimate Spider-Man and Y: The Last Man and Fables were dropping, so it’s definitely down to that era of titles  – and graphic novels like Blankets – that I ended up actually working on comics. My favorite thing about working in comics is the variety. It’s all problem-solving, on one level or another. It’s a fantastically collaborative medium…

FCBD: Many newcomers will pick up comics for the first time on FCBD—what was the first comic you remember reading?

That’s a tough one! Probably a Tintin or Asterix book, as that tended to be what was in the library when I was a kid. My first US comic was (I think) Amazing Spider-Man #399, picked up on a market stall in the Lake District when I was on holiday. (I still have a soft spot for the Clone Saga to this day…). As a licensed book of a popular, fan-favorite TV show, we take our position as a ‘gateway to comics’ for casual readers very seriously.

FCBD: Tell us why everyone should read comic books!

There’s no other medium quite like them: a heady splice of prose and imagery blended together, with the reader subconsciously complicit in every action, movement, and line of dialogue in the page. Whatever the genre, style, intended audience, or background of the creators, it’s the fundamental power of the comics format that makes them simultaneously accessible to all and packed with the potential for depth. We’ve got the ‘budget of imagination’ to compete with even the biggest blockbusters, and the soap opera serialization of long-running titles that builds an emotional engagement like no other… That blend of the blockbuster with the personal is what makes monthly comics sing.

On top of that, every good comic book store is stocked with an insanely wide range of titles for every age, taste, and preference of style – and often all it takes is an event with the welcoming reach of Free Comic Book Day to get a new reader hooked for life. So long may it continue!

FCBD: What is your favorite part about Free Comic Book Day? What do you think is the best part of Free Comic Book Day?

My favorite thing is the pleasure of seeing and reading the work of a wide spread of publishers and creators bringing their A-game, in terms of accessible, fun, samplers for their lines, aimed at the widest possible audience. We all work at making our titles accessible and awesome all the year round, but the potential audience and the FCBD event itself really gives us all a keener focus.

I think the best part is just seeing the pleasant scrum of people coming out to support their local stores, meeting like-minded fans and creators, and being introduced to all the great comics they’re going to fall in love with for the rest of the year. Outside of a massive comics convention, there’s nothing quite like it – it’s the convention experience that comes to you.

FCBD: Where do you plan to spend Free Comic Book Day?

I’ll be at several of the local London comic book stores celebrating the day, starting with a signing at Forbidden Planet, but otherwise taking in the glorious atmosphere of the day. It’s always a pleasure and a privilege to be involved, and great to see the attendance and buzz increasing year-on-year. Can’t wait!

 

Find a comic shop near you to celebrate Free Comic Book Day 2018!
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