• He’s a pretty familiar “face” on U.S. and British television, even though that face changes regularly as new actors take on the role. It’s been over 20 years since Dr. Who has shown his face, any face, in American comics on any regular basis.

    In January, that changes with a six-issue mini-series from IDW.

    The Doctor is in.

    The series will be written by Gary Russell, the story editor of the very cool Doctor Who television show that appears in the states on the SciFi Channel. The artist is another Brit, Nick Roche, known for his work on Transformers and the Transformers Showcase series.

    Russell said this is not his first comic work. “I wrote some stuff for Marvel UK back in ‘92 when they did their big push into the US market after the success of Death’s Head,” he said. “I wrote a thing called Cyberspace 3000 - there’s some pretty damning reviews of that on the net! - and a couple of issues of Dark Angel which I really liked. I edited a few comics too. I’ve done a couple of Dr. Who strips for Marvel UK too. I’ve been a Marvel junkie since buying issue #158 of Fantastic Four. And still am.”

    Roche, meanwhile, has been working for IDW for about two years on various Transformers projects, or, as he puts it somewhat indelicately, “I'm Chris Ryall's bitch.”

    Ryall, the publisher and editor-in-chief of IDW, noted that these are the first Dr. Who comics made exclusively for the American audience. He was not available to comment on whether, in fact, Roche was his bitch.

    So, pretend that none of us know who Doctor Who is, how would you describe him?

    “He’s a lonely traveler in space and time, the last survivor of his people, the Time Lords, who fought a massive Time War with a race called the Daleks,” said Russell. “No one won, everyone lost. He has a series of human companions, currently the rather fabulous Martha Jones, a young trainee doctor from contemporary London. Together they travel the galaxies, righting wrongs, unopressing the oppressed and generally having a ball being the best heroes on TV today. Its fun fantasy TV, with a real emotional heart and soul. By not being constrained to one time or place, the universe, past and present, is their oyster.”

    Roche adds that extensive knowledge of the show is not a prerequisite to enjoying the comic. “You'll be happy to hear to don't have to be knee-deep in the show's 44-year history, the thought of which could possibly be a huge turn-off the uninitiated,” he said. “In fact, I would go as far as to say you don't really need to have seen any of the current Nu-Who at all, as Gary provides fresh-faced newcomers with a concise (ie: one page!) 'Who The Doctor Is and How He Came To Be' top-up as the series' very first page.

    “In fact, of all Issue #1 serves as a primer, featuring a 'Greatest Hits' of the Doctor; Whimsy, Sonic Screwdriver, Cute Assistant, Hint of Underlying Darkness...all present and correct,” Roche said. “And it'd be great if the comic opened up the show for new viewers. It really is a treat.”

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