News: IDW Launches New Dr. Who Mini-Series

Fans of IDW’s first Doctor Who miniseries featuring the Tenth Doctor had one constant request — give us the past Doctors, too. In August, they’ll get their wish Tenfold, on the pages of Doctor Who: The Forgotten.

This new series not only finds a clever way to present a story featuring all of the Doctor’s incarnations, but it also features award-winning artist Pia Guerra in her first regular assignment since the acclaimed Y, The Last Man series came to a close.

Doctor Who: The Forgotten is a six-part tale written by Tony Lee (Starship Troopers) and featuring resident Doctor Who expert and colorist Charlie Kirchoff (Doctor Who Classic, Doctor Who: Agent Provocateur) adding hues to Guerra’s linework. Artist Nick Roche will again provide covers for IDW’s Doctor Who series.

In Doctor Who: The Forgotten, Dr. Who finds himself stranded in a strange Museum that’s dedicated to him; and with no TARDIS in sight. The Doctor and Martha must make sense of their surroundings, hindered by one small fact: the Doctor has lost his memories of every one of his previous incarnations! With items relevant to each Doctor in their possession, The Doctor must try to use them to regain his memories before it’s too late.

In the popular Doctor Who novel “The Eight Doctors,” writer Terrance Dick, of whom Tony Lee is a great fan, re-visited previous incarnations of the Doctor in the midst of adventures from the original series. In IDW’s Doctor Who: The Forgotten, Lee decided to take the alternate route and create all new adventures for the classic Doctors. “Although it’s always nice to revisit old friends,” Lee says, “I think we can give more ‘forgotten tales’ in these short flashbacks. We have the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan meeting Egyptians; we have the Second, Jamie and Zoe meeting space lizards; the Third, Jo and The Brigadier defeating aliens on Dartmoor; the Fourth and Romana in millennium Paris; the Fifth, Tegan and Turlough facing a more recent addition in a Village cricket match; the Sixth and Peri in a courtroom; the Seventh and Ace in an alien war torn city; the Eighth alone in a Count of Monte Cristo setting; and the Ninth and Rose in the trenches of World War I. And every single one of them has been an utter joy to write.”

The creative partnership between Lee and artist Pia Guerra was initiated after they met recently at the Earls Court VIP launch of the Doctor Who Exhibition. In a pub afterwards, they talked about what their favorite episodes were and how they wished certain characters could work great in a story together. “We formed a strong bond that day, I feel” Lee said.

Lee added, “The funniest thing is that in the UK I say I’m writing this book and suddenly everyone’s excited. In the US, I talk about the books to nods, and when I mention Pia — that’s when the squeals start.”

Doctor Who: The Forgotten #1 (JUN08 4045) will arrive in mid-August. Doctor Who: Agent Provocateur TPB (JUN08 4047), collecting the first IDW miniseries, will be available in August as well.

Doctor Who #1 – Review

By: Gary Russell (writer), Nick Roche (art), Joe Phillips (art assists), German Torres (ink assists) & Charlie Kirchoff (colors)

I just want to start saying that I’m not an old school fan – I started watching Doctor Who with the new 2005 series. I love Eccleston as the Doctor as well as Rose. I didn’t quite like Tennant as the new Doctor at first, but eventually, I grew to love him. I can’t say the same for Martha Jones’ character, because she just wasn’t Rose. I guess I like them blonde. Anyway, back to the review of Doctor Who #1.

The story goes on about Martha Jones wanting to taste chocolate milk shakes from around the galaxies. They get to a space station but a Sycorax kidnaps the Doctor with the intent of keeping him in his collection of “unique species”. He’s in to make a profit out of it. Martha Jones helps rescue the Doctor and they free the other hostages and travel back to the safety of London.

This issue feels like a teaser to an episode of the series. The “enemy” feels a bit off, not being on the same level as the Doctor. It just doesn’t feel menacing, and because of that the story lacks tension. With the TV series how they can escape or survive the enemy always keeps you guessing – but here’s it’s just predictable. The art also feels a bit too “cartoon-ish” for the series, almost as if it’s targeted to kids. Sadly, I cannot recommend this book. Skip it and stick to the TV series. (Grade: D+)

-Daniel Yanez