IDW Publishing's License Concludes

[Allyn Gibson]

...but not before Paul Cornell writes a story about the Doctor landing on our Earth, meeting a 10-year-old Doctor Who fan, and then meeting Matt Smith himself!

From the press release:

The BBC Worldwide/IDW partnership will conclude following the end of these 50th anniversary celebrations in December.

"IDW is a great partner and we're very proud of the comics that we have created and released together. By extending our partnership, we are able to provide Doctor Who fans with more than 20 additional titles in celebration of the 50th Anniversary," states Soumya Sriraman, Executive Vice President Home Entertainment and Licensing.

"We've been extremely proud to be the American home to new Doctor Who comics these last six years," said Chris Ryall, IDW’s Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief. "We feel like we've said a great many things with our comics—so it now feels like a good time to let Doctor Who comics regenerate along with the coming new Doctor on the TV series."

Oh, and about that story...

IDW Publishing and BBC Worldwide will conclude their joint celebration of the Doctor's 50th anniversary with the release of a Doctor Who Special the final week of 2013. This oversize issue will be written by fan-favorite Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell and features art by Jimmy Broxton.

In this special one-shot story, a strange force flings the TARDIS and the Doctor into our own universe! Once here, the Doctor encounters a 10-year-old girl who happens to be a huge fan of the Doctor Who TV show. The Doctor grapples with being a fictional character as well as and a monster lurking at the girl's school on the way to coming face-to-face with the actor who portrays him, Matt Smith!

As for the conclusion of IDW's run with Doctor Who, I'm a little sad. Not everything they've done has been golden (Assimilation2, I'm looking at you especially), but they have produced some pretty enjoyable work, particularly Tony Lee's first series.

Since IDW has shown that there's a market for Doctor Who comic books, I wonder who will pick up the license next.

 

[The Wormhole]

Damn, that kind of sucks. Oh, I'm sure someone else will quickly scoop up the comic license, but it'll almost certainly only be a tie-in with the current series. I was kind of hoping that with the Prisoners of Time series sampling all the Doctors, it could lead to IDW doing more with the past Doctors, like maybe a mini-series or two a year featuring one of them.

And it's unlikely the new comic company will be ready to start releasing product in January 2014, we'll likely have to wait a while. Since the new season likely won't start until fall 2014, and it'll be with a new Doctor so even if someone does have the license by then they'll likely hold off until they can know this Doctor well enough to write him. Or dare I suggest her? So this likely means no Doctor Who comics at all until 2015.

I hope there's at least some significant novel releases in 2014, because otherwise with no comics, the classic era DVD line winding down, and nothing on TV until fall, 2014 is looking to be rather bleak for Doctor Who.

 

[StCoop]

So this likely means no Doctor Who comics at all until 2015.

Well the last line of the Press Release is "BBC Worldwide will announce the plans for 2014 in the next coming weeks." so it looks like things are well underway.

I wonder if this ties in with the rumours that Panini are losing the DWM licence and we'll end up seeing both the magazine and comics coming out from Titan?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I wonder if this ties in with the rumours that Panini are losing the DWM licence and we'll end up seeing both the magazine and comics coming out from Titan?

A coworker and I discussed the DWM rumors (though I've heard the publisher of SFX is in the mix there) and now this (which IDW buried in the press release, and the comics press isn't picking up on it).

Titan is the likely bet. They have a pre-established relationship with the BBC (Torchwood magazine and bunches of other licensed Who products).

Dark Horse would be a good fit. (If they could do a Doctor Who/Hellboy crossover, I'd love them forever.)

I can see Dynamite making a bid on the license, but the thought of J. Scott Campbell and Alex Ross doing covers, tons of variants, and substandard artwork make me retch.

BOOM! would be another good fit, but I don't see them as a likely possibility since they're moving into developing their own properties now.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

BOOM! would be another good fit, but I don't see them as a likely possibility since they're moving into developing their own properties now.

That and their inability to release the last eight Farscape comics in trade paperback. Seems like they're strapped for cash.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Man, that's a bummer. I really enjoyed the current IDW comics, and I too was hoping for them to do more with past Doctors. Gotta watch which company'll pick up the licence. I'm hoping for Dark Horse.

 

[Guy Gardener]

America is a tiny market.

If a Japanese company was given the license then they would produce a new comic every week and sell tens of millions of units each week... But they would still need some dinky little american outfit like Boom to translate their comics into English, so we would hardly notice the transition.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

It looks like the license will go to either BOOM! or Titan.

Titan probably has the inside track; they have a pre-existing relationship with the BBC, and they're in the same time zone as the BBC.

I think BOOM! would be a steadier hand, however. Titan is trying to get a comics company off the ground, while BOOM! has years more experience with publishing monthly comics.

 

[Admiral_Young]

What's most interesting about that article is that IDW apparently had a planned Doctor Who book with Mark Waid writing.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

What's most interesting about that article is that IDW apparently had a planned Doctor Who book with Mark Waid writing.

That's not surprising. We knew that IDW had plans for 2014, including another Star Trek crossover. (They announced it at NYCC last year.)

IDW undoubtedly knew their license was coming to a close at the end of this year, but they probably expected a renewal. Either the BBC wasn't happy with working with IDW, or the BBC realized they could get more money out of the license and then priced it out of IDW's range. I think the latter is more likely than the former.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I'd forgotten about the announced second Star Trek crossover. I'm not entirely sure what to think of the two companies Rich mentioned as the two leading candidates. For some reason though I think Titan will get it.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Of the two, I would prefer BOOM! I feel like BOOM! has a better track record as a publisher of comics than Titan. That's just a gut feeling, though.

Here's the thing. Titan has almost no history as a comics publisher. They have a book division that occasionally publishes comics (Lenore, the Torchwood comic), and now they're starting up a separate Titan Comics. The book division's comics had no sort of regular schedule, and that doesn't instill me with confidence that Titan Comics will be any better.

But, Titan has two advantages that BOOM! does not. They already have a Doctor Who license for merchandise, so they're familiar with the BBC approval proces. And they're in the same time zone as the BBC headquarters instead of being nine or ten hours behind like IDW was (and BOOM! would be).

 

[sidious618]

I haven't seen much promise in IDW's line and while I'm reading Prisoner's of Time it's not exactly a riveting read.

 

[Admiral_Young]

IDW has been hit and miss with their Doctor Who material for me...but this does come somewhat of a surprise. Prisoners of Time while not been riveting, and some characterization problems, has been more entertaining than Assimilation Squared IMO. That's not saying much frankly.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Tony Lee talks about the end of IDW's license and his storyline that closes out the ongoing series.

BOOM! is out, leaving Titan and Arcana in the mix to pick up the license.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

I've read very little of IDW's Doctor Who output, in all honesty. After consistently being disappointed in their Star Trek offerings, I didn't really give their take on the Doctor(s) a fair shake. I know a lot of people who swear by IDW's GI Joe and Transformers output, but I swear, their Trekstuff has *always* left me cold, and what little Who I read wasn't much better. But at least they seem to have managed to get better writers for Who than for their Trek line, even if the art is rather dodgy in places. I don't know much about Lee, but Fialkov is definitely a good writer, as is Diggle but I don't know how well he'd fit in writing Doctor Who. If they had/have Cornell involved at all, I'm happy.

I can't say I'd be thrilled to see the title go to Boom!, though publishing Doctor Who comics would probably help them financially in the long run, after losing the Disney license. And I certainly want the license to stay far, far away from Dynamite. With Dark Horse most likely losing the Star Wars license sometime next year, that might be a good place for BBC to take the TARDIS.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I just want to see a miniseries set on Earth after VD Day where Susan is rebuilding the planet.

Seriously, if she's not careful, she'll become the new Global President.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I just want to see a miniseries set on Earth after VD Day where Susan is rebuilding the planet.

They'd really have to give that particular celebratory holiday a different name...

 

[Saga]

I just want to see a miniseries set on Earth after VD Day where Susan is rebuilding the planet.

They'd really have to give that particular celebratory holiday a different name...

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Bleeding Cool says Titan has picked up the license. Also, BC believes that Titan, unlike IDW, will be able to distribute their Doctor Who comics in the UK.

However, BC is wrong when they say that they broke the news that the BBC and IDW were parting ways. IDW did that themselves in the press release, and I'd make the initial post here, pointing out the relevant passages, before BC made their post with the news. So, if you were reading here, you knew before BC's readers did.