Though The Four Doctors is enjoyable, "brilliant" is probably overstating the case.
Paul Cornell to write Doctor Who crossover for Titan
- Thread starter Allyn Gibson
- Start date
Well, I love it. Especially because it actually a character progression as a result of a character interacting in one way or another with the four versions of the same guy.
Doctorwhovian
Fleet Captain
Regarding the use of old Doctors in the Titan series, the Capaldi issues I've read so far deal with a legacy of sorts from the Fourth Doctor.
io9 has the first six pages of "Four Doctors" up. Five of them star the War Doctor, and then we have a Moore transition to Clara and the twelfth Doctor for the sixth.
And we have more evidence that the War Doctor called himself "the Doctor."
And we have more evidence that the War Doctor called himself "the Doctor."
^Moore transition? You mean starting the dialogue for the next scene before cutting to the visual? Would that be a reference to Alan Moore and Watchmen? It seems to be a pretty common technique in comics these days; I didn't know it was named for anyone.
That's it exactly. I don't know that Moore originated the technique, but he certainly popularized it.
Strictly speaking, he never calls himself the Doctor there; he just responds to being addressed that way by others. Although it's not established who told them he was called that.
Doctorwhovian
Fleet Captain
That's actually some pretty good art for a Doctor Who comic IMO. Although the likenesses on the last page seem a bit off, especially with Clara's face which looks more like Megan Fox than Jenna Coleman.
Although the new design of the Voord armor is pretty cool, it does looks a bit like the Spider-man Venom symbiote when it gets a new host...
It's kind of interesting how Keys of Marinus is used a lot in Doctor Who comic lore, since it was a so-so first season story. I suppose it's because, like the Quarks and the Mechanoids, the Voord were kind of advertised in some 60's WHO merchandise and publicity as "The next Daleks" (We eventually got a decent second recurring villain, although not quite as popular as the Daleks, with the Cybermen of course).
Although the new design of the Voord armor is pretty cool, it does looks a bit like the Spider-man Venom symbiote when it gets a new host...
It's kind of interesting how Keys of Marinus is used a lot in Doctor Who comic lore, since it was a so-so first season story. I suppose it's because, like the Quarks and the Mechanoids, the Voord were kind of advertised in some 60's WHO merchandise and publicity as "The next Daleks" (We eventually got a decent second recurring villain, although not quite as popular as the Daleks, with the Cybermen of course).
Paul Cornell often has a fondness for the rubbish villains-- he used the Nimon in Seasons of Fear and the Vardans in No Future, for example.
I admit, I've been trying to reconcile those five pages against Grant Morrison's "The World Shapers" and its revelations about the Voord and their final evolution.
Well, like the guy says in the comic, the Voord's history has been altered by the Time War. I'd say that can handily reconcile any contradictions.
I'm glad I'm not a completist -- there are nineteen different covers for issue #1.
I have a Books-A-Million locally, so it's possible I could get that cover. The one I like the most is probably David Carr's with the four Doctors in an art museum looking at paintings, in various styles, of the TARDIS.
I have a Books-A-Million locally, so it's possible I could get that cover. The one I like the most is probably David Carr's with the four Doctors in an art museum looking at paintings, in various styles, of the TARDIS.
I like the one with a cartoony looking War Doctor drinking tea.
Missed opportunity not including the Curator for that cover, IMO.
Missed opportunity not including the Curator for that cover, IMO.
^Absolutely - that really seems like such an obvious oversight!
Woo, Kelley Jones!
I've had an opportunity to read the first issue.
It's fun. The first issue is not heavy on plot. It's really about getting the three most recent Doctors and their companions together, then seeing how they interact once they're in the same patisserie in Paris, then giving them a nasty cliffhanger to deal with. Cornell has a good grasp on the three Doctors and the three companions, and they all "sound" different.
Should be out in a couple of weeks.
It's fun. The first issue is not heavy on plot. It's really about getting the three most recent Doctors and their companions together, then seeing how they interact once they're in the same patisserie in Paris, then giving them a nasty cliffhanger to deal with. Cornell has a good grasp on the three Doctors and the three companions, and they all "sound" different.
Should be out in a couple of weeks.
Did anyone else pick this up today?Like Allyn said, this first issue was mostly about getting Ten, Eleven and Twelve in the same place together, but it's a good start. There were several fun moments, as there always are when multiple Doctors meet ("Multi-Doctor event"
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I just got to read issue #1 and...it was pretty bad. The story made NO sense. So, Clara sees an event happen (offscreen) and then goes to change a fixed point in time, which, if you couldn't tell by the name, is impossible. Then, she acts like its the end of the world if The Doctors meet. Its like Cornell never even heard of The Three Doctors, The Five Doctors, The Two Doctors and Day of the Doctor (and what was up with the stupid electrical sparks from the fingers? That never happened in any of the specials). Then, the monsters from the Series 1 episode about Rose's Dad show up, for...reasons. Clara says a lot, but I still have no idea what exactly was the fixed point, or why The Doctors shouldn't have met.
Also, why isn't the 10th Doctor post-Day of The Doctor? I know 11 can't be, but 10 could easily be post Day of the Doctor, then he would at least know who 11 is, and they wouldn't have needed to waste space. And don't say 10 wouldn't remember DOTD anyway because of memory erasure, I'm preety sure that the 2nd Doctor remembered The Three Doctors during the events of The Five Doctors, even if he didn't remember it when he was in his correct timeline.
I also can't help thinking that this would have been better if the writer had been able to use good DW companions for 10 and 11. Rose/Captain Jack and Amy would have been 1000 better than Bland Female Companion #1 and #2. Not that it would have helped the nonsensical story, but it would have at least been a point in the story's favor. I'll read the next issue, but this issue was almost unreadable it made so little sense.
Also, why isn't the 10th Doctor post-Day of The Doctor? I know 11 can't be, but 10 could easily be post Day of the Doctor, then he would at least know who 11 is, and they wouldn't have needed to waste space. And don't say 10 wouldn't remember DOTD anyway because of memory erasure, I'm preety sure that the 2nd Doctor remembered The Three Doctors during the events of The Five Doctors, even if he didn't remember it when he was in his correct timeline.
I also can't help thinking that this would have been better if the writer had been able to use good DW companions for 10 and 11. Rose/Captain Jack and Amy would have been 1000 better than Bland Female Companion #1 and #2. Not that it would have helped the nonsensical story, but it would have at least been a point in the story's favor. I'll read the next issue, but this issue was almost unreadable it made so little sense.
Blinovitch Limitation Effect.
Because he's not. Titan's tenth Doctor series takes place post-"The Next Doctor"/pre-"Planet of the Dead." In the first story arc, the Doctor is mopey because of Donna and he doesn't want to take anyone else with him in time and space. Gabby wins him over.
IDW's tenth Doctor comics have a similar set-up, with the Doctor mopey because of Donna and not wanting to take Emily and Matthew on, though they're post-"Planet"/pre-"Waters of Mars." (The final issue there ended with the Doctor on his way to Bowie Base One.) I guess the tenth Doctor is just a mopey bastard.
There's no reason why you can't have stories between "Day" and "Time of the Doctor." They don't directly lead into one another. That said, for the eleventh Doctor, these stories take place during the Ponds' honeymoon period.
Gabby and Alice aren't that bland if you're read the tenth and eleventh Doctor series, though Gabby doesn't have quite the edge that Alice does.
Alice is a deeply depressed young woman who carries a great deal of psychic pain because life has overwhelmed her and her mother's death. The Doctor is trying to bring her out of her shell and reawaken her to the joy in the universe. In other words, he's trying to make her better. Their relationship really worked for me over the first fifteen issues, and she had an interesting rapport with the Doctor's other companion, a thinly disguised David Bowie.
Gabby is more in the Donna mold. She's the daughter of Puerto Rican or Mexican immigrants (I don't remember which off hand) in New York City. She has dreams, but her family has plans for her, and the Doctor finds her very clever. She, like Donna and Martha and Rose, still has some personal issues back home. Like Donna, she's the Doctor's buddy.
As for why Titan is using these companions instead of the television companions, it's because they can grow these characters and do things to them that they can't with the established companions since we know how their stories end. Plus, this is a crossover in the truest comic book sense; this story is meant to be part of the ongoing continuity of the titles and it will affect them going forward in some fashion. (The solicitations for the eleventh Doctor comics after certainly hint at something rather drastic that hasn't happened to the eleventh Doctor yet, as of the final issue of Year One.) So they couldn't just bring in Amy and Rose for this project; the story needs to involve Gabby and Alice.