Titan acquires the Doctor Who comics license

[Allyn Gibson]

Comic Book Resources has the press release.

The deal will open up the world of Doctor Who and provide fans with new stand alone adventures featuring the Tenth Doctor, Eleventh Doctor and after the new series launch, the Twelfth Doctor. Creative and production teams will be announced in the coming weeks and the first comic books will be released in 2014.

One thing I noticed. The licensing agreement seems to cover only North and South America, if I'm reading it correctly, so we're probably looking at the same situation IDW faced, with their comics being officially unavailable in the UK. (Which is especially ironic, as Titan is based in the UK.)

 

[Turbo]

Good grief, that's silly. Is this a DWM problem or something?

 

[Lonemagpie]

Good grief, that's silly. Is this a DWM problem or something?

Pretty much, yeah.

And this is really no surprise.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Good grief, that's silly. Is this a DWM problem or something?

They certainly were with IDW. Yes, they worked together on Doctor Who Classics, but they were also protective of their "turf."

 

[Stevil2001]

It's interesting (and also disappointing) to note that DWM has literally never mentioned the IDW comics. I don't know if Doctor Who Insider mentioned them (since it was for a North American market), but the parent mag never did-- not even high profile (and UK-available!) stuff like Assimilation².

 

[Allyn Gibson]

It's interesting (and also disappointing) to note that DWM has literally never mentioned the IDW comics. I don't know if Doctor Who Insider mentioned them (since it was for a North American market), but the parent mag never did-- not even high profile (and UK-available!) stuff like Assimilation².

I don't recall Insider ever mentioning IDW's comics, and I'm not inclined to dig out my issues to double-check to be sure.

To be fair to DWM, they knew their target market in the UK was unlikely to buy the IDW comics. At best, the gray market imports to the UK were in the high three figures. Why waste the print inches on something that, compared to their own circulation figures, would be the niche of the niche?

On the other hand, DWM did go through a period where they shunned the BBC Books products. I don't believe that The Coming of the Terraphiles ever received a review, and I think the most notice it received in the magazine was a two or three line notice that it had been commissioned.

DWM is not, and has never been, an impartial reporter. Their writers and editor have their biases, their grudges, and their points of view, too. Just like the rest of us.

 

[Stevil2001]

To be fair to DWM, they knew their target market in the UK was unlikely to buy the IDW comics. At best, the gray market imports to the UK were in the high three figures. Why waste the print inches on something that, compared to their own circulation figures, would be the niche of the niche?

Because if Joe Blogs from Gallifrey Base self-publishes a guide to mountains in Doctor Who, they will review it? They baffle me sometimes. Like I said, I would have expected Assimilation² to get some notice at least.

On the other hand, DWM did go through a period where they shunned the BBC Books products. I don't believe that The Coming of the Terraphiles ever received a review, and I think the most notice it received in the magazine was a two or three line notice that it had been commissioned.

It definitely got a review-- Dan Tostevin reviewed it. I remember it vividly because he wasn't very favorable and then cited The Last of the Gaderene as the kind of novel that would be better. I don't know if it was purposefully calculated to aggravate the "rad" fans, but sure had that exact effect. Six guys on GB were irate!

 

[The Wormhole]

It definitely got a review-- Dan Tostevin reviewed it. I remember it vividly because he wasn't very favorable and then cited The Last of the Gaderene as the kind of novel that would be better.

In all honesty, I agree. Gadarene is a better novel than Terraphiles.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I will ask the obvious question, and say "why not the Ninth Doctor, too? He's a NuWho Doctor, isn't he?"

Does anyone know?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I will ask the obvious question, and say "why not the Ninth Doctor, too? He's a NuWho Doctor, isn't he?"

Does anyone know?

I don't know. And that's the truth.

I will, however, speculate.

I can see a couple of reasons.

One, likeness rights. Perhaps Eccleston's likeness rights cost extra.

Two, Titan could be trying to hold down their costs. IDW, for instance, held down their Star Trek license costs by only licensing part of the franchise. Titan could be doing the same thing here. So instead of licensing all of Who, they're only licensing part of it. After all, why pay for the parts that you're not going to use?

I don't know which of these is true. I do think both are likely possibilities.

I would really like to see Titan do War Doctor comics, but I don't think that's likely because of John Hurt's likeness rights and the Dalek rights, both of which could make a War Doctor project too pricey on the front-end to be worthwhile.

 

[The Wormhole]

I would really like to see Titan do War Doctor comics, but I don't think that's likely because of John Hurt's likeness rights and the Dalek rights, both of which could make a War Doctor project too pricey on the front-end to be worthwhile.

Although, one would think some of this would have been discussed with John Hurt when he was cast. After all, the War Doctor is ripe ground for the tie-in material to take advantage of and it's a question of when will there be not if there will be novels or comics featuring him. Logically whatever permission anyone needed from Hurt would be dealt with already. Hell, there's a War Doctor action figure either out already or coming out soon. And IDW even had a War Doctor in the second last issue of their Ongoing series.

Yes, I know Titan has a different game now that has the license since they didn't hold it back when Day of the Doctor was filmed and Hurt had these discussions. But it shouldn't be any harder for them to get the rights to his likeness than it was for Tennant, should it?

But ultimately, yeah, dealing with the Nation Estate will probably guarantee Titan never pursues that project. IDW never did anything with the Daleks, after all. Although they did use the Dominators...

 

[Christopher]

But it shouldn't be any harder for them to get the rights to his likeness than it was for Tennant, should it?

Individually, no, but it's probably more about the cumulative expense. Getting rights to Tennant, Smith, and Hurt costs more than just getting Tennant and Smith. And if they only plan to do occasional stuff with the War Doctor, it might not be deemed worth the expense of paying for three Doctors' likeness rights instead of two.