time team

The Thirteenth Doctor comes to comics

WITH JODIE WHITTAKER AND FRIENDS’ ARRIVAL IMMINENT, there are also some fresh faces aboard the TARDIS at titan Comics as Jody houser and rachael stott are joining forces on a new The

Thirteenth Doctor title. based in los angeles, houser has written the likes of valiant’s Faith and Mother Panic for DC, while stott previously illustrated titan’s twelfth doctor series.

“rachael’s an old hand at Who, and it’s always good to have collaborators you know have experience on a property that you yourself are new to,” says houser, who also appreciates colourist enrica angolini’s efforts. “her colours work so well with rachael’s art, and I’m glad she likes doing patterns and crazy lighting!” houser and stott have already teamed up on the back-ups in titan’s The Road To

The Thirteenth Doctor three-parter, which leads into the new series. “they show a reoccurring problem that keeps popping up in the doctor’s life, and thirteen will actually be the one in the right time and place to solve it,” teases houser, who is also penning dark horse’s new Stranger Things series.

“they’re really quite different books,” she says. “there are so many mysterious and dangerous things that lurk in the dark places, so there’s a whole wide range of different stories to tell along those themes. and that’s part of the reason Doctor Who itself has lasted so long!”

The Thirteenth Doctor will be preceded by The Many Lives Of Doctor Who, a 64-page graphic novel by richard dinnick and a host of different artists that sees the time lord encountering all of her previous incarnations. “It serves as an introduction to the show as a whole, to the character of the doctor, and specifically to the thirteenth doctor,” explains dinnick, who insists this isn’t your usual multi-doctor story.

“It’s definitely not teaming up the doctors,” he says. “What it is is the thirteenth doctor looking back at all her past lives as she regenerates – gaining something of her personality from what she sees.”

as Many Lives takes place during the doctor’s transition from twelve to thirteen, dinnick didn’t need to be familiar with the woman that she will become. “all I needed was a knowledge of the character of the doctor – no numbers just the core person – and the end of ‘twice upon a time’,” he says. “We get a lot from the one line – ‘oh, brilliant!’ I think we get what her doctor is going to be!”

The Many Lives Of Doctor Who is out 26 September and Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor is out rom 17 October.