New ‘Doctor Who’ Ongoing Comic Book Announced

A new Doctor Who ongoing comic book series featuring Matt Smith‘s eleventh version of the character was announced at New York Comic-Con’s IDW Publishing panel this weekend.

Scheduled for a January 2011 release, the new series — written by Tony Lee, who also wrote IDW’s series following the tenth (David Tennant) version of The Doctor — is set after the conclusion of Season 5 and possibly after this year’s Christmas Special, it was revealed.

“As you buy the comic in January, it’s set in the right moment. And, each story is self contained, so you can either class it as ‘Season 5.5’ or scatter them throughout season six,” Lee said in an interview with CBR.

As far as monsters go, the first few stories pit The Doctor against holographic spam fighting Mad Max-esque mercenaries, Victorian Jack The Ripper suspense, penalty shoot-outs against Vikings, Cybernetic Space Pirate Dinosaurs, and a classic villain or villains, Lee hints.

“I could tell you who they are, but I’d have to kill you,” said Lee. “Let’s just say we’ve been given special dispensation to use them, and we have a killer story – in all senses of the word!”

The first issue has The Doctor, Amy Pond, and Rory Williams battling holographic spam and ‘friending’ requests on a planet that’s hours from destruction by an alien race. Andrew Currie will handle the art duties, with variant covers by Kelley Yates and Mark Buckingham of Fables fame.

Buckingham will also be doing interior artwork for a future Who story. Other artists include Richard Piers Rayner (Road to Perdition) Matthew Dow Smith (DOCTOR WHO, Starman), and Chris Samnee (Thor: The Mighty Avenger) will also be featured for special story arcs.

Doctor Who #1 ($3.99, 32 pages, full color) by IDW Publishing will be available in stores in January.

[Source: IDW]