Posted in: Comics | Tagged: bob baker, Comics, cutaway comcis, doctor who, omega

Omega – A New Doctorless Doctor Who Comic For 2021

It was one of those vagueries of British television writing contracts that saw a number of Doctor Who writers lay claim to the ownership of a variety of characters and alien species created for the TV show. Terry Nation and his estate famously had control of the Daleks, leading to a more permanent deal having to be done a few years ago, as the recent Doctor Who revival went global. Another deal had to be done with Bob Baker over the return of K9, as he was looking at spinning the character off into its own TV show. But it seems Bob Baker has done something similar with Omega, the Time Lord he created with Dave Martin for Doctor Who, for the 1973 tenth anniversary story, The Three Doctors.

Cutaway Comics is a new publisher, from the people behind Doctor Who fanzine Vworp, Vworp. In 2021, they are launching a new comic book series, Omega, written by Mark Griffiths and drawn by Doctor Who legendary comic book artist John Ridgeway.

Omega is part of their Doctorless Universe series that began earlier this year with the comic miniseries Lytton, a Doctor Who universe spin-off focusing on the character of Gustave Lytton licensed directly from Eric Saward, who also wrote the comic series itself.

Omega series features Princess Malika, last of the Minyan Royal Family, as she attempts to foil Omega's plan to escape his black hole prison by stoking chaos on the planet Minyos, where the people are in uprising against their alien gods! Here's the solicitation and covers.

OMEGA #1 (OF 4) CVR A MARTIN GERAGHTY
CUTAWAY COMICS
JAN211278
(W) Mark Griffiths (A) John Ridgway (CA) Martin Geraghty
From the worlds of Doctor Who, Bob Baker's Omega returns! The people of the planet Minyos are in revolt against their alien gods. This chaos is being stoked by the rogue god Omega, who longs to free himself from his black hole prison and wreak revenge. But brave Princess Malika, last of the Minyan royal family, is determined to fight back. . From the worlds of Doctor Who, Bob Baker's Omega and Minyos returns/ Written by Mark Griffiths with art by Hellblazer and Doctor Who legend John Ridgway. In Shops: Apr 28, 2021 SRP: $4.99

Omega was named as one of the founders of the Time Lords of the planet Gallifrey and is a revered figure in Time Lord history together with the equally legendary Rassilon. In The Three Doctors played by actor Stephen Thorne, found trapped in an anti-matter universe after surviving the supernova that powered Gallifreyan society. The Third Doctor refers to him as the Time Lords' "greatest hero", but he became one of their greatest threats. Omega would later return in the Fifth Doctor story Arc of Infinity played by Ian Collier and Peter Davison.

The Doctor Who Monthly comic strip Star Death written by Alan Moore attributed the supernova that supposedly killed Omega to an attack by the Order of the Black Sun, an enemy of the Time Lords from 30,000 years in their future, the first strike (from the Time Lords' point of view) of a time war.

Omega also appeared in the 1986 book Search for the Doctor written by Dave Martin and was a part of the Andrew Cartmel plan that turned into the Doctor Who New Adventures novels in the 1990s, concerning the partnership of Rassilon and Omega in Time Lord history and The Other, a possible form of The Doctor.

Omega also appears in the 1998 BBC Books Doctor Who novel The Infinity Doctors by Lance Parkin in which a parallel dimension Omega exists behind a locked door inside the light year-long space station, the Needle, which sticks out of a black hole at the end of the universe. He also established the existence of Omega's wife, who after his accident became the Doctor's wife and the mother of his thirteen children. After she was shot in the matter universe, Omega rescued her and brought her to his universe in a sequel.

The 2003 audio drama Omega revealed that Omega's real name was Peylix, "Omega" being the grade he received at the Time Lord Academy for writing a theory about time in his exam paper that his examiner didn't agree with — the lowest possible grade — which stuck to him as a cruel nickname.

And in the 50th-anniversary episode of Doctor Who, The Day Of The Doctor, 40 years after Omega was created, The Moment weapon is stored on Gallifrey in the Omega Arsenal, created by Omega himself.

While the Minyans, also mentioned, were an alien race as seen in the Fourth Doctor story, Underworld, also written by Baker and Martin. A species of humanoids who encountered the early Time Lords shortly after they had developed time travel, believing the Gallifreyans to be gods. The Minyans were able to mechanically recreate the act of regeneration, but their relationship ended with their planet being destroyed by nuclear war.

On 24 October 2015, Bob Baker and Paul Tams announced the film K9: TimeQuake planned for release in cinemas in 2017 to feature K-9 facing off against Omega in deep space. However, the film was not completed.

Could this new comic book series be a way to revive the character away from Doctor Who?

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