Posted in: Comics, IDW | Tagged: BBC. David Tennant, doctor who, idw

When an IDW Doctor Who Comic Had To Cut And Paste David Tennant

At the London Comic Con Spring 2023, Tony Lee to talk about problems with the BBC with one of the first IDW issues of the Doctor Who comic book from 2009.

Published Mon, 06 Mar 2023 08:58:09 -0600

by Rich Johnston

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At the London Comic Con Spring 2023 held by Showmasters at London Olympia over the weekend, the Characters In Media panel saw Tony Lee, JL Straw, Lee Bradley and Stephen Baskerville talking about moving characters from one medium to another. Licensing issues were touched upon, leading to Tony Lee to talk about problems with the BBC with one of the first IDW issues of the Doctor Who comic book from 2009, starring David Tennant and the Tenth Doctor and Freyma Agumen as Martha Jones.

Three issues into the series, it seems that even with Gary Russell writing the comic, BBC Licensing suddenly took issue with the way that David Tennant's Doctor was being portrayed in the comic book, and demanded changes, on the Friday before the Monday that the comic book would be going to print. Without time to make the changes manually, they had to be done digitally. The BBC told IDW that they were happy with the way the Doctor appeared in five panels in the comic book. IDW asked which panels? After identifying the five panels in question, production artists took to cutting and pasting those five faces across the book, with some digital warping, and eyeline changing throughout the book. Here are a few examples…

But what caused greater difficulty was a similarly timed legal intervention for another issue with Charlie Chaplin, where it was revealed that The Little Tramp look was still under copyright, which led Al Davison to spend a night redrawing bowler hats into top hats and toothbrush moustaches into something more handlebarlike…

The London Film and Comic Con and the London Comic Con focus on films, cult television, gaming, anime, cosplay, and comics, and are organised by Showmasters Ltd and currently held at Olympia London near Hammersmith and Earl's Court. They began in 2004 from the same company that organises the Autographica and Collectormania events. The convention holds a large dealers hall selling movie, comic, and science fiction-related memorabilia, and original film props, along with guest talks, professional photoshoots, autograph sessions, cosplay events, and displays. It is also the show that it is quickest for me to get to, and there's a Boris bike stand, next to the Olympia tube station, right there!

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