Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, TV | Tagged: Alan Barnes, bbc, Comics, david tennant, doctor who, doctor who magazine, jodie whittaker, Lee Sullivan, panini, russell t davies

Doctor Who: The Adventures of David Tennant's 14th Doctor Have Begun

David Tennant is back as Doctor Who, but we must wait a whole year before the first of his three specials premieres for the show's 60th Anniversary on Disney+ outside the UK. However, returning showrunner Russell T. Davies and Doctor Who Magazine have your back. There will be a year-long saga that takes place immediately after Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor regenerates into Tennant's Doctor, which leads into the first special on TV next November. And it will be a comic book story in the magazine. "Liberation of the Daleks" is the start of a twelve-month serial that runs in six-page chapters in Doctor Who Magazine (beginning with #584, which you can purchase here). This will make for a 72-page graphic novel when it's collected a year or so from now and will be sold in bookstores. It's written by longtime writer Alan Barnes, who has contributed to Doctor Who comics stories since the 1990s and his share of Big Finish audio dramas. The art is by longtime fan-favourite illustrator Lee Sullivan, one of the best and most acclaimed artists to contribute to the franchise.

How do you review six pages of comics, even if it's Doctor Who?

Well, it's as good as you're going to get without any real revelations about the mystery of why the Doctor regenerated back into an old face. The Fourteenth Doctor, who looks like the Tenth, runs back into the Tardis looking for a crisis to solve. It takes him to London in 1966, where the legendary World Cup Championship was played. He finds a family of vacationing aliens there to witness history, but what history? The championship… or a Dalek invasion where they start slaughtering the football teams on the pitch. What do the Daleks have against football anyway? That's what the rest of the story will probably uncover. All very Doctor Who. Alan Barnes' writing is perfectly serviceable as a set-up to bigger things. Lee Sullivan's art is gorgeous and virtually photo-accurate, easing fans into getting used to Tennant as the Doctor again. It's not a great story – those are reserved for TV. It's just good enough. This is going to tide everyone over for a year.

Once Again, the Doctor Who Comic Strip is Davies-Approved

"Right now, we're in a remarkable one-off year," says Russell. "We all know there's a Fifteenth Doctor on the way, so why not use the hell out of this wonderful Fourteenth while we've got the chance?" announced Davies in the magazine. The comic serial was created in collaboration with Russell T. Davies, who likes to line up the official show magazine and its monthly comic strip with the TV show, just like he did when he was last showrunner from 2005 to 2009.  "From day one, I wanted to increase ties between the show and the magazine," said Davies in the magazine. "I love it when we're in sync!" This makes the comic strip canon and part of the revamp of the magazine into an official conduit for scoops about the show, which might drive up sales as well. At least for the next twelve months.

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