As any true Whovian knows, every time you think the Doctor is good and dead, he'll regenerate and come back at ya. Why shouldn't the comic based on everyone's #1 Time Lord be any different?

Much like the TV show in the U.S., the history of the Doctor in comics had him fading in and out of the public consciousness. His first appearance in the U.S. funny pages was actually in 1966, when Dell did a print adaptation of the two Who movies under the title of Dr. Who & The Daleks. In the meanwhile, a strip of the Gallifreyan would appear in the UK in Doctor Who Weekly/Doctor Who Monthly, which Marvel then collected in a 1981 issue of Marvel Premiere #57 (with Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor). It also apparently included some sketches by Dave Cockrum and historic text by Jo Duffy.

Publishing in earnest would begin in 1984 under the title Doctor Who Magazine. This time it included some guest art by Walt Simonson and more historic text from Duffy. While the TV show would star Tom Baker, the TV series was starring the controversial sixth Doctor, Colin Baker. On the plus side, they included covers by Dave Gibbons. Oddly enough, the monthly title would continue to publish after the show was cancelled, and over time include the work of Alan Moore, and would also show the never-televised regeneration of the eight Doctor Eric McGann into the ninth, Chris Eccleston.

Now, laer this year, IDW will begin publishing a new title based on the tenth Doctor, with stories by TV show script writer Gary Russell and art by Nick Roche. We sat down with Russell, Roche and IDW boss Chris Ryall to get the basics about their plans. Here's what they had to say:

Newsarama: When growing up, who was your favorite Doctor, and why?

Chris Ryall: Growing up in California, the only Doctor I was ever aware of--and this was only because of the Marvel Comic or the occasional airings on Public Television--was Tom Baker's 4th Doctor. I never saw any others until Sci Fi started airing the new show here, although I've seen been getting familiar with all the Doctors.

Nick Roche: Only a casual viewer as a nipper, never quite managing to win a battle for television supremacy against my soap-watching mother. So the only one I got see with any degree of consistency was Peter Davidson's Doctor, though I caught some Pertwee action a few years previous to Nu-Who and really liked it.

Gary Russell: As a child of the late 60s/70s, Jon Pertwee was the one for me. Dashing, sophisticated, heroic and clever. Pertwee I mean, not me. I've never been any of those things.

NRAMA: How did your affection for that Doctor effect what you're doing to this comic?

CRI really loved the new show (with Chris Eccleston) when it started airing here, and I'll admit that David Tennant's 10th Doctor has quickly become my favorite of them all. So I'm ecstatic to be telling stories featuring he and Martha, as well as revisiting some of the great stories from years past, mostly due to the wonderful Dave Gibbons artwork.

NR: As I mentioned, not a great deal of direct exposure growing up, but the concept is pretty unbeatable. Hell, I even like the 96 Movie, though possibly more out of a fondness for Paul McGann than anything else. His was the first I took an interest in, though general pop-culture knowledge fills in a lot of Doctor Who blanks. I just wanted to be involved in a chapter of something that's been cool for forty-plus years.

GR: Not at all - this series is different from everything that went before, so you adapt to suit the current environment. That said, of course it is all the same show in spirit. But then again so's Claremont's X-Men, Liefield's X-Men, Morrison's X-Men and Whedon's X-Men. And yet all of those runs are 'of their time', so you borrow a bit here, a bit there but then remold it to suit what you need to tell the story today. If can totally slaughter my analogy quotient, it's one big sandbox - we're playing with the same toys, but each kid repaints them to suit their taste. With Doctor Who, I'm hoping I don't accidentally pick up the paint pot marked SHOCKING DAY-GLO GREEN and produce something unrecognizable.

NRAMA This version features David Tennant's tenth Doctor and…which companion?

CR: Right - We're starting with the 10th Doctor and Martha. He's the current Doctor, so this makes the most sense, especially for comics that will be distributed to the American market.

NRAMA: Should this comic be considered canon to the entire Who universe?

CR: Canon is a funny thin, and means different things to different people--I say, if you like the stories, they're canon. But beyond that, everything Gary writes is blessed by Russell T. Davies personally, which I would think "canonizes" them even more.

NR: This comic overwrites both the current BBC series and all previous iterations. Maybe.

GR: Canon is down to individual taste. I like to believe it is the readers' job to decide on canon-icity - this, by the way, is me ducking this thorny issue!

NRAMA: Chris, what's the publishing plan here - monthly? Ongoing? Miniseries?

CR: We'll start with a miniseries that leads off with standalone stories... "episodes," if you will. And we'll also be reissuing the Dave Gibbons-drawn comics from the past, each featuring all-new coloring.

NRAMA: What was the most fun element about doing this?

CR: Doctor Who is just so perfect for comic books, and it's exciting to be doing new Who comics for the American market for the first time in decades.

NR: I'm having fun stripping down reference photos and turning Mr Tennant and Ms Agyeman into fully-fledged comic characters while still retaining their likeness. It's a challenge, but coming up with interesting results.

GR: Writing comics. Seriously. I had a brief paddle in the pool when I worked for Marvel UK back in their '92 explosion until the '94 implosion, but this is my two lifelong passions colliding magnificently. And Nick Roche - without turning this into an Oscar speech, working with Nick is great 'cos he's collaborative and not precious. Yet...

NRAMA: What was the most difficult part about doing this?

CRWe'll see... we're just getting rolling, so right now, it's all "honeymoon period."

NR: The likenesses again, weirdly. Optimus Prime 's cheekbones aren't quite as tricky to get right as Tennant's.

GR: Difficult? No one told me there'd be difficult moments...

NRAMA: Finally, what can you tell us about the plot? Does it involve the Master, Daleks, another good old nemesis or someone/thing new?

CR: I know we'd like to do some new things and not just fall right back on old tropes, but beyond that, I'll let Gary comment on things to whatever degree he'd like to tease things.

GR: Old monsters are all very well, but using the big guns like Daleks, Cybermen, the Master - it's a bit gauche. If you're going to use recognizable elements from the show - and I think you should where the story allows it - [it should be] a story that enables you to go "oooh I could put MONSTER X in here, that'd be cool" over to "oooh I need to write a story about MONSTER X") now and again, because people like to spot elements they're familiar with, then they need to be fun. Our first issue does feature something from the current show, and a later issue or two features something from waaaaay back in the series history, but these things should be done sparingly or it's no longer an event, it's the norm. And normal is dull. This will all come back to bite me, won't it...

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