For the first time, next month, the Ninth Doctor from Doctor Who gets his very own comic book series, thanks to Titan Comics.
The artist behind that series is Blair Shedd, who is no stranger to working on Doctor Who comics. We've seen his previous work back when IDW published the Doctor Who comics, and he's done some amazing covers for the series as well, including this one for a 12th Doctor title (which you can find on comic book store shelves on March 18):
However, for the 9th Doctor comics, Shedd illustrated the entire story, which is sure to feature everything we love about Doctor Who: aliens, companions and adventures through space and time.
In an exclusive interview with Shedd, we talk about what we can expect from the Ninth Doctor title, as well as what it's like working with writer Cavan Scott.
Although you've worked on previous Doctor Who titles with IDW, how did you get this job doing the art for the Ninth Doctor series for Titan?
Like most things, bribery and begging. Okay. No. Not true.
After I heard the Doctor Who license was leaving IDW and going to Titan, I sort of was at peace with it. Ya' know, "ah, had some fun. Got to be a part of this huge thing in some small way. Got to fulfill some childhood dreams." But soon after, I started feeling all of these pangs of regret. Every new episode I saw or older episode I rewatched made me want to plunge right back into that. I wanted to keep going. I started doing fan art of the 12th Doctor, Peter Capaldi.
Then my fans (there are at least three) started asking me when I'd be working on Titan's books. I said I could submit to them, probably, but people - readers - would have to actually want me there: want to see more stuff from me. So I half-seriously put a call out of my Facebook page which basically said "You want more Doctor Who comics from me? Tell Titan." And a few people did. And I did submit work to them as well.
Andrew James, the editor, got back to me, and said he would be interested in working me into the Doctor Who things they had going on, but they really had things all set up and such for about a year. So I basically had to sit on my hands and wait.
Come October of 2014, I checked in with Andrew again, and he said if I was up to it, they needed a 12th Doctor cover quick. So all that fan art paid off. Then Andrew asked if I'd want to do an 11th Doctor cover. So I did that.
At about the same time, the Ninth Doctor series was announced at New York Comic Con, and a few Facebook followers asked if I'd do covers for that. I said if they asked me to, I would. I still had my eyes on doing interiors on the Twelfth Doctor, so I let Andrew know I'd be happy to do interiors at any point. He said that they were booked up on the 12th Doctor, so it'd be a while.
"But we have the Ninth Doctor book, if you'd like that."
I didn't respond right away. I was quite honestly worried about all the attention and excitement that happened at NYCC when it was announced. So I actually thought on it for about an hour.
Then I said yes, because I'm not entirely stupid 100 percent of the time.
What, artistically, do you love most about the work you've done for this series?
I got some brutal reviews during my first arc on the 10th Doctor for IDW. I think one called my work "jarringly annoying" or some such. Other "glowing" reviews were along the lines of "well, he's no [this artist], but he's okay." I got better reviews from individual readers, some of whom still follow my work, but I aimed to do better.
On the 11th Doctor short story I illustrated for the 2011 Annual for IDW, I got to color my own interiors for the first time. So I put a lot of effort into that. Happily there were no negative reviews I can remember. In fact, there were almost NO reviews at all. So I have no idea if it was any good. But I liked it.
Then there was Dorothy of Oz/Legends of Oz where I worked in a completely different "house" style, and then back to my self-published venture The Raptor, where I was handling all the art chores (well, all the chores).
So I took all of what I had learned in the past five years and tried to apply it to this, as they let me color my own work again. So what I'm really enjoying is all that freedom, and trying to prove not only to the naysayers, but myself, that the 10th Doctor story wasn't the crux of my career. That was pretty much the beginning, and I was, and am, still growing.
I'm having fun drawing all these new starships (something I normally find difficult, frustrating, and tedious), aliens (where, contrary to one internet troll, I'm creating some creatures the TV show would have a tough time replicating correctly within their budget, while staying true to the design aesthetic of that part of the Russell T. Davies era), planets, and trying to faithfully as possible reproduce things we've seen before, from the TARDIS console room to the Time Vortex itself.
What was your work process like and working with Cavan Scott?
He's excellent to work with. Cavan has been "let's collaborate, rather than me dictate" from the get-go. He totally gets this is a team effort. So I'll ask questions about the designs he wants, and we'll go back and forth (with input from Andrew) until we get kind of a matched vision which is close to what's in his head, and something I can still easily draw over and over in a reasonable amount of time. Other times, he'll just give me a slight description and let me do just about whatever with it.
He's also great at giving me a pick-me-up when I'm out of it, and just generally geeking out about Who. I'd be super-happy to work with him again.
What kind of stories (non-spoilery, of course) will we see with this series?
Everything and the kitchen sink. Through the five issues there'll be space battles, destroyed planets, Time Lord weapons, flashbacks, things that aren't flashbacks, Romans, Dinosaurs, quiet moments of reflection and sadness, ruined shirts of all sorts, torture and pain, vworps, sonicing, and everything else you'd expect. And things I didn't even expect.
You can catch Shedd in person this year at San Diego Comic Con in July at Titan's booth there, as well as Vermont Comic Con in September and possibly the Long Island Doctor Who Con in November. Online, you can follow Shedd at his official website and on Facebook and Twitter.
And don't forget to pick up your copy of the 9th Doctor's comic book adventures from Titan on April 1.
[Photo Credit: Titan Comics]
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