Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Celebration
BBC Worldwide and IDW Publishing have been working together since 2007. Back in 2008, when IDW released
Doctor Who: Agent Provocateur, they became the first American comic book publisher to publish original
Doctor Who comic books.
But at the end of this 50th anniversary celebration of
Doctor Who in December the two will be parting ways. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who BBC Worldwide and IDW Publishing will be joining forces one final time by creating a
Doctor Who Special... after a bunch of other stuff throughout the rest of 2013.
The Doctor Who Special will be written by a fan-favorite Doctor Who writer, Paul Cornell, and the artwork will be drawn by Jimmy Broxton. It will be released on the final week of 2013. It's a special one-shot story about a mysterious force forcing the TARDIS and the Doctor onboard into our own world. There (or, rather, here) the Doctor meets a ten-year-old girl who is a big fan of
Doctor Who the television show. The doctor deals with being a fictional character as well as a monster inhabiting the girl's school and meeting the man who plays his character on TV – Matt Smith! This concept is so "meta" it makes my head hurt and I love a good head-hurting meta story!
According to the Executive Vice President of Home Entertainment and Licensing at BBC World, Soumya Sriramen:
"IDW is a great partner and we're very proud of the comics that we have created and released together. By extending our partnership, we are able to provide Doctor Who fans with more than 20 additional titles in celebration of the 50th Anniversary."
Here's a full list of Doctor Who related comics coming out in 2013 up to the final week in December:
July 2013
Doctor Who Series 3 #11
Prisoners of Time #7 (of 12)
Classics V #3
Doctor Who Series 3 Vol. 2 TPB
August 2013
Doctor Who Series 3 #12
Prisoners of Time #8 (of 12)
Doctor Who Series 1 HC
September 2013
Doctor Who Special 2013
Doctor Who Series 3 #13
Prisoners of Time #9 (of 12)
Classics V #4
Prisoners of Time Vol. 2 TPB
October 2013
Doctor Who Series 3 #14
Prisoners of Time #10 (of 12)
Classics V #5
Omnibus, Vol. 2 TPB
Star Trek / Doctor Who HC
November 2013
Doctor Who Series 3 #15
Prisoners of Time #11 (of 12)
Prisoners of Time #12 (of 12)
Classics V #6
Doctor Who Series 3 Vol. 3 TPB
Doctor Who Series 2 HC Classics Vol. 9
December 2013
Doctor Who Series 3 #16
Doctor Who Special 2013
Prisoners of Time Vol. 3 TPB
Prisoners of Time Complete HC
Doctor Who Series 3 Vol. 4 TPB
Chris Ryall, the Chief Creative Officer and Editor-in-Chief at IDW Publishing, offers some final words on IDW's relationship with BBC's Doctor Who franchise:
"We've been extremely proud to be the American home to new Doctor Who comics these last six years... We feel like we've said a great many things with our comics—so it now feels like a good time to let Doctor Who comics regenerate along with the coming new Doctor on the TV series."
The plans for the Doctor in 2014 will be announced by BBC Worldwide in several weeks.