This week sees the hotly anticipated release by Titan Comics
of the first collected edition of the all-new adventures of the Tenth Doctor.
Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Vol. 1 - Revolutions Of Terror collects together
issues #1-5 of the officially licensed series which sends the Time Lord off on
a new set of adventures with new companion Gabby Gonzalez. The collection will
hit comic book stores on Wednesday 25th March and will be available
in book stores from Tuesday 31st March.
Revolutions Of Terror was
written by Nick Abadzis and features artwork by Elena Casagrande and
Arianna Florean.
We’ve been fortunate enough to be able to put some questions
to writer Nick Abadzis about his work on the new series. Nick, who has
previously worked for both Marvel and DC, told us all about the creative
process and revealed himself to be a fan of both Doctor Who and David Tennant. To find out what he had to say, read on:
How did you come to be invited to write for the new Titan
Comics series?
Nick Abadzis: Steve White, senior editor at Titan, knows that I am a huge
Doctor Who fan and he sounded me out. Shortly after that, I was invited by
Andrew James, my editor at Titan, to write new Tenth Doctor adventures. This
was the first time “new” Tenth Doctor stories would be made available since he
regenerated on New Year’s Day in 2010, so it was a big responsibility. But as
well as an honour, it was a gift, because I happen to love the tenth Doctor – I
think someone at Titan thought it was “good casting.”
The Tenth Doctor is one of the most beloved incarnations of
the Doctor. Did you feel the weight of responsibility for doing
David Tennant’s performance justice?
NA: Oh, yeah, absolutely. But you have to believe in your own
love for the character and enjoyment of David Tennant’s performance to propel
your desire to capture it and get it right. You can’t just imitate what you
heard him say on TV, although there is an element of mimicry to it – but the
way he speaks changes and evolves, he’s very inventive, his mannerisms evolve,
so you have to reflect that. I spend a lot of time thinking about how David
might say a certain line and taking care that it sounds right, that it sounds
truthful to his way of speaking as the Tenth Doctor. He has an infectious joie
de vivre.
How did you ensure that you captured all of the nuances of Tennant’s performance that made the Tenth Doctor so special?
I spent a lot of time watching him! Besides being a tenth
Doctor fan (and fan of Doctor Who), I’m a fan of David Tennant and will watch
him in anything I can. He’s an outstanding performer, and if you like an actor,
by watching them you can learn. I trust my own ear for dialogue too. To a
certain extent, in recreating a beloved TV character in a different medium,
you’re putting in a performance of your own, and this one is a collaboration
between myself and the artist, Elena Casagrande.
What do you think should go into a good Doctor Who story?
NA: Jeopardy and a good measure of whacko imagination. It’s got
to be scary but it’s got to be funny too. There’s no formula, though – Doctor
Who is constantly reinventing itself and you always want to give a reader
something they haven’t quite seen before. In this case, to a certain extent,
we’re trying to replicate the feel of the RTD era, but we don’t want to be
slavish about it, so there’s a lot of latitude to invent. Inventiveness
underpins all Doctor Who.
How do you work with the illustrator?
NA: I write her a script, which is not unlike a TV or film
script. As well as the words each character speaks, I write a description of
the action and emotion in each comic panel, suggestions of point-of-view, that
sort of thing. Pertinent information.
Elena takes the script and interprets it, so the end result is sort of a
fusion of the two of us, plus of course Arianna’s beautiful colouring. I also
provide Elena with a layout for each page so she can see how I’m thinking about
the flow of panels across it and throughout the finished strip – all of these
things affect pacing and how a reader gets immersed in the story.
What do you prefer: to invent your own villains or use the
TV series villians?
NA: Doctor Who’s got more than half a century’s worth of
accumulated mythology, so it’s nice to make a nod now and then to that rich
past, so I do put in the odd little acknowledgement to past adventures and
incarnations of the Doctor. When I first wrote for the Tenth Doctor, way back
in 2006, my co-writer and I used the Sontarans and that was a lot of fun,
because they’re iconic and we were allowed to add a few nuances of our own to
them. But I like to invent new threats too. It’s great to bring back enemies
who’ve appeared in the past if you can bring something new to them, but I think
Doctor Who thrives on new ideas too. It’s a bit of both – there’s a balance to
be had.
What is the hardest part in creating the comic book stories?
And what gives you the most pleasure?
NA: I don’t have a shortage of ideas, but there is a lot of
Doctor Who out there, not only on TV but in books, audio, other comics, all
manner of spin-off media, and you don’t want to repeat anything anyone else has
done – there’s always that fear. I did have a couple of early ideas rejected by
the BBC, but for the very good reason that they were like ones in development
for TV episodes at the time, so that’s an occupational hazard. They’ve been
brilliant, though, very supportive.
It’s worth being aware of everything that’s gone before
throughout the Doctor’s many lives across all those different media, so it’s a
good job I’m a lifelong fan and have a pretty good working knowledge of past
adventures.
Coming up with adventures and characters that readers
respond to is a lovely feeling. It’s been wonderful to see people responding so
positively to Gabby Gonzalez, the companion we’ve given the Tenth Doctor. We have a lot of surprises and new characters
on the way, so I hope they’ll stay with us. I love doing this, all of us on all
the teams do.
The character of Gabby is realistic and fully rounded and
more about her is still emerging. What – or who - was your
inspiration behind her creation?
NA: I was asked to create a new companion for the Tenth Doctor
and it was suggested that we make her American. I was bouncing a lot of ideas
at my editor, Andrew James and co-writer Robbie Morrison, and I pitched the
idea that she be a New Yorker, from Sunset Park in Brooklyn. I happen to live
next door to that neighbourhood which is a very Mexican and Chinese area, and I was
cycling around it while I was dreaming up what a companion from New York City
would be like. I had the idea of the TARDIS landing in the park itself, the
Doctor exiting to meet the locals – he would probably bump into someone like
Gabby, of Mexican heritage. Her best friend, Cindy Wu, is Chinese-American – it
all seemed to fit. The name Gabby Gonzalez is inspired by a friend of mine,
Gabrielle Gamboa who is a Californian artist and teacher. I wanted my Gabby to
be an artist too, to give her a way of recording and interpreting her voyages
with the Doctor, which is what I’d be like if I got to travel with him! When
Elena first started doing character designs, she really picked up on this, it
became something of a hallmark of the character. Gabby really came alive at
that point – I love getting new pages in from Elena to see how she’s evolving.
The Tenth Doctor - Revolutions Of Terror
The Tenth Doctor thought he was done with new companions
after Donna’s tragic exit – but that was before he met Gabriella ‘Gabby’
Gonzalez during an incursion of psychic parasites in Brooklyn, New York!
Stuck running her father’s Laundromat, Gabby always dreamed
of horizons beyond Sunset Park – whether that was going to college, making it
as an artist, or just escaping her life for a while. Now she’s traveling the
cosmos as the Doctor’s latest companion – and life couldn’t be more
exciting!
Battling invisible creatures on the Day of the Dead,
uncovering a galactic conspiracy in the universe’s most famous art gallery...
the only downside is the constant threat of death!
Collects Doctor Who: The Tenth
Doctor #1-5
Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor - Revolutions Of Terror can be pre-ordered now from the Titan Comics website.
UK fans can order their copy from Forbidden Planet (orders must be in by 15th April).
An Eleventh Doctor collection - After Life by Al
Ewing, Rob Williams & Simon Fraser – will be available on the
same day.
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