Redacted Revealed: Doctor Who Annual 2011

So... that went public the other day, so I guess it's safe to talk about certain details.

The comic I've been referring to as "[redacted]" is actually;



The Doctor Who Annual, 2011, from IDW Publishing.

I was not a part of last year's first Doctor Who Annual, but this year I'm not only doing the cover, but a 16 page story within.

Here are the details via BrokenFrontier.com;

Doctor Who Annual 2011
Writers - Joshua Hale Fialkov, Dan McDaid, Matthew Dow Smith, Tony Lee
Artists - Blair Shedd, McDaid, Josh Adams (Actually, it's Mitch Gerads), Ben Templesmith
Cover - Blair Shedd

The Eleventh Doctor materializes in his first Annual! This oversized issue contains three complete stories by an all-star lineup, featuring critically acclaimed Echoes writer Joshua Hale Fialkov and artist Blair Shedd, Doctor Who Magazine writer/artist Dan McDaid (Jersey Gods), and writer Matthew Dow Smith (artist on Doctor Who Ongoing, Witchblade, writer of Night Folk) and artist Josh Adams (like I mentioned, this is a mistake - it's actually artist Mitch Gerads - POPGUNPULP Comics, BOOM! Studios). Also included is a prelude to the next ongoing series story by series writer Tony Lee (Doctor Who Ongoing, The Gloom), and superstar artist Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night), continued in Doctor Who #9!

48 Pages - $7.99 - August, 2011

So there you have it.

Josh's story is a really fun one, and while I won't say any more about that right now, the cover gives you an idea of what it might touch on, as the cover is an homage to "Another World" by M.C. Escher.

On the cover; I give major credit to editor Denton Tipton who basically suggested this layout and inspiration for the cover. It's a great idea. If you're familiar at all with last year's Annual, you'll notice that panels of the TARDIS were replaced with snippets showing off the story within. That'll be the case here as well Most of those "windows" in the structure will be replaced with previews images from the stories within.

Hence the "NOT FINAL ART" note at the bottom.

Until it is final art, this is the only version of the cover I'll be showing, as it's already making the rounds. I'll post a bigger version at some point, probably closer to publication.

This has been an awesome project to work on, as it'll be the first major publication where I'm coloring my own work (most pages drawn completely in Manga Studio EX 4 and colored in Photoshop CS2), and both Josh and Denton have given me major flexibility with bits of layout and design of the world in the story I'm illustrating. Big applause for both of them.

So I hope you all check back in August and pick up a copy - and if you're too far away from your local comic shop, or they don't carry Doctor Who (you should DEMAND it), it'll probably be available on the iDevice of your choice (and perhaps in browser based apps) for a similar price.

I hope to be able to show you more previews soon.

Cheers!