Titan Comics has announced that Eisner Award-Winning writer Dan Slott (Spider-Man) will pen three separate annual Doctor Who comic book one-shots, the first, out next year, with art by Christopher Jones and Matthew Dow Smith.

Dan’s first Who special will feature the Tenth Doctor and companion Martha Jones, and will hit stores in April – and Slott has teased on Twitter that the future Specials he’s working on, for 2033 and 2024, will feature different Doctors.

Writer Dan Slott – known for his critically acclaimed work on Marvel Comics such as The Amazing Spider-Man, and more – and artists Christopher Jones (Young Justice, Doctor Who: The Third Doctor – Heralds Of Destruction, Doctor Who: The Seventh Doctor – Operation Volcano) and Matthew Dow Smith (Johnny Chaos, The October Girl) are set to delight fans with an epic story that sees companion Martha Jones captured by the insatiable Pyromeths, and her only hope for survival is to keep them distracted with sensational untold tales of the Tenth Doctor facing off against his greatest foes – both classic and new!

“One of the worst secrets in comics is that I am one of the world’s biggest Whovians!” says Dan, describing the commission as “a dream come true” and who’d clearly been keeping the project a secret for a while.

“I’ve been regularly watching Doctor Who since the Tom Baker years, and am deeply devoted to every incarnation of the show!” he says.

“I’ve been waiting to write stories for the Doctor my whole life! And I couldn’t be happier than getting a chance to tell an all-new tale of the Tenth Doctor – and to be doing this with Chris and all the fine folks at TITAN! Allons-Y!”

On Twitter, Dan teased, “The first Special is with the Tenth Doctor and Martha… but the three specials will all feature different Doctors! And different companions! I wonder who?”

Naturally, this prompted all sorts of speculation, from the Thirteenth Doctor to the return of Frobisher the Penguin, the Sixth Doctor’s shape-changing comics companion from Doctor Who Magazine. Given the photos of Dan he’s shared with various Doctors, including Tom Baker, we will probably be kept guessing for a while.

“I’m very excited to be working on this project with Dan – he’s a huge Who fan, and it shows” says Titan’s Doctor Who Comic editor, Jake Devine.

“This Doctor Who special exudes all of Dan’s creativity and love of storytelling, with a few surprises along the way!”

“We’re totally fired up that Dan is bringing his incredible knowledge and lifelong enthusiasm for Doctor Who to writing a story that will lead into a year long chapter for our favourite Time Lord,” say Titan Comics Publishers, Dr Vivian Cheung and Nick Landau.

This is the first Doctor Who comic project to be announced so far from Titan Comics for 2022, as the company builds towards the 2023 60th anniversary show. I’m sure we can expect plenty of further Who treats to be revealed in due course.

• Doctor Who: Special 2022 Comic Book One-Shot (SC, 64pp, $7.99, 9781787738690) hits comic shops, in the UK/Europe from Forbidden Planet, bookstores and digital devices in April 2022

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

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