FCBD24 Interview: Doctor Who's 15th Adventure

Join the Fifteenth Doctor in a new comic book adventure! With his courageous companion, Ruby, the Doctor is back in the TARDIS for a whole new era of time-traveling tales. But fearsome foes await...Landing ahead of the Fifteenth Doctor's debut comic series!

We caught up with one of the series writers Dan Watters to learn more about what inspired the extraordinary characters, what we can expect from their upcoming titles, AND to rifle through some really fun rapid fire questions! 

Free Comic Book Day (FCBD): Set up your title for those that might be new to your comic book: What will new readers need to know before diving into your Free Comic Book Day issue? 

Dan Watters : The Doctor lives in a blue box that can go anywhere in time and space. He likes to travel, and he likes to help. This is what happened one time when he went one place with his friend Ruby Sunday. That’s all you need to know, which is part of what makes Doctor Who great.

FCBD: What are some of the core themes present in your book? What do you hope readers take away from your title?

Dan: I’m fascinated by a character who’s gone through so much pain and comes out the other end kinder rather than crueler. By this story’s end, hopefully we’ll have turned that around and examined it from a few different directions- which involves pitting the Doctor against an entity decidedly less kind.

FCBD: What part of the book was most fun to write?

Dan:The Doctor as a highwayman was a blast to come up with. I wrote the whole thing to Adam and the Ants, who I think have a very 15^th Doctor vibe. I’ve also really enjoyed writing the setting of the series that follows, but I can’t give much away there.

FCBD: Can you share some of the inspiration behind certain characters, settings, etc.?

Dan: Our main characters are extremely established at this point, but I will say I looked back at some of the giants of Doctor Who in conceiving the tone of this thing. Philip Hinchcliffe, who made Doctor Who scary, and Douglas Adams, who made it joyous. Hopefully this book will give you plenty of both.

FCBD: If you could meet your characters, what would you say to them?

Dan: Take me with you, I want to see how it all ends.

FCBD:Looking to the future, is there anything you can tease about what’s coming up for the title and its characters?

Dan:This story leads into the new series by the same creative team.  We’re pitting the Doctor against something new and great and terrible, and flinging the Tardis far into the future of Earth- and a particular setting that, as far as I know, hasn’t been seen before, though it’s been alluded to plenty.

FCBD: Many newcomers will pick up comics for the first time on FCBD – what was the first comic you remember reading?

Dan: I honestly can’t remember a time without comics being around me. But the first one that really blew me away and made me think differently about the medium was Chris Claremont and Frank Miller’s Wolverine miniseries. I read that thing cover to cover over and over again.

FCBD: What is your favorite part about working in the comic book industry?

Dan: I get up every Monday morning and make up stories out of my head. I get to take all my interests and current preoccupations and slam them into characters, quite often ones I grew up with. It’s the best job I can imagine.

FCBD: Tell us why everyone should read comic books!

Dan: Comics are difficult to make. It’s hard, time-intensive work. And despite that, people are making them. All the time. Go into your local comic store and look how many people have put all that time and that work in because they want to say something to you. It’s a medium with a chip on its shoulder and nothing to prove, which has quietly created some of the greatest works of modern literature.

FCBD: Now, we have a series of rapid-fire questions for you! They’re, ya know, mostly related to comics... Answer as quickly as you can and try not to over think it!

Do you listen to music while you’re creating?

Dan: God yes, it gets me through the day. I generally put in my headphones and blast something loud and nasty. This week it’s been a lot of Entombed, but see above about Adam and the Ants.

What’s your favorite comic book genre?

Dan: I’d honestly hate to choose. Comics have given us some of the very best works of sci-fi and fantasy. But I think horror is the hardest one to get right in the medium; so when someone pulls it off, it’s transcendent.

Are you more productive in the morning or at night?

Dan: To my own horror, I’m finding myself more and more productive in the morning, which sticks a real wrench in my self-image of being the kind of writer who toils all night by candlelit like Edgar Allan Poe. I guess you can’t have everything.

What do you and 10-year old you still have in common? 

Dan: A general sense of bewilderment at the world around us. And the same copy of that Wolverine comic.

If you were a comic book character, would you rather be the hero or the villain?  

Dan: Everyone’s the hero of their own story, aren’t they? But the bad guys have more fun.

Everyone in the world gets to choose a power, but the more people that choose the same power, the weaker that power will be. What do you choose? 

Dan: The power to take away powers. I will call myself Killjoyer and be feared by all.

If there was one fictional item you could have in real life, what would it be?  

Dan: Boundless optimism.

If you were sucked into a game like “Jumanji,” which game would you at least want to be put into?  

Dan: Snakes and Ladders feels like it could be quite the pit of Sisyphean horror, so I’d avoid that one.

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