Doctor Who
Themed sketchbooks: Zack Smith’s Doctor Who
The weekend means nothing for the automatons at Robot 6 — my week of spotlighting themed sketchbooks continues with a look at the enigmatic enigma of the Doctor. Who? The Doctor. Star of television, some movies, and comics — on both sides of the ocean — these interpretations of Doctor Who show some lurking fans in notable comic creators, and also a wish list of who we’d like to see do a Doctor Who strip some day.
Comics journalist Zack Smith took on the challenge of collecting sketches of the (in)famous Doctor. And he’s just getting started! Here’s what Zack had to say about it:
10th Doctor, Weeping Angel & Sally Sparrow by Jeff Parker
There are lots of themed sketchbooks out there, and I’d recently seen ones that dealt with the likes of G.I. Joe and Star Wars. I’d noticed how many comic creators were fans of the Doctor, and how a number had posted fan art on their websites. I thought it would be fun to take advantage of this and get a book that covered the ENTIRE history of the series, dating back to 1963.
In total, I got a dozen pieces to start off the book. The biggest surprise I got, though, was finding out some great comic creators WEREN’T Who fans — including Paul Pope, Amanda Conner and Jonathan Hickman! If you read their work, you’d swear it was influenced by them!
I have a number of goals for future pieces. Mike Allred wasn’t doing sketches, but I’d love for him to do the Second Doctor, or maybe the early models of the Cybermen, which were essentially sock-masks with radio parts glued on. It might be fun to get Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba from Vertigo’s Daytripper and The Umbrella Academy to do Captain Jack’s late paramour Ianto Jones. And Kate Beaton would be perfect for the Seventh Doctor!
The long-term goal is to fill all 100 pages or so of this sketchbook, with no repeats. But with 11 Doctors, six incarnations of the Master (including Eric Roberts), and various Daleks, Cybermen, Companions, spinoffs and miscellaneous aliens, I think it’s possible!
You can see his growing collection in a Facebook album he set up. Here are a few favorites:
- October 2, 2010 @ 04:30 PM by Chris Arrant
Talking Comics with Tim: Paul Cornell
Soldier Zero
Well before SDCC and last week’s BOOM!/Stan Lee press conference, Paul Cornell. When we did this email interview, details had not been released about Soldier Zero, Cornell’s collaboration with Stan Lee and BOOM! Studios. (For details about Soldier Zero along those lines, please be sure to read CBR’s Shaun Manning’s interview with Cornell from last week). For this interview, I instead focused upon Cornell’s clear respect for Lee’s work and general storytelling approach, as well as the opportunity to work with BOOM. As witty and sharp as Cornell is, it made for an enjoyable interview, despite his busy workload. I appreciate Cornell’s time, as well as BOOM! Studios’ Chip Mosher willingness to arrange the interview. I’m hoping that in addition to creating a great tale for us to read, Cornell garners the Stan Lee nickname he so clearly craves.
Tim O’Shea: Back in 2009, at your blog, you lamented that you entered the industry after Stan’s heyday of giving collaborators nicknames. Now that you’re working with Stan, have you scored a nickname from him yet?
Paul Cornell: I think I’ll try and pluck up the courage to ask him for one. That’d be like being knighted.
O’Shea: In a DowntheTubes 2008 interview, in terms of your own comics writing, you said “…what I try and do is what all the best superhero books do. I try and write modern Greek and Roman myths that actually reflect things that are going on right now. Much as every body of mythology talks about what is happening right now, in terms of when it was created. … And everything that Stan Lee ever did was literally just about looking out of his window. His Marvel comic body of work, which is all about New York, is just extraordinary.”
Are you looking out the proverbial window to write this Stan Lee project? If you are, can you share some of the view?
Cornell: This particular window is looking into the real lives of wheelchair users, and trying to create a superhero that reflects their experiences in the modern world. It’s Stan doing what he always did best, with us acting as Rick Rubin to his Johnny Cash: demonstrating that what Stan does isn’t about pastiche and nostalgia, but is classic and timeless, and can be immediate in today’s world.
- July 26, 2010 @ 03:30 PM by Tim O'Shea
Straight for the art | Roger Langridge draws Doctor Who
Planet Bollywood
This is what you might see if you are lucky enough to sit next to Roger Langridge on his flight to the States tomorrow to attend Heroes Con; he’s working on a ten-page story for Doctor Who magazine and figures he will be finishing it on the road. In the meantime, he shows off the pencils for one page on his blog. The story is called Planet Bollywood, which, as Roger says, just about says it all. If you’re heading to Heroes Con, go visit Roger at table 518, near the Boom! Studios booth, and see how it’s going.
- June 2, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
What are you reading?
Greendale
Happy day-after-Free Comic Book Day to everyone, and welcome to another edition of What are you reading? Our guest this week is Rick Marshall, editor of MTV’s Splash Page blog. To see what Rick and the rest of the Robot 6 crew have been reading this week, read on …
- May 2, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
What are you reading?
Mysterius the Unfathomable
Welcome once again to What Are You Reading?, where we talk about exactly what the title implies every Sunday. Today’s special guest contributor is BOOM! Studios editor Ian Brill, who works on their Farscape line, the Eisner-nominated Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and the upcoming CBGB comic, among others. He’s also the writer of a new Darkwing Duck miniseries coming from BOOM! later this year.
To see what Ian and the Robot 6 gang have been reading this week, click the link below.
- April 11, 2010 @ 12:30 PM by JK Parkin
SDCC ’09 | But who holds the record for the most fat Supermen in one place?
Guinness World Records was at the San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend presenting awards for various records achieved by comic books, TV shows and other activities you might associate with the con. Here’s a complete rundown of what they presented:
DC's Paul Levitz and Guinness’ Craig Glenday
Longest Running Sitcom and Longest Running Animated TV Series – With over 443 episodes, The Simpsons is the longest running sitcom (by episode count) and longest running animated series. During its 20th season (2008-09), The Simpsons finally overtook the 435 episodes of former record holder The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952-66).
Best-selling Comic (single edition) – Spider-Man No.1, first published in August 1990, is the Best-selling Comic (single edition). With an initial print run of 2.35 million, the record-breaking edition was sold with a variety of differently colored covers and several reprints were ordered to keep up with high public demand.
Longest Continuosly Published Comic Book – The longest running comic book is Detective Comics, which has been printed continuously by DC Comics in the USA since Issue #1 in March 1937. The comic introduced the character of Batman in Issue #27 in May 1939.
Most Successful Sci-fi TV Show – Doctor Who, the longest running sci-fi television show, is now the Most Successful Sci-fi Show on Television. Based on the length of the show’s run and international sales data, the series about the adventures of the iconic Time Lord was presented with the new record at Comic-Con 2009 International.
Most Digital Effects in a TV Series – Farscape employed about 25 computer artists to create between 40 and 50 effects shot per episode. The effects team had just seven days to work on each episode, at a rate of 22 episodes per year.
Largest Gathering of Zombies – The record largest gathering of zombies was achieved by 3,894 participants in the ‘Red White and Dead Zombie Party’ in association with Night Zero on July 3, 2009 in Seattle, Washington. Ryan Reiter, Artistic Director for Freemont Outdoor Cinema Events.
Picture via The Source
- July 27, 2009 @ 01:58 PM by JK Parkin
Straight for the art | Exdrawminate!
A Scottish Dalek, get it?
Calling all Dr. Who fans. There’s a new art blog in town and it’s devoted to Daleks. That’s Darryl Cunningham’s contribution above.
- July 1, 2009 @ 10:41 AM by Chris Mautner
Send Us Your Shelf Porn!
Welcome to another episode of Send Us Your Shelf Porn, where we take the photos you send us of your comic book collection and paste them here for everyone to gawk at. And no, we’re not changing the name of this column. Sorry.
This week Carl Jansson, a former manager of Comic Universe in Fountain Valley, CA. Before we begin, however, I want to thank everyone who’s sent in photos over the past week. The amount of interest I’ve received has truly been staggering, and I promise each and every one of you will get your day in the sun. So don’t fret if you haven’t heard back from me yet; you will, and soon. I promise.
And now let’s join Carl on a tour of his home …
- June 17, 2009 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Send Us Your Shelf Porn!
Welcome to yet another round of Send Us Your Shelf Porn. Our guest this week is Lee Lemon, who hails from Banbury, near Oxford. “I’m a graphic designer (or person who colours stuff in) and I’m 35!” he writes. “Hope you like my porn (of the shelf variety!)”
There’s not much that I can add to that, so we’ll cut to the chase and let Lee start the tour …
- May 13, 2009 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner