The new Doctor Who Comic is here!

Today saw the launch of Titan's new Doctor Who Comic in UK newsagents (although so far I've only seen it in WH Smith). I was surprised to see that the format is A4, rather than the US format of the Titan and Panini comics. Also, Smiths are displaying it in the young children's comics section with The Beano, Dora the Explorer, Angry Birds Magazine etc rather than alongside Doctor Who Magazine, 2000AD, and the aforementioned other Titan and Panini comics. I can't help feeling its intended age group may pass it by as Doctor Who Comic is aimed at a more sophisticated reader than the juvenile titles it's sharing its shelves with but presumably Titan have good reasons for doing it. 

The comic itself is a squarebound 84 page publication with exactly the same paper quality that Titan's CLiNT comic had. The content repackages the first issues of the recent individual Doctor Who comics that are sold in specialist comic shops. So we get long episodes featuring the 12th Doctor by Robbie Morrison and Dave Taylor, the 11th Doctor by Al Ewing, Rob Williams and Simon Fraser, and the 10th Doctor by Nick Abadzis and Elena Casagrande. Excellent value for £3.99 considering each story would cost around £3.00 each in its original format. 

These are top quality stories by top people in the comics industry, most of whom are based in the UK. I'm reluctant to call this publication a 'reprint comic' in the same way that, say, The Mighty World of Marvel is because the strips have only very recently appeared in their original format a few months ago, also by the same publisher. I'd rather consider this a 'British edition' than a reprint, in the same way that books have editions in different countries. But I suppose most will still regard it as a reprint comic so each to their own of course. 

In any case it's good to see another comic on the UK newsstands. Let's hope it proves to be a success! If you have trouble finding it in newsagents you can subscribe to it here:
http://titan.subscribeonline.co.uk/subscriptions/doctor-who-comic?offerCode=DWC1TM

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By the way, to correct an assumption a few have made, this new comic does not replace Doctor Who Magazine or Doctor Who Adventures, nor does it feature the same strips. They're three different publications by three different publishers.