It is a team up that will have Whovians, or “Doctor Who” fans, hollering the words “geronimo” or “allons-y!” Better get strapped in your TARDIS because this team up is gonna be a whopper!
It was announced that the Eighth Doctor (Portrayed by Paul McGann) and Eleventh Doctor (Portrayed by Matt Smith) will team up with former companion Rose Tyler in “Empire of the Wolf,” a 4 issue series “Doctor Who” crossover comic event. The miniseries was announced at a panel this past weeked at New York City Comic Con 2021.
The comic series was discussed in a panel that consisted of writer Jody Houser, colorist Warnia K. Sahadewa, and editor Jake Devine. The panel was moderated by Titan Comics Executive Vice-President Andrew Summer.
During the panel, Houser hinted that there may be “more than one Rose Tyler” which also means that this comic is going to have a heavy focus on the former companion.
An article from the The Comics Beat magazine that covered the panel, mentions a “Doctor Who” crossover event (also penned by Houser and illustrated by Roberta Ingranata) in which the Tenth Doctor (Portrayed by David Tennant) and Thirteenth Doctor (Portrayed by Jodie Whitaker) team up in an alternate Earth that is conquered by Sea Devils. On that earth, they encounter an alternate Rose Tyler who is a resistance fighter. Houser also explained that the comic is also going to explain what happened to that version of Rose Tyler.
Rose Tyler (Portrayed by Billie Piper) was introduced to the television screens in the 2005 Doctor Who revival. She was the first companion of the Ninth Doctor (Portrayed by Christopher Eccelston) and then became a companion to the Tenth Doctor. Toward the end of Series 2 of the revived “Doctor Who,” Rose would end up on an alternate Earth in which her late father’s counterpart resided. She would also briefly reunite with the Doctor until ending up on that alternate earth again this time with the Meta-Crisis Doctor, a clone of the Tenth Doctor that was created after an aborted regeneration of the Time Lord.
In addition, another significant thing that Houser mentioned about “Empire of the Wolf,” is that it is said that the Doctors in this comic are “the Doctor from before [Rose] came along, and the Doctor after she left.” And also she mentioned Rose being iconic due to helping “introduce a new era of Doctor Who… more than companions usually are, she was an audience surrogate.”
When I think of Houser’s view on Rose’s being an audience surrogate, I think of how we are introduced, and reintroduced, to the Doctors through the eyes of each companion. Like the companions, we are taken along for the ride of the TARDIS and we are mesmerized by how everything is bigger on the inside. We are also enamored by the character known as the Doctor.
We root for the Doctor. We laugh at the Doctor. We get frustrated at the Doctor. We see the Doctor smile and smile with the Doctor. We see the Doctor cry and we cry with the Doctor. But overall, all of that is because, like the companions, we love the Doctor because the Doctor always saves our world and the worlds of others. And Rose was the companion that displayed that.
When I started watching “Doctor Who” in late 2014, the Tenth Doctor was my first Doctor which would make Rose Tyler my first companion. This is what makes this comic event special to me.
When I first saw Rose Tyler running alongside the Tenth Doctor, I saw someone who was not afraid of the crazy life she was thrown into (Her starring into the heart of the TARDIS which mad her into the “Bad Wolf” entity is a testament to that). Rose was brave, resourceful and often funny even in the face of the hell she went through with the Doctor. In a sense, Rose, like the Doctor, inspired me that as long as I am at my best (even when I am in my darkest moments) I can overcome adversity or whatever challenge I am facing.
When I first started watching “Doctor Who,” I was in a rather dark place in which I began to question my own worth. But after watching Rose and the many adventures she had with the Doctor, I slowly began to crawl out of that dark place in my life. And it has been like that with every companion, (like Donna Noble, Martha Jones, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, River Song, and Clara Oswald) and every Doctor since. There is always just as much of us in the Doctor as there is in the companions because they are us. They share our triumphs and our struggles. Our happiness and our pain.
I am definitely looking forward to “The Empire of the Wolf” because it is a Rose Tyler story. We are going to see a different but rather familiar side, or sides, to the companion who was a part of the modern Doctor Who revival.
When I saw the splash of the Eighth Doctor standing before the TARDIS emblazoned with the words “Bad Wolf,” I knew that Rose Tyler’s story was not over yet. And, I know that Jody Houser and Warnia Sahadewa are going to make an amazing comic.
“Doctor Who: Empire of the Wolf no. 1” arrives in November at your local comic book shop or wherever comic books are sold.
Are you excited about the return of Rose Tyler? Please share your comments below on what you think!
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