Oh no, a period of history I actually obsess over!
Personally, I don’t think that Dudley killed his wife. He had to have known how Elizabeth would react to the rumours -which was to rapidly distance herself from anything touching her reputation and implicating her in a crime of such notoriety. I also happen to think he truly cared for the queen, since even his political enemies admitted that his love for the queen was unfeigned. Not that I don’t find him sycophantic.
Although I have to say it made me laugh when the Doctor calls Mary Queen of Scots ‘no slouch’. Would Dudley really have been that bad compared to Darnley, or Bothwell? At the very least, Dudley had political smarts, which both Mary’s husband lacked in the extreme. And that’s not even going in to some of their less savoury habits.
Heh. I hope that Powell doesn’t mind an indirect route. The Doctor can always blame it on interference from the Time Lords if they end up on another planet a million years into the future. Or take full credit if they do get there at the first attempt.
… so UNIT has been assigned an historian. Curious.
Of course, this can’t end well. I sense the Doctor is about to show off, and that there may be something lurking around the fringes of this period in history than we know.
Great likeness of Jon Pertwee there, Rich. Especially panel #7, I think that really captures him.
I lol’d at the Doctor’s reply in panel 6! Brilliant writing as always.
Are you two willing to give us some insight on how your creative process works? Do you collaborate on storyline, character development, dialogue, all of the above, none of the above…? I’m just wondering how to be distributing my future complements.
As I said before, everything you don’t like is mine, everything you think is wonderful is Rich’s.
Seriously though, it’s pretty even. I’m primarily a writer, so more of the research, dialogue and scene setups will be mine. I’ve made suggestions in a few places for “camera angles” and choreography but the majority of the storyboarding (and of course all of the art) is his. We tossed ideas back and forth for the story points and main characters, and hammered out an outline together.
“Wait, wait, what if they did THIS?”
“Ooh, neat. but then what about x, y and z? Why would he do that?”
“Oh yeah… so how about THAT instead?”
“Yeah, that could work!”
etc.
I wrote out some of the scenes I saw very clearly in my head, Rich did a few sketches, I made notes on edits I thought worked better, he used some and argued against others… I’m not sure if that’s how it’ll go the whole way through, but it’s how we did the first few pages, and it worked well. I leave a lot of the canon character dialogue up to Rich, since he’s got a much better sense of their voices. I think most of the scenes I scribbled out script notes and dialogue for had lines like “The Doctor is Doctor-ish. Argues against Dudley, thinks he’s a manipulative jerk.” and Rich did the actual wording.
There are a lot of scenes we haven’t sorted out yet, except that we know that ‘plot point X needs to happen here, in order to make Y happen later,’ and some that Rich is taking control of entirely (though I’ll make suggestions if something doesn’t ring quite right), since he’s got a very strong sense for how they should go. We’re really comfortable with each other’s storytelling styles at this point, so it’s all pretty fluid.
Very cool – thank you for that bit of insight. You guys must have such a blast together, creating something that you (and so many of the rest of us!) enjoy. Here’s to a long and fruitful collaborative career! *hoists [insert beverage of choice] in salute*
Wow… I hope Three doesn’t get TOO defensive on Powell. Love the story! This strip makes a lot more sense than the one I DREAMED you posted. That included (for some weird reason) the Rani, Romana, and the line “Temporary suicide? I had no idea _that_ was in my budget!”
Rich,
I’ve become such an addict with your Doctor Who (and House of Paulus) comics. You have the Doctor down so well in all his incarnations. I thought you pulled off the Forever Knight crossover very well without getting overly cheesy. Keep it up!
@Rich/Hilary
Good start to the story. I don’t know much about the Elizabethan era, but didn’t Francis Walsingham have a goatee beard and was always dressed in black? You don’t he could be the Doctor’s best enemy in disguise…?
Beverly is about 2 find out one of the rules of being a companion 2 the Doctor: do not argue with him! Rich, have you decided which incarnation met Dudley?
Brilliant. A very solid start to the new story, and I’ve already overcome my no 2/8 dissapointment. This should be a great story, and I’m already hooked.
I can only assume that he’s gonna have to prove a point only to become sidetracked.
Possibly a Master appearance, never a dull moment with the Delgado incarnation.
Just to say Rich, I love you just for writing a comic with Pertwee in it.
Alright, another Doctor comic! How you spoil us Rich. And with Pertwee’s Doctor, no less. I always found him such a perfectly memorable, charming character.
Why do I get the feeling that there’s going to be a ‘I bloody well know he did it because I was there and saw it!’ line in the future…and a ‘Wait, what?’ reaction from the poor girl. I can’t remember..other than the Brig, Benton, and Yates who’ve been dragged along, how much does UNIT know about the Doc’s time-travelling capabilities?
*Wiggles in excitement*
I love this already! <3 the whole history thing.
The new girl's gonna get it…sad.
@Hilary: That is SO COOL. I could never, I'd be all, "Nonononono! DON'T TOUCH! *Rawr*"
Does Rich ever surprise you, put something in that you didn't think of, etc.?
@Cleverest Name: Funny. I've had DW dreams before. One involved my school, a teacher, and an evil journalist. (Think Rita Seeker) It was kinda scary.
“Does Rich ever surprise you, put something in that you didn’t think of, etc.”
CoZ: Constantly! And I’ve thrown him for a loop a couple of times as well. But we’ve been together for… lord have mercy, 11 and a half years… writing together (online RP) for almost that long, and I’ve been throwing my two cents in on his comics since he started doing them for the web, so I know I can trust his judgment and his pacing when it comes to storytelling. More importantly, I know that he’ll listen to me seriously if I have real objections to the way he wants to take it, and I do the same for him. There have been storylines (mostly on YAFGC) where he’s pitched me something, my reaction has been “you’re out of your mind,” and then when I relax and trust him it all works out in the end.
Simlarly, there have been times where I’ve shown Hilary something (I’m thinking specifically of YAFGC as well) and she’s said “You don’t want to do that.” I didn’t listen and it bombed. Since then I’ve trusted her judgement enough to ditch entire storylines that she’s been iffy or uncomfortable with and what came after made both of us a lot happier.
(snerk!) All I can think at that last panel is “Oh, You’ve put your foot in it NOW, Corporal!” She’s about to get the education of her life, and really- she *WAS* warned!
my guess is that maybe Dudley WAS ok or misunderstood in real history and this is the Doctor’s ‘humourous messing with our understanding of history’ joke. Like when Tom Baker (4) was reading The History of the Universe and said ‘he got it wrong on the first page’.
I just had the strangest Doctor Who dream… I dreamed that instead of Torchwood spinning off from the new Doctor Who, they had a show called “UNIT” which was a spin-off from the Jon Pertwee days of DW, with the Brigadier and Benton and Harry Sullivan as the leads. The Brigadier was a famous public figure for defeating alien invasions and was cheered wherever he went, but everyone kept asking how Harry Sullivan could be on the show when Ian Marter had passed away. No one had a good answer for that…
Oh what does the Stalker of Norfolk has to do with Dudley?? As you see I have no idea of English history so I have not a favourite era, especially when I follow the Doctor on is escapades, as you tend to not have a favourite time after a while.
Heh- I have a feeling I’ll have to take notes to keep up on a conversation with Powell and the Doctor (of course her point of view would match what was historically known – in the 70s at least- the Doctor’s references would be … a bit more personal )
Oh dear, and here I was expecting a stand up, straightforward present-day UNIT story! (Well, okay a 70s UNIT story, you know what I mean.) A pure historical this time around perhaps? This is gonna be good!
Does anyone want to comment on the fact we see the Doctor EATING in this scene? Oh, sure… Number 3’s here made a one-man wine-and-cheese club of himself in an episode or two, but lowering himself to visit an ordinary canteen?!
The Third Doctor is hungry, and he wants to meet the newbie. No doubt if he’d met her in the corridor, he would have run her down to the pub instead; but he didn’t.
The Third Doctor is picky, but at bottom he’s just as practical as they come.
First comment!
Oh, they’re about to have an argument…!
Ooh; a nice bit of historiography! And Dudley was such a suck-up.
As a historian I look forward to this storyline!
As a non-historian, I look forward to learning something! Great to have another new storyline up so quickly!
I’m sensing that the Doctor may only be able to prove his point by taking her back to the time period.
Oh, I’m so glad that the Doctor and I agree on something!
This story’s gonna be AWESOME.
First timer here (hope I’m doing this right)
Just occured to me – wasn’t Chris Ecclestone’s character in ‘Elizabeth’ the duke of Norfolk? Dunno if that’s gonna turn out to be relevant.
Oh no, a period of history I actually obsess over!
Personally, I don’t think that Dudley killed his wife. He had to have known how Elizabeth would react to the rumours -which was to rapidly distance herself from anything touching her reputation and implicating her in a crime of such notoriety. I also happen to think he truly cared for the queen, since even his political enemies admitted that his love for the queen was unfeigned. Not that I don’t find him sycophantic.
Although I have to say it made me laugh when the Doctor calls Mary Queen of Scots ‘no slouch’. Would Dudley really have been that bad compared to Darnley, or Bothwell? At the very least, Dudley had political smarts, which both Mary’s husband lacked in the extreme. And that’s not even going in to some of their less savoury habits.
Heh. I hope that Powell doesn’t mind an indirect route. The Doctor can always blame it on interference from the Time Lords if they end up on another planet a million years into the future. Or take full credit if they do get there at the first attempt.
… so UNIT has been assigned an historian. Curious.
Of course, this can’t end well. I sense the Doctor is about to show off, and that there may be something lurking around the fringes of this period in history than we know.
Great likeness of Jon Pertwee there, Rich. Especially panel #7, I think that really captures him.
I lol’d at the Doctor’s reply in panel 6!
Brilliant writing as always.
Are you two willing to give us some insight on how your creative process works? Do you collaborate on storyline, character development, dialogue, all of the above, none of the above…? I’m just wondering how to be distributing my future complements.
As I said before, everything you don’t like is mine, everything you think is wonderful is Rich’s.
Seriously though, it’s pretty even. I’m primarily a writer, so more of the research, dialogue and scene setups will be mine. I’ve made suggestions in a few places for “camera angles” and choreography but the majority of the storyboarding (and of course all of the art) is his. We tossed ideas back and forth for the story points and main characters, and hammered out an outline together.
“Wait, wait, what if they did THIS?”
“Ooh, neat. but then what about x, y and z? Why would he do that?”
“Oh yeah… so how about THAT instead?”
“Yeah, that could work!”
etc.
I wrote out some of the scenes I saw very clearly in my head, Rich did a few sketches, I made notes on edits I thought worked better, he used some and argued against others… I’m not sure if that’s how it’ll go the whole way through, but it’s how we did the first few pages, and it worked well. I leave a lot of the canon character dialogue up to Rich, since he’s got a much better sense of their voices. I think most of the scenes I scribbled out script notes and dialogue for had lines like “The Doctor is Doctor-ish. Argues against Dudley, thinks he’s a manipulative jerk.” and Rich did the actual wording.
There are a lot of scenes we haven’t sorted out yet, except that we know that ‘plot point X needs to happen here, in order to make Y happen later,’ and some that Rich is taking control of entirely (though I’ll make suggestions if something doesn’t ring quite right), since he’s got a very strong sense for how they should go. We’re really comfortable with each other’s storytelling styles at this point, so it’s all pretty fluid.
Very cool – thank you for that bit of insight.
You guys must have such a blast together, creating something that you (and so many of the rest of us!) enjoy. Here’s to a long and fruitful collaborative career! *hoists [insert beverage of choice] in salute*
Oh My word!I fear that Beverly,I may call her Beverly?,will go from learning history to living history!If I know me like I do he’ll have to show off!
Wow… I hope Three doesn’t get TOO defensive on Powell. Love the story! This strip makes a lot more sense than the one I DREAMED you posted. That included (for some weird reason) the Rani, Romana, and the line “Temporary suicide? I had no idea _that_ was in my budget!”
Yup. I’m weird.
Rich,
I’ve become such an addict with your Doctor Who (and House of Paulus) comics. You have the Doctor down so well in all his incarnations. I thought you pulled off the Forever Knight crossover very well without getting overly cheesy. Keep it up!
@Cleverest Name
That reminds me of some weird Dr Who dreams I had a couple of months ago:
http://solar-penguin.blogspot.com/2009/08/dreaming-of-doctor.html
@Rich/Hilary
Good start to the story. I don’t know much about the Elizabethan era, but didn’t Francis Walsingham have a goatee beard and was always dressed in black? You don’t he could be the Doctor’s best enemy in disguise…?
The Doctor knows something we don’t. Well, actually he knows a lot of thing we don’t know, but I ment right there in the context.
Beverly is about 2 find out one of the rules of being a companion 2 the Doctor: do not argue with him! Rich, have you decided which incarnation met Dudley?
Brilliant. A very solid start to the new story, and I’ve already overcome my no 2/8 dissapointment. This should be a great story, and I’m already hooked.
YAY! My favorite Doctor.
I can only assume that he’s gonna have to prove a point only to become sidetracked.
Possibly a Master appearance, never a dull moment with the Delgado incarnation.
Just to say Rich, I love you just for writing a comic with Pertwee in it.
I don’t know, but I suspect the Doctor knows a little bit more about this than corporal Powell
“I revisit it from time to time” *grin* I love it.
Amy Dudley committed suicide!
QE1’s reign is one of my favorite historical periods – I can’t wait to see where this goes!
Alright, another Doctor comic! How you spoil us Rich. And with Pertwee’s Doctor, no less. I always found him such a perfectly memorable, charming character.
Why do I get the feeling that there’s going to be a ‘I bloody well know he did it because I was there and saw it!’ line in the future…and a ‘Wait, what?’ reaction from the poor girl.
I can’t remember..other than the Brig, Benton, and Yates who’ve been dragged along, how much does UNIT know about the Doc’s time-travelling capabilities?
*Wiggles in excitement*
I love this already! <3 the whole history thing.
The new girl's gonna get it…sad.
@Hilary: That is SO COOL. I could never, I'd be all, "Nonononono! DON'T TOUCH! *Rawr*"
Does Rich ever surprise you, put something in that you didn't think of, etc.?
@Cleverest Name: Funny. I've had DW dreams before. One involved my school, a teacher, and an evil journalist. (Think Rita Seeker) It was kinda scary.
~CoZ
“Does Rich ever surprise you, put something in that you didn’t think of, etc.”
CoZ: Constantly! And I’ve thrown him for a loop a couple of times as well. But we’ve been together for… lord have mercy, 11 and a half years… writing together (online RP) for almost that long, and I’ve been throwing my two cents in on his comics since he started doing them for the web, so I know I can trust his judgment and his pacing when it comes to storytelling. More importantly, I know that he’ll listen to me seriously if I have real objections to the way he wants to take it, and I do the same for him. There have been storylines (mostly on YAFGC) where he’s pitched me something, my reaction has been “you’re out of your mind,” and then when I relax and trust him it all works out in the end.
Coz– haha, i’ve had a whole bunch of strange dreams with Who, but only one involving school- maybe we need to bring this to the forum?
on a story note, I wonder what we’ll see when/if the Doctor takes Powell back in time…
Simlarly, there have been times where I’ve shown Hilary something (I’m thinking specifically of YAFGC as well) and she’s said “You don’t want to do that.” I didn’t listen and it bombed. Since then I’ve trusted her judgement enough to ditch entire storylines that she’s been iffy or uncomfortable with and what came after made both of us a lot happier.
Rich: Just goes to show, we ladies are always right.
lol
(snerk!) All I can think at that last panel is “Oh, You’ve put your foot in it NOW, Corporal!” She’s about to get the education of her life, and really- she *WAS* warned!
my guess is that maybe Dudley WAS ok or misunderstood in real history and this is the Doctor’s ‘humourous messing with our understanding of history’ joke. Like when Tom Baker (4) was reading The History of the Universe and said ‘he got it wrong on the first page’.
I just had the strangest Doctor Who dream… I dreamed that instead of Torchwood spinning off from the new Doctor Who, they had a show called “UNIT” which was a spin-off from the Jon Pertwee days of DW, with the Brigadier and Benton and Harry Sullivan as the leads. The Brigadier was a famous public figure for defeating alien invasions and was cheered wherever he went, but everyone kept asking how Harry Sullivan could be on the show when Ian Marter had passed away. No one had a good answer for that…
Oh what does the Stalker of Norfolk has to do with Dudley?? As you see I have no idea of English history so I have not a favourite era, especially when I follow the Doctor on is escapades, as you tend to not have a favourite time after a while.
Arguing with the Doctor about history. Never a good idea.
Oh, this is going to be fun!
@JustJohn—I would LOVE that! Nick Courtney in all his glory!!!!! The Brig is second only to the 4th Doctor in my book of love!!!
@Rich & Hilary—please, I wouldn’t presume to tell you what to do, but please please please—the Brig any time soon!!!!
a.
Heh- I have a feeling I’ll have to take notes to keep up on a conversation with Powell and the Doctor (of course her point of view would match what was historically known – in the 70s at least- the Doctor’s references would be … a bit more personal
)
Oh dear, and here I was expecting a stand up, straightforward present-day UNIT story! (Well, okay a 70s UNIT story, you know what I mean.) A pure historical this time around perhaps? This is gonna be good!
Does anyone want to comment on the fact we see the Doctor EATING in this scene? Oh, sure… Number 3’s here made a one-man wine-and-cheese club of himself in an episode or two, but lowering himself to visit an ordinary canteen?!
I can’t get enough of 3 in a rage. “Cad” and “bounder” are just inherrently funny words.
Rich, I’m not sure I’m going to like this! My mum’s family history can be traced back to Robert Dudley. :O
The Third Doctor is hungry, and he wants to meet the newbie. No doubt if he’d met her in the corridor, he would have run her down to the pub instead; but he didn’t.
The Third Doctor is picky, but at bottom he’s just as practical as they come.