Paul Cornell has been involved in the Doctor Who Universe for a long-time, writing numerous Doctor Who books & audio dramas, and the fantastic Who TV episodes “Father’s Day” and “Human Nature/Family of Blood”. His latest involvement finds him penning Doctor Who: Four Doctors, a weekly comic event from Titan Comics which will start on August 12th 2015. Villordsutch had the chance to sit down and talk about the Doctor Who: Four Doctors with Paul…
Paul CornellVillordsutch: Paul, how did you become involved in this rather impressive Doctor Who: Four Doctors event? Was this an idea you had itching in your mind for some time and you felt this was the time to bring it into the light, or did you awaken one morning surrounded by beer bottles and the Titan Comics HQ number as the last number dialled on your phone?
Paul Cornell: Andrew James, the Titan Doctor Who editor asked me, and I couldn’t say no.
V: You’ve already proved you salt with the fans of Doctor Who with you utterly fantastic “Father’s Day” and of course your truly memorable, “Human Nature/Family of Blood”, but how much was it a challenge to balance four Doctors across five issues, giving each their own space and time to keep the fanbase happy?
PC: That’s the whole game. Four Doctors is all about Doctor interaction, with the three of them together on the page almost the whole time. Also, interactions with each others’ companions. I want each fanbase to come away feeling I’ve caught the character of their Doctor and given him room to do his thing.
Doctor Who – Human NatureV: Knowing that Doctor Who: Four Doctors was also a weekly event, did this make the writing of the main story any more different for you, or did you just write this as though you were creating a monthly serial?
PC: I had time to write it as normal, and Neil Edwards, whose art is terrific, with great likenesses and actor body language, has kept up to speed with the art in a wonderful way, so we’re fine, we’re going to be on time!
Doctor Who Comics Day – Begins 15th August 2015V: How did you go about preparing to write for all four Doctors? Did you cocoon yourself in numerous DVD’s to absorb their personalities again or did you select specific episodes, for which you wanted your use of the Doctors to channel a certain feeling, within these issues?
PC: I’m an ancient Who fan, so knowing the speech patterns and body language of Doctors is in my DNA.
V: What outside Doctor Who are you currently working on, as your back catalogue range is everywhere from Wolverine, Black Widow, Batman, TV & Radio, Big Finish, novels etc. Is there anything new you’ve got your fingers in you can tell us about?
PC: I’ve got four different titles coming out within five weeks: Four Doctors; This Damned Band (my rock horror comedy from Dark Horse Comics); A Better Way to Die (my collected short stories) and Witches of Lychford (a novella from Tor.com). Busy!
This Damned Band Written by Paul Cornell, Art by Tony Parker and Lovern KindzierskiV: Finally, you’re clearly a Doctor Who fan and I know you are from the amount of Who stuff I’ve read or seen with you name on. I can recall reading Human Nature many decades back from my local library. If you could re-energise another of your older novels for the Capaldi era which one do you think you’d pick and simply why?
PC) I think of what’s left, Love and War is the one that might work.
Love and War – Paul CornellVillordsutch would like to thank Paul Cornell for speaking with myself and Flickering Myth. We’d also like to thank Lucy at Titan Comics for arranging this interview. You can follow Paul Cornell on Twitter, also you can view his current news and previous work at his website www.paulcornell.com.
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=8k_v0cVxqEY
