A Prestige Format graphic novel from Cutaway Comics, a two-hander set against he backdrop of the human/Tharil slave rebellion as featured in Doctor Who: Warriors’ Gate. Forms part of the Cutaway Gods and Monsters project.

The beginning of 2022 found me at Gallifrey One, the annual get-together of Doctor Who fans for a weekend in Los Angeles. My spot on the guest list came about through my association with Cutaway Comics, a sprung-from-lockdown publishing house featuring creator-owned material in a Doctor Who splinter universe; characters, monsters, villains and others all licensed from their individual rights holders or, in some cases, their estates. I was there with publisher Gareth Kavanagh, writer/editor Ian Winterton, and artist Martin Geraghty as part of the launch of Cutaway’s Gods and Monsters megaproject.

Gods and Monsters comprises a set of one-shot comics based around individual characters followed by a six-part limited series. The series draws all of them together in a single narrative. It’s been supported by a crowdfunding campaign that was launched at the convention and which met its target within twelve hours. By the time it ended, the Kickstarter was funded almost four times over with numerous stretch goals triggered.

It’s a vast project but it’s in Ian’s capable hands. The part I tend to bang on about is the first of the one-shots, Faustine, because that’s the one I wrote. Faustine herself is a new character but the backdrop to this two-parter – if a one-shot can be a two-parter – is the human slave uprising that played a significant role in the Tom Baker Season 18 story Warriors’ Gate.

The art is by Who comics legend Martin Geraghty, colours by Andrew Orton, design and lettering by Colin Brockhurst.

Stephen Gallagher