American company IDW Publishing picked up the license for US Doctor Who comics after the export success of the 21st-century revived series in 2008. They began by reprinting the Doctor Who Magazine run from the beginning as Doctor Who Classics, then produced some one-shots and miniseries, and eventually launched their own separate ongoing series featuring the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors - Ten with original companions, Eleven with his TV companions. IDW's issues are officially No Export for You to the UK, for licensing reasons, although it's easy to find the TPBs in comic shops. Their Doctor Who license ended at the same time as Matt Smith's tenure on the show. Their releases included, but are not limited to:
- Doctor Who: The Forgotten: A longer story arc featuring all ten (at that point) Doctors.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation² (2012): A Star Trek: The Next Generation crossover miniseries, and thus also part of the Star Trek Expanded Universe.
- Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time: A special for the 50th anniversary, again featuring all Doctors up to that point.
Tropes:
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Archie Maplin is a barely disguised Charlie Chaplin. Unusually, this was done for copyright reasons; Chaplin himself is a Historical Domain Character, but the Little Tramp isn't, and by the time they realised this was a problem, the pages had been drawn, and all they could do was change his name, moustache and hat on the grounds that if it wasn't Chaplin, it couldn't be the Little Tramp. In an interview with Doctor Who Magazine the writer said that if they'd realised sooner, they could have kept Chaplin and simply not have had him in costume.
- Internal Homage: Emily could be seen as this to Charlotte Pollard, the Doctor saving a woman from death thus breaking the laws of time, the comparison is even made.
- Mythology Gag: Makes some references to other parts of the Doctor Who Expanded Universe, referencing Charlotte Pollard (before "The Night of the Doctor" made Big Finish Doctor Who canon) and Beep the Meep from Doctor Who Magazine.
- Plot Archaeology: The 12-issue arc "Prisoners of Time" is a
50th Anniversary celebration about all the Doctors against Adam Mitchell, an old companion from the Ninth Doctor, who never was mentioned again in the series after those two episodes, returns as the Big Bad, secretly managed by The Master. - Timey-Wimey Ball: This is Doctor Who, so frequently. Ten even meets a race who live their lives backwards, making them a living paradox.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: The Gizou, an alien race that makes several appearances.
- Welcome to the Real World: The Eleventh Doctor in "The Girl who loved Doctor Who".
