You’re probably familiar with Doctor Who, the global hit franchise about a time traveler and his companions repeatedly saving the universe. But what about Doctor Omega, the character introduced decades earlier who may have inspired The Doctor? Luckily, writer James Aquilone and artist Zac Atkinson remembered, and have launched their already successful Kickstarter campaign for a brand new comic book titled The Omega Eleven.
“Doctor Omega was introduced in a French novel in 1906, almost 60 years before Doctor Who,” Aquilone told Comic Book Club over email. “It’s believed Omega inspired Doctor Who. Illustrations of Omega definitely resemble the first Doctor, William Hartnell. Omega also had companions and went on adventures in his spaceship, Cosmos. So there were a lot of similarities beyond the name.”
In the new story, titled “The Merlin Job,” Doctor Omega and his 14-year-old companion Jack Dawkins are headed to Camelot to steal The Philosopher’s Stone from Merlin. When things go sideways, Omega assembles some of the most dastardly villains from history to get things back on track. What could go wrong?
Not only is Aquilone offering The Omega Eleven #1 as part of the Kickstarter – fans can also snag an issue of Monstrous magazine at the same time. To find out more about the project, and what to expect if it passes the $10,000 threshold, read on!
Comic Book Club: First off, congrats on getting fully funded… It’s pretty ambitious to launch not just one, but two comics with the same Kickstarter – what was the strategy here?
James Aquilone: The idea behind Monstrous magazine was to include a new issue with each of my campaigns. That way it can be a regular thing.
Jumping into Doctor Omega, for those not familiar with the history here (not me, of course, cough, cough) can you talk about the line between the character and Doctor Who?
Aquilone: Doctor Omega was introduced in a French novel in 1906, almost 60 years before Doctor Who. It’s believed Omega inspired Doctor Who. Illustrations of Omega definitely resemble the first Doctor, William Hartnell. Omega also had companions and went on adventures in his spaceship, Cosmos. So there were a lot of similarities beyond the name.
You also have some delightful tribute covers for other characters – Rick & Morty, Calvin & Hobbes… What do you think is the enduring appeal of this sort of pairing that we see in Doctor Omega?
Aquilone: Turns out there are a bunch of time-traveling, dimension-hopping duos — Rick and Morty, Marty and Doc Brown, Bill & Ted, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, Phineas Bogg and Jeffrey Jones (bonus points if you get that reference.) If you’re going to travel in time and space, it’s better with a companion!
Zac Atkinson: Dodger adds a lot of appeal, having that sidekick dynamic is my favorite thing about the story so far.
Based on the preview pages, Omega seems like a little more of a jerk than The Doctor usually is? What’s your take on him?
Aquilone: He’s definitely more of a jerk. This isn’t the logical, fair Doctor. Omega is a bit of a scoundrel. He’s more Jack Sparrow than Doctor Who in that regard. You probably shouldn’t trust in Doctor Omega saving the universe.
Atkinson: He’s def a chaotic neutral mad scientist type.
Zac, you’ve got some iconic characters in this book, including Merlin, Morgan Le Fay, and more. How do you keep them fresh, given there have been so many takes? Or are you harkening back to other, more classic looks?
Atkinson: I definitely want to put my own spin on all of the characters. For Merlin I wanted it to be an original take yet still invoke the classic Excalibur movie. For Morgan I just wanted her to look dope as hell, not just a woman in a dress. The old Justice League cartoon had a rad version of her and I wanted something as cool and original looking. For Omega and Dodger I took elements of their origins. Omega’s weird hair, hook nose, and glasses…Dodger’s wearing oversized adult clothes and scrappy appearance…and combined other influences with my own take.
James, you’ve been pretty steeped in horror for the past few years, what’s it like stretching your chops with a heist book?
Aquilone: I’ve always wanted to do a heist story, especially a team-oriented story. I’m a big fan of movies like The Dirty Dozen, Seven Samurai, Inglourious Basterds. So doing this comic has really been a dream come true.
This is the first issue of a five-issue series… Is the plan to launch each as its own, individual Kickstarter? Or are you off to the races now?
Aquilone: There will be more campaigns, but we may do double issues for some to speed things up.
As of this writing the $10K level is a SECRET MYSTERY. Anything you can tease about that?
Aquilone: We’ve already added a free Rip Van Coaster and the second stretch goal is our first Doctor Omega prose short story, which I’m writing and every backer will get for free. For our $10K goal, which we’re closing in on, we’ll give all backers a free bundle of digital comics.
You can pledge The Omega Eleven on Kickstarter right now! Get to it!
