Doctor Who Fan Art Use Sparks Backlash Ahead of Upcoming Series Release

Doctor Who's latest adventure, a multiplatform event titled Circuit Breaker, is off to a rocky start after it was revealed that fan art was used without the artist's permission. The publisher has already responded to remedy the situation.

Titan Comics' solicits for Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #1 featured variant covers featuring the sci-fi series' beloved Dalek characters — though eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice that the 'epic new tale' teased in the variants by artist Flops looked strikingly similar to works produced by fan artist James Johnson who shares his work as @ThePrydonian. Johnson himself even acknowledged the similarities in a series of posts on social media, which have now been deleted. According to Johnson, Titan Comics reached out directly to explain the situation, admitting that his work was used 'purely as a placeholder' and that it won't be used or sold.

Titan Comics Responds to Unauthorized Doctor Who Fan Art Usage

"Titan Comics kindly got in touch and explained the use of my fan art was purely as placeholder tests whilst they decided on which Daleks were going to be used for Circuit Breaker and will not be the ones sold/used," Johnson wrote, later adding: "All water under the bridge now, thank you all those that shared which helped get the situation resolved quickly and amicably. The artist was apparently mortified those WIPs had been used and honestly meant no harm."

The variant cover in question was being worked on by the artist Flops, who also spoke out about the issue on X. "Lot of hate aimed at me currently because an early placeholder image I'd drawn referenced this talented fellow's Dalek layout... And nobody cares that it was 1. temporary 2. sorted long ago. A comic publishing a fan image would be a very different animal. This is NOT that!"

Titan's Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #1 is scheduled to be released on July 8. Titled Adversary of the Daleks, the issue marks the first full adventure of the Circuit Breaker mixed media event. It will send The Doctor across time and space into her 'deadliest conflict yet': the first encounter with the Daleks, all the way in Ancient Greece, where she finds that 'even the gods fear strange visitors from across the universe.'

Doctor Who Fans Get More Bad News As BBC Axes the Franchise Once Again

While the fan art usage in Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker seems to be an issue that's already been resolved, there's a bigger problem on the horizon for Doctor Who fans. It was recently reported that the BBC has officially canceled this year's Doctor Who holiday special, marking an increasingly bleak future for the franchise.

"After careful consideration, the BBC, Russell T. Davies and Bad Wolf have collectively decided not to go ahead with the previously announced Doctor Who Christmas episode," a statement read. "This decision was not taken lightly, and we know it will be disappointing for fans, but in order to set the show up for future series, it was decided that rather than bridge the gap with a one-off special, we are choosing to push forward to invest in the long-term future of the show which ensures that when the TARDIS lands once more, it does so in all its glory."

Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #1 goes on sale July 8 from Titan Comics.