Since their relaunch of the range a couple of years ago, Titan Comics has slowly but surely been expanding their Doctor Who titles to include more and more Doctors in ongoing series, allowing fans to concurrently enjoy different types of adventures with different eras of the show. Starting with the Tenth and Eleventh, and then the Twelfth Doctors, the comics company has since included the Ninth, Eighth, and Fourth Doctors, but beginning in August, the range will head back to Earth in the early-’70s with a new Third Doctor ongoing series from writer Paul Cornell and artist Christopher Jones.

For fans of classic Doctor Who, this news couldn’t be more exciting. The Third Doctor, as played by Jon Pertwee, was the first to be broadcast in color and was more or less confined to Earth as the resident scientific officer for UNIT, the paramilitary group which investigates paranormal and alien activity, led by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. The comic story, “The Heralds of Destruction,” will feature the Doctor and his companion Jo Grant as they and UNIT fight against a massive extraterrestrial threat which crash-landed in Bedfordshire. Given the Third Doctor’s penchant for action and adventure, you can bet this will be the most bombastic of the books yet.

Cornell is no stranger whatsoever to the Whoniverse, having written many spinoff novels as well as the TV episodes “Father’s Day” and “Human Nature/Family of Blood” (based on one of his novels). Cornell also wrote Titan’s Ninth Doctor miniseries and last year’s smash crossover event “Four Doctors.” He’s also written several bestselling novels and comics like Marvel’s Wolverine and DC’s Action Comics. Dude is a great writer who knows and loves the Third Doctor. We’re in good hands. Jones, meanwhile, is an accomplished artist of things like DC’s Young Justice and Marvel’s Avengers.

You can see a sample of the first issue, drawn by Jones, inked by Rodney Ramos, and colored by Rodrigo Fernandes, below:

The first issue, true to form for the Titan Comics range, will have five different variant covers, which you can see in the gallery below.

As a staunch UNIT-era fan, this combination of Doctor, writer, and illustrator has me doing Venusian Aikido in the office. I wish I had my own TARDIS so I could go forward to August to read it.

Let us know your thoughts on the Third Doctor comics in the comments below!

Images: Titan Comics

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor and the resident Whovian for Nerdist. Follow him on Twitter!