The closest the Doctor ever got to Jack the Ripper on TV was in the Tom Baker episode of Doctor Who entitled The Talons of Wang-Chiang. The Doctor, with companion Leela, arrives in Victorian London. The Doctor wears a Sherlock Holmes-style hat during the episode and the concept of the crimes of The Ripper are vaguely hinted at through the episode.

But now, for the first time ever, Matt Smith‘s incarnation of the Doctor will pit him up in an adventure that places him in the path of Jack the Ripper, in a new comic book from IDW Publishing.

io9 got the scoop on the comic book release, where the Doctor ends up in Victorian London again, this time with companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams, in a situation that makes them discover that Jack The Ripper is on the prowl, and it may turn out that he may not necessarily be a human serial killer… in fact he may not even be human at all.

Here’s the synopsis from the publisher:

Tony Lee (w) “¢ Richard Piers Rayner (a) “¢ Tommy Lee Edwards, photo (c)
“Ripper’s Curse,” Part 1 of 3: This is it! No alternate worlds, no dreams or virtual cities-it’s the first time ever that the Doctor goes up against JACK THE RIPPER! When the Doctor, Rory, and Amy find themselves in Whitechapel in 1888, they become part of a murder hunt for Jack himself-or should that be Jack ITself?
*2 regular covers will be shipped in a 1-to-1 ratio.
FC “¢ 32 pages “¢ $3.99

To take a look at some of the preview pages from Issue #2 of Doctor Who from IDW, head over to io9 to check them out.

The concept of the Doctor crossing paths with the Ripper is one that surprisingly has actually been covered before. The Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) came across the crimes of Jack the Ripper in a comic book story entitled The Curious Tale of Spring-Heeled Jack.

The Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) discovered in one of his adventures that the Time Lord known as The Valeyard (who himself has a convoluted history and connection to the Doctor) was masquerading as the Ripper for a short period of time in the novel titled Matrix.

It’s unclear at this point how this Eleventh Doctor adventure will tie into the previous adventures mentioned, however, with the continuity-destroying finale of The Big Bang from Series 5; it’s safe to say at this point in time that ANYTHING is possible in the universe of the 11th Doctor and beyond…