I’m always filled with trepidation when I set out to read a comic adaption of a movie or television show. In general, comics just don’t adapt live action well. The strength of the medium is bold colors, episodic format, quick narration, and epic proportions. Trying to accurately depict live action falls flat in many cases. Being a Doctor Who lover, I hate to see that happen. In this case, for the most part that didn’t happen. True, the artist in many places throughout the book failed to accurately capture Capaldi’s features, except in extreme close ups. The good news is that the writing is good enough that you don’t notice these lapses in the medium.
The first story Terrorformer is a classic Doctor in space story, where the Doctor sets out to take Clara to an ice planet to work on her skiing skills. As usual with the TARDIS, things do not go as planned, but for once not because of the its questionable navigation. The planet the Doctor chooses has been terraformed since his last visit. Little do the terraformers realize that the planet holds within it, a mad energy creature bent on its survival at any cost.
The follow up tale, the Swords of Kali, runs the opposite gamut, when an old friend calls upon the Doctor a little too late. He arrives to find his friend murdered by an alien race that are the basis for the ancient Thuggee cult. This story takes place in India of the not too distant future and the far removed past. It’s classic Who, with Clara getting taken hostage by aliens in the future, while the Doctor faces down with the aliens in the past, picking up a plucky woman from the past looking for revenge. Leela fans of the Tom Baker era will love this character.
Both stories are filled with nods to the old school Doctor Who series, with the more serious tone of the new series. It is in many ways, the best of both worlds of Doctor Who. There’s even a reference to The Rocky Horror Picture show for the attentive fans of Doctor Frankenfurter and Rip. This Trade collects issues 1 -5 of the regular series including variant covers. Both stories are superbly written and rendered. The stories could have come straight out of the brain of Stephen Moffett and the art is vivid. The close ups on Capaldi’s eyes in a few panels are spectacular. Fans of Clara, will enjoy her impersonation of the Indian goddess of death. This is a sure fire hit for any Doctor Who fan.
For more information about Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor, or other great titles from Titan Comics visit Titan Comics.
Geek-o-Rama received a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments and opinions are those of the individual reviewer.
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