Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor #2

The ninth doctor is back with a brand-new miniseries: Weapons of Past Destruction!

Get dragged into the Time Vortex as the Doctor and his friends uncover time-lost Gallifreyan super-weapons being sold on the black market! Who are the cosmically-empowered Lect and Unon – and can the Doctor help stop an all-new Time War before it starts?!​

Writer:
Cavan Scott
Artist:
Blair Shedd
Publisher:
Titan Comics

As second issues go, this issue is far stronger than first, building upon an action packed opening to deliver a far more satisfying continuation.

For one thing, it looks like Scott and Shedd have had the 9th Doctor's run on loop in the background whilst creating the comic. Everything from the mannerisms of each character to the way a panel is lit is ripped from the TV show, which made reading it a fun nostalgia trip.

It's just as well that the storyline itself matches up to that. Where last issue was all about running away, this issue is more grounded and focused on the key mystery itself; namely that somehow people are selling Gallifrayan war tech, stuff that shouldn't even exist because of how the Last Timewar ended.

It's really a combination of everything working in synch together that makes the comic work – under the pen of Scott, the 9th Doctor comes alive, possessed of speeches and reactions that are so perfect you're constantly enthralled by what he will encounter next. The show's cheeky tone is kept over too – from Jack's somewhat over the top sexual puns to the Doctor humour that only he tends to find funny. The only real letdown in Rose, who seems to just be plot exposition this issue.

That we get introduced to lots of cool looking aliens is nice- even in the low key things the comic is using its ability to do things that the show wouldn't be able to do easily.

The issue was fun and feels like an episode that was never filmed for the TV show. Which means as a 9th Doctor comic, it's perfect.

Cover image courtesy of Titan Comics.

Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor is available from Titan Comics.

Geek-o-Rama received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments and opinions are those of the individual reviewer.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #8

Bursting from a twisted parallel universe and clawing their way through the void, the Fractures are here, and nothing could prepare the Doctor for their insidious assault on reality!

The Doctor, Clara and UNIT must battle the Fractures, as they slip through the cracks in our world to wear the skin – and bodies – of innocent people, puppeteering them from the inside!

When the war spills out of quiet suburbia and threatens the world, it will take a father and daughter – separated by whole universes – to bring the conflict to an end!​

Writer:

Robbie Morrison

Artist:

Brian Williamson

Publisher:

Titan Comics

Hindsight is a beautiful thing. Though I like Peter Capaldi's take on the titular Time Lord and loved the start of the series, it's becoming clearer that writing for the character is hard to do. This is especially the case with this two part issue, where the writing leans towards the Doctor being cruel for cruelty's sake. This sort of worked before and due to Capaldi's acting abilities the show could get away with it – but without that, it's not as effective.

I think it may be slightly to do with Brian Williamson's art – which manages to get the look of other characters on the show down, seems to cast the Doctor in a somewhat grotesque light, which makes his actions seem worse than they are. It may also be how rushed everything seems in general this issue. Though I realise that you only have a limited number of pages to pull off a story in a two parter (which, extracting ads, covers,backup strips etc comes to about 22 pages an issue), don't aim for a story that is being part alien invasion, part family drama, part character piece, THEN set up future issues and include U.N.I.T as a cameo.

It's that mish mash of ideas that spoiled my enjoyment of things. Whilst the ability to be a genre mashup is part of the shows strengths', it can go wrong and this issue is a key example of this.

Overall, it's just not my cup of tea. It may be fun for those who have been following the whole comic series so far and have committed to it, but it left me a little cold.

Cover image courtesy of Titan Comics.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor is available from Titan Comics.

Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor #1

The ninth doctor is back with a brand-new miniseries: Weapons of Past Destruction!

Leaving world war ii behind, the ninth doctor, rose and captain jack discover that time lord technology, lost in the wake of the time war, is being sold on the intergalactic black market!

Now the threat of a new temporal war brews on the horizon. Can the doctor stop history repeating itself?​

Writer:

Cavan Scott

Artist:

Blair Shedd

Publisher:

Titan Comics

I'll add a disclaimer up from – I bloody love Doctor Who. I bloody love Christopher Eccleston. So to me, the 9^th Doctor was a dream come true. A fantastic one. Which is also a problem, because it means I hold everything related to such high standards and tend to be overly critical of other things related to it.

Given those prerequisites – the first issue is pretty good. Picking up after the episode The Doctor Dances, our issue finds the heroes stumbling across two forces that are involved in heavy time interference, The Unon and the Lect. Both seem to be collecting different items to allow for time manipulation, though to what end is left unexplored by the end of the issue.

In typical fashion though, the issue is more interested in Jack, Rose and The Doctor stumbling across a problem and trying to figure how to get out alive. Though Blair Shedd's artwork isn't something I quite like as I feel I doesn't capture the look of the characters that well, the canvas that she works on in scaling up the action from the show is impressive. She also does nail the facial structure of a shocked Christopher Eccleston, so hats off to her for that.

By the end of the issue I was a little worried about what was going to happen to Rose, even though I know everyone will turn out ok (being set between episodes of the TV show), so consider my suspension of disbelief sufficiently kept in check.

Is it worth picking up for non Doctor Who fans? On the basis of this first issue, no. But if you do like the show, this will be right up your alley.

Cover image courtesy of Titan Comics.

Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor is available from 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.

Moffat vs Davies: The Doctor Who Face-Off

Doctor Who fandom is a very strange, varied, and fervent lot. You have your old-school fans who look upon the new series and its fandom as trendy knockoffs and posers. You have your new fans that started with Tennant or Smith, and have never seen so much as a single episode of the original series. You have fans that love both, and fans that viciously tear apart characters and creators aside from their own personal favourites. Myself, I'm aware of the flaws in the series, the sometimes stilted storytelling and cheap effects of the classics and the weird pacing and oft-too intense focus on romance in the new series, but love the show for all of its flaws and and successes. My favourite Doctor, for the record, is Sylvester McCoy (7), and my least-favourite is one I still have a great deal of respect for, Jon Pertwee (3).

Russell T. Davies was the man who launched the show again in 2005. He was the one who cast Eccleston and Tennant, the one who created Rose Tyler, and the man responsible for the show's rebirth. He's also the man who brought us the farting Slitheen, the blowjob paving stone, and season 2 Rose Tyler. But he was progressive in a good way, introducing a lot of diverse characters and giving them some depth. We wouldn't have Captain Jack Harkness (wink, smile) without him, and he was beloved by much of fandom for this.

About six months or so before it was even announced, there was a great disturbance in the force. Steven Moffat, who had brought us "Blink", "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" (Everybody lives!), and "The Girl in the Fireplace" (sob) was to take over the show from RTD. Maybe it's hyperbole, maybe it's me mis-remembering, but I'm sure there were cries of misogyny before "The Eleventh Hour" even aired. According to a very vocal section of fandom, Moffat hates women. Moffat's female characters are terrible. But what's the truth?

Your combatants, picture courtesy whatculture.com

I seem to be making a habit of shittingon waifus lately, so let's dive in.

• Rose Tyler: I like series 1 Rose Tyler. I do. She's a sweet, well-meaning girl from a rough neighbourhood who has a very small life. She's got a boyfriend she's not too serious about, and at this point in her life, they're good for each other. Then she starts traveling with the Ninth Doctor and her universe expands. She faces death without blinking. She saves the day a few times herself and points out the obvious when Nine overlooks it. But somewhere in the first 20 minutes or so of Series 2's "Tooth and Claw", she starts turning obnoxious and gobby, and her entire character devolves into fawning over the pretty 10th Doctor as she grows more and more detached from her roots.

• Martha Jones: This one irritates me greatly. Martha is an accomplished young medical student, a doctor-in-training herself, ready to accept the fantastical and jump in with both feet. She maintains this greatness save for one flaw that destroys her character: she's got a crush on the 10th Doctor, and you can see the huffy sighs and irritated eye-rolling every time he mentions Rose. It isn't until she's forced to save the world herself that she finally realizes that she's got to get away from him, as it's unhealthy for her.

• Donna Noble: Donna started off gobby and obnoxious, but in a relatable way. She's older than previous companions, but still working a shit job and living at home. She remains gobby and obnoxious, but grows into a more confident and capable person along the way. Then it's all undone with a tear-jerking slide back into mediocrity by the end with amnesia that will explode her head if she ever remembers and regains that confidence and competence.

• Kylie Minogue: Kylie Minogue in a sexy cocktail waitress dress.

• The Lady Christina de Souza: GOD DAMMIT RTD YOU COCKTEASE

I weep for what could have been.

So that's RTD. I am unimpressed. Let's look at Moffat.

• Amelia “Amy” Pond: Let's just overlook the fact that she's a nearly six foot tall Glaswegian redhead that seems genetically engineered to turn my head; Amy Pond is a mess. When we meet her she is working as a stripper (shut up, she's a stripper, it's a family show so they play it off as kiss-o-gram) and is emotionally unbalanced because of the promise of adventure that is ripped away from her as a child (YOU SAID FIVE MINUTES!!). She's got a boyfriend whose relationship with her she promptly denies in their first encounter with the Doctor, and then proceeds to walk all over him, pushing him around and generally giving him no say in their relationship, to the point of passive-aggressing him into divorce before a forced reconciliation. Amy Pond is complex. She's a properly human and fleshed-out character. She's not a very pleasant person, but she's interesting.

• River Song: Controversial, this one. A lot of people can't stand River, and it's probably due to her first few appearances, coming onto the scene like a proper Mary Sue, with all the air of an established character with her 'sweeties' and her 'spoilers.' I've heard a lot of complaints thrown in Moffat's direction about how a 'strong female character' was brought low by being turned first into a lunatic and then into a simpering weak woman. The problem is, that's proper character development, but shown in reverse, because we're seeing most of her life in reverse order to the Doctor's timeline. River is born on Demon's Run, kidnapped as a baby by religious zealots and brainwashed into finding and murdering the Doctor before escaping, regenerating into a rebellious young child who grows up with Amy, then regenerating again when meeting the Doctor, attempting to murder him before breaking her programming, then kidnapped and re-programmed to kill him again. She then spends time in prison and the timeline is fuzzy, but by the time we meet her in her first appearance she's the capable and confident badass and has retroactively earned that sass she displays. An interesting experiment in character building that I enjoyed the more I watched.

• Clara Oswald: Clara spent a year as a temporal construct, a person split into many people that existed for a short time long enough to save the Doctor from the Great Intelligence before he figured out the mystery that she was and retrieved her from the temporal winds of his own timeline. We don't meet the real Clara Oswald until the 50th anniversary special, where she begins to grow as a character, free from her duty to protect the Doctor from an omnipresent enemy. By the first episode with Capaldi's 12th Doctor, we have a much clearer picture of her: She's a teacher. She's got a life outside the TARDIS, and uses the Doctor as a weekend getaway. She's got control issues, and doesn't entirely trust him. She's incredibly awkward around someone she's got a romantic interest in, and adorably he mirrors that. And after the tragic events of last series finale, she's got even more room to grow.

Pictured: Control Issue.

In conclusion, I'm going to state very firmly that Steven Moffat writes better women than Russell T. Davies did. I say this for two reasons:

1. Moffat's companions don't define themselves by a romantic interest in the Doctor.
2. They're complex and relatable people.

I will credit Davies with Donna Noble (until her last episode), but that's all he's getting from me.

“I'm not your boyfriend, Clara.”

“I never thought you were.”

“I never said it was your mistake...”

Doctor Who;: The Twelfth Doctor Vol 1

Eagle award-winning writer Robbie Morrison (Drowntown, The Authority, 2000AD, Nikolai Dante) and New York Times-bestselling artist Dave Taylor (Batman: Death by Design, 2000AD) dive headfirst into the TARDIS console room and spin the Doctor off to his most challenging destination yet!

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.

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Volume 1

Gabriella Gonzalez is stuck in a dead-end job in her family’s New York Laundromat, dreaming of college and bigger, better and brighter things.

So when a strange man with an even stranger big blue box barges into her life on the eve of the Day of the Dead celebrations – talking about an infestation of psychic aliens – she seizes her chance for adventure with both hands.

After Donna’s tragic exit, the Doctor thought he was done with new companions. But Gabby Gonzalez is going to prove him wrong… if she survives the night!

Writer:

Nick Abadzis

Artists:

Alice X Zhang

Elena Casagrande

Colourist:

Arianna Florean

Letterer:

Comicraft

Publisher:

Titan Comics

The 10th Doctor has been around for a while now and he's certainly has a few comic series to his name already, covering his travels outside of the TV show many know so well and his meeting of companions both familiar and new. Those comics have also been some of the greatest Doctor Who storylines put to paper. So what does this new series from Titan Comic's offer to make it stand out from that crowd?

Good art for one. The issue's art has a very grounded feel to it, very lived it (which is harder to pull off than you think) which makes the appearance of the monsters of the two collected stories stand out, a blend of the world and something more unnatural. The first arc is called 'Revolutions of Terror', a multi-part storyline designed to introduce us to the world of Gabby Gonzalez and her family. Stuck running her fathers laundrette in the day, working at his restaurant at night and in her spare time attending an accounting course to help run his business better out of a sense of obligation, Gabby's frustration is palpitate.

Like the 11th Doctor's first issue, we slowly get to know her world and who she is (even if, like most companions initially, she's a little two dimensional) and her desire to break free. All the while, a man in a blue box potters about taking readings and strange, spooky things are happening...

Unfortunately, the first story kind of feels a bit listless at times, though it really does read better collected in one volume than as individual issues. Its not helped by the feeling that the first story is a bit jumbled on what it wants to do. Its a mystery story with elements of horror, but neither are prominent, taking a back seat to the 10th Doctor's mutterings and getting to know our new companion in the series. It results in lackluster sections, which oddly enough are when the Doctor shows up! Its probably just that its quite hard to capture in a comic the energy David Tennant brought to the role, but he feels a bit like he's going through the motions. This series is set after he parts ways with Donna Noble, so perhaps he's a bit down in the dumps.

The second story is where things pick us massively though. Giving us a viewpoint on Gabby's opinion of world of the Doctor (complete with pages from her sketchbook) we're actually allowed to feel wonder again, that rare thing in a comic. Transported to the reclusive hideout of an artists personal moon, Gabby and the Doctor run into trouble when they encounter living statues and a due of apprentices that want to make sure nobody gets in the way of their learning. This being Doctor Who, things quickly escalate to chases, though as the story is told from Gabby's viewpoint we get to break things up from the usual 'The Doctor is smart and saves the day' plotline that happens wherever someone starts running.

The art is a delight in this story arc, conveying the true beauty of an alien world along with the power of art. Overall I loved every page of the second story arc and it more than makes up for a so so opening arc.

In future volumes, I'm hoping that we get to know Gabby's and her relationship with her family. Though its clear she feels trapped in the first arc, its an interesting dynamic that the issue does well and the Doctor Who doesn't really explore properly that often.

All in all, the entire collection is a must buy for Doctor Who fans.

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Volume 1 is available from Titan Comics or your local comics retailer.

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.

The Chimes of Midnight

Hallowe'en 1938. 'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring...

But something must be stirring. Something hidden in the shadows. Something which kills the servants of an old Edwardian mansion in the most brutal and macabre manner possible. Exactly on the chiming of the hour, every hour, as the grandfather clock ticks on towards midnight.

Trapped and afraid, the Doctor and Charley are forced to play detective to murders with no motive, where even the victims don't stay dead. Time is running out.

This story, that arrives just about half way into the 8^th Doctor and Charley Pollard's adventures together, is unusual. Part detective story, part horror, part personal tragedy, its unconventional formula allows it to hit the story sweet spot of keeping you on your toes and wanting to listen to more. In fact the first time I listened to it, I was so engrossed I completely forgot I was meant to be going out for a meeting with someone!

The Doctor and Charley land in the servants part of an old Edwardian mansion, populated by the staff of the master upstairs. Drawn by a blood curdling scream they dash to help, only to find it's too late. As the hours move to midnight, one by one the staff all die. Then it all starts again...

As such, it's a break from the usual murder mystery fable – the Doctor and Charley are aware they are trapped in a story that re-writes itself on the fly to account for any interruptions, so they have to figure out the cause and the real culprit fast, before they become a part of the act.

The Chimes of Midnight  keeps air fraught with tension at all times by being lean and mean. Nothing is wasted in the script and as soon as one part of the solution of the mystery is unearthed and threatens to turn things stale, it metamorphoses to catch the Doctor and Charley (and us, the listener) off guard.

Constantly on the back foot and forced to try and work within ill defined and every changing rules, things are kept unpredictable. It was one of those rare tales that kept me (a longtime Who fan) feeling like I didn't know what would happen next. Things are kept tense by a soundtrack that enforces how everything feels unstoppable, always containing a tick of a clock one way or another, as a reminder of that fateful countdown to midnight.

What's most surprising is the emotional core at the centre of the story, that not only plays into Charley and the Doctor's larger arc, but also covers the fate of those 'downstairs', revealing a life that isn't that great if you don't happen to fit into the working life of servitude and what happens when the only person who cares about you is snatched from your grasp.

All in all, it's a great story. Perhaps more low key than many would expect from Doctor Who, but it reaps the rewards of that. Complex, gripping and all over a superb production, it's one of the high points of the 8^th Doctors travels with Charley. Perhaps one of the best of the 8^th 's and, dare I say it ,all time Doctor Who stories. If you have any interest in the show, you owe it to yourself to buy this.

Cover image courtesy of Big Finish.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #4

What secrets are hidden by the Scindia family, a dynasty whose powerful roots trace back over a thousand years? What strange genetic modifications fuel the death cult of the Thuggee? And how does a humble Mumbai pickpocket figure into these world-changing events?

As each Thuggee sacrifice comes closer to waking the ancient Kali from her slumber, can the Doctor uncover the truth before her resurrection spells doom for India, Earth, and the galaxy?!

Writer:

Robbie Morrison

Artist:

Dave Taylor

Publisher:

Titan Comics

As mentioned in my review of last issue, I'm still a little on the fence about this series. Though it had a strong opening storyline, last issue left me a little cold. One thing is clear though. If the TV show is content to be a series of mostly serial episodes, connected by an overarching plot, then the comic mini series is the exact opposite. In fact, it's shaping up to just be a series of stories spread out over two or three issues!

Issue four doesn't break that trend and even 'one ups' the last storyline, being at least one issue longer than the last one. I just wish I found myself thinking the wait was worth it. I'm being somewhat hyperbolic mind. The issue certainly cranks up the amount of plot happening over the last one, letting all the individual story threads begin to meet one another and intertwine. The different personalities and how they clash certainly produce some interesting scenes, even if I feel the Doctor comes across as being a little too mean at times.

One thing is apparent though – the creative team are clearly enjoying being free of any restrains that a TV budget would land them with. This issue alone we have Indian temples, cavernous catacombs, a space station and Clara turning into...well, let's not spoil too much eh?

Overall it's a fun enough issue, even if it does have some of the same problems as last issue. Clara has literally nothing to do apart from become a literal plot point (nice to know the writer is following in Steven Moffat's shoes). From the writing this series, it does feel at times like the writer is contractually obliged to include Clara in the adventures, but would rather ditch her and write adventures about the people who have appeared this issue.

Perhaps it's true, so then I do have to give credit for adapting to the circumstances in the best possible way. But I don't know about you, but an Indian assassin and the daughter of one of the Doctor's off screen companion's, who grew up on tales of his adventures, sound like far more interesting characters to be off with the Doctor's exploring the universe than Clara. Sorry Clara.

It's an improvement on last issue by quite a way and it does end on a nice cliffhanger. I hope I've just been too quick to judge and the concluding issue of the story will have me seeing the error of my ways. I'm really hoping so. I really am.

Cover image courtesy of Titan Comics.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #4 is available from Titan Comics or your local comics retailer.

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.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #3

In the distant past India played host to a war between ancient aliens, whose cross-temporal battles contributed to the country's rich myths and legends. Kali, oldest and deadliest of these, was thought defeated long, long ago. But her psychic essence could not be killed... nor her quest for vengeance.

Now, in the 23rd Century, she is on the brink of resurrection. In a race against time the Doctor and Clara must gather secrets and allies from across India's past, present and future – if they are to survive... THE SWORDS OF KALI!

Writer:

Robbie Morrison

Artist:

Dave Taylor

Colours:

Hi-Fi

Lettering:

Comicraft

Publisher:

Titan Comics

This issue of the 12^th Doctor's adventures see him taking on a story with a very colonial feel (and I think Capaldi's Doctor is the only one in a few decades that could get away with that) as he travels India of the past and future to stop some space vampires.

Morrison weaves an interesting tale that has multiple different threads all coming together, as the Doctor and Clara, separated by time, each have their own adventures. What's more, Morrison isn't afraid to sprinkle in other characters that have supposedly had adventures with the Doctor before. It's somewhat distracting in that not really much is made of it this issue and it doesn't really seem like it will come up again. But still, it breaks up the flow of what would otherwise be a pretty normal 'Doctor tries to solve a mystery and gets into trouble' storyline.

Its Dave Taylor's artwork that really won me over though. Finally getting the look of Clara and the Doctor down, the art feels more assured than past issues, perhaps who creative team freeing up now they don't feel as bound to the TV show.

Being a two parter storyline means I can't really comment on much of the themes, but like the entire last season of the series, it seems this storyline will bring up a few people who I think would make more interesting companions to travel with the Doctor than Clara. It's not that I really dislike Clara, it's just that she didn't really contribute much at all to the issue, with her role being filled by our guest characters. In the end, I kind of hope that if it carries on creating brilliant guest companions that it has a few issues where Clara isn't in it all! Perhaps that's bad when she's meant to be the second most important character of the series.

Overall, the issue was pleasant enough whilst reading it and I certainly look forward to reading next months issue and then looking back on the completed storyline as a whole. But if it's your first time picking up the series, I would go back and start from #1 instead. It was much stronger.

Cover image courtesy of Titan Comics.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor is available from Titan Comics or your local comics retailer.

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.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #2

Freshly regenerated and with a new head full of unanswered questions, the Doctor whisks Clara Oswald away to a strange and distant world. New Face! New Doctor! New Beginning! Get in on the ground floor of this amazing ongoing series!

Writer:

Robbie Morrison

Artists:

Alice X Zhang

Dave Taylor

Colourist:

Hi-Fi Color Design

Letterer:

Comicraft

Publisher:

Titan Comics

Last issue started strong and with purpose- if the new TV series took a whole season to finally decide what it wanted the latest incarnation of the Doctor to be, it seems this comic knew from the start. Last issue saw The Doctor and Clara landing on a planet where terraforming has gone awry, with a mysterious being lurking at the heart of it all. This issue brings the reveal the villain of the piece is...

..a Hyperion! Never heard of them? Well neither have I, but it plays into the ambitions of the comic. A race of sentient suns that turned malevolent when their life cycles began to come to an end, they were defeated by an alliance of the most powerful races of the galaxy, headed by the full might of the Timelord's themselves. Only this time, there's only the Doctor to stop them.

What's great about this issue is how Robbie Morrison seems to be looking for something new with this comic. Of the three Doctor Who comics launched by Titan so far, we've had three different approaches. The Tenth Doctor comic focused on the micro, small scale stories that could have world shattering consequences, whilst the Eleventh Doctor comic has played it fast and loose, whilst always being centred around character development. The Twelfth Doctor comic plots a new path – Epic grandeur.

If the opening story is any indication, this series it probably the comic that best represents a good amalgamation of both the old style series and the new, more action packed one. Its a great combination, as in the space of one comic we see a wedding, a planet sized disaster, deductive work and even the destruction of galaxies. Yet none of it feels out of place- in part unified by the art of Dave Taylor - even if his interpretation of Clara does make it look like she's somehow inherited some Sontaran characteristics.

There are some problems with the issue, in that once the count down to the big action finale starts, most of the intelligence of the story gets thrown aside, but when #1 and #2 are read as the whole story it was intended to be, it mitigates that somewhat.

Count me impressed. If the series carries on like this, not only will it be threatening to knock my fav, the Eleventh Doctor series, off the top spot, but it will competing with the TV show itself. My feeling is that the comic may be the eventual winner.

Cover image courtesy of Titan Comics.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #2 can be bought from Titan Comics online and in your local comic book store in the US only.

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.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #1

Freshly regenerated and with a new head full of unanswered questions, the Doctor (as played by Peter Capaldi) whisks Clara Oswald (as played by Jenna Coleman) away to a strange and distant world.

Writer:
Robbie Morrison
Artist(s):
Alice X Zhang
Dave Taylor
Colours:
Hi-Fi Color Design
Lettering:
Comicraft
Publisher:
Titan Comics

What a difference a change of medium makes. Though reviews of the latest series have been mostly positive you can't deny something has been...lacking...for want of a better word. Yet take a comic, allowed to set its own pace, take its time and not have to worry about catering to anyone bar those who love good stories...it’s amazing what you can produce. In this case, it’s the best 12th Doctor story to have been written so far.

Robbie Morrison's debut issue takes the Doctor and Clara on a trip to an ice world, only to discover it has been terraformed by a rich media oligarch as a wedding present to his bride. Though as the Doctor is involved, naturally things start going wrong- it seems that the planet wasn't so uninhabited after all...

The Doctor and Clara transferred to another medium seems to work a lot better, with the cruel put downs and arrogant sense of self importance that the 12th Doctor extrudes easily countered by Dave Taylor's art. There seems to have been a decision taken at some point to acknowledge that this Doctor is always completely serious, yet that a man so serious is just a little bit funny.

Still, it's not all comedy. The Doctor gets down to detective work pretty quickly, with his newly formed entourage of people struggling to keep up with him trailing not far behind. The issue ends on a cliffhanger, but unlike the 10th Doctors first issue, this one feels earned.

I suppose the only downside of this issue that Clara isn't really given much to do. Though there's lots of quippery, her actual contribution to events is minimal to none. The Doctor also gets to display more of his calculating side without it turning him into a cold being that lets others die for no reason (which is greatly appreciated).

All in all, it’s a great issue. Certainly not perfect, but pretty close. It’s just so nice to see two great Doctor Who titles on the shelves. Let's hope next month sustains such a strong start.

Cover image courtesy of Titan Comics

You can buy Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #1 from Titan Comics or your local comics retailer. Outside of the US the comic is available digitally only

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.

Doctor Who: The Caretaker

Clara's two worlds combine as The Doctor does a bit of moonlighting at the Coal Hill School in The Caretaker.

This episode begins with a montage showing Clara struggling to live two lives at once, her "normal" life as a teacher with Danny Pink, and her life adventuring in time and space as The Doctor's Companion. This whole montage draws the parallel of a woman cheating on her partner, and in that it succeeds reasonably well. We get the distinct impression that something's going to give pretty soon.

After The Doctor leaves Clara behind to go "Undercover" She appears to have time to focus on Danny, but naturally The Doctor is going undercover at Coal Hill School as John Smith, the temporary replacement Caretaker. Hilarity ensues.

The Threat of the Skovox Blitzer is fairly minor, which is fine, because The Doctor straight up tells us he can handle it easily. There is no discovery of the threat, as The Doctor already knows about it. There is no investigation, as The Doctor already has a plan, and even when that goes wrong he seems to figure out a fall-back plan with minimal fuss. Sadly, if the majority of screen time doesn't even involve the monster of the week in any way, the focus of this episode becomes Danny's discovery of Clara's life with The Doctor.

This all puts the episode squarely in the category of that I like to call "The Companion Show Featuring The Doctor". In retrospect this has been a bit of a trend throughout the season, particularly in Listen, but so far it's not taken up the majority of an episode. I thought (or hoped) we'd gotten past this issue once Clara stopped being The Most Important Person In The Universe™. Once the mystery of her origin was solved, she could become just another travelling companion for The Doctor. Hopefully the resolution of the Danny situation will reduce the focus on Clara and allow The Doctor more time in the limelight.

The scene with The Doctor mistaking Adrian for Clara's boyfriend was strange and has left me feeling a bit annoyed. There's two ways to take this. One, general arrogance from The Doctor that Clara would want someone who looked like he did, because that means she still wants him; or two, a fairly obscure kind of paternal feeling where The Doctor would only approve of someone who was somehow like him. I'd like to think it was meant to be option two, but something tells me that's not really what they were going for here.

The Doctor's irrational hatred of soldiers outlined in Into The Dalek was clearly designed to work with this episode, but despite this not fitting with established canon (The Doctor has been friends with several soldiers), Danny's response to The Doctor was actually pretty awesome.

Yet again we are treated to a scene in the Nethersphere, but this time Missy seems to have her cranky pants on and is reportedly "too busy" to deal with the poor dead policeman. For the first time since the Promised Land arc began, I am actually intrigued. I still don't really care who Missy is, but my interest is piqued as to why she would be annoyed.


Overall, this is a pretty nothing episode. It does well enough considering it's entire point is to get The Doctor and Danny introduced to each other, it's just I like my light science fiction show about aliens and time travel to focus a bit less on a single character's love life and more on, you know, the aliens and time travel.

Score: 6/10

Doctor Who: Time Heist

Season 8 of Doctor Who continues to showcase the potential for story diversity, as The Doctor and Clara pull a bank job in Time Heist.

This episode was just spot on for me. It really highlights the way Doctor Who can remain solidly rooted in science fiction, whilst at the same time playing off other genres and tropes. This episode uses the classic heist movie formula in the tradition of Ocean's 11, Sneakers or the Australian classic Malcolm.

Things start off quickly, with The Doctor and Clara (and us of course) thrown in the deep end along with a pair of specialists. The memory wipe is a great way of bypassing the discovery phase and getting straight into the action. Sadly I think it went some way to telegraphing the identity of The Architect for me. Not that it really mattered all that much.

On that note, I understand they were setting up The Doctor figuring out who The Architect is, but it just seemed out of place to hear him come out with "I hate him,' with no real motivation behind it. The Architect hadn't done anything specific to harm The Doctor or anyone else. They all heard themselves willingly submit to the memory wipe. It was just out of place.
The entire caper was very enjoyable, and played out with perfect pacing. The only element to the plan that seemed a bit strange was the "exit strategy". I'm unclear how Psi and Saibra managed to return to the planet and insinuate themselves into the guard staff when the place was in lockdown. The thing is, the quality of the rest of the episode allowed me to suspend disbelief at that point.

The Teller was a nicely creepy monster, very alien and clearly threatening. The whole "soup" thing was really cool, and looked creepy enough. I'm not sure detecting random guilt is particularly fool-proof when the punishment is encephalous liquification. There's no real room for appeal after that. The flaw in that method was already highlighted nicely in the Red Dwarf episode Justice. That said, it's their bank, and they can police it as harshly as they want, I suppose.

The budding Clara / Danny relationship took up very little of the episode, but disappointingly, despite all his apparent confusion at Clara's primping at the start, The Doctor ends the episode with the very jealous sounding line of "Beat that for a date." We are confusing the situation again here. If the sentiment is "Why would you go on a date when you can do this?" then I get it, but this phrasing makes it sound like, "I'm better than him, so you should love me."


All up, this was my favorite episode of the season. Solid, entertaining, and oh so cool-looking. I think we have our first perfect score for the new Doctor.

Score: 10/10

Doctor Who: Listen

The Doctor deals with some of his own personal monsters and we learn a bit more about Danny Pink in Listen

We begin with The Doctor proposing a theory that just as nature has produced perfect hunters there may also exist a creature which has evolved to be the perfect hider. He suggests these creatures are the cause of a dream shared by all people where a hand grabs you from under the bed.

Using a telepathic link with Clara to direct the TARDIS, The Doctor hopes to find a point in her life when she had the dream, and therefore discover the creature. Unfortunately, Clara gets distracted by the embarrassing aftermath of her fairly disastrous first date with Danny Pink, and things don't go according to plan.

This was an interesting concept for a story and I think overall it was executed quite well. Initially I felt a bit short-changed after there was no confirmed monster, but it is actually quite a refreshing change. There were several hints that indicate there was no creature at all, with each bit of evidence for it being paired with a rational explanation, but at the same time we just can't be sure.

I think it's a testament to the concept and the writing that there is already heated debated raging online about whether there was or wasn't a creature. I've said it before and I'll likely say it again, Steven Moffat can write. Where he falls down is his insistence on pushing these grand, overarching stories and tying everything together. Which leads into my one real issue with this episode. The connection to Day of the Doctor. It just seemed a bit gratuitous to me.

On a similar note, is Gallifrey not time locked any more? How was the TARDIS able to get to that point in The Doctor's timeline? Perhaps it was just a special quirk of Clara's because she has been spliced throughout The Doctor's timeline, but it feels like they are forgetting some important canon there.

In the end, this whole episode felt like a bit of a nothingness. We got some interesting insights into both The Doctor and Danny Pink, and it was yet again Clara's knack with kids that won the day, but overall it was a much slower pace than we've seen recently with not a great deal of excitement. Not that that's inherently a bad thing, but we maybe need a bit more to hook the audience. And with no definite resolution, we are left without so much a story as a collection of things that happened and some unanswered questions. As I said, not everything needs to be answered, but this kind of felt unfinished.

Score: 6/10

Doctor Who: Robot of Sherwood

Our new Doctor really begins to hit his straps as he takes Clara to meet a legend in Robot of Sherwood.

This episode gets us back to basics, with The Doctor and Clara resolving to simply do a bit of adventuring in time and space. Clara chooses to go and meet Robin Hood, and despite The Doctor's claims that he is nothing but a myth, meet him they do. After a brief duel and a mild innuendo (seriously, I don't think they can help themselves), Robin takes The Doctor and Clara to meet his Merry Men.

What follows is a very condensed retelling of the Robin Hood story as we are introduced to the main villain, the Sheriff of Nottingham, who is swiftly shown to be a nasty piece of work. Then we bounce straight to the archery contest for the golden arrow where things take a sharp turn away from the norm, and The Doctor and Robin take time to get really stuck into a phenomenal comedic double act. It really was very entertaining.

Interestingly it is Clara who gets to take the lead in coaxing out the Villain Monologue and securing a bit of back-story from the Sheriff. It's always good to see the Companion adding practical value rather than just being a warm body to explain things to or as an emotional foil for The Doctor.

The season arc tease was a little less offensive this episode in that Missy herself was blissfully absent, however it still seemed clumsily shoved in. We don't need the arc referenced in every episode. Let's just enjoy a standalone episode for once.

The Doctor works out the Sheriff's plan and why it won't work, revealing a flaw that will prove fatal to half the country. And here's where it falls apart a bit for me. Ignoring the practicalities of The Doctor's solution, I liked that the three of them had to work together to pull it off, and the overall resolution of the episode was nice, especially Robin's words to The Doctor.

Overall, the episode ran a little short, making the whole thing seem a bit rushed. I can forgive The Doctor and Clara happening to materialize right next to Robin, thereby getting things moving quickly, but the Robin Hood legend is so rich that it's always going to be tough to get it into such a short space of time. We move straight from introducing characters to a major point in the legend. Add to this that (amusing as it was) a lot of time was chewed up on the banter between Robin and The Doctor and things just seem a little hurried.

I have to say that I still found this episode to be great fun, and would totally re-watch. I have to give it extra points because my wife actually enjoyed this one, and she's not really a fan at all.

Score: 8/10

Doctor Who: Into the Dalek

Capaldi settles into his version of The Doctor and Clara sets her sights elsewhere as an old enemy returns in Into the Dalek.

Things start with a bang, as we see yet another large scale cold open which shows off the special effects budget. This one worked considerably better than the dinosaur at the start of Deep Breath though, in that it was better integrated into the overall story. We pick up where we left off (sort of) as The Doctor has picked up the coffee Clara demanded at the end of Deep Breath.

From there things are set up solidly as we are introduced to a magic shrink ray and The Doctor gives a nod to the obvious inspiration for this episode, Fantastic Voyage (or was it Inner Space?). Of course I'm seeing a few things in this episode that I've seen before. The Doctor's initial encounter with the titular creature is very reminiscent of Nine's meeting in the Season 1 episode Dalek. Once we get inside the Dalek, we see robotic antibodies again, much like in Season 7's Let's Kill Hitler. The sets were nice though. They seemed somehow realistic and delightfully cheap at the same time.

Things play out as you would expect with miniature people running around inside a cybernetic alien killing machine, culminating in a fairly predictable result once their goal is achieved. The Doctor's little mind-meld took a wonderful turn, playing nicely into the "am I a good man?" theme they seem to be setting up for this season, and was hammered home with one line from Rusty.

One thing I didn't really appreciate was being taken out of the story so abruptly just to wave the whole Missy season arc in my face again. It seems they are going to handle it in a similar way to the Madame Kovarian tease from Season 6. I don't recall the Kovarian tease being quite so jarring though. Generally she peered through the hatch during slower parts of the story. Throwing from a tense climax to the "heaven" just felt wrong. Perhaps that was the point. Either way, I think I like my season arc hints a bit more subtle than this.

We see more of a shift in dynamic between The Doctor and Clara this episode too, which is summed up neatly when she refers to herself as his "carer". That was actually pretty funny, but very telling at the same time. Is she bitter about his apparent aging? And now that The Doctor is off the table, they are setting up some kind of clumsy relationship with Clara's co-worker Danny Pink. And what was with all the sexual innuendo around Danny? It made no sense to me.

But why does The Doctor have a hatred of soldiers now? The Brigadier was a soldier, and The Doctor was all set to call on him in A Good Man Goes to War. I sincerely hope they are not setting up some reason why The Doctor can dislike Danny just so he can appear jealous of Clara. If it plays out more paternally, it would be okay, but even paternal feelings for Clara would feel a bit out of place in the face of the detached alien coldness we've had the past two episodes.

Overall it was a thoroughly entertaining episode, and I think it tops most of what we've had for the past few seasons. I wouldn't call it exactly perfect, but certainly close.

Score: 9/10

Doctor Who S8E1

Now *this* is The Doctor I've been waiting for.

**some spoilers ahead**

I'll admit right up front that Peter Capaldi's take on The Doctor is much more to my liking than...let's say the direction the series seemed to have been drifting. More 'ancient alien', less 'fangirl boyfriend material' please.

No slight to Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and Matt Smith, who all did fine jobs in their turns, but The Doctor is *centuries old*, and he's an *alien*. Apologies to all the fangirls, but he's not something that is terribly likely to get all weak in the knees over a 20-something girl from Earth.

It's always good to see our Victorian friends in the form of the Paternoster Gang: Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax, and there are also once again a few nods to the current popularity of Steampunk. My only small regret is that they didn't leave much new material here for revisiting, which is a shame.

A new minor villain takes up most of the episode and gives The Doctor plenty of room to explore how different this arc is going to be. Combine that with a new major villain with very little screen time, but just enough menace to ensure we keep an eye on events to come, and I think things are definitely on the upswing.

Overall, I enjoyed The Doctor's post-regeneration disconnection this time, as it provides a fine opportunity to deal with the rather large shift that must be happening internally as he adjusts to a completely new cycle of regeneration. The call from Eleven at the end signals that this shift may be (hopefully 'is') something that will span at least a few episodes, if not the whole arc.

Overall, a worthy start to a new arc, and one I'm looking forward to following.

Doctor Who: Deep Breath

The Doctor suffers the usual regeneration confusion in the first episode of Peter Capaldi's run, Deep Breath.

Much like previous regeneration episodes of the New Who, we spend most of the time seeing the doctor getting his head around who he is now. He spends much of the first half of the episode being confused and forgetful. At the same time Clara spends the first half of the episode not knowing how to handle The Doctor's change to an older form.

We touch again on the theme of Companion abandonment, both physical and emotional, as Clara comes to terms with The Doctor's wholesale change and later when he runs off, gets a taste of that "what now" feeling we've seen companions deal with before.

It's made clear fairly early on that there will be no hanky-panky with this Doctor, leading to the final scene in which he makes it emphatically clear that he is not Clara's boyfriend. Early on, Vastra lays it down wonderfully, putting Clara, and by proxy certain segments of the audience, in their place.

For all her protestations, much of Clara's issue with The Doctor's regeneration does seem to relate to physical looks, so that whole scene is quite gratifying in many ways. On the other hand, Clara's implication that she's into older blokes could be a worrying indication that we've not seen the end of the Companion puppy love.

Bringing the Clockwork People back was an odd choice and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I always thought more could have been done with them, but this felt a bit ham-fisted. Why did they need to be from a sister ship? In The Girl In The Fireplace it was established that it was the destruction of the mission computer that caused the maintenance droids to start cannibalising the crew. Are we to believe this happened twice? I'd have rather seen this as the same group of droids that had all come through a time window and become trapped.

The dinosaur was a bit of a nothingness though. It served almost no purpose in furthering the story, apart from a very public immolation. I suppose it did bring the Paternoster Gang there, but I suspect a blue box crashing into the middle of Victorian London would probably have done the same thing.

This episode went to great lengths to show the parallels between The Doctor with his multiple regenerations and the Clockwork Man with the constant replacing of its own parts. The broom analogy was a good one, which coincidentally I had seen used only recently as I read Terry Pratchett's I Shall Wear Midnight. I'm not sure if the silver tray scene was taking this too far or not. I think I liked it though. I do worry that this "who am I" business will become a sub-plot that takes up too much of this season.

There are a few choice innuendos between Vastra and Jenny, but nothing excessively crude. I even chuckled at a few points. Sadly, by involving Clara in these, Vastra and Jenny's relationship is somehow marginalised. The cool thing about Vastra and Jenny's relationship was not that is was a cross-species same-sex one, but that it was seemingly strongly monogamous. By showing that Vastra is into other girls too, really ruins what was a lovely duo.

And finally The Doctor thinks to ask the question he should have done in The Bells of Saint John. Who gave Clara his number? This really is all the tease for the season arc that we need. Unfortunately that's not spoon-feeding us enough, so they elected to have an entire epilogue scene introducing Missy, the Gatekeeper of the Nethersphere. In a far more tragic turn of events, she refers to The Doctor as her boyfriend. Goddamnit!

And I just need to take a second to comment on the new opening credits. Do. Not. Like. There's a hint of something interesting there, but all the cogs and clocks is just a bit too clichéd for me. There's nothing wrong with the good old time vortex with flying names. It's a classic for a reason.

As nice as it was to see Capaldi take on the mantle of The Doctor (and I think he did it well), this episode was just too riddled with issues to score particularly highly from me.

Score: 6/10

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