With Titan Comics having wrapped up their first year of adventures for the Thirteenth Doctor and her companions, Ryan, Graham, and Yaz, plans are now in motion for what promises to be an exciting second year, an arc which will open with Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor and the gang meeting the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones – and coming face-to-face with the Weeping Angels. However, as always with Titan, there comes a little breather in the form of their Holiday Special. And this two-part adventure from writer, Jodie Houser and artist, Roberta Ingranata promises a lot of festive trouble for the Thirteenth Doctor and her friends.

The book opens with the crew enjoying some downtime inside the TARDIS and talking about where they would like to go over Christmas. As always they have different ideas. Graham wants to attend a Christmas dinner, while Ryan wants to go to an outer-space Disney Land.

However, it is that request which sparks the first problem for the TARDIS crew as they have different memories of what happened the last time they went to a theme park. Graham was teleported away, Ryan was stuck in a real haunted house, Yaz was poisoned and nearly died, and the Doctor was put into a gladiatorial game. With none of them able to remember the true events, the Doctor decides to take them back to piece together the real events.

As always, and what I’ve been really impressed with over the course of the previous Thirteenth Doctor comics, is the artwork which is simply stunning. I’ve been a comic book reader for many, many years and no matter how good the writing might be, I can’t get into a comic if the artwork is confusing and distracting. I’ve skipped entire runs on comics like The Amazing Spider-Man and Wolverine and the X-Men because I found the respective artwork from Humberto Ramos and Chris Bachalo too difficult to follow.

Here though, Roberta does some stellar work. I’ve always liked the interior of this TARDIS in comic book form and remember being stunned when I saw it in the pages of issue #1, a far cry from my reaction to it when I saw it in The Ghost Monument. While there is no getting around the fact that it still looks cramped, the stunning vibrancy of the colours from Enrica Eren Angiolini actually made me reconsider my initial criticism. And it goes to show that when the set is a little brighter, it does make this interior look an awful lot better!

Roberta Ingranata also has the likeness of the characters down to a tee. It’s brilliant to see Jodie Whittaker, Mandip Gill, Tosin Cole, and Bradley Walsh brought to life here. Bradley Walsh in particular is a treat because he looks just like his real-life counterpart and one wonders if it’s fulfilling some boyhood fantasy of his to see himself in such a form! I can’t put into words how much I love Ingranata’s work, not just here but in the previous issues.

Houser brings the TARDIS to a world that invokes a lot of different Christmas items. The surface of the planet reminded me of gingerbread while the city or town looked like a diorama ornament you can get as Christmas decorations. There, we get our second hint at a mystery as the Doctor is told she caused enough trouble the last time. Of course, telling the Doctor something like that isn’t going to discourage her from seeking the truth so she holds firm and is eventually invited into the house of Friffle.

Houser and Ingranata give us an amusing little sequence which shows the crew trying to squeeze themselves in through the small door of the house which belongs to the elfin creature. I need to congratulate Jodie Houser on her writing for the series so far, as she has captured the voices and mannerisms of the characters perfectly. So perfectly, in fact, that you have to wonder if these aren’t adaptations of lost adventures. You can so clearly hear Whittaker, Walsh, Gill, and Cole delivering these lines and performing these scenes. Houser should be very proud indeed.

The action then ramps up as the Doctor takes the TARDIS to the house owned by a mysterious Mr. Henderson, following an enjoyable sequence where she gives her friends devices that should stop their brains being scrambled. However, we’ve also learnt from Friffle that the Doctor has already been on this path once before. We’ll have to wait till the next issue to see if she invented these devices but doesn’t remember it. But it’s a pleasing sequence anyway.

We get another stunning panel from Ingranata with the TARDIS landing in a snowy landscape which took my breath away. It isn’t long before they find themselves in the usual trouble. Surrounded by strange Nutcracker soldiers that wouldn’t be out of place in The Mind Robber, they come face-to-face with the strange Mr. Henderson who is dressed up as Father Christmas.

But no one on this world likes that name – in fact, it appears to be something of an insult and the crew find themselves imprisoned. But we do learn that some version of Santa Claus is taking Mr. Henderson’s workers and seemingly eating them.

I’m willing to put money on the shadowy figure who stalks this comic being a version of the Krampus, a mythical evil version of Father Christmas who steals naughty children by sacking them up, dragging them up the chimney, and then eating them in its lair. John Dorney tackled a version of the Krampus in the Ravenous saga from Big Finish but it’s a Christmas topic I’m surprised the television series proper has never tackled before – perhaps it’s a little too dark a myth for the show to tackle but it’s ripe for a Doctor Who spin. (Plus the cover for issue 2 really does seem to suggest some take on the mythical Krampus!)

Overall this first issue of the two-part series is a great read and well worth picking up; from its stunning artwork and colouring to its brilliant script, this book flows really nicely and is easy to read. It’s a stunning take on the Thirteenth Doctor’s era and if its not already, maybe put this on your Christmas lists.

The Thirteenth Doctor: Holiday Special #1 is out now from Titan Comics.

This is the first in the series of Titan’s thirteenth Doctor comics – it’s the one with the variant covers. Some of said covers are excellent; some, to my mind, rather less so. This is only my view, though: I’m not a huge fan of caricature or Manga-style representations, though this is probably my fault. (I was brought up on the more realistic style of Tintin, you see. Captain Haddock is my role model.)
I also confess to not having read a great many of Titan’s output; I was surprised and I probably shouldn’t have been to find out that this is the first issue of a continuing story. (Blame me again: I’m dumb.) As a first episode, it works very well: rather like part one of a story of classic Who, in fact, with the set-up and the hooks in place. Writer Jody Houser crafts a good and fast-moving story and it’s going to be worth reading on to see how it develops.
What’s it about? Not telling. Read it and find out!

The Doctor and the rest of the TARDIS crew – I am not going to call them “Team TARDIS” or the Doctor and her “friends” – are effectively characterised: these are the same people we encounter in the current TV series. Tonally and in terms of quality, though, it’s more like The Woman Who Fell to Earth than the subsequent episodes. That’s probably good news for most of us: that was a stronger story by far than the ones that followed. Nothing grates in the comic’s realisation; the transition from screen to graphics works well.
Some lovely artwork, by Rachael Stott and Enrica Eren Angiolini, particularly in the larger panels. Visually, it’s all very good and the story feels like Doctor Who.
Recommended.
Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #1 is available to buy from all good comic book stores and digitally via Comixology. 

Doctor! Every villain says it differently. It is surprising the variety of ways you can pronounce two syllables. Titan Comics’ The Eleventh Doctor #3.2 opens with a page of various monsters saying his name. A combination of my obsession with the show and the clarity of the art made me read each; not simply in a different voice, but in a different inflection. The Cyberman was monotone, the Sontaran angry.
The art by the duo of Leandro Casco and Wellington Diaz is an improvement over The Eleventh Doctor #3.1. The two of them are able to put vivid emotions onto the faces of all the characters. One particular scene shows the Doctor in great pain. I found this panel particularly effective, seeing the Doctor in agony whilst the monster gloats in the background.
These sorts of images counteract some very exposition-heavy dialogue. Most of it is setting up what will be the main focus of this year’s run of comics, but it did get fairly monotonous. There were multiple pages of the new Big Bad telling the Doctor exactly what he was doing with the technology in front of him. Lots of technobabble. I don’t necessarily dislike technobabble; it has its uses. Here, however, I feel that some of the ideas could have been shown, if they had taken more than this issue to set up the plot.
Technobabble aside, the ideas are solid. The Doctor meets a Silence/ Silent/ however you want to spell it we have not seen before, one who is not even remembered by his own people.

This Silence calls himself the Scream and has lured the Doctor to a planet in order to steal his memories/life-force. This is the usual techno-fantasy stuff that Doctor Who likes to play around with and makes it different to a lot of other science fiction.
It also seems like the Eleventh Doctor is getting yet another new companion – in the shape of a very powerful cosmic child that had the memories of the Doctor and his other companion, Alice Obiefune. Matt Smith always worked well with children, so let us hope that this can be brought across in the comic. The idea of a child with limitless power is intriguing. It will be interesting to see how much of a child this entity will actually be.
There is also a return of a character from the previous year of Eleventh Doctor comics. This may turn out to be their final appearance; if so it was a fitting send off to a character that many people adore.
With all the set up out of the way, it looks like Year Three will continue to be a huge galaxy hoping adventure. I for one am glad to be along for the ride.
Geronimo.
Titan Comics’ Eleventh Doctor #3.2 is available via Comixology, or you can buy a collection of the first five issues of Year Three from Amazon now.

Death surrounds the Doctor. His life is so long that would outlive almost all the friends. When he regenerated into the body of a gangly flailing lunatic, he seemed to put all his past troubles behind him. The Eleventh Doctor was not one for looking back and dwelling on death, which is something Titan Comics’ Eleventh Doctor #3.1 explores.
The Eleventh Doctor began afresh with Year Three, traveling with former librarian, Alice Obiefune. These adventures take place prior to The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon whilst Amy and Rory are back at home (okay, so maybe the Eleventh Doctor sometimes looks back).
This issue is touted as a jumping on point for new readers, which I feel is only half true. As someone who has not read the previous Eleventh Doctor Titan Comics, the issue was a little confusing at times. In the previous story arc, the Doctor travelled with an intergalactic pop star who was basically Space-Bowie. Writer, Rob Williams does a good job having the Doctor and Alice explain who he is, without it seeming like they are talking directly to the reader- although some of the emotional beats did not land for me, having not encountered the character before.
Besides confusing continuity and the least subtle political satire since The Happiness Patrol, the issue examined how the Doctor deals with death. He could go back and see anyone who has died – he has a time machine – but he never does. It is the sort of quiet, sad scene where Matt Smith could say so much with just his facial expressions and the art captures this.

The pace is constantly changing. It begins with a high speed chase in BESSIE (Mark 2)! Then mellows into a contemplative section on the way the Doctor handles death, before jumping into a huge planet-wide mystery. How did a desert planet transform into an arboreal wonderland within a year? The constant movement and inclusion of small quieter moments is very in keeping with the Eleventh Doctor’s era. The TARDIS can move about more in one story than in the entirety of a Classic season.
Art wise, I thought the issue was a mixed bag. I enjoyed I.N.J Culbard’s minimalist style most of the time; the actions sequences are fluid and bold, with very little clutter getting in the way of where your eyes should be focusing. However, the faces of the Doctor and Alice sometimes seemed off. There is one particular panel when Alice is standing sideways and her eye is almost non-existent. Although, on other occasions, the depth of the Eleventh Doctor’s expressions is recreated beautifully. You can really see the pain and confusion on the Doctor’s face when they uncover the big mysterious of the issue.
The comic ends on a brilliant cliffhanger introducing a new enemy that is a novel twist on an old foe. Overall, I liked the issue: its breakneck pace and constant change of scenery made up for some facial expressions that were a bit wonky.
Also, the Doctor says “SQEEEEEE” at one point. I am not sure how I feel about that.
Titan Comics’ Eleventh Doctor #3.1 is available via Comixology, or you can buy a collection of the first five issues of Year Three from Amazon now.

After Issue #1 of Titan Comics’ multi-Doctor event, Doctor Who – The Lost Dimension, I was worried that things had reached fever pitch too soon. With each panel we were heading towards ‘reality bomb’ levels of one-upmanship – where the cost is so high and so great that it’s difficult to personalise that level of destruction; where it simply becomes just another end of the world scenario rather than something novel or challenging that shakes our lead characters up in new, lasting ways.
Thankfully, much like Journey’s End, Issue #2 slows the pace down and changes tact with a nuanced take on an established relationship.
To the high seas we go as the crew of the Mary Anning (an early clue for primary school students for where the story might be heading) discover something unusual at the bottom of the briny sea – The TARDIS.

Hauling it onboard (I’m still not sure quite how three men managed to haul the captured TARDIS on to the deck but anyway), the Ninth Doctor and Rose demand to speak to the captain, who, it turns out is nonother than Madame Vastra, who has a personal reason for taking to the high seas.
Slowing down the pace and focusing on an earlier Doctor’s relationship with an established character allows us to see where their mutual respect began. It transpires that Madame Vastra has been alerted to the presence of what could be an activated Silurian cryogenic chamber thanks to a chance discovery by explorer Sir Robert Napton.
Knowing something of Napton’s fanciful history, the Ninth Doctor smells a rat and immediately warns Madame Vastra off this ‘wild goose chase’. How would Vastra be convinced if Napton is simply faking his curious find? Surely, he couldn’t have produced a perfect copy of a Silurian scholar good enough to fool an actual Silurian – well, here’s the thing, it turns out Madame Vastra once performed as ‘The Sensational Scaled Siren’ and the Doctor uses that humiliating part of her past to attempt to convince her that she’s barking up the wrong tree. Why? Well, the Doctor has his own reasons for being all out to sea…

There’s a lot to unpack in these early scenes and Cavan Scott absolutely nails each beat. It helps to that he has a real knack for writing Ninth Doctor dialogue even when he’s being as manipulative with a future companion in a manner more becoming of the Seventh Doctor.
It’s genuinely novel to see an earlier incarnation interact with a perhaps rawer established character from his future. It bodes well for future cross-universe mash-ups.
Then there’s a giant sea creature attack and once again, the stakes shift in unexpected ways.
It’s during this section of the issue where Rose comes into her own. She’s as spikey and snarky as her TV incarnation and still willing to call the Doctor out when his compassion is somewhat lacking. It’s through her that we get the issues biggest moment (basically if you’ve seen the covers then you know what’s coming – which is a touch disappointing) and again Scott delivers a faultless representation of a beloved character.
Then it’s a race to the finale with some particularly stunning whole-page images of Silurians under attack by something promising ‘peace’. The artwork for the issue is uniformly excellent. Artists Adriana Melos and Cris Bolson excel at both the calmer, quieter moments and the big, scene-stealing set pieces. Likewise, colourists Marco Lesko and Dijjo Lima add impressive shade to a twilight meal aboard the Mary Anning and bright and poppy sci-fi illuminations when the climactic moments come to ahead.
By shifting the focus onto character rather than spectacle and teasing new details out of an established relationship, issue #2 of Doctor Who – The Lost Dimension hints at new avenues of multi-doctor, multi-companion storytelling that previous Titan Comics events didn’t quite reach. Here’s hoping they can continue this excellent run of form.
Titan Comics’ Doctor Who – The Lost Dimension #2 is available to buy now from all good stockists and digitally via Comixology. 

It’s sometimes easy to underestimate the importance of Doctor Who comics, novels, and audios, given the amount of televised material we’ve had to spoil us since 2005. Back in the late 1980s, things were very different, when fans had to endure their favourite show being wedged into timeslots that would hasten its demise. We knew then that ‘winter was coming’.
Having to keep pace with shows like Coronation Street delivered the coup de grace, exiling the show to begin its hiatus and wait for the word ‘reboot’ to become fashionable. During those lean years, fans such as myself needed fresh material to keep them warm in surviving that long winter. Novelisations and comics provided the safe-haven that could endure outside of the TV canon. Doctor Who seemed almost dead, yet it still had a strong pulse. The Doctors and their companions could continue their adventures agelessly, allowing fresh talents to expand the Doctor Who universe, filling in the many story opportunities that the show’s rich history provided between televised episodes and seasons – a marketplace notably exploited by Big Finish in recent years.
My own experience of Doctor Who comic books isn’t extensive; I’m probably not familiar with much since the likes of The Iron Legion and Abslom Daak, but reading Titan’s Tenth Doctor offering reminded me that comics can offer something that televised Who cannot.
The Tenth Doctor spent much of Russell T Davies’ tenure on modern-day Earth and the Powell Estate; the Eleventh Doctor, under Steven Moffat’s direction, found himself roaming Leadworth in similar fashion, while the Twelfth’s home-from-home was to be found amidst various educational institutions. Furthermore, the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors were given adventures stateside, albeit slightly Big Apple-centric, perhaps to bolster interest in the show across the pond (and admittedly, it appeared to work!). These constraints, however, of both time and place, do not apply in comic book adventures such as this – widening the scope of where and when the Doctor and his companions can visit.

Written by Nick Abadzis, the premise of Breakfast at Tyranny’s is as slick as Giorgia Sposito’s artwork while it runs with a new TARDIS team in a continuation of the previous story. Featuring companion back-stories alongside the introduction of a Doctor suffering an amnesia-driven identity crisis, the look and feel of the adventure is reminiscent in some ways of the dystopian futures given life in work such as Manga. This gives the story a fresh alternative universe feel that moves away from drabber visions of the future – consisting of men with long hair, beards, and brown hessian clothing – and instead employs colour and a mixture of imaginative skylines and landscapes.
In the mix are the ingredients that Doctor Who thrives on. The terrifyingly named ‘Wraith Hounds’, preying on the downtrodden in the backstreets, provide the fear and peril, while the treatment of Gabby Gonzalez, at the hands of tyrannical restaurant owner, Hector, serves as a reminder that oppression can come in smaller, everyday packages, rather than large scale enslavements of peoples and cultures. This real-life storytelling gives the characters an extra dimension – much like Rose – while neatly setting up a story-arc for different threads to converge when the time comes.
When reading the dialogue, it can sometimes be difficult to put the Tenth Doctor’s voice to the words; the language sometimes feels generic and one wonders if Tennant’s Doctor could be replaced with any incarnation since Peter Davison and produce the same effect. This, however, is a small grumble, and it is important to be aware that with limited space to include intricate dialogue, the reader relies as much on the imagery for exposition as he or she does the written word.
For the younger fanbase, who want to continue enjoying the adventures of a timeless hero, they will not be disappointed. The instalment ends provocatively enough for the reader to want to know more, and subsequently indulge in the next issue. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see if such a promising story foundation will be rewarded with a plausibly cogent conclusion – probably one of the hardest things to get right in storytelling. We shall see.
Luckily, winter isn’t coming again just yet, as far as we know, but if it does, it’s good to know that further adventures from the expanded Whoniverse are out there waiting to be read.

All good things come to an end, and The Tenth Doctor Year Two has been a very good thing indeed. But would it end with a bang or a whimper? Pleasingly, it’s a bit of both.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise; Nick Abadzis’ writing has frequently delivered intimate stories with huge scope, and he does the very same here, in Old Girl: War of the Gods Part 5. While the Doctor is forced to face the omnipotent Sutekh, his companions shield Anubis as best as they can, and have a heart-to-heart at the same time. This little conversation addresses Cindy Wu’s feelings of being in Gabby Gonzalez’s shadow, an underlying theme to Year Two that also cuts at the heart of most TARDIS teams consisting of more than one companion.
The first companion to join the TARDIS inevitably feels more at home with the Doctor and his world(s), while subsequent characters often feel like they have to prove themselves even more. Some feel somewhat detached. But Abadzis has integrated Cindy really well so far, so it’s nice to see her still seeking reassurance from her best friend.
Meanwhile, the Doctor has let the God-like beings betrayed by Sutekh loose. And they want revenge.
If you’re a fan of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, you’re not going to like how a God of Ragnarok fares; these are all mere distractions to the Osiran, giving the Time Lord space to get his own plan together. Naturally, it doesn’t go as smoothly as he’d hoped.
Very little is as expected actually. I figured Anubis would fight back and the “War of Gods” would, in reality, be between Sutekh and his son. Nick obviously has plans for Noobis beyond #2.17, which indicates that he’s playing a longer game than we first realised. That’s something to celebrate, because this title is certainly in safe hands.

Of course, the comic isn’t solely the product of Nick’s: art is provided by Giorgia Sposito, with colours by Arianna Florean. The two work greatly together, with Florean employing a subtle and nuanced palette to complement Sposito’s wonderful art. There’s a lot of story packed into this comic, and lesser creative teams would run the risk of letting this crowd out each page – fortunately, Giorgia keeps a fantastic understanding of composition that adds to the narrative, making it flow easily.
Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt, too, continue the good work, their lettering clear and distinctive.
Again, all strike a balance between the large scale and the small. I’m especially impressed with the minutiae of Sposito’s panels, notably a surprisingly personal exchange between the Doctor and Dorothy while the service robots search for them. The final panel of that page, expressing the Doctor’s guilt, is wonderful.
There’s always going to be a niggle, however, and that comes in this issue’s cover. Drawn by Wellington Diaz, it’s a fine enough drawing, but it does seem at odds with what’s going on inside the comic. Why is Rose Tyler there? What’s the house in the background? While I wouldn’t normally have a problem with covers like this, it’s simply not grand enough for the season finale and feels very disjointed.
Still, it is a minor niggle, especially compared to how enjoyable the story is.
To paraphrase River Song, everybody knows that all good things come to an end. But not every day. Not today. Because Nick Abadzis and co. are back for the continued adventures of the Doctor, Gabby, Cindy, and Anubus with The Tenth Doctor Year Three very soon…
The Tenth Doctor #2.17 is out now, priced $3.99.

If you’ve been reading Titan’s Tenth Doctor comic since Year One, the return of a major villain from the Fourth Doctor’s tenure should come as no surprise.
Spoiler alert: it’s only Sutekh the Destroyer!
It shows on every page that writer, Nick Abadzis is a fan of the Philip Hinchcliffe and Robert Holmes era: this is a love letter to childhood memories of that wonderful pyramid of Mars – but crucially, he moves the story forward and does something smart with it. Old Girl: The Return of Sutekh Part 3 finds the Tenth Doctor and his companions, Gabby Gonzalez and Cindy Wu, on the verge of the apocalypse, as a being with God-like powers begins to manifest itself through his son, Anubis.
Throughout his appearances in the comic, Anubis has been an interesting character, more nuanced than his angry father – struggling to align his inheritance with his desire to know and understand the universe and its peoples. To see him struggling as he’s possessed by fragments of his overbearing (to say the least) father is nicely realised… and you actually feel yourself caring for this troubled young God-in-the-making.
Abadzis sets this tale in surroundings far removed from the classical setting of Pyramids of Mars, instead having the Osirans in the technologically-advanced but tranquil Shining Horizon. Appropriately, it’s a golden pyramid – the last Osiran mothership – drifting in space and soon aligning with the Circle of Transcendence. Here, Sutekh hopes to escape his imprisonment, as well as freeing some of his allies.

And this is where artist, Giorgia Sposito really proves what an incredible talent she is. You can tell she’s having great fun depicting the vastness of space, creating gorgeous celestial objects, and drawing baddies from various eras of the Doctor’s adventures.
Aside from Sutekh, we see glimpses of the King Nocturne (which will be familiar to regular readers of this comic series), the Destroyer from Battlefield, the Beast from The Satan Pit, and a God of Ragnarok, circa The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.
Furthermore, Sposito has even created a stunning design based on those iconic mummy robots, this time a sleek female version, in the Seeker.
To top it all off, the colour palette used by Arianna Florean and Adele Matera is rich, bright, and balances pages perfectly.
Needless to say, this is one lovely-looking comic.
But this shouldn’t come as a surprise either: the Tenth Doctor creative team has been knocking it out of the park since Issue 1. Yet Year Two really has taken it to another level. The way Abadzis has brought together seemingly disparate strands to form an engaging and enjoyable finale should be a lesson to all writers.
There is, however, one disappointing thing about this comic: the fact I have to wait to find out how it concludes!
The Tenth Doctor #2.15 is out now, with a $3.99 RRP.

Gallifrey.
It’s strange, seeing the Doctor’s home planet. It’s cause for great excitement, and that can naturally result in a huge let-down too. For every Deadly Assassin, there’s an Arc of Infinity. The joy at seeing the capitol at the end of Heaven Sent led to the bitter disappointment (at least to me) of Hell Bent. Gallifrey gives you a lot to live up to.
Fortunately, in The Tenth Doctor #2.14, writer Nick Abadzis presents us with a very tantalising prospect, and pays it off – as well as setting up a plot strand that’ll be picked up later on down the line.
The Doctor and Cindy Wu are on a shopping trip for Anubis, except the TARDIS has instead landed on the Doctor’s homeworld at a time I can’t recall ever seeing before: Gallifrey before it was Gallifrey. Before the Time Lords. Go on: pick this comic up now. Surely that’s all you need to hear to tempt you into buying?
No? You want more?
I fear that sometimes, when delving into the Time Lords’ mythology, stories can begin to feel like fan fiction. This issue is nothing like that, however. It teases just enough, and fittingly plays on what we’ve learnt about Gallifrey from David Tennant’s time on Doctor Who, namely the Untempered Schism. This was inevitable: after all, the two-part Wishing Well Witch (see The Tenth Doctor #2.8 and #2.9) featured victims of the Time Lords’ actions. While this comic doesn’t explain the mechanics of what happened, it expands and further intrigues, meaning the eventual denouement should be something truly special indeed.

Oh yes, Abadzis has been playing a long game. It seems he’s setting up Year Three for the title while concluding the arc left over from Year One. It’s a fine mix of showrunning mentalities: the comic feels like a product from the Russell T. Davies era, but with the foresight of Steven Moffat’s tenure (and a generous helping of the Fourth Doctor era too). Answer plenty of questions, while posing a whole lot more. It’s a solid technique, especially when each issue is as good as this one is: if you’ve been along for ride from the get-go, that’s perfect, but the quality of this also means that new readers will want to delve into the back-catalogue.
Of course, it’s not solely Abadzis’ vision: artist, Giorgia Sposito has been a huge presence in The Tenth Doctor Year Two, and alongside colourists, Arianna Florean and Adele Matera, produces a gorgeous issue. It’s rich, vibrant, and clear, yet surprisingly understated.
Sposito expertly balances the spectacular with the smaller character-driven moments, while the backgrounds never fail to look beautiful. You even get to see other incarnations of the Doctor, though to say more would spoilt it. Let’s just say it’s via a creature that’s reminiscent of Doctor Who Magazine‘s Shayde, or perhaps Marvel Comics’ Orb. Sposito’s Tenth Doctor is particularly spot-on, so you feel right in the adventure.
And what an adventure it is! It’s very difficult to find something to complain about with this comic… so I won’t bother! Suffice to say, this is the title you need to be picking up regularly. Superb.
The Tenth Doctor #2.14 is out now, priced $3.99.

First up, I have to admit I haven’t actually read a Doctor Who comic for probably 15 years. I used to love comics; it just sort of fell out of my attention. So when I heard it was Comics week on DWC, my first thought was to dig out some old issues of Doctor Who Classic Comics and wallow in nostalgia…
In retrospect, I am really pleased that Philip (the clever editor) suggested instead that I could review Doctor Who: The Third Doctor Miniseries from Titan Comics. Because it’s a fantastic adventure, brilliantly scripted by new Who and novel writer, Paul Cornell.
I don’t know how to compare it to other Titan adventures (I haven’t read them) and it may be that I’m just re-finding a lost love of comics, but I enjoyed The Heralds of Destruction tremendously. At one point, part way through reading an issue late night in bed, my wife asked to switch the lights out. So I waited a bit and read the rest under the covers (the light of my iPad in lieu of a torch).
And that’s a good metaphor for Heralds as a whole: it is such a fine and accurate recreation of the Third Doctor’s era, cast in a modern new light. The adventure occurs directly after the events of The Three Doctors. Our favourite Time Lord has been granted his freedom back, but has yet to set off on new adventures across time and space…

For Jo Grant, this is an uncertain time; will her beloved friend take off without her? Will he ever be seen again? What Paul Cornell does is give us a fully-formed Third Doctor world, matched by perfectly through evocative illustrations by Christopher Jones, but with a broader emotional depth and richer characterisation.
We get inside Doctor Three’s head in a much more fully realised way than was ever afforded on TV, exploring the effect exile to one planet and one time has had on the eternal wanderer. Jo and Captain Yate’s relationship, barely touched on on-screen, is also explored meaningfully within these pages.
Cornell also injects a great deal of foreshadowing of what’s to come, with hints of Yate’s future betrayal and breakdown, the Doctor’s imminent regeneration, and his ‘greed’ that leads him to lose his third incarnation.
Plus we also get another great encounter between Pertwee’s Doctor and Delgado’s Master, possibly the ultimate hero/villain combination in the show’s history. All credit to Big Finish for bringing back the Third Doctor in a series of audio adventures, but Titan has a bigger arsenal of characters to call upon, not just the usual UNIT regulars, but the likes of Corporal Bell and Sgt Osgood too. In a nod to the possible parentage of the new Who scientist Osgood, at one point the Sergeant is seen to use an inhaler.

Cornell slips in a few more nods and winks to the revived era of the programme, which mostly pass without interrupting the adventure. But I found the inference that Jo Grant coined the phrase ‘timey-wimey’ (much to the Doctor’s chagrin) a little jarring. Probably because it was more appropriately rebutted by the War Doctor in The Day of the Doctor.
There are a number of great twists (often cliffhangers the end of an issue) in the The Heralds of Destruction that I don’t want to spoil here. So I suggest if you want to save your shock and awe to when you turn the last page, don’t read the description of future issues on the Titan webpages. I did.
So, I hope I’ve made it clear that, in the vast majority, I really enjoyed these comics. I don’t want you to misconstrue what I’m about to write. Because there is one ‘joke’ I found very offensive and totally out-of-place in this otherwise fantastic collection.
Near the start of the adventure finds the Third Doctor regaling a group of upper-class old duffers at his gentleman’s club (where he’s obviously not just a member, but a fixture). This harks back to an exchange in Terror of the Autons where the Doctor namedrops Lord Rowlans referring to him using his nickname ‘Tubby’, as a way of putting the upstart civil servant Brownrose in his place. It’s always been unclear whether it’s a bit of bravado on the Doctor’s part; would our unconventional, iconoclastic hero really spend his leisure hours with an elite bunch of aristos in a men-only establishment?
Cornell chooses to make it plain: yes, he did. And it’s clearly to make the point that the Third Doctor’s exile has changed him – he’s become established, a bit stuffy, even. And that’s fine, because there’s an appropriate pay-off at the denouement of the adventure, where the Doctor realises how far he’s strayed.

What irks me is the snatch of an anecdote the Doctor utters, intended to regale and entertain the assembled club members. ‘So I said to Pol Pot,’ smarms the Doctor. ‘“Polly” I said…’ At which point he’s interrupted by what I can only presume to be common decency.
Yes, the inference here is that our champion of goodness, justice, and tolerance spends his spare time hob-nobbing with a ruthless dictator responsible for the torture and death of 1.5 million (possibly more) of his own people in Cambodia (in the course of five brutal years in the late 1970s, famously depicted in The Killing Fields). The fact that anyone with half a conscience might hang about with Pol Pot (knowing what he is doing/will do) and jovially call him ‘Polly’ is not only ludicrous, it’s actually pretty sickening.
It’s not quite the equivalent of the Doctor saying, ‘So I said to Adolf Hitler…‘“Addy” I said…’ But it’s in that unacceptable stupidity zone. Now anyone who has read my witterings before on DWC knows that I’m all in favour of a good (more often bad) joke. But this should never have got past the editors and into publication.
Yes, I am fully aware that this is a reference to when the Third Doctor famously says to Jo in Day of the Daleks, ‘I remember saying to old Napoleon. Boney, I said, always remember an army marches on its stomach.’ Which is a clever line, the Doctor taking credit for one of Napoleon’s most well-known phrases, while also calling him ‘Boney’, the nickname the British used to mock the French leader. I am also aware that Napoleon is a controversial figure and responsible for a lot of suffering, but he is also admired and achieved some great things. Pol Pot is not an equivalent.
Now, I’ve met Paul Cornell and he’s a lovely guy, and by all other reports that’s exactly what he is. So I don’t want to blame him for this misstep, but please do better next time!
However, don’t let this distract you too much from this magnificent comic series. It’s a rip-roaring adventure with a big heart and some dramatic twists: tightly scripted and expertly drawn. A must have for any late-night under-the-covers-with-a-torch adventures. Just hold back on throw-away jokes about people who commit genocide in future. Please.