Rachael StottReseñas

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-fountains-of-forever-by-nick-abadzis-et-al/

Starts with a short and breezy story about the Tenth Doctor, Gabby and the Tardis’s washing machines, answering the question my mother always used to ask about how the Doctor and companions keep their clothes clean.

Then we’re into a story marketed under two titles, “The Fountains of Forever” for the first two parts and “Spiral Staircase” for the third and fourth, set in New York where an unexpectedly rejuvenated movie star become the focus of the Osirians attempt to return to Earth after the Pyramids of Mars. There’s a nice little moment where the Tenth Doctor retro-regenerates into the Ninth, and back again. Good atmospherics in general.

The Enterprise follows a Klingon ship to a parallel world where they find “Earth” overtaken by apes. Now they must stop the Klingon's from starting civil war on the planet.

Have you always wanted to know what would have happened if Kirk and the rest of the crew happened to find themselves on the "Earth" from the Planet of the Apes? Well I haven't, but it was an interesting reading experience and this mixing different science fiction shows/movies together is a fun idea. What's next Star trek meets Alien, Predators, or E.T? The list can go on...

I have seen Planets of the Ape (well I have seen both the original and the new one, but I will referee to the original since the new one is…bad and it's the old one that is connected to this Star Trek graphic novel) and remember enough to keep up with the plot and it was quite fun seeing Kirk, Spock and the rest meet Charlton Heston, Eh I mean George Taylor. They need to stop the Klingons without interfering to much with the inhabitants of the planet, but of course Taylor is pissed off and want to start a war with the apes for the human race sake and they also have to deal with him as well as the Klingon's.

It was a good graphic novel, the art was OK, not breathtaking beautiful, but you could see who was who and that's nice. But I never really found myself really, really enjoying the story. It took me days to finish it and usually I devour a Star Trek graphic novel like it is a bag of candy. But this one, I started it and then it took me some days to return to it. In the end I just had to sit down and just read it, more like commanding myself than thinking how enjoyable it would be. Then again, I have been in a bit of reading slump the last couple of days so that could be part of it.

But I liked the graphic novel enough that I would want to know what happens next because the ending was a bit open and even though I started out a bit doubtful about it I did start to enjoy the story more when Kirk and the rest had to figure out of to help the apes without too much interference.

I received this copy from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review! Thank you!

De twaalfde Doctor begint dit avontuur zonder companion en belandt in Parijs in de 17de eeuw. Dat hij een companion tegen zal komen, is zo goed als zeker en al snel maken we kennis met een zeer rebellerende zangeres. Helemaal het type voor de Doctor. Grappig is dat zij hem als haar companion ziet en ook zo behandelt. Heel verfrissend om eens mee te maken.
Het verhaal is zelf ook heel sterk beginnend met een kwaadaardige priester. Maar dan blijken er nog meer machthebbers onder invloed van het grote kwaad te staan. Natuurlijk weet de Doctor dit gevaar af te wenden met slimme oplossingen.
De tekeningen zijn duidelijk met een computer gemaakt waardoor het allemaal wel heel gladjes uitziet. Van mij mag het wel wat grover. En ook herkende ik de Doctor lang niet altijd wat ik een enorm minpunt vind. Maar de kleuren zijn dan wel weer geweldig intens waardoor branden en zwarte machten heel goed overkomen.

In het tweede verhaal neemt de Doctor twee stripmakers (die een strip maken op basis van de Doctor) mee op avontuur om te laten zien dat de echte wereld nog veel gekker is dan je kunt bedenken. De vijand wordt uiteindelijk verslagen door de creatieve breinen van deze stripmakers tegenover de fantasieloze vijandige hersenen.
Heel leuk bedacht en ook lekker stripachtig getekend.½

Een opmerkelijk sterke uitgave in de serie van de Twaalfde Doctor.

In het hoofdverhaal The Twist pikt de Doctor een nieuwe companion op, Hattie, een basist van een hardrockband waar de Doctor fan van is. Dat ze samen af en toe jammen is dan ook heel leuk gevonden. Hun dialogen zijn sprankelend en hebben me meerdere malen doen glimlachen zo gevat als het was.
Inhoudelijk vond ik het verhaal van The Twist heel goed gevonden met bekende Doctor Who-elementen maar ook wel verfrissende ideeën.
De tekeningen zijn om te smullen, zo geweldig gedetailleerd dat er een hoop te beleven valt aan het kijken. Ik voel me dan ook schuldig dat ik door de bladzijden heenzoef omdat het verhaal zo spannend was en ik wilde weten hoe het verder ging. Daarmee heb ik de tekenaar echt tekort gedaan.

Het bijverhaal was ook van een opmerkelijk hoge kwaliteit. Dit keer is het een stervende TARDIS die voor moeilijkheden zorgt. Hattie is ook hier de Doctor zijn companion en dat werkt prima. Dat zij op het einde niet meer verder meereist, verbaasde me dan ook wel een beetje. Zij had makkelijk nog wat langer meegekund. De tekeningen van dit verhaal zijn van een heel andere stijl maar ook weer met aardig wat details.

Een DoctorWho-uitgave die makkelijk nog eens herlezen kan worden en zeker nieuwe ontdekkingen zal opleveren.½

Het hoofdverhaal is wederom een klassieker met zombieachtige leerlingen op een privéschool en uiteindelijk Sea Devils die de wereld willen heroveren. Weinig origineel en ik zuchtte even diep bij het zien van de Sea Devils. Maar vreemd genoeg ging die vermoeidheid over en werd ik alsnog in het verhaal gezogen.
De tekeningen bij dit verhaal zijn mooi en fijn om naar te kijken behalve dat ik de twaalfde Doctor er niet goed in herken en zelfs daardoor een scène eerst niet begreep.
De Doctor bruist van de energie en neemt een opgezette zwaardvis als companion als Clara niet in de buurt is. Dit levert hilarische momenten op. Er is sowieso veel humor in de dialogen van de Doctor met wie dan ook. Hij is op en top rap van de tongriem gesneden. Dat maakte dat ik leuk bleef vinden.

Het eerste korte verhaal vind ik niet zo mooi getekend maar het verhaal zelf vond ik wel heel erg leuk. De Doctor waarschuwt ons als lezer om niet de bladzijde om te slaan. Dat doen we natuurlijk wel en dan begint het avontuur waarbij mensen stripboeken ingetrokken worden om als 2D-personages te leven zodat 2D-wezens onze 3D-wereld kunnen overnemen. Heel leuk gevonden.

Het laatste korte verhaal vond ik wel wat kort door de bocht met Osgood die de Doctor om hulp vraagt en er met de sjaal van de vierde Doctor een gevaarlijke robot ontmanteld kan worden. Voor dit verhaal is aardig wat kennis nodig van de Doctor zijn geschiedenis met Osgood. Ik heb dat niet meer helemaal paraat en had daardoor het idee heel wat te missen.
Toch is elk Doctor Who-verhaal toch weer een klein cadeautje om even mee in het universum van de Doctor te kunnen zijn.½

There's a good idea at the heart of this volume: the Doctor runs into the Corsair, an old Time Lord friend she learned died back in "The Doctor's Wife." How do you handle a situation like this? Unfortunately, I felt that that aspect of the story was barely present; I only really got what the story was going for in its last issue. If the Doctor had talked about this with her companions, it could have been highlighted more, but much like on screen, Houser's version of the fam are interchangeable recipients of exposition. There's just nothing very characterful here. What do they all make of meeting another Time Lord at last, so different from the one they know so well? Who knows. Probably this is how Chris Chibnall would handle it on screen, as in, just as dully. Not terrible, but it's a disappointment for our first real glimpse of the Corsair.

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This volume perfectly evokes the screen adventures of the thirteenth Doctor. Unfortunately, for me, that is damning with faint praise. The story is mostly the Doctor wandering around, seemingly rarely actually doing anything with any sense of urgency, following by three companions who altogether have the narrative function of a single person, until the story comes to an end without any kind of climax. It might have worked as a two-parter, but unfortunately it runs four issues. I much prefer Scott Gray's approach to thirteenth Doctor comics over in DWM (which is to tell the same kind of Doctor Who stories he always does, but with different characters in them).

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This is the first proper installment in Titan's Thirteenth Doctor series, with a four-issue adventure for the Doctor, Graham, Yaz, and Ryan. Rachael Stott does great art, of course, but beyond that I found it pretty forgettable; it explains the mystery of the time portal in The Road to the Thirteenth Doctor, but I wasn't too fussed about that despite the ad in the back of this one trumpeting that I can pick up that story to discover the first appearance of Perkins. It is impossible for me to imagine someone finishing this story and wanting to do that, and if they did, all they would find there was a hand emerging from a time portal!

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In this volume, the Doctor and Gabriella encounter aliens with a distinctly Egyptian-mythology vibe. Because of this, I really liked the story—I am a sucker for a good Egyptian-mythology story, especially one that riffs on Pyramids of Mars too, which is perhaps one of my favourite Fourth Doctor stories. The laundromat story at the beginning was cute too; I like stories that explore hitherto unrevealed rooms in the TARDIS. So overall, I liked this a little bit more than Volume 1, Revolutions of Terror, but not quite as much as Volume 2, The Weeping Angels of Mons. All three volumes are action-packed and fun, and worth reading if you like David Tennant’s Doctor.½

Wederom tekeningen waar ik nou niet heel blij van word maar ik heb ook nog wel slechtere Doctor Who-tekenaars meegemaakt dus dan valt dit nog mee. Alleen dat de Tiende Doctor alleen aan zijn kostuum en zijn haardracht te herkennen is, vind ik toch echt wel te mager.

Gelukkig maakt het verhaal heel veel goed. Dit is het derde deel in de reeks waarvan ik de eerste twee delen niet heb gelezen. Ik neem aan dat hierin de huidige companion van de Doctor is voorgesteld. Gabby Gonzalez, een Amerikaanse Latino die kunstzinnige kwaliteiten heeft. Het is duidelijk dat Doctor Who ook met de huidige tijdgeest meegaat en steeds inclusiever aan het worden is. Heel fijn. In dit deel wordt haar relatie met een goede vriendin verder uitgediept, een vriendin die zich verwaarloosd voelt en als een zeurpiet overkomt. Ze irriteerde me soms wel maar aan de andere kant laat ze juist door haar gedrag ook zien hoe het is voor de mensen die achterblijven. Companions leveren door te reizen met de Doctor een deel van hun leven op aarde in met soms grotere gevolgen dan van te voren te voorzien is.

Het verhaal van The Fountains of Forever zit prima in elkaar. Met verwijzingen naar blinde godenverering en de Egyptische mythen. En het voelt aan dat het verhaal nog niet helemaal af is en er een vervolg in zit.

Het blijft toch eeuwig zonde dat ze voor niet betere tekenaars kiezen.½

This is one big story, and I don't have meaningfully distinct comments about each volume, so this review takes in both.

Titan's Doctor Who crossovers got bigger every year. This one is eight issues and two collected editions, and crossed through its ongoings (instead of just featuring characters from them), taking in issues of The Tenth Doctor: Year Three, The Eleventh Doctor: Year Three, and The Twelfth Doctor: Year Three. It also features the ninth Doctor, Rose, Jack, Tara, Madame Vastra, and Jenny; Jenny, the Doctor's daughter; the fourth Doctor and second Romana; and River Song in a set of specials. Plus every other incarnation of the Doctor puts in at least a one-scene cameo. Is that enough already?

It is, in fact, too much. It follows the Big Finish model: the characters are mostly separate for most of it, which means they undertake pretty generic adventures, and then the characters come together at the end, which means the narrative doesn't have room for anything other than simple solutions and generic Doctor sniping... something we've seen twice in the past two years! I have posited in the past that Big Finish's nostalgic crossovers are pointless because they bring together characters we see in ongoing adventures all the time already, and the same is true here. There is no novelty to bringing "back" the tenth Doctor, Gabby, and Cindy when I read their adventures already. The only characters we don't already see all the time in Titan adventures are Jenny, the fourth Doctor and Romana, and River, but the first of those I had no desire to see come back, and the others I listen to the adventures of already via Big Finish. (Plus, I didn't find the stories or dialogue very good; the River story in particular was confusingly written and poorly illustrated.)

If we aren't getting nostalgia, then we're not getting anything, because this story isn't really about anything. A dimension turns people into mindless zombies... as Doctor Who threats go, it's definitively bottom tier and generic. Does this story have any interesting themes or clever characterization? Basically, no. The one exception is the Eleventh Doctor issue, which isn't by any of the regular Eleventh Doctor writers but is at least by regular Eleventh Doctor artists Leandro Casco and I. N. J. Culbard. It's a decent tale of the eleventh Doctor and Alice being trapped on ancient Gallifrey and becoming inadvertently involved with the Time Lord's early TARDIS experiments. The rest of it all is sound and fury, signifying nothing. I'm glad that after three goes, Titan finally abandoned these annual events; I had mixed thoughts about Four Doctors, but it was overall pretty interesting. The latter two have been exercises in tedium.

Titan Doctor Who: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence »

This is one big story, and I don't have meaningfully distinct comments about each volume, so this review takes in both.

Titan's Doctor Who crossovers got bigger every year. This one is eight issues and two collected editions, and crossed through its ongoings (instead of just featuring characters from them), taking in issues of The Tenth Doctor: Year Three, The Eleventh Doctor: Year Three, and The Twelfth Doctor: Year Three. It also features the ninth Doctor, Rose, Jack, Tara, Madame Vastra, and Jenny; Jenny, the Doctor's daughter; the fourth Doctor and second Romana; and River Song in a set of specials. Plus every other incarnation of the Doctor puts in at least a one-scene cameo. Is that enough already?

It is, in fact, too much. It follows the Big Finish model: the characters are mostly separate for most of it, which means they undertake pretty generic adventures, and then the characters come together at the end, which means the narrative doesn't have room for anything other than simple solutions and generic Doctor sniping... something we've seen twice in the past two years! I have posited in the past that Big Finish's nostalgic crossovers are pointless because they bring together characters we see in ongoing adventures all the time already, and the same is true here. There is no novelty to bringing "back" the tenth Doctor, Gabby, and Cindy when I read their adventures already. The only characters we don't already see all the time in Titan adventures are Jenny, the fourth Doctor and Romana, and River, but the first of those I had no desire to see come back, and the others I listen to the adventures of already via Big Finish. (Plus, I didn't find the stories or dialogue very good; the River story in particular was confusingly written and poorly illustrated.)

If we aren't getting nostalgia, then we're not getting anything, because this story isn't really about anything. A dimension turns people into mindless zombies... as Doctor Who threats go, it's definitively bottom tier and generic. Does this story have any interesting themes or clever characterization? Basically, no. The one exception is the Eleventh Doctor issue, which isn't by any of the regular Eleventh Doctor writers but is at least by regular Eleventh Doctor artists Leandro Casco and I. N. J. Culbard. It's a decent tale of the eleventh Doctor and Alice being trapped on ancient Gallifrey and becoming inadvertently involved with the Time Lord's early TARDIS experiments. The rest of it all is sound and fury, signifying nothing. I'm glad that after three goes, Titan finally abandoned these annual events; I had mixed thoughts about Four Doctors, but it was overall pretty interesting. The latter two have been exercises in tedium.

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I had some initial issues with Robbie Morrison's earlier contributions to The Twelfth Doctor series, but his final volume shows that he's totally worked out the kinks. This contains two stories, one three issues long and one two. The first is "Terror of the Cabinet Noir," with another between-Clara-and-Bill temporary companion, in this case Julie d'Aubigny, a real seventeenth-century opera singer-- among many other things. I don't remember taking much notice of Mariano Laclaustra's art before, but this is gorgeous and well-suited to the story. Both the twelfth Doctor and Julie sparkle in their repartee. The plot isn't going to set your world on fire, but I really enjoyed reading it.

The second is kind of goofy, and not as good as it probably should have been; the Doctor confronts the writer and artist team behind Time Surgeon, a comic series based on his own exploits (mentioned back in vol 4). I wish it had been a bit more meta and playful. Still, Morrison and artist Rachael Stott effectively communicate Twelve's dripping disdain for the entire set-up, and he gets some good jokes you can imagine Peter Capaldi nailing.

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The companions are given a bit more inner life than usual, as it turns out that they are all fans of a podcast about obscure historical events (which sound plausible, though I have not checked to see how many of them are real). The alien enemy becomes humanised through contact with the Doctor, and we end up with a story where everyone wins, told across a set of neatly portrayed historical scenes.½

A woman who hunts criminals across parallell dimensions finds herself needing the help of her narcissist ex-celebrity mother to hunt the younger brother she hasn't seen since childhood and who has now turned terrorist. While at times the humour (to my tastes) gets a bit flat and stupidly explicit for no real reason, and the foundation plot for most of the book is so-so, the emotional undercurrent of the fraught mother-daughter relationship always helps carry my interest. There are also some neat twists and turns as we go, and the ending is wonderful. I genuinely considered adding a half-star extra just for the final panel, though I restrained myself, figuring the rating should reflect the reading experience of the whole book, not just the final impression.

This volume contains two twelfth Doctor stories, with a new short-term companion between Clara and Bill. The first, "The Twist," is set on a human space habitat in the far future, and the Doctor investigates a series of mysterious disappearances while also attending a rock concert. It's okay. It has a twist that's kind of dumb, and I didn't buy the resolution, but I enjoyed the ride well enough.

The second, "Playing House," is actively dumb. The big twist here is so obvious you feel insulted. The bigger-on-the-inside place the Doctor discovers... is a TARDIS! Wow, who would see that coming?

Also, I feel that between George Mann's three original companions (Engines of War's Cinder, The Eighth Doctor's Josie Day, and this volume's Hattie), I am far too able to triangulate what he thinks is sexy. He very clearly has a type!

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Previously, I have claimed to be of two minds about Titan's Twelfth Doctor ongoing. Well, I may be of two minds about the series overall, but I am of one mind about this installment! This is its best volume yet; most of the book is given over to a four-part story about the Doctor and Clara investigating strange goings-on in an exclusive boarding school. Morrison just gets the regulars; his Doctor is acerbic but also goofy, as seen by his attempts to go undercover here. His Clara is witty and attractive. Rachael Stott is a strong complement on art, also capturing the vibes of the two leads, and making a very action-heavy script perfectly accessible. Yes, it's got the Sea Devils in, but it's not overly nostalgic, and it's just fun. This is a daft plan carried out in enjoyable fashion; the twelfth Doctor with kids is always entertaining, and you can imagine Capaldi pulling off everything here with style. Big moments, good characters-- everything you might want from a tie-in comic to an ongoing show.

(I will say the inclusion of a character based on Christel Dee is bizarrely distracting. Like, she's a well-known official personality. She can't also be a cute cameo; it'd be like Rary Gussell turning up.)

The Boneless of "Flatline" fame turn up here in an interesting one-issue story about comic books. Neat idea that felt to me like it didn't quite come off; needed to be more playful with the form of the book itself, and to have more to say. I also found the "people have been vanishing for weeks but the authorities are ignoring it" aspect pretty contrived. Like, close your comic shop if it's started killing people off! But I still enjoyed it. The short story about the K-2 robot and Osgood is decent enough, too. Hopefully the series going forward is more Robbie Morrison and Rachael Stott, and less George Mann!

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Another very successful installment in the series of Thirteenth Doctor comics by Houser and an all-woman team of artists. Here, the Tardis team meet up with none other than the Corsair, subject of a throwaway line about Time Lords changing gender in The Doctor's Wife, here a swaggering part-time criminal who does it for fun rather than out of malevolence. The Corsair is a great creation, a different take on the Doctor's irreverence for authority and tradition, and Houser has the two developing a lovely sparking relationship, convincingly giving the sense of two people who know each other well but maybe not always as well as they think. The core narrative is that the Doctor is accused of stealing a valuable object which in fact was stolen by the Corsair, and this lands them in all sorts of trouble. The rest of the Tardis crew don't get a lot of page time, but this is the Corsair's story, and it's a good one.

4.5/5
With Jodie Whittaker's second season as the 13th Doctor delayed until 2020, fans of Doctor Who are left to turn to other mediums to get their fix of new Doctor Who stories. Thankfully, Titan Comics continues to put out new 13th Doctor comics each and every month. And they're really good, too, with each arc comprising a single storyline that feels like a complete episode of the series!

Much like the previous volume, this volume of the 13th Doctor comic tells an all-new story with the 13th Doctor and her new friends. And also like that first volume, this storyline is a really good one. I really like it when comics that are based on TV shows do something unique that the TV show can't do (usually for budgetary reasons) and that's exactly what this volume of the 13th Doctor comic did. The story takes place in multiple different time periods and multiple different locations, each issue featuring wholly different characters, all tied together by an overarching "villain" and an overarching mystery. Each issue isn't particularly long, so were the four to be adapted word-for-word, it would probably end up being about the length of an average episode of Doctor Who. But it'd be a really, really good episode. The mystery is an interesting one and it's explored and solved in a very interesting manner. I like it when shows and comics use modern day technology and pop culture as a way of creating mystery and the use of a podcast as the central mystery of this storyline works out really, really well. If anything, I'd have liked to have seen the podcast play an even bigger role in the story. But, as it is, it was a lot of fun.

Jody Houser continues to expertly capture the voices of all of the characters. With every word she writes, you immediately hear those words in the voices of whichever character says them. She writes the 13th Doctor with all of the personality quirks unique to that Doctor - instead of just writing the character as a generic "Doctor" as many do during the first season or two of any new Doctor's era. She also captures the voices of Yaz, Graham, and Ryan perfectly, imbuing them with all the nuances of their relationships that are found within the TV series and exploring those nuances in interesting ways. Through the usage of the podcast in this storyline, we get the chance to see something that's bonded all three of our human characters together and it's nice to see them all so easily relate to something they like. Houser, of course, doesn't just perfectly capture the essence of the characters from the TV series, but she also creates unique and enjoyable new ones - including having some characters she introduced in the previous volume return in this one! But I won't say anything more about that, except that I hope they continue to be recurring characters in the 13th Doctor's comics.

The illustrations throughout this book continue to be some of the most beautiful artwork I've seen in any comic in ages. This time, Rachael Stott is joined by Roberta Ingranata (who takes over illustrations for the last three issues int his volume). Like Houser, Stott and Ingranata perfectly capture the essences of these characters that we know and love from the TV series. They bring such emotion and wonderful facial expressions to these characters, so much that they truly feel alive. They do great work in action scenes, ensuring that each page has a certain flow to it and that each panel drives the readers into the next one, creating tension through the way any given page is laid out and through what is actually shown in any given panel. In terms of new aliens and new environments, Stott and Ingranata are given a whole lot to play with as they are asked to illustrate three different time periods/locations - a feat which they do with perfect ease. Each location has a distinct look - and even a distinct color palette, though that's down to the work of the colorist, Enrica Eren Angiolini. Stott and Ingranata are also asked to design another entirely new alien for the Doctor to face off against and their designs for this volume are a perfect blend of relatable and frightening. It's a design that really could only work within the pages of a comic and I love it. Stott's (and now Ingranata's) illustrations continue to be such a shining aspect of these 13th Doctor comics and I hope they both continue on the title for a nice, long time.

All in all, this second volume of the ongoing 13th Doctor comic series is another great entry. Featuring an interesting, well-written mystery; some compelling old and new characters; and a whole lot of really incredible artwork, this comic is a must-read for fans of Doctor Who. It provides a really nice fix of new 13th Doctor stories while we all await Jodie Whittaker's second season as the Doctor. This volume features a wholly original story that probably could never have worked as an actual episode of Doctor Who, a fact which only makes the story that much more interesting. Read this graphic novel for the story, read it for the amazing artwork, or read it for a fix of new Doctor Who. But, regardless, just read it.

4.5/5
Doctor Who has a long history in comics, branching all the way back into the earliest days of the show. That history continues in the present, with Titan Comics' line of Doctor Who stories - the latest being a new series of stories featuring Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor. Just like the newest series of the show did, this comic - written by Jody Houser and illustrated by Rachael Stott - features an all-new adventure with all-new side characters and an all-new villain. Unlike a good chunk of the newest series, however, this story actually features a satisfying beginning, middle, and end.

Jody Houser has a gift for capturing the voices of already-existing characters. She did a marvelous job at recreating the feeling of Stranger Things in Dark Horse Comics' Stranger Things miniseries and she does a superb job here with Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor and her friends. Every time one of these characters says something, you can immediately hear the voice of the actor saying those words, and that's the sign of a writer who truly grasps how characters from a TV series or film should sound. Not only has Houser written some excellent dialogue for these characters, but she's also crafted an adventure for them to go on that is interesting, exciting, well-paced, and well-concluded. In these four issues, the Doctor discovers what's behind those weird encounters she'd been having with someone in the Time Vortex (seen in the backup stories of The Road to the 13th Doctor); a scientist who'd been experimenting with Vortex Manipulators found himself trapped in the vortex after his partner had tampered with his Vortex Manipulator in order to keep him safe from an evil villain known only as the Horder. From there, the Doctor quickly learns who the Hoarder is, what he wants, and how he can be stopped and goes about doing so. It's a super fun adventure and the Hoarder is a really interesting villain - far more interesting than villains like the Pting were.

Accompanying Houser's excellent scripts is artwork from Rachael Stott. Stott has illustrated a number of other ranges in Titan Comics' Doctor Who series, and every time she does so, she brings a level of realism that perfectly captures the actors' likeness while also making the illustrations feel alive. She has an amazing grasp on how each of the four characters from the show - The Doctor, Yaz, Graham, and Ryan - look; how they express themselves, how their bodies move, etc., and she does an amazing job at translating those elements of the actors' performances into her artwork. Not only that, she does some amazing design work on the various locales. Issue one opens up on an alien planet that is utterly gorgeous, another issue features a lot of action inside the TARDIS - a locale that would seem difficult to illustrate but one which Stott illustrates perfectly, giving it so much life that it's made me fall in love with the design more than I already had. Her design of the aliens in the story is also utterly unique and interesting. She's created designs that would probably be out of the budget for the actual TV series to execute, which is exactly what should be done for comics. These Doctor Who comics should do things the TV series can't do, and one of those is feature aliens that are beyond what could be accomplished on the budget of a BBC show. Stott's aliens are interesting and expressive and genuinely beautiful to look at - even the ones that are supposed to be frightening!

This first volume of 13th Doctor stories from Titan Comics is a whole lot of fun. Houser perfectly captures the characters from the TV series and brings them to life on the page with brilliant results, aided by Stott's impressive artwork. I do wish the arc was a bit longer - maybe six issues instead of four - so that we could spend just a bit more time with these new side characters and the monster, but as it is, it works very well. It's deeply imaginative, utterly thrilling, and very satisfying. It's the perfect place for anyone who's new to Doctor Who in comics to jump in, and I'd say it's even a great jumping on point for someone who's never seen an episode of Doctor Who in their lives. It's an easy read, but an enjoyable one, and I thoroughly recommend it.

This volume wraps up "Year One" of Titan's ongoing tenth Doctor comic; if the opening volume was a highly effective pastiche of a Russell T Davies new-companion episode, this is a very dismal one of a Russell T Davies season finale. The Doctor and Gabby return to Gabby's home of New York City, and even though Gabby's friend Cindy gets swept up in events, none of it matters. There's no sense of personal investment here-- this story isn't about the Doctor or Gabby or Cindy in the way that "The Parting of the Ways" was about the Doctor and Rose and Jack and Mickey and Jackie, or that "Doomsday" was about the Doctor and Rose and Mickey and Jackie and Pete, or that "The Last of the Time Lords" was about the Doctor and Martha and Jack, and so on. Nothing is at stake here for our main characters, they're just participants. This could at least be a story about Gabby and Cindy's friendship, but mostly Cindy is just an extra person to stand around in scenes where lots of people stand there while the Doctor talks. (Nick Abadzis anticipated the storytelling tics of the Chibnall era, I guess.)

It just feels like a random standalone adventure except for the attempt at scale. The universe is threatened-- but so what? The Osirans from Pyramids of Mars return-- but so what? Your boring bad guy from a boring story being related to an interesting bad guy from an interesting story doesn't make him interesting. I found it very hard to get invested in whether this guy should go through some portal, and without the period trappings, the Osirans are pretty generic super-beings.

Despite all this, and despite involving four different people, the art is pretty consistent and mostly very good. I'm not sure about the occasional manga-esque effect (they're so occasional it jars), but at least Gabby looks like a Hispanic woman again. These artists could be supporting a stronger story is all

I was disappointed because I thought the first volume of The Tenth Doctor had real potential. The second was meh-- but it had a different writer, so I could accept that, and figured that when the original came back, things would be better again. Hopefully "Year Two" gets things back on track.

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This collection contains two stories: a historical (Terror of the Cabinet Noir) and a space story (Invasion of the Mindmorphs). My favourite Twelfth Doctor comic writer, Robbie Morrison, wrote both of these stories, so I felt they captured the voice of Twelve beautifully. The art was more hit-or-miss, though.

Terror of the Cabinet Noir had a great setting and based on a real-life person, Julie d’Aubigny. The villains were creepy too, but with some humour as well. I also liked that it featured Richelieu given that P-Cap played him in The Musketeers. Great writing, but the art felt weird and Rembrandty, rather shadowy overall but with strangely lit faces. But this may have been an intentional design choice.

Invasion of the Mindmorphs was a silly but entertaining story about the creators of a thinly veiled Doctor Who parody called “the Time Surgeon”, which reads as a bit of a mix of Doctor Who, Austin Powers, maybe the Avengers, and Doctor Strange. The Doctor objects to this comic, so he takes the creators on a trip through time and space to give them better ideas for their work. They end up having to save a planet, in classic Doctor Who fashion. The cheesy parody of the Doctor was amusing, and I laughed out loud at the Doctor’s last line of the story. The art didn’t quite look like the Doctor, but there were a couple of panels that captured his facial expression just right.

The EPUB formatting of my copy was a bit weird — there seems to be a different font for the bold text and the regular text, and the text kept getting squished together, or some letters were moved onto another line. It looked strange in both single-page and dual-page views. Not sure if it was this particular file or something on my end.

If you’ve been liking the Twelfth Doctor comics so far, you might like this too!½

Twelve can never resist a good rock concert, and the planet Twist serves up the best punk rock this side of the 40th century. He sneaks backstage after the show to say hi to the band, then he and the bassist, Hattie, end up becoming swept up in a hunt for a wanted murderer and discover a secret about the very planet itself. Later, he and Hattie track some bizarre readings to a haunted house with ghostly apparitions, extra rooms, and monsters knocking at the door.

I enjoyed the stories themselves, mainly because I love when Twelve gets to indulge his musical side. Hattie made a good travelling companion too, especially because she and Twelve could jam out on guitars together. And it was neat to have two stories that followed each other so seamlessly; the other volumes had two very different stories (or more) per volume. But overall the collection was just OK, because it wasn’t Robbie Morrison writing (I feel he has a better handle on Twelve’s voice) and the art didn’t look that much like Twelve (or at least there are others that look more like him). So it was good, but could have been better.

In this fourth volume of the Twelfth Doctor’s comics, Twelve and Clara are at a remote private school off the west coast of Scotland: a boarding school for the rich and privileged, but also a place where something fishy seems to be going on. Clara is there because her friend Christel Dean (based on “The Fan Show” host Christel Dee), a teacher at the school, has disappeared. Twelve is there to keep an eye on Clara—and also because he suspects something is up.

The writing of this comic series continues to be strong and very Twelvey. Loved the appearance of the Osgoods and Kate, and cracked up at how Twelve has “doctored” his contact photo of Kate by giving her the Brig’s moustache! There is a lot to like about this comic (about the only thing I didn’t like was the scene where the Tardis accidentally materializes into the bathroom while Clara is having a bath. NOT NECESSARY!

The collection contains The School of Death and two shorter stories: The Fourth Wall and Robo Rampage. Of these two stories, The Fourth Wall is better. It makes very effective use of, you guessed it, the fourth wall—I laughed out loud! Robo Rampage, meanwhile, was OK, but the art was a bit chunky, and the whole thing was an anticlimax. It might have worked better in the middle of the collection.

I’m adoring these comics and want many, many more!

A graphic novel in which we meet the Corsair, a Time Lord briefly mentioned in the Neil Gaiman-penned episode "The Doctor's Wife." Doctor Who graphic novels tend to be kind of hit or miss, not unlike the TV series, but the dashing Corsair makes this one a treat and I hope we get to see more of her.½