https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3010515.html

This pulls together the Rift War! comic story published originally in issues 4-13 of Torchwood Magazine in 2008, and adds at the end a single-episode story, Jetsam, published in issue 3 also in 2008.

I felt that the Rift War! epsiodes did not hang together very well - there was rather a feeling of three different writers (Simon Furman, Paul Grist and Ian Edgington) handing off the storyline between each other without much of a unifying concept. Also I was not attracted by Paul Grist's depictions of the regular characters in six of the ten episodes that he illustrated, though I liked his writing for four of them a bit more. (The artist above is SL Gallant, who I found more to my taste.)

On the other hand, Jetsam was a real gem, written and drawn by Brian Williamson (who has done a lot of Doctor Who art, but this appears to be the only Whoniverse story he has actually written). It's a fairly standard Season 2 alien artefact story, but done with a real sense of warmth and engagement. I hope Williamson can be tempted to do a bt more. Worth getting the book for. ( )

The art is mostly terrible, to the point that it's frequently difficult to discern who is who. Also, their faces are distorted beyond the point of even managing cartoon-humanity, which is slightly terrifying. But, if you can get beyond the terrible art and the mild horror of an entirely inhuman Torchwood raining havoc in Earth's public spaces, the story is pretty fun. 5 stars for story, 2 stars for the bulk of the dreadful, dreadful art, 4 stars for the occasional good art. ( )

The team must face a variety of aliens breaking out of the Rift. Originally told in serialized form, with a chapter each month in the magazine, when put all together, it has a confusing and thrown-together appearance. Different illustration styles make the shift between stories jarring. This can be true in the story itself, as well, with some threads seeming to be dropped only to come up again later, and a sometimes apparently inconsistent storyline. Though interesting enough, it shifts from standalone to overall arc without notice, which can be confusing and frustrating for the reader. In addition, the characters are sometimes drawn inconsistently. However, the authors themselves know their stuff—the characters, setting, and background are familiar, the tone one that could be found on an episode, and it is easy to find a place for it within the mythos of the TV show. When put together in this way, the lack of cohesion is frustrating. Left in its original format, with each piece allowed to stand on its own, it might be more rewarding. ( )