Panini Books The 2010 Annual

Published

2009

• Tennant bows out by Andrew Feryok

Tennant bows out by Andrew Feryok 12/7/15

2009 was a year of change for the show. David Tennant was bowing out as the Tenth Doctor after a run that had made him the modern equivalent of Tom Baker in the public eye. On top of this, the new series' original Executive Producer and Head Writer Russell T Davies was also moving on. The BBC decided to leave the show off the air for one year as well, in order to build up anticipating for the show's return in 2010 with a new Doctor and production team. This of course posed a problem for the outgoing team who still wanted to satisfy fan's desires for new Who and give Tennant a send off. The result was as a "Year of Specials", which included an Easter Special, a Thanksgiving Special, a CGI Animated Special and a guest star appearance on the Sarah Jane Adventures, all culminating in a two-part spectacular Christmas finale. But on top of being the last of the Tenth Doctor's TV adventures, the year also saw other merchandising, such as the books and comics, winding down as well.

This was the last of David Tennant's Annuals from Penguin Books and hit the store shelves in August 2009. Sadly, reading this book you wouldn't realize that Tennant was about to leave since it reads like any other annual. It's not good, nor is it overly bad. If you are looking for stories and comics, then you've come to the wrong place. While the volume contains two comic strips, the majority of the book contains articles and games aimed squarely at the young kiddies. Only the article on the TARDIS and Gallifreyan technology proved interesting to older fans. Everything else is pretty standard summaries and at least three guides to monsters and aliens with too much overlap in information. The games are rather fun with the Davros picture matching being a favorite of mine. The two comic strips are decent and worth checking out if you are a fan.

The Vortex Code
This comic strip is very short and slight in story. It's almost a short worthy of the online shorts the new series likes to put out, not unlike the Children in Need Short or Time Crash. The Doctor stumbles upon a robot that is the only survivor of a crashed ship, and space pirates want the vortex code stored in its memory bank. The artwork is pretty decent. It isn't earth-shattering, but then I have seen far worse examples in Doctor Who's Annuals before. I especially liked the recreation of the console room. The robot looks kind of like a Cyberman and is one of the few good assets of the story both in appearance and presentation. The space pirates are a joke and never give any sense of menace. In fact, what this comic sorely misses is a feeling of danger or wonder. In the end, it just ends up feeling like a throwaway moment from the Doctor's ordinary life. Not genius, but not offensive. Its just there.

Health & Safety
This is a really cute comic strip. Its artwork is pretty much the same style as The Vortex Code and looks sufficient enough to get the story across. Although the two aliens are so comically childish in their designs they almost look like kindergarten doodles. However, the story is pretty good for an Annual comic strip. The plot is clever and has a few twists and turns to keep things interesting. I particularly love the bureaucratic hologram that threatens to shoot anyone who tries to shut down the engine even though the engine will do far more damage than it can imagine if it isn't stopped. And I love the Doctor's solution to getting around the creature that plays into its own sense of bureaucracy and is simultaneously funny and clever. Robert Holmes would be proud! The Doctor's ultimate dealing with the T-Rex is also clever. However, the comic is over just as it is getting interesting. I wish it could have kept going a few pages more. It certainly shows how deficient the plot of The Vortex Code was in comparison. On the whole, a good comic strip that will entertain for sure.

It seems that this Annual was put together before the rest of 2009's Specials had even gone into production, since there is a heavy emphasis on The Next Doctor and a few references to Planet of the Dead. You would think that going oversees to shoot Planet of the Dead would have led to some cool behind-the-scenes articles. But no, there didn't seem to be any interest in doing anything other than providing the bare minimum required for an Annual and leave the rest up to Storybook 2010, which was published simultaneously by Panini. On the whole, a middle-of-the-road annual that won't offer much to those in search of Doctor Who fictional adventures unless you are a collector going after the comic strips.