Script: Scott Grey; Art: Martin Geraghty, Adrian Salmon, David Roach, Roger Langridge
The Last Hurrah! by Phil Fenerty 9/3/05
The DWM comic strip has not been an essential read (for me) for some time. This is not because it is poor quality, either in terms of script or art: it is more the space afforded the comic strip within the framework of the magazine.
When the Doctor Who Weekly started, way back in 1979, the Doctor Who comic strip enjoyed a healthy page count - 5 or 6 pages per week. This was because the strip was re-printed in an American format comic - 20-plus pages per month - and in the UK, the strip was chopped into four sections, one printed per week. So, in essence, we were treated to 20 or so comic strip pages per month.
With the change to a monthly publication in the UK, the comic strip pages per issue suffered slightly. At first, half of an American comic per month appeared. Once the US arm proved non-viable, the strip was continued on a more limited basis, eventually settling down to an even eight pages per month.
And therein lies the problem: eight pages is a very short space for plot development and story-telling, and a month is a long time between instalments to remember details. True, there is the option to save the story and read it all in one big lump once it is complete, but for busy people with disorganised lives (and houses!), this may not always be possible.
The Flood, recently completed in the pages of DWM, was the last of the Eighth Doctor's adventures in comic strip form. And jolly good it was too.
Without revealing too many spoilers, it features the return of characters seen earlier in the Eighth Doctor's strip run and a story set on Earth which shows the vulnerability of mankind. The main protagonists in the strip have a plan, one which the Doctor has to pay a high price to defeat.
The script and artwork on this story are up to the usual high standard, and the early instalments show significant character development, giving time for the nature of the threat to be fully explored. At first, the Doctor is beset on all sides, but once he is able to take control of the situation, he uses his knowledge, and Destrii's abilities, to their full advantage.
Reading the strip, and especially the final instalment (DWM 353), it seems as if the creative team had further plans in mind for the Doctor and Destrii, and the announcement of the new series has cut these short - reminiscent, perhaps, of the fate of the Radio Times comic strip, ended for different reasons in the middle of a story arc. The timing of the last episodes does, however, allow some subtle (and perhaps not-so-subtle) nods in the direction of the Ninth Doctor, in a similar manner to the closing novels in Virgin's New Adventures sequence.
The artwork is as crisp and clear as we've come to expect in recent years, and the use of colour is nicely varied over the course of the story. The early episodes, in a dreary Camden, are suitably muted, whilst the last instalment uses more vivid tones to create an enlightening effect.
The Flood is told over eight monthly episodes, this is perhaps a little long for the plot, although there is no sense of padding in the storyline. Again, the length of the story, and the period it is told over, makes it hard (at times) to follow the plot twists, but the longer stories allow room for character and plot development, so there are swings and roundabouts.
This is a fine story for the Eighth Doctor to bow out in: and it whets my appetite for a collected edition of this fine run of stories (all the way from Endgame in 1996) to see the light of day in a collected edition soon. Many of the plot elements which were opened years ago are still running, and a collected edition would be just the medium for enjoying the complete run of this Doctor in comic form.
Overall: Climactic!
A Review by Finn Clark 30/6/05
An Earthbound story of classic monsters, spread across an unprecedented number of issues and culminating in an awesome ten-page final episode as DWM went through a revolutionary format change... but that's enough about Dragon's Claw (DWM 39-45)! The Flood (DWM 346-353) is self-consciously the end of an era, but is it any good? Mmmmm, sort of. Broadly speaking I'd describe it as eight weak episodes that together make a strong story.
As individual month-by-month episodes, The Flood stopped me reading the comics. It's so slow! At 65 pages it's DWM's second-longest story, only beaten by The Glorious Dead (DWM 287-296), but the bloody thing crawls. It's episode six before we reach anything worth reading and there are some dreadful cliffhangers. Part one: "Look: Cyber-pansies!" Part four: "Attack of the Giant Cake Decoration!" Part six: "...Yes, And?"
(In fairness, though, there are also some good'uns. Episode seven particularly springs to mind.)
However if you read all eight episodes at once, it's good. The humans are a bit bleah (which doesn't help the early episodes), but the Cybermen end up being strongly portrayed. Despite my initial negative reaction, I quite like their redesign. I also like the treatment of their worldview, which remembers that the Cybermen aren't technically evil. They're blinkered, single-minded and terrifying, but here they even describe themselves as the good guys! This time their plan for world conquest has a seductive edge for mankind, which gives it more impact for the reader. I liked all that.
Oddly, a lot of Cyberman comic strips haven't been particularly interested in the Cybermen themselves. Often they've been just goons. Of those starring the Doctor, only this and The Good Soldier (DWM 175-178) really dig down into the nature of the metal monsters... although the clear leaders in this field are the various back-up strips from Steve Moore, Alan Moore and Alan Barnes.
It's strange to read The Flood in the light of the new Eccleston series. Paul McGann's face feels like a relic from the long-forgotten past, but one soon settles into the swing of things. It helps of course that this is the one and only genuinely good TARDIS crew in the entire McGann era (books, comics and audios). Destrii is fantastic and I'm going to miss her. I could have wished for more closure for her personal story arc, but that's a sudden new season announcement for you. At least they don't kill her off or anything stupid like that.
There's Eccleston foreshadowing, both deliberate and serendipitious. I rolled my eyes at the final page, but there's a fascinating exchange during episode four.
Doctor: "You didn't think to involve UNIT?"
Woodrow: "I hardly think their blunderbuss approach would be appropriate, Doctor. Besides, the relationship between Her Majesty's Government and the United Nations is less than entirely amicable these days."
Then, later on the same page, weird things happen to our nuclear activation codes! Puts a certain plot point from World War III in a whole new light, eh?
Other curiosities include the fact that this story had seven, eight, nine and ten-page episodes. There are throwaway cameos for Mad Maxwell Edison (from DWM's first McGann comic strip) and Dr Grace Holloway (yes, that's right). Finally if you count Junior Cyberleader Kroton then both of DWM's mega-epics starred the Cybermen and we've had more comic strip pages for the jug-handled ones than we've had for a couple of Doctors.
It exploits its medium, doing stuff with the Cybermen that wouldn't work so well elsewhere in Doctor Who. Cyber-action on TV tended to be: (a) a JNT Cyber-massacre, or (b) making them walk very slowly through a hail of gunfire. Books and audios by their nature also don't do action particularly well, in practice preferring to concentrate on cybernetic horror (both gross-out and psychological). However this is a very visual Cyber-story... it's not trying to be an Arnie movie, but it's not afraid to give us some money shots.
It looks great, with some occasionally spectacular visuals thanks to imaginative colouring. The Doctor-Destrii relationship is strong and for once the Cybermen end up being interesting. Most of the story is basically build-up, with bland humans who don't end up making much difference to anything, but that's not a problem if you're reading it all at once instead of month by month. This story annoyed me at the time, but reading the whole thing now I rather like it.
A Review by Richard Radcliffe 5/7/05
This has epic written all over it from the start, as the Cybermen are brought in for the eighth Doctor's swansong.
The return of Martin Geraghty and David Roach to the Artwork, with Adrian Salmon contributing the vibrant colors, brought a welcome return to the kind of impressive look I have come to expect from DWM. They must be the best design team to have ever worked on the strip. With the ever reliable Scott Gray penning the tale (just how long can he continue to produce great stories?) - this felt like the eighth Doctor's swansong right from the start. It also feels very contemporary - a deliberate attempt to ease us into the 9th Doctor?
The Doctor and Destrii (complete with holographic device, which makes her look human) arrive at Camden Market. There's invisible Cybermen walking around, with Swiss Army Knife hands. The new design of these villains has created much debate. Personally I don't like them that much. They're much too robotic, rather than half-human - which makes them less of a threat in my eyes, and less connection for the reader. The travel platforms are pretty cool though, as is the interior of the Cybership. But this invasion of the Cybermen was too much Android Invasion - and the Cybermen are more than that.
Couldn't quite figure out what the title was all about too. A flood? What of? Cybermen? Bit obscure title that, but ironically short for such a longer event story. At eight episodes this story however doesn't feel too long. It's DWM comic on a bigger scale, and the increased page count are justified.
The Camden locale is excellent and wonderfully depicted. With commonplace everywhere (canals, pubs, market) this could also be telegraphing the new series - I hope so. A shady Bond-type organization hovers over everything, wasn't sure about that. This UNIT with elaborate gadgets is not the way I would like DW to go. But with plenty to admire, with some stunning panels (Cybership over Big Ben, Cybership interior) I found the strengths outweighted the weaknesses.
At one point I even thought the Doctor would regenerate, and though he doesn't, I think this medium should be where it happens. As the Doctor manipulates the time streams, there are also echoes of the BBC Book range (its elemental Doctor), which is pretty cool. It's like the two impressive strands of eighth Doctor fiction are coming together for a fond farewell.
The last few pages are what DWM comic does best. A Survival-like walk into the distance, but done better, with the Doctor's eccentricity paramount, and new adventures just over the horizon. Destrii is a perfectly good foil for this Doctor too, a kind of Izzy/Rose cross. Hopefully there will be more adventures for these two, but what we have had has been very good.
This then looks like the end of the eighth Doctor in DWM. He's been the longest-lasting Doctor in this medium - and it has been a fabulous journey, consistently impressive. Scott Gray, Martin Geraghty, Adrian Salmon, Roger Langridge, David Roach, and the rest - I doff my hat to you all.
The end here is decent enough, not Ophidius-like excellent, but still very good (apart from dodgy Cybermen). 7/10