From Doctor Who Magazine #250
The Adventures of the TARDIS by Noe Geric 11/7/21
There's nothing better can a good comic strip with hideous artwork. Celebrating the Doctor Who Magazine anniversary, A Life of Matter and Death isn't really interesting. The drawings aren't great, and the story is quite dull, even if it has an interesting concept: What happens when the TARDIS has adventures without the Doctor?
So we've got a TARDIS re-creation of the Doctor and Izzy trying to fight a Time Parasite with an army of continuity references. Nearly every villain and ally from the previous comic strips appear in a trial court and an epic battle to save the TARDIS and the true Doctor and Izzy's lives. The idea isn't bad, the references aren't a problem as it is supposed to be an anniversary episode, and the resolution doesn't really feel rushed. Some jokes about the previous strips are very funny; cameos of Beep the Meep, Ironicus and Dogbolter are quite nice; and the trial scenes are fantastic. The Doctor's characterization is okay; it isn't the highlight of the story, but it's better than Izzy's who sound as generic as Clara Oswald.
If there's one major problem with that strip, once more, it's the artwork. As Martin Geraghty is credited with Sean Longcroft, I hoped it would at least be good. But I can't see anything that remind me of Geraghty's epic and detailed style. Longcroft isn't really bad, it's just that his drawings are uninspiring. It looks dry, like the worst Adrian Salmon excess. Sadly, nothing is memorable about the design of the characters and the sets. The tentacular judges are a traditional Green-Tentacular-Monster, the set of clocks and infinite stairs doesn't feel a really interesting place to visit, and I think that Izzy's representation is one of the worst we've ever seen in the strip.
The story is quite simple but enjoyable. Sadly, again, the artwork is terribly boring. As I've got the Endgame graphic novel, A Life of Matter and Death finds itself amongst strips with incredibly good pictures. The style of Martin Geraghty is everywhere and is a gift to humanity, and between beautiful stories like Endgame or Wormwood, you've got that little story that doesn't look very interesting. The script is okay, but the artwork doesn't take your attention, and so you jump to the next strip without noticing that one existed. A 5/10 for the idea of the TARDIS's adventures, but nothing more.