The Many Lives of Doctor Who
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IDW Comics The Many Lives of Doctor Who |
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| Published | 2018 |
40% New Material by Jason A. Miller 12/9/23
Before Titan Comics started up a monthly series of 13th Doctor comics -- written by Jody Houser, and illustrated, for the first six or seven months, by Titan Who veteran Rachael Stott -- they released a one-off trade paperback formally introducing Jodie Whittaker's likeness to their universe.
And what an odd volume it is.
The writer for this volume is Richard Dinnick, a name known to the universe of Doctor Who comics aficionados, and a name even better known to the universe of Who fans who attend conventions. The conceit of this book is that it takes place in the last 60 seconds of Twice Upon a Time, beginning with the end of the 12th Doctor's final speech (the one where he "mansplains himself to death", as one Twitter pundit put it) and concluding with the 13th Doctor muttering something unintelligible to her reflection in the TARDIS console as the ship crashes and burns around her. As that happens, the 12th Doctor quickly leads his successor through each one of his past lives (even the War Doctor) and instructs her on their own shared history.
As for the artists, Stott is here for what few pages star the 13th Doctor in character. But, apart from just Stott, there are seven other artists in the volume. One to draw the 12th Doctor starting to regenerate, one to draw the 13th Doctor finishing the regeneration, and the others to share in drawing all the other Doctors.
The bulk of the volume is made up of mini-adventures starring, in order, the Hartnell through McGann Doctors, the John Hurt War Doctor, and then the first four New Series Doctors (Eccleston through Capaldi). Each mini-adventure is three to six pages in length, and is designed to reflect that particular Doctor's era and ethos. The art styles are also intentionally different, with a retro-'60s Doctor Who Annual style heavy on realism for the Hartnell adventure, and much more cartoonish and juvenile looks for the Troughton and Tom Baker segments. With one exception, all the Doctors are joined by recognizable TV companions, and I do salute Dinnick for coming up with some interesting, non-obvious choices (it's great to see, without giving away every surprise, Ben and Polly, Nyssa, and Bill Potts). And a couple of familiar villains and other returning characters are here, too.
Largely, The Many Lives of Doctor Who serves as a continuity fest for the experienced fan. More than a quarter of the dialogue in the book, in this reporter's off-the-cuff-but-not-heavily-documented opinion, is made up of quotes from Classic Series stories (Page 1 alone contains quotes from The War Games and Planet of the Spiders, while Page 4 ends with one from The Power of the Daleks), and there are several better-known New Series quotes in here, as well.
The stories serve as both pastiches (if not, in some cases, parodies) of their host Doctor's era and also flash-forward lessons for the New Series. And thus, there's a City of Death-flavored romp for Tom Baker and Lalla Ward through the streets of Manhattan. The Fifth Doctor adventure is set on New Series Gallifrey (complete with the Capitol in a glass dome and Sliders), but serves as a prequel to Mawdryn Undead (Tegan and Nyssa are here in their Season 19 costumes) and ends with a male-to-female Time Lord regeneration, with the Doctor mansplaining to Nyssa about gender fluidity, while quoting from The Five Doctors at the same time.
This is, then, an odd volume. It's ostensibly aimed at New Who fans who're looking to learn a bit about the series before the 13th Doctor debuts in the next volume but is a bit overloaded with continuity, including a surprising amount of quotes from and direct references to Classic Series stories. Obviously, I enjoy all this stuff very much, as a continuity-obsessed fan, but I am curious as to how it plays for newer and younger fans.
The best part of all is the final page, a gorgeous single-panel illustration, shot from behind as the new female Doctor watches an alien sunset and as a banner proclaims "Never The End!" That's Richard Dinnick's final word as the first 13th Doctor comics writer. Jody Houser is next, and along with her, a female artist and a female colorist, for an all-female creative team to match the female lead. The adventures might never end, but, for the time being, the mansplaining definitely has.