From The Incredible Hulk Presents #1; Reprinted (coloured) in Doctor Who Classic Comics #21)
Nothing Fancy by Tim Roll-Pickering 12/10/98
It is quite clear right from the outset that The Incredible Hulk Presents was aimed at a very different audience from that of Doctor Who Magazine, and thus the Doctor Who stories produced are at best on a par with those in Doctor Who’s initial run in TV Comic (issues #674-999). Worse still, with only five pages available, it is difficult for any writer to get much depth out of the strip. However, a few gems did appear, like this initial outing.
Nearly a decade after originally seeing print, Once in a Lifetime seems more relevant now, parodying the over-intrusive press. Miff is every bit the clichéd over investigative journalist, constantly harrying the Doctor for the story behind the TARDIS, whilst the Doctor is very much the traditional victim of the press who just wants some peace and quiet. Given the position adopted by the story, it is virtually impossible to feel any pity for Miff at the end of the story. The Doctor’s actions seem especially nasty--sending Miff into a bar when he knows Miff could easily be killed and then depositing him twenty years in the future, raising fundamental questions about the Doctor.
This is a better than expected link with the regular strips in Doctor Who Magazine, though given that Marvel UK were originally going to reprint these stories in DWM, it is not surprising that Freeman, DWM’s editor, is doing his best to make his contributions as compatible as possible.
Geoff Senior’s artwork in this story is far more cartoony than normal, and this does not help the story at all. The artwork is the main let down for this story, but it is still one of the better adventures from The Incredible Hulk Presents, being about average. 5/10