A Review by Richard Radcliffe 29/5/02
DWM got tired of doing 7th Doctor stories by 1994. They started a run of stories that featured most of the past Doctors. One of the last of these "Past Doctor Adventures" was this one, a 3 part story featuring the 1st Doctor and Susan. I had thought that Time and Relative, the very good book by Kim Newman, was the first story to feature just this partnership, before Ian and Barbara went to that Junkyard - but it wasn't. Gareth Roberts beat him to it, 7 years before in the DWM Comic Strip.
That's the last time I will mention the 2 pre-TV-show stories in the same breath though. They are like chalk and cheese, especially in quality. Susan is there in this story, but she has very little to do at all. After encountering the changing human, she reports back to her Grandfather, who then explores tunnels in London, encountering an alien presence intent on getting home.
The 1st Doctor is portrayed accurately in character. He's brash, and driven in purpose. He is serious, but with a quiet air of justice. Unfortunately the portrayal artwise is not so good. Martin Geraghty was superb in the previous Curse of the Scarab, but he hasn't got the 1st Doctor and Susan at all. A lot of the panels seem rushed and messy. The artwork is not that good overall.
But what of the script, the story? Gareth Roberts is now recognized as one of the best original Fiction Writers of Doctor Who, thanks mostly to his 3 4th Dr and 2nd Romana books. This early effort is okay, there's a pretty good alien invasion story in there, but it is not up to his books' standard.
The alien infestation is presented very strangely. We have a massive gruesome head, and a business-suited body. It's a very strange mix, and looks very silly. His motivation, to convert someone to his own kind, is very extreme - and bearing in mind the technology at his disposal, a bit suspect.
Not the best comic strip story, and something of a letdown after the excellent Scarab story that preceded it. 5/10