A Review by Richard Radcliffe 9/7/03
DWM had cleared the way for the 8th Doctor, with the controversial Ground Zero. Now with limited screen time to base a character on, Alan Barnes gave us a brilliant portrayal, joined by the best strip companion of all - Izzy! As Alan Barnes passed the baton to Scott Gray, Geraghty and Smith continued to draw brilliant strips. Another golden era of the strip was upon us. Autumn 1996 to Winter 1998 the dates in question here.
Endgame (244-247)
The 8th Doctor made his debut in the strip in DWM just after the Film was shown. Building on the success of the new Doctor they were keen to make him their strip Doctor as soon as possible. What has resulted is quite amazing. Over the last 70 issues Paul McGann's Doctor has been on more journeys, battled more foes, than any other strip Doctors - including the 7th.
But I get ahead of myself. This is where it all began. It was a shame the DWM Strip was still in black and white back in 1996. The Radio Times strip by Gary Russell had shown how vibrant this new Doctor could look in a blaze of colour. But if you're looking for the better stories, it's always best to keep to DWM.
To move the strip forward with a new Doctor the powers that be chose to be rather nostalgic about the strip's past - this kind of nostalgia is what drives many of DWM's readers I expect, and I thought it was wonderful. Arguably the most successful time of the comic strip in DWM was the story Tides of Time. That was partially set in a place called Stockbridge - a sleepy English Village where the Doctor could escape from the rigours of the universe. Of course things never turned out that way, and when he arrives in Stockbridge in Endgame, it is clear things are not quite as they should be.
The power behind the warped reality that includes Stockbridge is the Celestial Toymaker. Whilst the artwork isn't quite up to giving us Michael Gough, the motivations and personality behind this complex character from TV, are in evidence. There's plenty of games going on, but not the Crystal Maze type ones that dominated The Celestial Toymaker TV story. Instead the bulk of the action is set outside, with Stockbridge (the Toymaker's warped version of it) as the stage.
What is quite wonderful is the companions that the Doctor leans on. There's Max Edison, the eccentric who made Stars Fell on Stockbridge (the story that followed Tides of Time) so wonderful. There's also Izzy - who has NEW COMPANION FOR THE NEW DOCTOR stamped all over her. Izzy was to be a staple ingredient of the 8th Doctor Comic Strip run, in various bodies, for ages and ages! She's a great companion. She is kind of girl a lot of DW fans would like to date. Knowledgable about science fiction, full of quotes from the classic sci-fi films - she's spot on, right from the word go. I look forward to spending more time with her.
Alan Barnes is the scribe on this story, and it's a pretty good one overall. It's full of weird Mind Robber type concepts, and it's therefore vital there's a good artist on board too. Martin Geraghty is such an artist. His likenesses are not quite there, but the imaginative way he draws his subjects is very impressive indeed. A good combination then to start the ball rolling for the 8th Doctor, both on the page and production wise.
Endgame isn't the most traditional of stories, there's far too much surrealism going on for it to be quite so linear, but it's wonderfully alive and engaging. It will be interesting to see where the 8th Doctor goes in the strip, but it seems he is in good hands. 8/10
The Keep (248-249)
Building on the solid start that was Endgame, Alan Barnes (story) and Martin Geraghty (artwork), take us to the very ends of the Earth's Time. Welcome to the 51st Century. This earth is a post-apocalyptic nightmare. Inspired massively by Mad Max, the population of the earth are savages. Scrimping for an existence, killing for survival, they are alive because they are the strongest and best fighters.
The strange building that form the title of this strip - the Keep - is the anomaly. The reason for its being there form the crux of this tightly plotted 2 parter. The shrivelled scientist Crivello and his Robot Marquez (who reside there) are the potential saviours of mankind, but it is the Doctor who they really need. The robot also seems to know the Doctor, looks like we'll be coming back to that one then!
Alan Barnes gives us a clever story overall. The scientific explanations are pretty astounding, but spectacular. The heroes are unusual, and the Doctor's involvement bizarre. Izzy gets to reel off Sci-Fi references galore - Beam Me Up Scotty, being one of the more obvious. The artwork is excellent. I felt that Geraghty hadn't quite got the 8th Doctor in Endgame, but he certainly has here.
Another delight of this comic strip is the references to DWs established history on TV. I'm not the greatest follower of chronology in DW, I enjoy the stories as they are - but it is nice to see our only other reference to Earth's far future - Magnus Greel - having an impact on proceedings. The homunculus that the head bandit carries is a particularly repulsive creature - one of Sin's offspring no doubt.
The story is quite graphic, as befits the harsh nature of the Earth in the future. Barren wastes where only thugs reside - it was never going to be pretty. The ending, with the suns rebirth, combines well with the robot's callous ending of life. The new ushered in over the old. Alan Barnes continues to impress with his 8th Doctor strips. 8/10
A Life of Matter and Death (250)
The Doctor Who strip excels in its continuing sagas. DWM has a loyal readership, and it rewards that readership with great comic strips with threads running through them, most of the time. Every now and then it's Special time though, and something different, or something nostalgic is tried. We are on DWM issue 250 now, so you can forget Marquez the Robot's apparent knowledge of the Doctor in the 51st Century (from the previous strip The Keep) - it's nostalgia time. It shows the confidence that DWM has in its own strip, and the length the thing has been going, that such a self-referential strip brings back memories of great stories. And all these stories are in the DWM strip, and only the DWM strip.
This one-off story by necessity cannot be the most earth shatteringly mega plot. And it isn't. We're in dreamscape here. The Doctor is on trial - bit of a nightmare for him then - and the witness testifying against him are an Iron Legion bloke, Dogbolter and Beep the Meep. A Grey Lady appears telling them a parasite has taken over the TARDIS. And so in the dreamscape the Doctor and friends (from the strip) battle baddies (again from the strip). Throughout there's a wealth of characters from the strip. Most bring back happy memories, some are better left in the past. The last two pages are the best part of this special. You move along the lines of baddies and goodies, remembering most of them. Unsurprisingly it is something from Tides of Time (it really is a brilliant strip you know) that wins the day.
The nostalgia is evident throughout - extremely self-referential - but totally okay every now and then. The gallery of previous foes and friends are it's raison d'etre, and that incredible staircase at the start deserves a mention too. It's a nice reminisce, but it's a shame it came just when the 8th Doctor was moving along nicely. I'll be glad to get back to the 8th Doctor comic strip arc.
Alan Barnes clearly knows his comic strips though, and Sean Longcroft (as he showed in Fangs of Time) is a competent drawer of old friends and foes. A nostalgia fest that is just perfect as a one-off, but not quite up to the usual standard of Specials that DWM produce. And where the heck is the best comic strip companion of the lot - Frobisher? 6/10
Fire and Brimstone (251-255)
Alan Barnes showed his expertise at storytelling in the first 2 8th Doctor strips - Endgame and The Keep. Following on from those stories, with plot threads particularly from The Keep, he again bases a story around Crivellos Cauldron. This time a few old foes are involved too, and the Doctor has plenty of foes to contend with.
The 5 part length of the story allows Barnes to give us a bit of an epic storyline. As if Crivellos Cauldron, suns going Supernova and the like, isn't enough - he gives us gateways to alternate realities. It is these that the Daleks are particularly interested in. It's quite a bit of surprise to encounter the number one baddies at the end of Part One - it's a good job I don't flick through DWMs like many - but read them cover to cover.
The Daleks are only part of the picture though, as the Threshold makes a return appearance. The best comic strip monster creation combined with the best TV monster creation is egging the pudding a bit too much however. For the bulk of the last 2 parts the Daleks are sidelined as the Threshold agent is given all the best lines and putdowns. Top villains and monsters have combined before to great effect (Master and Autons), but they quite often don't work (Master and Rani). It's like there is only room enough for one major enemy in DW stories - at least that is what has happened here.
I suppose it was the disappointment of introducing the Daleks, and then doing not a great deal with them, that disappoints the most here. I admit that the Threshold are a great creation, and their link with the Time Lords a surprise. The great manipulators of the universe will always have a hand in chaos, so the Threshold do have a place anywhere. The Daleks and the Threshold aren't the only characters in this strip though. The marvelously named Ptolemy Muttonchops has a place, as does Sister Chastity, the Leaderene and the Robot Marquez. Each is a very different character - but there are just too many personalities and baddies for its own good.
The story is full of high concepts and scientific mumbo jumbo. The dreaded Nanites are introduced, it seems every alien race uses them now to infiltrate the enemy. Daleks have robotic-type-flys (Contagiums) to do their dirty work. Crivello's sun suddenly isn't just the centre of the galaxy, but the gateway to alternate dimensions - there's just so much sci-fi gobbledygook in there I found it difficult to follow.
The representation of the Doctor is fine though. Martin Geraghty is getting better and better at the depiction, and Barnes has done wonders off a limited source (TV Film). Izzy continues to sprout sci-fi film slogans like they are going out of fashion, but it is fun to identify each quote - and she does seem to be having a wonderful time!
All in all Fire and Brimstone tries to cram in much too many concepts and personalities. The story changes direction so many times it is difficult to keep up. It definitely shows how the strip can be as challenging as any book or TV story, but for me it was just too complicated. 6/10
By Hook or by Crook (256)
After the excesses of Fire and Brimstone, it's quite a refreshing change to enjoy this little 1-parter from Scott Gray. Adrian Salmon takes up the artistic reigns, and gives us a fun, nicely drawn strip.
The Doctor and Izzy arrive on TorKaNom in the 28th Century. They go off their separate ways, and Izzy bets the Doctor that he will be in trouble by Midnight. This duly happens when he gets involved with a jam seller and a Captain Hook style Murderer. This is a strip to not be taken too seriously (as you can probably tell from the above statement!). Instead it shows the confidence the strip editors, artists and writers have in the relatively new partnership of the 8th Doctor and Izzy.
I can see why in issue 259 of DWM Gary Gillatt talks confidently about Izzy's popularity - she really is a fine creation, and the writers seem inspired with the material that they give her. The ease of the Doctor and Izzy's friendship is the delight here. The bet she makes with the Doctor is wonderful - her pause then cheer when the bet is won, pure theatre. When the 2 are in prison it is Izzy who saves the day (at the second attempt I grant you, but success eventually).
This is Izzy's story. It shows how the comic writers have taken to her - that she can carry a strip by herself - with the Doctor being the one put in jail. She has to rescue him, and she succeeds. She saves the day.
I'm also very impressed with Adrian Salmon's simple yet effective artwork throughout this strip. His work pops up regularly over the next 5 years for DWM. It's distinctive and it's impressive. All round very entertaining, if simple and slapstick, strip. 8/10
Tooth and Claw (257-260)
The comic strip goes from strength to strength with this vampiric-inspired tale set at the start of WW2. Doctor Who has been to the 2nd World War lots, but in true side-step style, the strip chooses to deposit our hero away from the action. This could actually be any time - the war raging elsewhere just adds to the eccentricities of the people on the island.
The Doctor and Izzy arrive on Varney's Island in the Indian Ocean. Varney is a strange recluse, who has persuaded a few people to his island to escape the war. In return they bring various gadgets - all are strange, Varney is completely mad. With a whistle Varney summons the Doctor - and the action moves between his house and a neighbouring volcano where bizarre secrets and strange powers are held.
Much is made in this story of the weird guests. The whole story has masses of the fantastic and macabre. Again Alan Barnes creates some marvelous characters and gives them wonderful names - Sabine Snitching the actress being a favourite. Like most isolated mystery stories though, the guests are only there to be killed - but this is not your conventional whodunnit. Varney had an equally strange ancestor who made a deal with the Devil himself - his blood is stored in a Holy Grail-like Chalice in the house. Whoever drinks of that blood will turn in to a monster!
The island seclusion really makes this a very claustrophobic piece, but it is the rich story that keeps you turning the page. With killer monkeys on the loose as well (it seems they have sampled some of the blood) no one is safe, both within and without. An extra companion is introduced - Fey, you just know something major is going to happen to the Doctor and he'll need more than just Izzy to help him out of it.
As discovery after discovery is made and the truth about Varney and his island retreat is revealed, so the story takes on more and more sinister tones. One by one the guests are either killed or changed, and the Doctor by the end really needs his companions aid. Turning this most romantic of Doctors into a seething mass of monstrosity and violence is the abiding image - and you wonder how the hell he is going to recover. The ominously titled Final Chapter is the next story and continuation. It seems the comic strip is taking Doctor Who into horror land, and the Doctor is the main victim.
Alan Barnes' excellent story is backed up superbly by Martin Geraghty's art again, and this really is wonderfully imaginative material. DWM's comic strip has been building up nicely ever since the 8th Doctor and Alan Barnes began. This is the best 8th Dr strip so far. 9/10
The Final Chapter (262-265)
The Final Chapter really wants to be an epic. Taking continuity from many comic strips though it all becomes a bit too much. I think it's great when there is a continuous story thread running through the strip, but to access magazines going back to 1982 could be very alienating for most fans.
We're on Gallifrey again. The comic strip representation is faithful to the earlier strips, and not so much the TV stories. It's a far more interesting place too this way. Hooking the Doctor up to the Matrix the action becomes very dreamscape. Rassilon features quite a bit, and rogue Time Lords are all the rage. Luther is just one of a long line of these, and his motivations and desires are typical of most obsessed, power hungry Time Lords.
There's also a merging of fact and fiction here, which works very well. The Doctor has reached some kind of mythical status in Time Lord annals by this time. Some believe he existed, others think it is a nice story. One who really believes in the Doctor is Xanti. Intrinsically linked with the Elysians, the Final Chapter of the title, he is pivotal to the story. His alliance with the Doctor provides the Doctor with yet another companion to help him. Izzy and Fey it seems are not enough for the Gallifreyan threat.
Time Lord Legends, of which the Doctor is now undoubtebly one, can be fascinating or incredibly dull. The Elysians are a good one, forged in the early days they believed they were Gods in their own right. Luther is their leader, and he wants to go back in time to be the ultimate God. Forget Omega and Rassilon, he wants to be the top one. After all the Time Lord history presented in the New Adventures and BBC 8th Doctor books, I think it is about time this civilization was laid to rest. Gallifrey stories just always reek of continuity, and it is time for the Doctor to move on (which the books now thankfully have).
The Final Chapter is a complex story that feels like it should have been twice as long as it actually is. It is continuity heavy, and whilst that could very well reward the committed reader - it alienates too many.
Ultimately though this strip will be remembered for the apparent regeneration on the last page - a superb drawing from the ever reliable Martin Geraghty. This provoked quite an uproar at the time, and for a few months fans were really left thinking we had a 9th Doctor to enjoy. Looking back now it was a great way to provoke controversy - and really one of the coups of the comic strip. Being someone who didn't started to get DWM a year after this (and acquiring a vast amount of back copies later) I missed it at the time, as I did with Ground Zero - the other great controversy of the strip.
Final Chapter was maybe just a story too far for Alan Barnes. Scott Gray would take up the reigns again from the next story - Wormwood. But for now we were left to wonder just who this 9th Doctor was and how he had come about. 6/10
Wormwood (266-271)
The 9th Doctor is Nicholas Briggs. Apparently his representation was cheap, but there is something quite endearing about the first half of this strip - with him as the Doctor. His outfit with dickie bow and toothbrush in pocket (what was that all about!?!?!) is pure eccentricity. You really believe this is another incarnation of the Doctor. There is not a great deal of him to be honest though. He spends most of his time wanting a cup of tea - and this 1-Dimensional (no offence to Nick Briggs - the Doctor looks great - just the character never really got started) Doctor was gone.
Wormwood focuses on the Threshold, that marvelous comic creation of villainy. It finally explains just where this strange group came from, and it's quite clever. Abraham White is the source, and he's a Western salesman who used to distribute Gideon Bibles. The Pariah is revealed to be the mastermind behind the Threshold (mergining with Abraham that is), and this classic Boogeyman silhouette character dominates the strip thereafter.
The place where Abraham and the Pariah live is the lasting image of the comic strip story. The moon houses lots of the wonders of the world. Big Ben sits next to the Pyramids. The Great Wall of China next to the Eiffel Tower. But the main town is a Western America one, and this strange mixing of the fantastic and the futuristic works extremely well.
When the 8th Doctor does return it provides almost as great a cliffhanger as when he "regenerated" at the end of Final Chapter. Martin Geraghty gives us his best portrait of McGann, and as much as I thought the 9th Doctor was interesting, it was nice to have him back. The strip's decision to use Shayde again was begun a few stories back. It's a good one, because he really does portray great mystery and bravado. With the Doctor he forms the great resistance to the Pariah and its Threshold servants.
Once the 8th Doctor does return we have a few revelations about the Doctor's Companions. Fey's role is connected closely with Shayde, and her fate was telegraphed many issues back. The clues were all there, and it's a credit to the ingenuity of the strip writers to run with her character so long. Izzy is just delighted to have her Doctor back - and we can once again enjoy the impressive combination that those 2 characters bring.
The final end of the Threshold is well done. Shayde features heavily and we are left to wonder whether 2 main characters have been killed off in 1 story. I suspect so because Fey it seems continues on Shayde's work. At 6 parts this really is a story that is allowed to bloom and grow. With so many startling concepts (9th Doctor, Threshold origins, 8th Doctor back, Shayde's death, Threshold death) it couldn't have been any smaller.
Overall Wormwood is one of the best comic strip stories. It has been very rewarding to read the DWM strip starting from 228, as Gary Gillatt advised. This is the end of that extensive run. Not all the stories have carried been linked, but a sufficiently high number were. I feel better for the experience, even though it was long lasting, and not all of it worked. The Threshold have shown to be the ultimate villains of the strip - and unlike the TV show - it is nice to have their origins so clear. The Threshold above all have been sinister and humourous - it's a tough mix to achieve, but they've managed it. A fitting and impressive end for some excellent characters. 8/10
Happy Deathday (272)
Doctor Who Magazine thought it was a good idea to celebrate the 35th anniversary with a multi-Doctor story spoof. There's comics and then there's comics - this is comic, with the emphasis on comedy.
Welcome back Sean Longcroft, who seems to be the expert for these kinds of things. And once again he doesn't disappoint. Last time it was comic strip villains and companions. This time it's the more safe TV villains. Again the fun is spotting them all, and with credit to Longcroft's skill as a cartoonist - they are all recognizable.
The fun is also in the pairing of Doctors, each pairing getting about a page to discuss a variety of topics - all flippant, all designed to provoke howls of laughter in the readership. But is Scott Gray as funny as previous authors who have sent up DW. Overall, probably not - even though some of the jokes are pretty good. If you want the ultimate comedy Who you can't do much better than The One Doctor from Big Finish.
But let's look at those pairings. I suspect every fan has a dream of stories featuring multiple Doctors. Only 3 stories from the series (Three Doctors, Five Doctors and Two Doctors) made use of this obvious idea. Since then, the books have paired 5th and 7th together, the audios 5th, 6th and 7th. This is Scott Gray's and Sean Longcroft's ideal partnerships:-
The 2nd is put with the 6th on a spacestation, nothing original there - seen that one before. Interestingly though they get the most action! They also have the funniest dialogue and seem to fit the best together!
The 3rd is put with the 5th in Albert Square! Much Venusian Aikido here with the 5th Doctor standing watching.
The 4th is put with the 7th on some strange planet. The 2 most alien of Doctors, and all they can talk about is allergies!
The 1st is put with the 8th, and it is them who save the day against the Daleks.
It's a laugh - the Beige Guardian is the villain - and that pretty much sums it up. 7/10