A Review by Richard Radcliffe 23/4/03
The strip, in the later issues of the Weekly, saw Steve Moore move upstairs. Impressive as he had been with the secondary strip, it was time for him to take centre stage on the main strip. The strip in the Weekly remained at 4 pages long, switching to 8 pages with the onset of the Monthly (44). The 4th Doctor continued with companion Sharon, until she got married (Ah!). Dave Gibbons continued to amaze with the artwork, taking us through from mid 1980 to mid 1981.
The Time Witch (35-38)
Wagner and Mills were no more. After 4 varied strips they made way for another talent. Steve Moore was the writer of the secondary strip since DWW Number 1. He was the obvious choice therefore to "move up" to the main strip of the Weekly. He was to stay in this prime position for the next year, ironically allowing another Moore to step into the secondary strip. This second Moore was a man who was to become a legend in this medium, Alan. But that story is elsewhere, for now Steve was the Main Man, and his first effort at the Doctor strip is actually pretty good - a simple story well told.
The Time Witch is Brimo - a villainess who has been banished by her own people. She survives in her small prison, floating through space. When she escapes she finds herself in another dimension. She has magnificent powers and can conjure up anything - what she thinks is reality. The Doctor, Sharon and K9 arrive in this dimension. The Doctor engages in a battle of wits with her.
Brimo is a memorable creation. Dave Gibbons is a fantastic artist, thankfully he was retained on the Main Strip. With the Time Witch he has created his most beautiful creation. Maybe fancying a Cartoon Character is a bit sad, but plenty like Jessica Rabbit - so I hold my head up and admit it! At 12 years old I was just starting to notice things like that - and the memories came back when I read it recently! Sharon also manages to age 4 years at the end of the story - another plus for sure.
The panels of the Time Witch floating through space are quite reminiscent of Superman 2, and those 3 baddies who nearly defeat the Man of Steel. I believe that film came out after this strip though. Gibbons draws this trip through space magnificently. When Brimo arrives at the strange dimension, Gibbons impresses with the sumptuous living quarters Brimo creates, and its surrounding landscape.
The story is punctuated with great moments, most featuring the Doctor. It's the ending that I had a concern with. Because I liked Brimo so much it seems so incredibly severe. The Doctor puts her inside an Eternity Capsule - far too strong a punishment based on what he knows about her and what happens in the story. But up to that last few pages this strip had been superb. The Doctor's character is wonderful, and even Sharon gets to join in the action. There's also a funny character in there, vicious looking at first, who seems only content to make the tea!
Time Witch is 17 pages long, half the length of the usual strips of DWW. There's a lot to like about it though, and a quick recovery for the strip after the atrocious Dogs of Doom. Steve Moore should be just fine in the hot seat. 8/10
Dragon's Claw (39-45)
The comics, every now and again, go where TV DW would never have gone. Thus it is here, as China 1522 is the setting. We are introduced to some very vicious Monks - bit of an anomaly there then. The Abbot has grand schemes - he wants to be Emperor. Meanwhile the original Abbot sits covered in dust at the top of a mountain.
This story straddles the DWW/DWM conversion. The page count of the earlier instalments is minimal (34 pages in total), then once the Monthly kicks in we are treated to the longest Strip yet (10 pages each). At around 30-35 pages it's actually just as long as the established strips of the Weekly, but that was about to change.
Dragon's Claw follows the lacklustre Dogs of Doom with including monsters from TV. You can't really blame the strip for doing this, building on the success of its parent show - but as with the books, this needed to be kept to guest spots every now and again. The fact is in this story, the Sontarans are very badly used. In fact I counted just 5 panels with at least 1 Sontaran in it.
Ironically though the whole story revolves around the Sontaran involvement. It's why the Monks are so aggressive, it's why the Abbot is attempting to become Emperor. The Sontarans have crashed and they need a crystal to set them on their way again. Only the Emperor has one of those - thus the Sontarans interfere.
There's also quite a lot of comedy in there, mostly provided by the Doctor of course, but also the Abbot on the Hill - Hsiang. When he puts down the attack on him with 1 finger, you just have to laugh. The closing scenes where he returns to the monastery, with all his bones stiff after sticking cross-legged is superb.
Steve Moore gives us a pretty good story overall. There's a sense of time, as the Doctor and Sharon travel 400 miles to the Monastery. There's also some great characters, such as Hsiang. Dave Gibbons is a terrific artist, and he is equal to representing this far away land centuries ago. There's some excellent graphics of places. I hadn't realized too how great he is on mannerisms. The facial contortions of each of our characters are wonderfully expressive. I admire great artists so much for their skill.
A different story from the norm, but one that provided more than its fair share of enjoyment. 7/10
The Collector (46)
We're into small story territory here, and for the foreseeable future DWM would present 1 or 2 part strips (8 or 16 pages long). Steve Moore continues as main writer, with Gibbons excelling as always with the art.
The Collector is somebody right out of Star Trek land, and there's little wrong with that every now and again. He collects cultures. Thus, on his asteroid, he is able to transmat (Star Trek again) isolated groups of people to his station. The Doctor and Sharon walk through Roman times, onto 18th Century - changing clothes (strangely enough) as they walk.
Gibbons' representation of this asteroid hideaway is wonderful. The ship has come down, it has been changed into a futuristic house. It's a fantastic place, one that only 8 pages doesn't do justice to. His depiction of the robot responsible for this is wonderful too - straight from Metropolis (or Queen videos if you prefer!).
It's a simple story with excellent artwork. There's a couple of pretty good new characters too. There's even a nice little time runaround at the end that Moore solves Jonathan Morris style. Good standard again. 7/10
Dreamers of Death (48)
Off we go to Unicepter 4. The 4th Doctor has friends there, and they are rather into dreams. Here we are in virtual reality land then. Bearing in mind this story appeared in DWM in 1981 no doubt such things were in their infancy, and therefore firmly in Sci-Fi land. I could never afford such gadgets, and in fact still can't. So this kind of story is just about the closest I will ever get. I was never into computer games in fact, full stop. It's probably why I had so much time to read comic strips I expect!
It's nice to see the Doctor stopping off and visiting old friends, in the first place. This is a fellow who travels everywhere, saves countless lives, but rarely meets anybody twice unless they want to destroy him. The 4th Doctor is welcomed with open arms, and soon rigged up to the virtual reality console.
You just know something is going to go wrong, and when the dream-helper comes along with a strange furry creature on his shoulder - there's your problem. Fun and games follow in the virtual world, the Slinths (those furry shoulder creatures) get huge, and then Sharon leaves to start a happy life with the dream-helper.
It's all rather mundane stuff really. The strip can do better, and marrying off their original strip companion isn't the most novel way for her to leave. That the dream-helper doesn't really show much interest in her, nor Sharon in he, which stretches credulity a bit far. Sharon had been grossly underused in the few stories she had been in. We're not really going to miss her too much, because she was hardly that involved anyway - they shouldn't really have bothered at all - especially with a Doctor with such a strong character as the 4th.
Ironically the other companion - K9 - has one of his best stories. When he pulls the Doctor out of the dreamscape, he saves his life - it's one of the best acts from a companion who seems to work better on the strip format.
Dreamers of Death marks a down-turn in the comic strip. It's nicely drawn (by Dave Gibbons), but not one of the best unfortunately. 5/10
The Life Bringer (49-50)
Doctor Who meets Clash of the Titans!
The 4th Doctor and K9 rescue Prometheus from the mountain (which is now a rock, he's been there that long). They take him back to the home of all the Greek Gods - and Zeus is rather cheesed off at this. There's some strange story about the Gods giving life to the Earth - Prometheus the main instigator - and how Zeus is dead set against it. But they like the Doctor eventually and decide Life will happen after all!
It's all rather strange for a Doctor Who Story. This is even acknowledged in the closing panels, as the Doctor is left wondering where he's been, and what the hell it was all about.
Steve Moore continues to tell a wide variety of story, but I can't help but feel this has gone over the Line. I think DW can be just about anything - it's the main ingredient for the success of the format. But there are times when you just feel it has gone too far - and DW storytelling has not had the best chance to achieve its entertaining ends. This is such a story.
It's well drawn by Dave Gibbons, it's the story that I question. The Greek God motifs are all there, and Gibbons depiction of the Godly realms are excellent - majestic buildings, soaring vistas, beautiful people - all are here. So again, for not the first time, the plaudits lie mostly with the artist, and not the storyteller.
A rather odd 2 parter, that is not really DW at all (at least the DW I like to see!) 5/10
War of the Words (51)
This story, by Steve Moore and Dave Gibbons (who have now been working on the strip nearly 2 years together) is another 1-part adventure. The Doctor arrives on Biblios - the library world. There's a war going on between 2 rival factions. The Library is the main subject of confrontation. They believe it to contain vast knowledge of mass destruction. Neither side wants the other to get the information - and so they fight and fight and fight.
It's a novel idea (no pun intended), and the whole idea of a library world is a magnificent one. It was repeated in the audios much later with The Genocide Machine - and it was a great idea then too (done very well). The library world is populated by robots, and I would have liked to spend more time there - have I just had an idea for a great novel?
The Doctor's solution to this dilemma is quite simple. By convincing the 2 sides that the repository of the Armageddon Machine is destroyed, he finishes the war. The 2 sides believe this stranger and the 1-parter is all over.
It's simple, but it's an effective 1-parter. 7/10
The Spider-God (52)
Steve Moore takes a bow with this one off strip that DWM felt was strong enough to repeat 10 years later in 1991. It is one of the stronger 1-part stories, and an excellent finish for a strip writer who was good, without ever being that great.
At first the strip is reminiscent of a Star Trek episode (the one with Hutch in it, lots of blondies if I recall). There's also a big connection with the HG Wells classic The Time Machine, which no doubt inspired Star Trek too. A group of people, living simply, have to go visit a great big Spider every once in a while. The survey team visiting the planet believe this Spider to be controlling them. So they destroy it. The truth is very different, as the Spider cocoons the populace. They emerge later as beautiful creatures - the Spiders are part of the magnificent evolutionary cycle of the planet.
This is a classic moral story, and remains one of the strongest 1-parters in the history of the strip. It leaves you with feelings that you wouldn't expect - a sense of loss and regret that this unique people are no more. It's quite gut wrenching, and you have to admire Steve Moore for giving us such a great little story.
Dave Gibbons' artwork complements the story wonderfully well. He's always impressive, but it's nice to have a story that merits the attention Gibbons gives to this comic strip.
The Spider God will be remembered by many. It leaves a resonance that is difficult to rate. Powerful stuff considering it is only with us for 8 pages. You actually feel sorry too for the commander of the survey team, who's responsible for this gross mistake. 9/10