A Review by Richard Radcliffe 8/5/03
Steve Parkhouse takes over as chief writer of the strip, as it enters one of its golden eras. The 4th Doctor remained the Doctor, ably drawn by Dave Gibbons. With Tides of Time the 5th Doctor takes over - in a strip talked about and referenced more than probably any other in DW's long history. Both Doctors began each story companionless. Guest Artists also appeared (Mike McMahon, A Buylla, P Neary), but Gibbons continued to contribute the lions share, and was easily the best. This part takes us from summer 1981 to spring 1983.
The Deal (53)
Steve Parkhouse took over as the comic scribe with this 1-issue story. It's a low key beginning for one of the best writers to grace any aspect of the series. He was accompanied, at first, by the excellent Dave Gibbons, and the art is the excellent standard shown since DWW started.
A soldier on a scouting ship encounters the TARDIS, with a lone 4th Doctor inside. The Doctor gets probed by a mechanical spider, the soldier commandeers the TARDIS. The gravity of the planet prevents the TARDIS taking off, they leave the ship. The soldier and the pursuit ship then face one another on the planets surface. An explosive finale ensues. That's the story, but it's only 8 pages long, you can't expect anymore really.
It's a minor story about the futility of war - these are the last strikes in a Millennia War. It leaves an unfulfilled feeling - a kind of, what was the point, impression. A nasty little beginning then from Steve Parkhouse, and not at all representative of his later triumphs. 5/10
End of the Line (54-55)
Steve Parhouse here signals his more aggressive and imaginative style of storytelling. After the disappointing The Deal, he hits on squarely in the face with a tale of grime and despair.
The TARDIS materializes in an underground. The Doctor nearly gets run over by one of the automatic trains and then encounters a group of thugs, straight out of Hell. This is a world of "no bright lights, no cinemas, just pollution, waste and unbounded gloom" as Parkhouse so eloquently puts it. Streetgangs fight for whatever scraps are left. The Doctor is seen as Lunch. This is sounding awfully like another show on TV but here goes:- Just when this collection of demons are about to decapitate the Doctor, Angel arrives - a streetfighting Saviour. Angel, it turns out, is one of a group of Guardian Angels - the only peacekeepers in this dark underbelly of civilization - she looks surprisingly pristine too!
There is some terrific Black Humour included. The "Meals on Wheels" gag when the Doctor is chased by the Cannibals on a moving train, is the best. Also funny to see the Doctor's scarf being a hindrance for a change, about time it got caught in something.
The End of the Line of the title is in fact the outside. The Engineer is trying to rig the electric, automatic trains, so that they go onto the outside line. Outside the city into the Countryside - a lush place of magic away from the dark, decrepit city. The Doctor helps of course, and the train leaves.
The genius of this story lies in its resolution. There is no happy ending here, there wasn't in the last Comic Strip either. The Doctor has to find out whether the train made it out of the city. The TARDIS materializes in the "Countryside", outside the City Walls - but it is a waste, just with no walls. He sits on a Wooden Chair, next to the Railway Line, waiting for the train that never comes.
End of the Line is a rich tale of survival. It pulls a fair old punch, and contains a dark gloomy world that only can be seen in nightmares. Full credit to the very talented Dave Gibbons for the Artwork. One of the best Comics you are likely to read. 9/10
The Free-Fall Warriors (56-57)
After the dark gloom of Parkhouse's first 2 scripts for the comics, it is quite heartening to see this lighthearted piece where the Doctor is on holiday.
He has arrived at some spaceport, complete with lots and lots of amusement arcades - the strip was written in the early 80s after all. The Doctor loves that kind of "shoot-em-up" games (apparently), and he spends most of his time on them. No Eye of Orion for holidays here then. The Doctor gets friendly with a small troll called Doctor Asimoff, and ends up in an argument with some aliens about which ship is best - the TARDIS or the aliens spacecrafts. The Doctor defends the TARDIS to the hilt, and they end up having to prove which is best. It turns out the aliens in argumentative mode are the famous Stunt-team, the Free-Fall Warriors - and the Doctor and Dr Asimoff are taken aboard the ducking and diving crafts. Throw into the mix the fact that the Five Planetary system is in fact 6 planets, with 1 aggressor trying to spoil the fun of the other 5 - and you have your story.
It is hardly the stuff of great stories, but it is quite entertaining all the same. The Free-Fall Warriors are brought wonderfully to life by Dave Gibbons. There's Machinehead, Big Cat, Sharp Tooth and Silver Surfer. The Doctor and Doctor Asimoff get to be the 5th and 6th members of this team, as they repel the invaders from the 6th Planet.
A bit of light relief from the deeper stories that preceded it, is what this story is all about. This is a Comic Strip after all, and things had got very solemn in previous months. It seems Parkhouse can do light-hearted space opera too. 6/10
Junkyard Demon (58-59)
Parkhouse never ceases to amaze in the way he moves from 1 story medium to the next. It does help that the comic medium is so flexible, but it is nice to see someone playing around in the Doctor Who playground - and coming up with many different types of stories.
Junkyard Demon will be remembered by most readers of DWM as "the one with the scarecrow Doctor", and we are not talking Worzel Gummidge here. The artwork is radical and often messy (new artists on show who never did another comic strip again). Everyone looks like they haven't washed or changed in months. This perfectly captures the setting of the story, and it is for this reason I kind of like it.
The TARDIS is plucked from space by a salvage ship run by 2 friends Flotsam and Jetsam. Aboard also is an inert Cyberman, one of the original Tenth Planet breed - the more untidy and cumbersome ones. You just know the Cyberman is not as inert as we are led to believe however, and it wakes up to capture the Doctor's TARDIS. Away the Cyberman and Jetsam go to a wrecked Cybership, and Jetsam has to fix the Cybercontroller who is also inert.
My personal favourite character of this story is the robot though. Flotsam and Jetsam are wonderfully wrinkly and strange, but it is windmill powered Robot - Dutch - who gets my vote as the best creation. As Parkhouse knows this, the resolution is fairly predictable, but it's quite funny all the same.
If you like your Cybermen serious, and not the lighthearted versions on show here, it's definitely not your best memory of the DWM comic strip. Neither will it be liked by those who think the comic strip should contain a true likeness of the TV Doctors. But if you are open to different interpretations of the Doctor, and enjoy wacky characters, then this one is a good one for you. I think it makes a rather nice change. 7/10
The Neutron Knights (60)
The upcoming epic Tides of Time was the raison d'etre behind this mini epic.
The storytelling is of the classic mode, great castles reaching for the sky, heroes fighting noble battles. With talk of the Day of Judgment Steve Parkhouse takes us into storytelling that belies its comic presentation. Much of this epic storytelling is Arthurian based, that after all being a fine inspiration for such tales.
Yet Sci-Fi elements are flung into the mix. Under the great castle lies a vast machine, equal to the power of the sun - that is the source of the power that the knights seek. Merlin has been summoned - his mission, to maintain the equilibrium of horizons, to ensure that the fates of the universe lie in perfect balance. The Doctor is summoned by Merlin, the task being too great for just one man (even if that man is the greatest wizard the world has ever seen) - to keep the balance in check. It seems only the Doctor can succeed. This story marks the passing of the baton to the Time Lord. This is the prequel for the epic adventure to come in Tides of Time - where the Doctor once more must save everything in the universe. It just seems like it is a lot more important this time, thanks to the evocative dialogue and the marvelous imagery (Dave Gibbons' graphics perfectly complimenting Steve Parkhouse's words).
Neutron Knights finishes the 4th Doctor Comics on an epic, but pessimistic note - the comic series finally mirroring the TV series. The 4th Doctor does not know his own future, rather poignant considering his upcoming regeneration. The scene is set too for the 5th Doctor's era. Like the TV series the comic writer and artist feel the need to overlap the change of Doctor with continuous threads. It certainly maintains the interest.
It's time for a new Doctor, and Steve Parkhouse had already put the pieces in place. Something truly special was on the horizon. 8/10
The Tides of Time (61-67)
The Tides of Time is one of those stories that supporters of the comics rave about. How much better than the TV show this is! How well portrayed the Doctor is! How groundbreaking the comic strip can be! Comics are an acquired taste. Not everyone is at ease with their format, they prefer to see the pictures in their head, and not have some artist's idea flung at them. Alternatively there are those who dismiss comics as child's play. The comic strip has always been directed at the same market of the magazine it appears in. Thus the earlier strips were quite childish, but they were for kids – so that was okay. As the strip transferred to DWM, and DWM began to cater for an older audience – so the comic strip did. The strips are every bit as adult as the books or TV.
I like the comics. I read DWMs every month with great interest. They provide another example of how Doctor Who can work in a vast array of formats. They also provide further stories that feature our favourite character. They also can tell cracking stories – like Tides of Time.
Tides of Time has been hailed as the start of the comic strip rennaissance, I wouldn’t go that far personally, but it certainly is very good. The comic strip, like the show that spawned it, is prone to wild deviations of standard. A classic here, a duffer there. Tides of Time is one of the best there is, it is also one of the longest – thus giving it time to develop.
It fulfills the criteria of great TV inspired comic strips for one thing. Very good artwork with characters looking like their TV selves. And a very good story, that brings out the best images. Tides of Time is heaving with powerful images, and the artist is up to the presentation of them.
It begins with a discord on the Event Synthesizer which plunges time into a mess, thanks to the invasion of the Demon Melanicus. Grenades appear instead of cricket balls, Knights charge through a sleepy English village of the 80s. The story got off to a corker for me, because it shows the 5th Doctor playing cricket. It ends in the same way, the fate of the universe in the grip of one Time Lord wielding a cricket bat, I think this is wonderful. I loved the 5th Doctor's image, because of its cricket connection.
The story manages to jump places effortlessly in creating a substantial whole. From an English village, to the majestic towers of Gallifrey (don’t remember this Gallifrey off TV, but it is nice to see). From a fairground theme park to the battlefields of war. It’s a visual feast, and Dave Gibbons is up for it. Whether the story makes any sense or not depends on how you view the abstractions that Steve Parkhouse presents in the narrative.
The comic strip gets the characters spot on too. The Doctor is heroic, moving from place to place, trying to sort out the time fault. His stand-in companion Sir Justin, is the sword wielding hero of many fables, trusting action rather than talk. It is a pity this companionship did not last beyond this story, because the 2 complement each other. The extra characters brought in bring a lot. The Prime Mover, the player of the Synthesizer (definitely in the early 80s here). Rassilon, the Time Lord founder, pulling a few strings in the netherworld. Melanicus, gloriously destroying all in his path. Shayde following the Doctor, ensuring his survival.
Lot to get engrossed in with Tides of Time. The comic strips’ first epic has everything. Rambling epic it might be, but there is more imagination in this than the majority of TV stories. 9/10
Stars Fell on Stockbridge (68-69)
The strip was clearly building on the success of Tides of Time. The same artist was employed again (Dave Gibbons), and his style is similar to his previous story. He has the 5th Doctor down superbly. This would be Gibbons' last entry into Doctor Who comics - he is one of the greats without any doubt. The writer had been with the comics over a year now - Steve Parkhouse. The comic strip was in stable hands and it showed. Arguably too, it had never been better.
After the excesses of Tides of Time, it was the intention to get some simplicity back into the storytelling. And for this Stars Fell on Stockbridge succeeds. It involves the Doctor arriving at Stockbridge, befriending a local eccentric, travelling to a derelict floating in space, and returning his new friend home. It introduces us to one of those great eccentrics that light up Doctor Who - Max Edison. Effectively Max acts as a companion to the Doctor, and the story is both quaint and delightful for his inclusion. The sense of wonder that he possesses should be held be all of us.
The village of Stockbridge is the archetypal English village. It is the same village that has been the setting for countless DW stories. An island of tranquility amongst the chaos that is the Doctors' adventures. Wonderfully the comic strip returned there a fair bit - clearly glorying in the nostalgia of its own success. There is nice contrast here too with the derelict of space - with a fair amount of tension being built up as the Doctor and Max explore the ruin.
The story also contains one of my favourite conclusions to any story, in whatever medium. Max telling the village folk that he has been to the stars, and that they would be lighting up the Stockbridge sky that very evening. The final caption giving Max the respect he has wanted for so many years. Magic storytelling. 10/10
The Stockbridge Horror (70-75)
Following on from the success of the epic Tides of Time and the delightfully quaint Stars Fell on Stockbridge, you expect more from this offering. Being just as long, give or take a few pages, as Tides didn't help it either. Whilst the aforementioned stories' length gave it chance to develop and explore wonderful concepts - Stockbridge Horror starts well and then meanders through some very patchy pages for its second half.
The beginning is wonderful. The 5th Doctor has settled in Stockbridge. This wonderful village has a character all of its own, and to see the Doctor enjoying a boiled egg in a quaint guest house, fits this Doctor's character superbly. The TARDIS imprint in the rocks of the quarry, local bobby finding a charred body on the side of the road - great ideas that really caught the attention. But then the Doctor becomes introspective, the TARDIS is suspected of foul play - and the story treads water for a few parts, whilst the Doctor stays in the TARDIS.
The storytelling is not quite up to Steve Parkhouse's usual excellence. There's a lot of good in there, the TARDIS being prominent, the return of Shayde, helping the Doctor yet again. The 5th Doctor is again presented as someone who gets washed along in the tide. All this upheaval around him, and yet he seems helpless at times. The 5th Doctor was vulnerable on TV, the comic takes this to its extreme.
The story tries to be as epic as The Tides of Time, but doesn't measure up. There is much switching back and forth, and a trip to Gallifrey thrown in near the end. It probably came too soon after Tides for this to work. The erratic story is also not helped by the erratic artwork, making the story uneven. The introduction of Time Lord soldiers and battle TARDISes, for example, should have been menacing - but squat figures and TARDISes that look like boilers let the side down.
There is also very little wrong with the first 3 parts of this 6 parter, in the artwork side of things. Paul Neary and Steve Parkhouse himself do a good job of presenting the action. What lets the side down massively is the artwork from Part 4 onwards. A comic strip will largely be judged on its artwork, even more than its story. A story can be told on the written page. A comic strip is defined by its art. And the art of the second half of Stockbridge Horror is abysmal. It is slapdash, it is out of proportion, it is messy. The story, frankly, is lessened as the ineptitude of the art dominates all. We'd been spoilt by the mastery of Dave Gibbons, we had yet to see the imagination of John Ridgway.
There are plenty of football matches where 1 side dominates for the first half, and then comes out second half and plays atrociously - spoiling all their hard work in the first half. The fans go home berating their team after such a lacklustre display. The skill of the first 45 minutes is forgotten about. This story is like that. Stockbridge Horror is remembered as the story when the art collapsed, after a fine beginning. And that just is inexcusable for a comic strip. 5/10. First half was progressing the story nicely with a 7/10 though.