"Timewaster?" by Tim Roll-Pickering 30/9/98
Timeslip is a strip that has often been ignored because it first appeared in the same issues as Abslom Daak-Dalek Killer, arguably the best of all the backup strips. Worse still, the next lead strip was Doctor Who and the Star Beast, widely considered as the best of all the fourth Doctor comic strips. Normally, such circumstances would explain away why so many people have forgotten a strip in a similar position, but Timeslip has the dubious honour of being the last strip reprinted in DWCC, and so had the chance to finally be remembered. And it’s the main strip to feature K9, though his absence in previous strips isn’t explained and his presence is unimportant to the development of the story.
Instead it proved exactly why this strip has been forgotten. The strip is typical filler material--a weak plot, unconvincing likenesses (Neary’s third and second Doctors have to be seen to be believed, fortunately he resorts to basing the first Doctor’s poses all on photos) and a threat that you just don’t care about. In many ways this story is similar to Inside the Spaceship--featuring just the regular characters inside the TARDIS facing a bizarre and unclear menace, but lacks the character development of that story. The ‘creature’ is a good idea, but totally underdeveloped and unexplained.
Timeslip might have just worked had it been a one part eight page strip that came somewhere between DWM #44 and #59. There, it would have more room for character and idea development without the cliffhanger, and almost all of it’s surrounding strips would have been just as dreary (Spider-God being the one exception), thus giving it a better chance to shine. But, as it stands, this strip is just a forgettable mess. 2/10