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Comic Book Review


Book Cover

Doctor Who
The Eleventh Doctor #7

 

Writer: Rob Williams
Artist: Warren Pleece
Colourist: Hi-Fi
Publisher: Titan Comics
RRP: UK £2.65, US $3.99
Age: 12+
32 pages
Publication Date: 21 January 2015


Intergalactic war brings the London skies to a shuddering halt! The day after tomorrow – and the Amstrons and the J’arrodic Federation have brought their eternal air-war to Earth. They’re not here to invade, and they’re being exceptionally considerate about collateral damage, all things considered. But the deadlock needs a peaceful and clever solution – so let’s hope the Doctor is up to the job! Meanwhile, Jones has been piling on the pounds of late – nervous overeating, or something more sinister?And in the middle of it all, Alice, back in London to deal with her landlord, is given a shocking offer that she dare not refuse…!

Warren Pleece takes over the art duties for the first episode of a new story, The Eternal Dogfight. He retains the clean and detailed lines that have quickly become a tradition for the Eleventh Doctor series. His faces sometimes have a tendency toward flatness, though this mainly affects the Doctor (take a look at the last four pages for example). This has an unexpectedly endearing quality: coincidentally, it reminds me of the style of Neville Main, the very first Doctor Who comic strip artist!

The endless war that is raging between the Amstrons and the J’arrodic in this strip is obviously similar to that between the Sontarans and the Rutans in the television series. In fact, I did wonder whether the Amstrons had been Sontarans in earlier versions of the script and art, because the creatures’ silhouette is almost identical. If they ever were the Sontarans, though, I imagine the reason they had to be changed is because the Doctor could not have a hope of ending the Sontaran-Rutan conflict in a present-day setting, because it is still going strong in the far future in The Sontaran Experiment.

No matter who the combatants are, writer Rob Williams arms us with plenty of reasons to keep reading. His pre-credits teaser could have ended with the full-page reveal of spaceships filling the sky, but in common with a number of Steven Moffat episodes, he adds a few more dramatic beats before finally cutting to the titles. UNIT does not appear, despite being promised by Titan’s pre-publicity for this issue (maybe they will be in the next episode), but there is intrigue surrounding every one of the Doctor’s companions, including a mysterious weight problem for the ever-transforming Jones, and an unexpected visitor for Alice that I couldn’t possible reveal here.

Have no fear – despite Alice’s return to Earth to deal with her eviction, this high-flying story doesn’t stay domestic for long.

8

Richard McGinlay

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