Meanwhile, back in Sunset Park, Gabby’s best friend Cindy makes up her mind… Cindy remained on Earth at the end of her last adventure with the Doctor – a decision that she immediately regretted! Now, with only Gabby’s sketchbook of unseen adventures to guide her, she must find her way back to the Time Lord… but sinister forces already have her under surveillance…! The whole of Gabby’s adventures with the Doctor are laid bare to Cindy, as she finally reads Gabby’s illustrated diary. But how can the journal be showing her things that haven’t happened yet? What does it mean for Cindy’s future… and the safety of the universe…?!

This single-part story is a Doctor-lite episode. Neither the Time Lord nor his companion Gabriella Gonzalez actually appear in Cindy, Cleo and the Magic Sketchbook, except as illustrations on pages from Gabby’s book. However, as with the best Doctor-lite episodes from the television show, their presence is felt throughout, as Cindy reads Gabby’s words and realises that she needs to get back in contact with them somehow.

For Cindy, this story takes place mere moments after the end of issue #15. Anubis and Dorothy Bell get a few mentions, following a single-page surprise appearance by the former at the end of last issue. Meanwhile, other characters from the Fountains of Forever and Spiral Staircase storylines return in person – Cleo and Erik, formerly of the Cult of the Black Pyramid. They are followed by a sinister new character – a thin, black-clad figure called Mr Ebonite, who is every bit as creepy as the Talent Scout from Titan’s Eleventh Doctor title. Appropriately enough, the sun gradually sets on Sunset Park over the course of several pages, and it is fully dark by the time the sinister Mr Ebonite makes his entrance and puts his magical skull-topped cane to use.

There’s an even more exciting new arrival at the end of the episode – which forms a brilliant cliffhanging end to this issue.

9

Richard McGinlay