Why aren’t you reading this?
Creative Staff:
Story: Paul Cornell
Art: Neil Edwards
Colors: Ivan Nunes
Letters: Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
What They Say:
The three Doctors meet in 1920s Paris – impossible! Have the laws of time and space been broken?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I love, love, love, love, love how this story started. Taking a page from Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor, this story starts out from Gabby Gonzalez’s point of view. If you haven’t read The Tenth Doctor then this might be a bit lost on you, but Gabby is an artist, and she keeps an illustrated journal of her adventures through time and space. This issue starts with one of those journal entries, creating an almost storybook feel due to her drawing style and her almost Disney-esque handwriting. Cornell, Edwards, and Nunes juxtapose Gabby’s illustrated fantasy with the reality of her situation. Instead of three different versions of her doctor (one with a beard, one older with a monocle, and one decidedly pirate-y) who have tea and generally get along, she’s faced with three different men who would almost rather bicker than save themselves from mortal danger.
The irony of the situation is that the Companions deal with the situation far better than their Doctors. To backtrack just a little bit, Clara flew the TARDIS to 1923 Paris to prevent her Doctor from meeting his previous two incarnations. She convinces the other Companions to keep their respective Doctors separate, but it’s ruined when Twelve—attack eyebrows and all—barges in. This meeting creates a paradox and the Reapers (universal antibodies that try to heal wounds in the space-time continuum) swoop in.
Interestingly, it’s Eleven who takes the lead, while Twelve and Ten follow his play. The Doctor’s TARDISs have merged together, and the group leads the Reapers on a magical mystery tour through various iterations of the control room. Once they rid themselves of the Reapers, the TARDISs separate and each Doctor is alone for a moment. Cornell uses this as an opportunity to flesh out each Doctor’s reaction. Twelve calls the other two “Baby” and “Posh” Doctor and believes they think of him as “Scary” Doctor. Ten says nothing, but his silence speaks volumes and fits his character as the Man who Runs. Eleven’s reaction is probably the best: “I think I might actually win a ‘least silly Doctor’ contest.” To which Alice replies, “Weirdly, yes….”
The Doctors regroup on the planet Marinus because it was where the future picture of them gets taken. Clara wants them off planet, because if the picture gets taken then they will be timelocked and everything as they know it would end. As is often the case, the Doctors’ curiosity gets the best of them and the picture gets taken.
It’s the mark of a good writer when something as simple and innocuous as a picture being taken can make for a satisfying and ominous climax. Cornell ramps up the tension quite a bit and gives us some great moments from all three Doctors, but it’s really the Companions who shine. Too often writers forget that Doctor Who is really about the Companions. While the Doctor may be the coolest, cleverest guy on the block, we only become invested in him and his adventures because of the people he shares them with. The Companions are the ones who keep their heads in the situation and they prevent the Doctors from getting lost in their own thoughts.
This comic does a great job of capturing the Doctor’s melancholy and deep-seated self-loathing, especially with Ten and Twelve. Those two butt heads constantly, partially because both of them are defined by their anger. Twelve wears his anger on his sleeve, but Ten runs away from it constantly. Eleven stands on the sidelines, coming off the most well-adjusted and self-assured of all of them, which wasn’t necessarily something that I expected, but it fits.
All of this is brought to life by Edwards and Nunes, who manage to capture each character and provide us with some amazing settings: Paris in 1923 looks and feels like Paris, as does the blasted wasteland of Marinus. I know I’m throwing around compliments like they’re about to be outlawed, but this is just a solid story told by very talented individuals. Pointing out any flaws in the art or writing would be nitpicking for the sake of nitpicking.
In Summary:
Doctor Who: Four Doctors is living up to its boast of being the big event of the summer. Cornell, Edwards, and Nunes have put together a solid story that pulls from both the television and comic continuity and treats both with the same amount of respect and regard. While there are Easter Eggs, they fit the story, and even new Whovians can jump in and know exactly what is going on. If you’re a Who fan, you should be reading this. Dr. Josh gives this an….
Grade: A
Age Rating: N/A
Released By: Titan Comics
Release Date: August 19th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
