Boy, that was a metric ton of techno-babble.
Creative Staff:
Story: Nick Abadzis
Art: Elena Casagrande
Colors: Arianna Florean with Azzurra Florean
Letters: Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
What They Say:
The Doctor, Gabby and Cindy land in New Orleans at the dawn of the Jazz Age, tracking down the source of the Nocturnes, twisted memetic creatures who ride music and use it as a weapon. Can the TARDIS team change the Nocturnes’ tune before they infect all life on Earth?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I tell you what, Nick Abadzis has Doctor Who speak down to a science. I don’t think I’ve heard half as much science-fictiony, time-wimey technojargon ever, and this is hardly my first rodeo in Wholand.
After the incident with the Wishing Well Witch, the Doctor, Gabby, and Cindy return to the TARDIS, rattled and in desperate need for some real R&R. The group decides to go to New Orleans at the dawn of the Jazz Age, but something goes wrong when they set off. Multiple dimensional conversion failures occur and Cindy becomes separated from the other two, trapped in a bubble-dimension whose contents are formed from her conscious and unconscious thoughts. While she’s being chased by scary monsters from the id, the Doctor and Cindy race to rescue her. The team eventually sets things right, but the question remains: was this a fluke, or was the TARDIS attacked?
The list of suspects who could actually breach the TARDIS defenses is pretty short, and the Doctor, Gabby, and Cindy all agree it was probably Anubis. That would seem the logical conclusion, but doubts arise when we see Anubis talking to the statue of his father, Sutekh. It may be that Anubis is just a pawn in a larger game. Only time will tell.
I generally enjoy stories that take us inside the TARDIS, but I’ll be honest, I got a bit lost with all the pseudo-science jargon. I also had difficulty following the dialogue balloons at times, so I did get a little confused at some points. Honestly, this reads a bit like a filler-issue. While the adventure was good, and the characters engaging, it still feels like this comic is moving pieces into place in preparation for the real story.
Even if the story is only so-so, the art is quite good. Elena Casagrande does a great job drawing new TARDIS interiors, and Arianna and Azzurra Florean paint some mesmerizing star fields. I particularly liked the way the Anubis portion of the story was colored. The sky is an iridescent white-yellow that’s both pleasing to the eye and indicative of an alien world.
In Summary:
It really feels like Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor is spinning its wheels right now. As much as I’m a fan of Ten, and of Gabby and Cindy, I’d like to get to the real story and stop seeing the pieces being put into place. Hopefully things will pick up once they finally get to New Orleans. Dr. Josh gives this a….
Grade: B-
Age Rating: N/A
Released By: Titan Comics
Release Date: 25 May 2016
MSRP: $3.99
