We’re gonna need a bigger TARDIS
Creative Staff:
Story: George Mann & Cavan Scott
Art: Alessandro Vitti & Ivan Rodgriquez with Tazio Bettin
Colors: Nicola Righi with Enrica Eren Angiolini
Letters: Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
What They Say:
For the Cybermen’s 50th-anniversary… YOU WILL BE DELETED! Exiled from Gallifrey at the very end of Time, Rassilon, fallen leader of the Time Lords, has been captured by the last of the Cybermen. Now the Cybermen have access to time travel. With it, every defeat is now a victory. Every foe is now dead — or Cyberized. Titan Comics’ 2016 Doctor Who event — and the biggest Doctor Who story of the year — begins here!
The debut issue comes with five variant covers to collect: an art cover by series artist Alessandro Vitti, a photo cover by Will Brooks, a cool Cybermen variant by Fabio Listrani, a blank sketch variant, and a fun coloring variant – perfect to color in at home or in stores on Doctor Who Comics Day.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Hoo-boy, this is a jam-packed first issue. It all begins with Twelve crash lands on Karn. Then the story jumps to Eleven and his companion Alice Obiefune on a jaunt to prehistoric Earth. From there it goes to Ten traveling on a space bus with his companions Gabby and Cindy, on their way to a planet-sized mall. Finally, we catch up with Nine, his companion Rose, Jack Harkness, and Jackie Tyler in 2006 London after a massive Cybermen invasion. All four adventures are interconnected, but none of the Doctors knows that yet.
Although we don’t learn it in this issue, the solicitation says that the Cybermen gained access to time travel by capturing Rassilon, and they have since set out to cyberize the whole of time, beginning with the Silurians. This is about as bad as it gets, and it will definitely take all four Doctors to put time to right.
This issue starts off strong, introducing us to each Doctor and filling us in on his situation. They haven’t interacted yet—which is 90% of the fun of reading a big crossover event like this—but that will surely change in the next issue. In the meantime, George Mann and Cavan Scott do a good job of capturing each Doctors’ respective voice and attitude and keeping the story rolling. They serve the exposition to us on the fly, wisely placing each Doctor into his own life-or-death situation (Twelve and the Cybermen, Eleven and the Cybersilurians, Ten and the Sontarans, and Nine with the Cybermen and their weird battle panthers or whatever that was), and the story never lags or suffers from an overload of information. The only downside to this issue is that it’s very fast, pretty much ending before it even began and obviously functioning as the exposition leading to the meatier parts: the conflict, the climax, and the denouement. It’s not a huge problem, but I did experience a moment of “Wait? It’s over?” when I reached the final page.
Despite that issue, the writing was definitely solid. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the art. While I won’t go so far as to call it bad, it’s definitely inconsistent. Twelve and Nine look all right, but Eleven and Ten definitely don’t look like themselves. The art also lacks a sense of depth that I find difficult to articulate. It looks rather flat and doesn’t jump out at the reader.
I suppose it’s just a case of too many cooks in the kitchen. When you get that many artists and colorists working on one issue, you’re bound to get some inconsistencies. Thankfully, it’s not enough to take away from the overall story, but it is disappointing, especially considering the quality of the art on the regular Who titles.
In Summary:
Although the art is inconsistent, the overall comic is quite fun. It’s fast-paced and gives you enough information to get a handle on the situation, and the writers possess a good grasp on each Doctor. I would have liked it if the Doctors had met in this issue, but that may be me wanting my dessert before my supper. Overall, the 2016 Doctor Who event is off to a good start. Dr. Josh gives this a…
Grade: B-
Age Rating: N/A
Released By: Titan Comics
Release Date: July 6th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
