Allons-y!
Creative Staff:
Story: George Mann & Cavan Scott
Art: Ivan Rodriguez & Walter Geovanni
Colors: Nicola Righi
Letters: Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
What They Say:
Cyberships on fire in the Thames, as the Ninth Doctor battles for the soul of London! Dinosaur danger for the Eleventh Doctor, as the Cybermen attempt to conquer human prehistory! Caught in the middle of an ancient alien war, the Cybermen present a third side for the Tenth Doctor to face! And for the Twelfth Doctor – a deeply personal showdown with the architect behind the universe’s current chaos. No TARDIS, no help, no rescue: THERE IS NO RESISTANCE… ONLY THE CYBERIAD!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Lots of irons in the fire in this issue. While Twelve deals with the newly cyberized and still quite evil desposed president Rassilon, Ten attempts to broker a deal with the Sontarans to combat the Cybermen. At the same time Eleven works to unravel the mystery of the cyberized Silurians in Earth’s prehistory, and Nine battles his way through an occupied London to retrieve his TARDIS and find out just what the heck is going on.
That’s a whole mess of plot points, right? The amazing part of this issue isn’t just that the writers George Mann and Cavan Scott manage to make it entertaining, it’s that they also manage to help it make sense. They seamlessly move from one Doctor to the other, and there’s never a moment when the plot gets in the way of the story.
And, boy, what a story it is. The Cybermen, under the command of Rassilon, use Time Lord technology to cyberize the entirety of time and space, sweeping across the universe like a swarm of silver locust. It seems impossible for the Doctor to stop them at this point, but luckily for the universe, there’s more than one out there fighting the good fight.
The Cybermen are second only to the Daleks as the quintessential Doctor Who villain (well, The Master, too, but he’s an individual, so I count him/her in their own category). They’re implacable, indefatigable, homogenous to the point of terror, and when they attack en masse, they seem completely unstoppable. Mann, Scott, Rodriguez, and Geovanni do a great job of capturing the overwhelming presence of the Cybermen. This truly feels like a threat large enough to warrant the attention of four different Doctors (or more).
This team has crafted a highly enjoyable issue, but it’s not without its faults. For one, the companions get practically no panel time at all. Alice Obiefune gets the most, and we see a little bit from Rose, Jackie, and Captain Jack, but Gabby and Cindy just kind of hang out in the background. It’s understandable why they take a backseat, given the complexity of the plot, but it’s disappointing because the companions are really what make Doctor Who so great. While the Doctor is wonderful no matter what incarnation, it’s the companions who provide that much-needed sense of proportion and empathy. They challenge the Doctor, they sometimes rein him in, and they inspire him, and that simply isn’t present in this comic so far.
Another issue lies with the art. Although Ivan Rodriguez and Walter Geovanni are both extremely talented artists (Geovanni remains my favorite Red Sonja artist), their styles don’t mesh well here, making an inconsistent comic that changes from page to page. Additionally, Nicola Righi’s colors often come off flat and dull, adding nothing of substance to the comic.
While I’m enjoying this story, I do hope that the Doctors get together soon and the different storylines merge into one. Again, Mann and Scott do an admirable job of keeping the story going and wrangling in quite a bit of plot, but the story needs a little more room to breathe and the companions need time to shine.
In Summary:
Doctor Who: Supremacy of the Cybermen issue two moves at a breakneck pace and manages to keep all its ducks in a row; however, the story moves along just a little too fast for my taste, and the art and color are inconsistent and lackluster. Still, as a Who fan, I’m enjoying this. This Doctor gives this comic a….
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Titan Comics
Release Date: August 16th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
