Not sure I like where this is going…
Creative Staff:
Story: Nick Abadzis
Art: Giorgia Sposito and Arianna Florean
Colors: Arianna Florean
Letters: Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
What They Say:
After defeating the Red Jade General in Ancient China, with the help of hundreds of Cindy’s clones, Gabby took a personal moment to reflect upon an old trip to London the Doctor took her on.
She learned then that the Doctor has dark hidden depths, and as the team say goodbye to Cindy’s ‘children,’ the TARDIS team may have to come to terms with those hidden depths once more…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
After cleaning up the mess left behind by the Red Jade Emperor and sending the clone Cindys to spread across China, the Doctor takes Gabby, Cindy, and Anubis on a tour, getting into scraps, discovering the majesty and mystery of the universe, that sort of thing. They end up in London in 2009 for a bit of rest and relaxation—only no one is relaxing. Anubis stays behind on an alien world and the Doctor distances himself from both Gabby and Cindy. Gabby knows the Doctor well enough to understand what he’s doing, and Cindy tries to cheer her up while the Doctor runs an errand.
Unlike the other Who book I read (The Twelfth Doctor), the Tenth Doctor builds itself around an ensemble cast with core characters and a revolving door of engaging secondary characters. The Doctor, Gabby, and Cindy form the core trio, and Anubis staying behind returns the comic to that dynamic. In a way, The Tenth Doctor represents classic Who more than The Twelfth Doctor in that the companions serve as the real protagonists, and it’s their story that’s being told.
And that’s why I’m feeling a bit of trepidation with this issue.
If memory serves, Gabby has been around since the beginning of this series, and she remains my favorite of the comic book companions. Her character is a wonderful mix of strength, innocence, joy, and kindness, and she makes for a great companion and foil for the Doctor. The addition of her best friend, Cindy Wu, only strengthened Gabby’s character and Cindy, in fact, grew into her own rather quickly. The chemistry between the three sparks on the page, and that’s why it hurts to see the Doctor push them away.
The Doctor never functions well when he’s alone. He loses focus and perspective and often goes too far. Ten, in particular, does this, and watching him go down a path that will potentially hurt him as well as Gabby and Cindy breaks my heart a little bit. After all the years and issues, these characters feel real, and they feel like friends, and no one wants to see one’s friends self-destruct.
The source of the discord between the trio remains a mystery, but it has something to do with the TARDIS, the Time Vortex, and ripples in space-time. The situation is so dangerous that it prompts the Doctor to cross his own timeline to give himself some advice—something he rarely does. Whatever’s going on, there’s a distinct feeling of finality to the beginning of this story arc, and it doesn’t bode well for one of my favorite groups of companions.
Now one might read this and think that the comic was bad. Well, the truth is far from that. If the comic were poorly written then I wouldn’t care at all what happened to these characters. It’s a testament to the character building and overall writing that I feel a legitimate twinge of sadness while reading this issue.
The odd thing is that, in terms of the plot, nothing much happens. The issue begins with entries from Gabby’s sketchbook, followed by the seeing off of the Cindy clones, followed by a summary of some adventures the TARDIS crew underwent, and ending with the Doctor dropping off Gabby and Cindy and making his way to a secret rendezvous. The comic mostly cleans up the previous story and sets the stage for the next one, and the only reason it works is the strength of the characters and the artistic choices made by Giorgia Sposito and Arianna Florean.
Visually, the best part of the comic is the peeks into Gabby’s sketchbook/journal. Those parts are drawn with a charming, slightly cartoonish style that fits Gabby’s personality. Even the color choices come from a warmer palette—again, befitting Gabby’s character. The art team go so far as to make the page look slightly brown and worn, giving the feel of a sketchbook instead of a nice, clean comic page.
In contrast, the rest of the comic looks a bit flat and lifeless with a decidedly cooler palette in use. It’s unclear whether this is an artistic choice, perhaps a statement about the difference between perception and reality. I have to say I much prefer the style in the sketchbook, but the two styles do complement each other and create a certain energy that compels the reader to turn the page.
The other highlight comes at the end, when the Doctor crosses his own timeline. If you’d like to keep this part of the story fresh so you can discover it yourself, go and jump down to the summary. It’s cool. I won’t tell anyone!
Okay, so those of you that chose to stick around, it turns out the summons Ten receives comes from Twelve. Twelve wants to warn his other self of what’s to come. Some of the best dialogue occurs in this scene, because both incarnations of the Doctor speak in clearly distinct and character-appropriate ways. Ten sounds like Ten and Twelve sounds like Twelve, and even though the older Doctor is there to help, he can’t help but be a bit rude and hostile to his younger self.
It was a nice surprise seeing the two together, but it also portends the end of something very soon. More than likely, Gabby and Cindy will go the way of Rose, Martha, Donna, and all the rest. It’s a shame, but endings are what give a story its meaning and its power. Let’s just hope that the ending they get is one they deserve.
In Summary:
Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #3.6 sets the stage for what will likely be a powerful and potentially heartbreaking story. As always, the characters and the way they interact make this book sing. It’ll be interesting seeing where it goes from here. Dr. Josh gives this a….
Grade: B
Age Rating: N/A
Released By: Titan Comics
Release Date: 21 June, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
