Somebody needs to make me some hypoallergenic fish and chips.
Creative Staff:
Story: George Mann
Art: Mariano Laclaustra
Art Assists: Fer Centurion
Colors: Carlos Cabrera
Letters: Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
What They Say:
The astounding Year Two team of George Mann, Rachael Stott and Mariano Laclaustra returns!
The Doctor is ready for a BRAND NEW set of thrilling adventures in time and space…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
If you’re looking for some good chips (chips in the British sense, which are fries to us heathen Americans), and I mean really good chips, there’s only one place to go: Reggie’s Fish & Chips out on Seaton Bay.
Seaton Bay resides in East Devon on the south coast of England, so make sure you pack for the weather. Also, you’ll need to go back in time to 1979. For some reason, for three weeks in 1979, Reggie’s made the best fish and chips in the known universe. No one knows why. It’s just one of those mysteries you have to learn to live with.
That’s where the Doctor and Hattie go in this issue. Hattie, if you remember from last year, is the bass player for a punk band on the Twist, the human colony world in the far, far future. When last he left her, Hattie and her band struggled for success (not to mention struggled to survive humanoid foxes, but thankfully they turned out to be very nice), but now her band has all the success it could ever want, and she’s completely miserable. Needless to say, when the Doctor arrives, she jumps aboard the TARDIS without missing a beat.
The Doctor seems to be drawn to water this go-round. The issue begins with him taking a million dollar submarine ride on the planet New Oceana. A curious building exists on the seabed, generating its own protective air bubble, and the Doctor and the rest of the group have the privilege of seeing it opened for the first time.
It doesn’t go so well.
Fast forward to Seaton Bay, something peculiar is happening. Something or somethings shamble out of the sea in the night, and the residents experience odd, black and white dreams. Fish and chips may not be the only item on the menu tonight.
George Mann and Mariano Laclaustra slip back into their old rhythm, and once again, they kill it on the The Twelfth Doctor. Mann captures Capaldi’s rhythm and attitude while Laclaustra captures the actor’s likeness and mannerisms. Carlos Cabrera also does a fine job with the background colors, but the characters’—the white ones, anyway—skintones look waxy and lifeless. It’s not a huge deal, but it was a bit distracting.
Regardless of that extremely minor quibble, this is a solid issue. It’s unclear at the moment if the submarine ride at the beginning has anything to do with what happens in Seaton Bay, so that part feels a bit tacked on, but I’d bet dollars to donuts that the two are connected. My only concern is that this issue is designed to be a good jumping-on point for new readers, and it might come off slightly disjointed.
In Summary:
Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor 3.1 is a solid jumping on point for new readers despite a seemingly disjointed story. George Mann, Mariano Laclaustra, Fer Centurtion, and Carlos Cabrera have got this Doctor down to a science (waxy complexion aside). If you’re a fan of Capaldi’s Doctor, you should absolutely check this out. Meanwhile, if you do go to Reggie’s, tell them Dr. J sent you. They’ll treat you right.
Dr. Josh gives this an…
Grade: A-
Age Rating: N/A
Released By: Titan Comics
Release Date: 12 April 2017
MSRP: $3.99
