I’m still trying to figure out how they pulled this off.
Creative Staff:
Story: George Mann & Cavan Scott
Art: Rachel Stott with Chris Bolson, Pasquale Qualano, Elton Thomasi, Klebs Jr., and JB Bastos
Colors: Rod Fernandes
Letters: Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
What They Say:
The Void has always existed: No Place. The Silent Realm. The Lost Dimension.
But the Void is no longer empty. The Void is hungry.
Its devouring our universe – through time and space!
Now, every Doctor must play his part to save…everything!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Okay, so this is going to take me a second to process.
Bear with me a sec.
Almost there.
Ah, I’ve got it.
Wow!
The last two Doctor Who events kept the story fairly self-contained to only four Doctors, but this time Titan is shooting the moon and including every single one, and so far, it’s working.
It starts with Captain Jack and Tara running for their lives on a hostile planet. Jack tries to call the Doctor (number nine, for those keeping score), but there’s too much interference and he can’t get through or use his Vortex Manipulator. Thankfully, they’re saved (or so we think!) by a mysterious woman wearing a red and gold suit with Galifrean symbols.
Then we go to St. Luke’s University where Twelve trashes the library, sorting the history books into “fact” and “fiction.” Nardole arrives with a phone call. “Put the Kettle on, I’m dropping in for tea.”
The same spaceship we saw in the beginning scene then crashes into St. Luke’s and the Doctor, Bill, and Nardole race back to his office to find Jenny! His clone daughter from the TV show!
Meanwhile, back on the TARDIS, the Tenth Doctor and Gabby (no Cindy to be seen) experience an odd visitor when the Third Doctor appears for a moment when their TARDIS’s merge.
Back at St. Luke’s Jenny fills the Doctor and crew in on what’s been going on. Turns out she was rescued by the Fifth Doctor, whose TARDIS got sucked into the White Hole when he saved her ship. Outside the college, UNIT handles the press, but Osgood finds some mysterious energy and things aren’t looking so good for her, but more on that in a sec.
On another TARDIS—which is really the same TARDIS but further or behind on the timeline (try to keep up!)—Eleven and Alice literally run out of space.
Back again to St. Luke where Bill goes to enter the TARDIS but encounters the same strange energy as Osgood and passes out on the floor or something. Then Osgood, Kate Stewart, and other UNIT soldiers show up all Night of the Living Dead-like and that’s where the issue ends.
See why it took me so long to gather my thoughts?
The issue wastes no time as it zips from Doctor to Doctor with wild abandoned. If you’re a Who fan, then this is great fun, but if you’re not, there’s no way you can keep up with this. While it does provide enough context to understand most of the major players and ideas, a great deal of the nuance would be lost.
Frankly, I don’t know how this didn’t turn into a big mess. Not only do we have a huge cast of characters, but a huge cast of people working on this with two writers, six artists, one colorist, and two letterers. Lord only knows how they all coordinated or kept the narrative running so smoothly, but they did it.
All the characters look and sound right (although Twelve does hug Jenny and give her a noogie. That’s a bit odd considering he’s not a hugger—but I suppose it’s okay since it’s the daughter he thought was dead), and the sheer energy of the narrative sweeps you up for the ride, so if you’re on the fence about trying this event, I say do it.
In Summary:
Doctor Who: The Lost Dimension #1 Alpha may kill me with its long, involved title, but it does do a great job of kicking off what looks to be a damn fine crossover event. The rest of the event will spread out through the other running Who comics and a couple of specials, so pay attention at the back of the book, as it lays out where the next installment will fall. If this first special is any indication, we’re in for a good time. Dr. J gives this an….
Grade: A
Age Rating: N/A
Released By: Titan Comics
Release Date: 30 August 2017
MSRP: $3.99
