It’s time to kick off this multi-Doctor catch up marathon with a bunch of Titan comics due to going in reverse release order and Titan just having a thing with multi-Doctor stories, including two different 10th / 13th crossovers that partially lead into an 8th / 11th one, so for the sake of a better flow I’ll review these in story order rather than release order. “A Little Help From My Friends” is a rather amusing title given it was basically “the Thirteenth Doctor comics aren’t selling well so let’s stick the most popular Doctor in with her”. Is the story better with a little help from her past self? Not really, no. They even threw in the Weeping Angels AND the Autons and yet it still isn’t terribly engaging. Let’s take a look anyway!
I’ll at least give the writing team some credit for the setting as for the Tenth Doctor and Martha its set during their time in the 60s during the story “Blink”, where they were zapped back in time with no TARDIS access, and it just so happens that the Thirteenth Doctor and “fam” arrive during this time period as well as they wanted to watch Woodstock. It doesn’t take long for the Thirteenth Doctor to realise something’s wrong and start hunting for clues, eventually meeting Martha working in a small charity shop and trying not to let her know who she is, while Yaz, Ryan and Graham follow the Tenth Doctor because he was “acting suspiciously”, also unaware of who he is.
A good example of how the art can sometimes go really weird and cartoony if a character is at a distance while at the same time good close-up.
It’s here where the two different threats start to appear as “the fam” discover some Weeping Angels and are saved by the Tenth Doctor (who of course re-uses the “don’t even blink” line) while Janice, a nice lady who works alongside Martha, is killed by some Auton shopwindow dummies. It doesn’t take long for the two Doctors to end up meeting and initially try and avoid working together due to potential paradoxes but soon the threat of both alien races force their hand and they start concocting a plan to take them both out…
At only four issues there isn’t much time for any more meat on the bones but at least they don’t shy away from having the two Doctors have some fun banter and I did like the idea of the two Doctors essentially swapping companions for a time. The artwork is pretty good across the whole story as well, some close ups are really good though some further away shots fall into a more cartoony and weird look that can be a bit off-putting.
The Continuity:
Jeez, at least talk to him to his face, Doctor…
As mentioned for the Tenth Doctor and Martha this takes place during the TV story “Blink”, which is also the debut story for the Weeping Angels, though they have since appeared in a bunch of stories across all media now, so I’m not going to list them all!
Apart from that and the obvious fact that it ends on a cliffhanger that gets resolved in the next story, “Alternating Current”, there isn’t much to talk about. A few old stories get referenced here and there, including several mentions of Ninth Doctor TV debut story “Rose” due to the returning Autons, but that’s about it.
Overall Thoughts:
I wonder if The Doctor will ever be ginger so this gag can be retired…
“A Little Help From My Friends” is a perfectly fine little story, so long as you go into it wanting some 10/13 crossover and little else, as there really isn’t anything deeper here beyond featuring a couple of classic enemies. It was fun enough I guess, but I doubt I’ll be in a hurry to read it again…
The two Doctors eventually hatch a plan involving the companions getting the Angels to surround the TARDIS while the Doctors themselves lure an Angel to where the Nestene Consciousness is and get it to zap the molten plastic being back in time, thus severing the link to all the Autons that started attacking the place.
The Tenth Doctor running while saying “No” repeatedly? Well, they’ve got his character down at least…
The Doctors make a break for the TARDIS (which Thirteen opens with a click of her fingers, much to the Tenth’s shock, which was a nice extra touch even if I could’ve done without Thirteen saying “Spoilers”) and manage to get in, deploy a laser net thingy and tow the Angels off into the Vortex. They then part ways but the Thirteenth Doctor arrives in modern day London to see humanity enslaved by Sea Devils of all things…
Hogan Reviews 