Doctor Who: The Shape Shifter & Voyager Review

DW The Shape Shifter and Voyager

In terms of companions created for the comics, you don’t get more well known or infamous than Frobisher. The shape shifting “Whifferdill” who ends up enjoying the form of a penguin is certainly amongst the most unique companions! It’s almost a shame that I like to do these comics in batches of two (when they’re not too long, anyway), because as note-worthy as Frobisher’s debut story is, Voyager is a comic masterpiece, full of amazing imagery, beautifully written prose and some great scenes and characters. I may be covering this double bill as part of the Audio/Comic Companions Debut marathon, but Voyager deserves the most attention! Let’s have a looksie, then!

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Doctor Who: Red Planets Review

DW Red Planets

The main range of Doctor Who audios gears up for a marathon run of Seventh Doctor stories, starting with a return to the Doctor-Ace-Mel combo that has so far been… well, pretty poor. Is this an improvement?! Well, it’s certainly an improvement over “The Silurian Candidate”, but talk about damning with faint praise! Seriously though, Red Planets is a good story with some fun ideas, but never really kicks into second gear. Let’s take a closer look at any rate…

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Doctor Who: The Eye of the Scorpion Review

DW Eye of the Scorpion

Eye of the Scorpion introduces us to Erimem, the should-be Pharaoh who ends up travelling with The Doctor and Peri (yes, the Fifth Doctor and Peri, which is a rare combo nowadays!) It’s also very nearly a pure historical, though the run of Doctor/Peri/Erimem has several actual pure historicals, so if anything it having a sci-fi element in its plot is more note worthy… Anyway, let’s have a look at Eye of the Scorpion then, shall we?

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Doctor Who: The Haunting of Thomas Brewster Review

DW Haunting of Thomas Brewster

Thomas Brewster is an odd companion, in that his two stints in the TARDIS are less Doctor-Companion and more “person forcing himself on The Doctor for a while”. It’s an interesting concept, but Brewster can be on the obnoxious side… As for his debut story? It’s good, full of atmosphere and some fun characters, though the music lets in down, especially when it’s played by itself for 20 seconds… Anyway, let’s take a look!

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Doctor Who: Timeslip & The Star Beast Review

DW Timeslip and Star Beast

The Audio/Comic companion debut marathon arrives at the only new companion for the Fourth Doctor (currently, a new one is set to debut for Big Finish next year!) in the form of Sharon, who also has the distinction of being the first black companion full stop. Plus as a bonus, we have Timeslip, which… well, is a short story that doesn’t do much, but I try to double up the comic strips to avoid over-cluttering the Doctor pages! Let’s have a look at these slices of 70s comic Who!

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Doctor Who: The Perpetual Bond Review

DW The Perpetual Bond

Kicking off the “Audio and comic companion debut marathon” is the only black and white era new companion to be introduced (unless you include the very old comics from TV Action, but I don’t have access to that stuff, so… sorry!), that being Oliver Harper. Creating a new companion for the First Doctor was met with wide raising of eyebrows, but it’s pulled off well in this trilogy (the other two parts of which I’ll get to down the line…) So let’s have a look at The Perpetual Bond, not only the first in this marathon, but the first Companion Chronicle I’ve reviewed!

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Doctor Who: Bringer of Darkness & Land of the Blind Review

DW Bringer of Darkness and Land of the Blind

We end our run through the DWM graphic novel “Land of the Blind” with the titular story, as well as a single chapter bonus story (with Victoria and Daleks!), both from the 2nd Doctor era. Normally have two stories from two different TARDIS teams in one article would annoy me, but there will be so few Second Doctor DWM stories to list, it’s not going to hurt… Much. Anyway, how are the stories I hear you say? Well…

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Doctor Who: Change of Mind Review

DW Change of Mind

Change of Mind is two things, firstly it’s a Third Doctor comic, which is great as I love the era and this story has some nice artwork to go along with a good story, and secondly it takes place in between seasons 7 and 8 and featuring a post-UNIT Liz Shaw, which is a unique setting. Let’s see if… well, I’ve already said it’s a good story with nice artwork, but let’s take a closer look anyway!

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Doctor Who: Food for Thought Review

DW Food for Thought

Now here’s a rare thing: a First Doctor comic! Yes, I can’t imagine many more of these going up on the blog to be honest, he’s cameo’d and guest appeared in plenty, but very rarely had his own (apart from the TV Action! Comics from the 60s, but I don’t see them getting a physical release…) Anyway, Food For Thought is also an extremely early Nicholas Briggs script, though so early it doesn’t really have any of his hallmarks (good or bad) and instead is just a harmless little story. Let’s take a closer look.

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Doctor Who: The Lunar Strangers Review

DW Lunar Strangers

Sinister cows on the moon! That’s about all you need to know about “The Lunar Strangers”, the next story from Doctor Who Magazine included in the “Land of the Blind” graphic novel. I mean that literally as well, once that core concept has been established, there isn’t really anything else to say about the story… Let’s have a look anyway!

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