I start my read through of the collected Graphic Novel “The Phantom Piper” with, well, the first story in the collection! The Soul Garden is a fine story, full of nice dream-like imagery and good artwork, so it’s a nice way to kick off the final run of Twelfth Doctor DWM comic stories (though his actual final story is in a final GN out next year…) Let’s take a closer look!
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!
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!
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…
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!
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.
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!
Time to start a look through the latest Doctor Who Magazine collected stories release, Land of the Blind, starting with this Fourth Doctor story! Yes, unlike previous DWM releases, this was during the “dark days” when Doctor Who had been off the air for so long that they switched to a rotating Doctors format instead of continuing with the Seventh Doctor exclusively. ANYWAY, Victims is a … well, it’s alright. The art is a bit weird… Let’s take a look so I can stop rambling!
It’s a “of the Cybermen” double on this site, completely coincidentally. I finally end my run on the Titan Comics Year 2 graphics novels with this, the big crossover event… sort of. It features all four of the Doctors that had on-going comics in this year (as well as cameos from other Doctors!), but they’re all separate and never interact with each other. Oh, and the artwork is awful. Let’s take a deeper look, then!
The 12th Doctor “Year Two” run of Titan Comics comes to a mixed end with a volumes of two more stories. “Terror of the Cabinet Noir” is actually a great story, with some of the best artwork I’ve seen in one of these comic stories, where as “Invasion of the Mindmorphs” is pretty weak, and pretty much a rip off of a classic Futurama story… So, let’s take a closer look at this collected graphic novel of two halves!
Hogan Reviews 