‘Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #3.6’ Review
Written by Nick Abadzis | Art by Giorgia Sposito | Published by Titan Comics
After last issue’s interlude adventure, we return to the main adventure that preceded it. What was that, I hear you cry. It was the wrap up of the Red Jade General storyline back in ancient China, with that way cool Red TARDIS and the non Star Wars related army of clones all descended from Cindy. It was a fun romp, with The Doctor in his running around element, and the Red Jade General of course never really had a chance. After the fight comes the inevitable wrap up.
I enjoyed the way Nick Abadzis approached this from the first page, through a mixture of events as they happened intercut with diary entries from Gabby giving a more personal touch to proceedings. While The Doctor makes sure his foe has truly been dispatched, Gabby wrestles with human emotions that never trouble a Gallifreyan Time Lord. She is deeply affected by the death of one of Cindy’s clones, the fact that it looks like the real Cindy lying there, and by the fact that Cindy’s clones became in essence Cindy’s ancestors, so she was responsible for her own existence. Basic dimensional mathematics to The Doctor, mind numbingly strange for Gabby and Cindy. Bye bye Ancient China, and none too soon.
We return to Gabby’s diary, and she describes how the team get to travel a little, having smaller adventures along the way, and a little fun. That, of course, can’t last, so The Doctor brings Cindy and Gabby to 2009 London for some rest, if not complete relaxation, while he has to take care of something. This angers Gabby, who is starting to realise, as does every companion at some point, that they are not as important to The Doctor as they think they are. He will take off on his own at the drop of a hat if he feels it necessary. Which he duly does. This time though, he has good cause. The minor temporal anomalies he had noticed around the TARDIS were not in fact as minor as he tried to pretend, and cause for such concern he meets a very special person from his future.
Let’s just say it’s someone from his future, someone that wouldn’t meet our Doctor unless he had great reason to do so. He fears a sort of cosmic butterfly effect unless The Doctor can sort it out quickly. Fun interlude, though for serious reasons. Back we go to 2009 Willesden, and Gabby and Cindy holed up in the safe house of sorts. Gabby is still having her personal crisis over The Doctor, worried he is pushing her further away from himself in readiness to perhaps ditch her completely. Cindy has none of it, but the friendship love-in has to wait, as Gabby starts to apparently mysteriously leak time vortex energy from her body. This is fast becoming a day that Gabby wished she had stayed in bed.
Part resolution of the previous adventure, part set-up for the next this was actually good fun and seemed to pack a lot in. As well as the developing plot threads and the awesome cameo from a certain someone, we had a good look at the relationship between Gabby and The Doctor, and Abadzis made some good points about The Doctor and companion relationship by showing Gabby’s insecurities. The technique of using Gabby’s diary at times was also fun, and gave artist Giorgia Sposito a chance to do something a little different, which she did extremely well. Although not Sposito’s biggest fan, I think she did a good job on this issue, with nice pacing and layouts and she draws a mean David Tennant to boot. Always clean lines and easy to follow, if ever so slightly on the edge of blandness at times.
Well, something’s going on, we just don’t know exactly what just yet. Smell that? That’s the smell of mystery. Or leaking time energy. Or perhaps both.
***½ 3.5/5
