25th Aug2017

‘Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #3.6’ Review

by Dean Fuller

Written by Richard Dinnick | Art by Brian Williamson | Published by Titan Comics

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Now a month has gone by I have sufficiently recovered from the excitement of seeing Bill Potts arrival as The Doctor’s comic book companion. It seems TV show wise we won’t see much more of Bill, so it’s nice that the character has a nice clean slate to fill up in terms of comic book stories. This first arc, ‘The Wolves of Winter’ by Richard Dinnick and Brian Williamson, was none too shabby either, a great start for a great partnership. I’m talking of course about The Doctor and Bill, but could just as easily be talking about Dinnick and Williamson if they keep this standard up.

Last issue saw us arrive in the Ninth Century, and an encounter with some Vikings carrying a mysterious treasure. The Vikings think The Doctor a god of some sort, perhaps Loki the trickster (very apt), and the TARDIS is Skidbladnir, a mythical ship bigger on the inside than out. The Doctor and Bill end up helping the Vikings, which leads to the discovery of crashed space ships, an infected mad Viking and alien , and classic foes the Ice Warriors from Mars. A fine stew of events it must be said. Oh, and that pesky sentient virus.

The sentient virus is called The Flood, and is highly infectious. The Doctor, Vikings, and Ice Warriors agree to combine forces and resources to try and stop The Flood. Bill is just happy to be there. The Ice Warriors leader, Grand Marshall Sskoll, reveals how the virus ravaged Mars until they finally defeated it and trapped it. Unfortunately, one of the Ice Warriors became infected, stole a ship and tried to escape. They followed him and shot the ship down over Earth, making it sure it fell on land as the virus spreads through water. The Doctor has also encountered The Flood, in his past but their future, so knows how destructive it is. They all need to work together now to beat it.

So it was probably a bad time for Viking leader Sundvik to have already sent some Vikings to secretly attack the enemy, them thinking the Ice Warriors were the enemy. An end to hostilities is swiftly arranged, though shifty Sundvik still has his own agenda it seems. Anyway, allies are always helpful but when push comes to shove, it’s The Doctor you need. He decides to suit up and try and talk to The Flood. Which ends with running, which is how a lot of The Doctor’s negotiations seem to end. And what’s this? Another alien being is also lurking around it seems, killing two of the Vikings who were trying to trying to steal weapons from the Ice Warriors ship. That’ll teach them. The Doctor, though, has realised there is something more at play here than just The Flood and Ice Warriors, so asks to see that treasure the Vikings are holding. It confirms what he thought. Someone he knows is involved in all this…

Well that was fun. Less of the fun Doctor and Bill character interplay this issue, but purely because there was so  much going on. Dinnick’s script did a great job, intercutting scenes with dialogue and shifting from place to place in such a way it all flowed beautifully. Adding even more elements to an already nice story added that proverbial cherry. The art by Brian Williamson was also as good as last issue. Very strong and clean lines on the art, and full of packed with detail panels. Flowed seamlessly, and helped to make the intercutting of the script work flawlessly too. Genuinely nothing to complain about here. Move along.

If you want to read a title that clearly captures the voice of its characters, then this is the one for you. As authentic as an episode of the TV show itself, even down to the cliffhanger ending. Great stuff.

****½  4.5/5

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