The 50th Anniversary of our favorite Time Lord rolls on and Fanboy Factor reviews two different “Doctor Who” titles. Both have a common theme, mixing different Doctors with different aliens. Meaning the Fourth Doctor encounters the Judoon and the Eleventh Doctor meets the Vashta Nerada.
Geronimo!
The Fourth Doctor, Leela and K-9 visit the farming planet Agratis only to find the rhino-headed Judoon are tearing up the planet looking for a lost crystal.
The Doctor meets up with Mason, the leader of Agratis, who finds out that his daughter’s boyfriend stole the crystal and headed to a maze of crystal caves. The two men catch up to the thief and find out the crystal was an energy source to give life to several crystal life forms.
As the adventure ends, Leela is kidnapped by some alien force that has been kidnapping the Doctor’s companions in the last few issues, so now the Doctor is off to figure out what is happening.
This was a fun issue, seeing the Fourth Doctor encountering the Judoon, a prominent alien during the Tenth Doctor’s run. This is like seeing the Third Doctor meeting Captain Jack.
With the recent run of the Tipton brothers on “Star Trek the Next Generation/Doctor Who” Assimilation Squared, I am fast becoming a fan of their work. It was fun to see Leela – as opposed to Romana – with K-9.
Also, the artwork is well done and actually reminds of the old Doctor Who comics that Marvel reprinted back in the day.
Pardon the pun, but it really is worth any Doctor Who fan’s time.
DOCTOR WHO: PRISONER OF TIME #4
Scott & David Tipton, Writers
Gary Erskine, Artist
Charlie Kirchoff, Colorist
Tom B. Long, Letters
$3.99
The Eleventh Doctor has been stranded in a Soviet space capsule while the Vashta Nerada have captured the TARDIS and left the Doctor and the Soviet Astornaut, Alexey Leonov, stranded.
The Doctor and Leonov attempt a crude spacewalk (thanks to help from the TARDIS) and reclaim it. The Doctor then works to prevent the TARDIS from landing and allowing the Vashta Nerada to breed on Earth.
In translating a television show into a comic book it is sometimes difficult to keep the feel and rhythm, but writer Joshua Hale Fialkov successfully did that. He was able to keep Matt Smith’s quick witted dialogue throughout this issue and he even tapped into the Eleventh Doctor’s moral core.
As in the previous review, I also love how the comic book, again, uses different Doctors with different aliens. For instance, the Vashta Nerada were the Tenth Doctor’s enemy, now they take on the Eleventh. This is the equivalent of, say, the Third Doctor meeting Amy Pond in some way or the Sixth Doctor encountering the Ood.
This is just a fun issue and if you are like me and can’t wait for the next episode of Doctor Who, this will keep your attention.
DOCTOR WHO Vol. 3 #8
Joshua Fialkov, Writer
Horaci Domingues and Andres Ponce, Artists
Ruben Gonzalez , Colorist
Shawn Lee, Letters
$3.99
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