Doctor Who #8 (IDW Vol. 3) - A Review

Doctor Who #8 begins with a helpful recap for those who might have missed Issue #7.  It's a nice touch which harkens back to the classic days of comics and it doesn't seem at all awkward as it comes from The Eleventh Doctor talking to himself out-loud about what's just happened and how he can deal with it.  It sounds very much like Matt Smith and Joshua Hale Fialkov deserves praise for that nice touch.  Sadly, that's one of the few things I can praise him for.


I mentioned in my review of the previous issue that the drama of the story rang false, given that the main problem (i.e. The Doctor is trapped on a dead ship in Earth orbit surrounded by flesh-eating monsters that thrive on darkness) came about because of a completely unexplained event that flew in the face of established characterization (i.e. The TARDIS sealing itself so The Doctor couldn't get into it).  That problem continues in this issue, when we find out the Vashta Nerada still managed to get inside The TARDIS despite it sealing itself so they couldn't get inside. 

How?  Because the story says they need to so there's a little more drama after The Doctor and his Special Guest Companion Cosmonaut Alexey Leonov solve the problem of moving a dead rocket out of Earth orbit and into the gravitation pull of the inert TARDIS.  It's a minor point, but it does make the whole story feel forced.  Honestly, the story would have worked just as well without the Vashta Nerada being involved at all.


Thankfully, the art team is still top-notch.  Andres Ponces and Horacio Domingues doe a bang-up job of caricaturing Matt Smith.and a young Alexey Leonov.  Inker Ruben Gonzales utilizes just the right amount of shadow to highlight and darken everything.  I may grouse about the plot of the book but I have no complaints about the artwork.

On the whole, this issue is worth picking up if you already got last month's issue.  You have to know how the story ended, right?  However, if you're a newbie Whovian who is just getting into the comics, I'd advise you to download the first two issues of the current series instead of this two-parter.