Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor: Year Three #3 - An Advanced Review/Preview

Lost and lonely following a loss he can't define, The Twelfth Doctor returns to his old companion Hattie Munroe - a 40th century rock star whom he met once before she hit it big. In need of an escape from her own success, Hattie agreed to go get some fish and chips for old time's sake. Little did they realize they'd wind up stuck in the middle of a British sea-side town under siege by strange swamp monsters and psychic attacks!

This second chapter of Beneath The Waves is vintage Doctor Who. George Mann's script builds the tension of the story beautifully. The artwork by Marian Laclaustra and Fer Centurion looks fantastic throughout, presenting some truly astonishing visuals. This is one Doctor Who comic that every fan of the show should be reading.

The Final Analysis: 8 out of 10.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor: Year Three #3 releases May 17, 2017. 

Ask for it at your local comic shop or purchase it on Comixology.com.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor: Year Two #10 - An Advanced Review/Preview

A spooky old house full of antiques might get The Doctor's attention on a slow day. A spooky old house full of antiques leaking temporal radiation will definitely get his attention. Of course The Doctor has no explanation for why the insides of the house keep changing or where a young mother's husband and children have wound up. Then the answer hits him - the house was holding a TARDIS that was near death! And unless they can find an exit soon, they'll be trapped at ground zero of an explosion that will destroy The Earth and a good chunk of the dimensional space around it!





While the revelation behind the mystery house in last month's issue was a tad predictable, George Mann made it an amusing read. That amusement carries into this issue, with a unique twist on the old Doctor Who cliche about everything ultimately devolving into people running down corridors. Thankfully, Rachael Stott proves quite adept at depicting people running down corridors and many of the background visuals in this issue are quite striking. The colors of Rodrigo Fernandes help bring the finished artwork to life.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor: Year Two #10 releases on October 19, 2016. 

Ask for it at your local comic shop or purchase it on Comixology.com.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor: Year Two #9 - An Advanced Review/Preview

The Doctor and his latest companion - 41st century punk rocker Hattie - were enjoying a jam session when The TARDIS detected something strange. It led them to a spooky old house that was leaking temporal radiation. It smelled dangerous and looked like a trap, but The Doctor loves a good mystery and dove into the house in search of  adventure.





While readers are likely to solve the mystery long before The Doctor manages it, George Mann still crafts an entertaining romp in Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor: Year Two #9. Despite the Gothic under-trappings, the tale told here is a light, amusing one well-suited to Rachael Stott's art style and the vivid colors of Alexandre Siqueira. This book will be a welcome treat for all Whovians as we anxiously await the beginning of Series Ten.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor: Year Two #9 releases on September 28, 2016. 

Ask for it at your local comic shop or purchase it on Comixology.com.

Doctor Who: Supremacy of the Cybermen #2 - A Review

Banished from Gallifrey by The Doctor's Twelfth incarnation, the Time Lord President Rassilon has formed an unthinkable alliance with The Cybermen. Granted the power to travel through time, The Cybermen have begun to propagate themselves through time and space, threatening prehistoric Earth, the Sontaran Empire and even Gallifrey itself! Thankfully, The Doctor has a habit of arriving wherever and whenever he's needed... but now the universe needs four Doctors to save it!




The good news is that the artwork in the second issue of Supremacy of the Cybermen is far more consistent than it was in the first issue. The bad news is that the artwork is now consistently awful.

Ivan Rodriguez is easily the worst artist to be employed on any of the Doctor Who comics since Titan Comics took over the licence. At best, his artwork resembles off-model coloring-book pages. At worst, they resemble animation cels from The Legend of Zelda CD-i games. Colorist Nicola Righi doesn't help matters, with her bright-hued palettes being so inappropriate to what is meant to be a dark, disturbing story that it makes even those pages handled by Walter Geovani look terrible!

The most damnable part of this remains that there is a great Doctor Who story underneath all the rushed, shoddy artwork. George Mann and Cavan Scott are two fantastic writers and it's a damn shame they couldn't be teamed with artists who could match their vision. Maybe we'll get lucky and Walter Geovani will pencil the next issue by hmself?

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor: Year Two #8 - A Review

The secret behind the space colony called The Twist has been revealed!  The Twist's human population were created by the alien Foxkin,who discovered the dead colony and cloned new human settlers before turning to hide in the underground places of The Twist. The Foxkin hierarchy wish to stay hidden, fearing that humanity will turn to violence if they discover the aliens in their midst. It is not an unjust fear but The Doctor - with the aid of rebellious Humans and Foxkin alike- will attempt to stop the oncoming race war through the power of punk rock.


By all rights, this should be a laughably silly comic. The idea of The Doctor fighting bigotry with a concert in order to stave off the worst impulses of two societies ruled by hatred and fear respectively should not work. And yet, under George Mann's pen, the idea not only works but is elevated into the sort of legendary story that defines the Doctor Who oeuvre.


The artwork for this series continues to astound. Backed by two able assistants, Mariano Laclustra's pencils have never looked better. And the color art by Carlos Cabrera gives this issue the appearance of having been painted. The final effect delivers some of the most glorious artwork ever seen in a Doctor Who comic.

Doctor Who: Supremacy of the Cybermen #1 - A Review

In 2006, The Doctor and his companions Rose Tyler and Captain Jack Harkness return to the London of Rose's time to find The Cybermen are three days into an invasion of Earth...

Meanwhile, in a null zone in 24th Century Deep Space, The Doctor and his companions, Gabby Gonzales and Cindy Wu, discover that the largest shopping mall in the universe has been taken over by cyborg Sontarans...

Earlier, on a prehistoric Earth, The Doctor and his companion Alice Obiefune - in the middle of retrieving some long-extinct fruit for The Doctor's friend Madame Vastra - learn that The Silurians of that time have become physically enhanced by some kind of technology...

And near the end of Time itself, The Doctor arrives on the planet of Karn, seeking a path to Gallifrey in order to investigate what is causing tsunamis that threaten to pull apart the whole of the space time vortex...



The first chapter of Supremacy of the Cybermen proves to be something of a mixed bag. The script by George Mann and Cavan Scott is fantastic, establishing the setting and the various Doctors and their companions with great efficiency. The action sequences are all thrilling and the dialogue is true to form for all the characters involved.

The problem lies in the artwork, which I'm sad to say is mediocre at best. With three artists and two colorists at work on this book, there's very little sense of uniformity between the various sections. This would be bad enough with great artists utilizing dissimilar styles but the sections involving the Ninth and Eleventh Doctors are outright amateurish. The characters look off-model, continually caught with their faces in odd expressions, with Jackie Tyler looking the same age as her daughter in some panels and like a melting wax figure in others!

Is it worth suffering through for a good story?  So far, yes. But art snobs may do well to avoid this trip on the TARDIS.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor: Year Two #7 - Advance Review

A trip to a punk rock show on the 41st century space colony known as The Twist has led The Doctor to another adventure. Following a strange running man and dragging bass player Hattie along for the ride, The Doctor has uncovered a conspiracy - one beyond simply seeing an innocent man framed for murder - that may shake The Twist to its very core! And it involves the odd fox-like people who live in the tunnels underneath the streets of The Twist.


George Mann has done it again! The story for this series is classic Doctor Who goodness, filled to the brim with references to the classic series while still being easily accessible to new readers. And the artwork is the finest we've yet to see from Mariano Laclaustra, Carlos Cabrera and the rest of the art team.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #7 is due out on June 29th, 2016.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor: Year Two #6 - Advance Review

Companions come and go, but the departure of Clara Oswald  has left The Doctor feeling even more melancholy than he usually gets after being left alone. Still, there are things one can do more easily when traveling alone, which leads The Doctor to expand his horizons and go to see some of the best bands in the history of the universe. Of course, being The Doctor, he can't help but get involved when he sees a man running through a crowd as if all of Hell was chasing after him, nor can he help dragging along 40th-century punk bass-player Hattie for the ride.




I was astonished by the artwork for this issue. I found Mariano Laclaustra's previous work on other Doctor Who comics to be uninspired at best. Looking at this issue, however, I now think the previous problems may have been due to the color artist rather than Laclaustra's pencils and inks. The finished artwork for this issue is, in a word, stunning and that's due in large part to the color art by Carlos Cabrera and Thiago Riberio. So if you ever doubted the power a colorist has to influence a comic, look to this issue and the above splash-page of the world known as "The Twist" for the proof.

The story is equally excellent. Admittedly, I'm a bit biased as a fan of George Mann's work to date, but this issue proves that Mann is as capable of crafting original characters as he is writing established ones like Clara and The Doctor. Hattie is an interesting figure from what little we've seen of her in action, so far, but it seems likely she'll be a worthy addition to Titan Comics' line of original comic-book companions.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor: Year Two #6 is due out on May 25th, 2016.

Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor #5 - A Review

The Doctor's list of places to visit brings him to the final destination - a luxury spaceship, where the richest of the rich come to be reborn into clone bodies. Unfortunately, it seems the synthetic bodies are not quite so devoid of sentience as was believed. And their tragic existence has uncomfortable ramifications regarding the life of The Doctor's companion Josie Day!


I'm sad to see this mini-series end. George Mann was already one of my favorite Doctor Who writers and Emma Vieceli's work here has made her into one of my favorite artists. Hopefully Titan Comics will see fit to continue the trend started with the Ninth Doctor mini-series and turn this into a monthly book as well.

Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor #4 - A Review

Briarwood House. 1932.  The Doctor and Josie Day are still following The Doctor's "to-do" list, uncertain of just where they are going and why they are going there. Still, the fancy party they find seems safe enough, though Josie tempts fate by saying the whole thing reminds her of an Agatha Christie novel and those always have a murder. This is true enough, although said murders are not orchestrated by faeries nor do they involve animated trees...


Emma Vieceli's artwork for this issue is breathtaking. The is a light, airiness to her style that suits the ethereal nature of this story. This is most evident in the sequence in which the history of The Nixi is related, with Vieceli's art given a unique sepia-tone finish by Hi-Fi.


Once again, George Mann writes a top-notch story that blurs the line between magic and advanced science, like many classic Doctor Who stories. Mann has quickly become one of my favorite Doctor Who writers. I hope time permits his working on more of these mini-series for Titan Comics in the future.

Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor #3 - A Review

There's no such thing as magic. The Doctor will be the first person to tell you that. But his eighth incarnation does enjoy a good magic show. If nothing else, it gives him a mystery to solve trying to figure out just how the tricks are done.

Yet the mystery The Doctor and his current companion Josie Day uncover when then attend a Victoria era magic show will involve unraveling more than simple conjuring tricks. For the magician known as The Silversmith seems to be changing the people who travel through his magic mirrors...and stealing their reflections!


George Mann easily matches Steven Moffat as a writer. At the very least, the two are equals in the field of "taking an irrational childhood fear and building a horrific story out of it." As The Weeping Angels play upon our fears of statues coming to life when we aren't looking and taking people away, so too does The Silversmith play upon our fear and fascination with our own reflections. The science of how this is possible is hand-waved somewhat but no more than the "magic" in classic Doctor Who tales such as Battlefield.

The art by Emma Vieceli is a delight.  Vieceli fits an amazing amount of detail into her panels without anything ever seeming cluttered or overdone. And the colors by Hi-Fi lend an extra level of vibrancy to Vieceli's lively work.

Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor #2 - A Review

The Doctor got more than he bargained for when he returned to Earth in search of a missing book. Not only did he find a new companion in artist Josephine Day but he found a brand new mystery to investigate!  The lost book contained a list of four space-time coordinates, the meaning of which he couldn't remember. It was a perfect excuse for an adventure.

Unfortunately, the first set of coordinates took them into the middle of a war zone between the crystalline Spherions and the cat-like Calaxi. Naturally, The Doctor would rather not get involved but has little choice after Josie is wounded by one of the Spherion's horrific weapons. Unfortunately, The Calaxi care little about Josie's plight and care even less for The Doctor's desire to negotiate a peaceful solution.


George Mann perfectly captures the essence of the peace-loving Eighth Doctor. It was rather shocking - given what we know of this Doctor from various media - to see the man he became in The Night of The Doctor and this issue does a fine job of establishing that divide for those newer fans who might not have been exposed to the comics and radio plays that established the better part of his character. This issue retroactively foreshadows some of his later incarnations' antipathy for guns, soldiers and military thinking as well as The Time War.


The artwork by Emma Vieceli proves equally astonishing. The character designs are great and Vieceli's Shojoesque style proves a good fit for depicting the bishōnen Eighth Doctor. The aliens look suitably exotic and the colors by Hi-Fi are amazing.

Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor #1 - A Review

When you travel around as much as The Doctor does, it's easy to lose track of little things like checking up on your house. So when he stops in on Earth to search a little place he kept back when he was younger but looked older, he is surprised (but not displeased) to find a young artist named Josie Day squatting in his house. This - and the book he came to find - are quickly put aside, however, as The Doctor discovers two things - Josie has visions of the many monsters he has fought in the past and the paintings she's made of said monsters are coming to life!


This is the first comic since Titan Comics took over the Doctor Who license to center upon a Classic Series Doctor. The Eighth Doctor is - paradoxically - both the longest-serving incarnation of the character and yet one of the least solidly defined. He had only one television appearance and numerous books, comics and radio plays, whose place in canon is debatable.

Thankfully, George Mann ignores all that baggage, saying only that The Doctor is recently returned to Earth after a long period of traveling alone and focusing on the one aspect of the Eighth Doctor that is solidly confirmed - his personality being that of a Romantic. Mann has experience writing The Doctor across multiple media and that experience is in evidence throughout this issue. Josie Day is established as a spirited and likable young woman and her going for a ride on the TARDIS at the issue's end is all but assured even before she saves the day.

The artwork by Emma Vieceli and Hi-Fi is a perfect match for the bright and cheerful spirit of The Eighth Doctor. The colors by Hi-Fi are vibrant and Vieceli's style shows influences of both traditional Western comics and Shojo manga. The only real fault with the artwork is that the word balloons are oddly placed at times and it becomes tricky, at these points, to know who is speaking first. Despite that hiccup, this is a great comic and a must read for all Doctor Who fans.

Doctor Who: Engines of War - A Book Review

The Great Time War has raged for centuries and across millenniums. Scores of worlds have been destroyed by the machinations of both The Daleks and The Time Lords. And it is in The Tantalus Eye - a nebula now dominated by Dalek forces - that the Time Lord once known as The Doctor crash-lands after the fleet of Battle TARDISes that he was leading is destroyed.

It is on the world of Moldox that he will meet Cinder - a human Dalek hunter rebelling against the occupying Dalek forces.  This puzzles the Time Lord, as Daleks never use slave labor unless they are building something. But what could they be building on the outskirts of the galactic rim?

The answers will unearth a terrifying secret and send the two warriors from the slums of Moldox to the gleaming towers of Gallifrey and back. For The Daleks are not alone in having secrets. And in order to save billions of lives, an embittered old soldier must become The Doctor once more.



The most regrettable thing about Engines of War is its finality. It spoils little to say that this story is The War Doctor's lead-up into the events of The Day Of The Doctor and we get to see the exact chain of events that lead to him uttering the immortal words 'No More". This does make the climax of the book somewhat predictable, as the exact ending is clearly foreshadowed.

The events leading up to that ending, however, are some of the best writing I've seen in any Doctor Who novel to date.  And George Mann is to be hailed for how much drama he wrings out of what could have been a dry, by-the-book pastiche. Gruff and crusty though he may be, The War Doctor is still a likable hero and Cinder is now on my top-ten companions list.

There's a fair amount of continuity for long-time fans of the series, but nothing newcomers will prove unable to cope with.  Fans of the classic series will no doubt enjoy the references to The Five Doctors and The Deadly Assassin. And if nothing else this book is noteworthy for confirming that the Rassilon we see in The End of Time is indeed THAT Rassilon and that the depravity he got up to behind closed doors was even worse than the plans he discussed openly.

Bottom Line: If you're a Doctor Who fan of any age or era, you should check out Engines of War.