Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #15 - A Review

The alien Hyperions are just moments away from activating their fusion web and incinerating the Earth! The only thing that can stop them now is The Doctor, with a little help from UNIT and some "borrowed" alien weaponry. But not everyone may make it out of this battle alive and whole...


The artwork for this issue is not up to the usual high standard. Daniel Indro's pencils are sloppy and his choices for some of the character poses and expressions are... unusual. The coloring by Slamet Mujiono, coupled with Indro's thin inks, leave the Hyperions looking like orange blobs rather than menacing men of living fire.


Robbie Morrison's writing for this issue is also uncharacteristically lazy. The final battle reminds one of the Classic Who era for all the wrong reasons, with everything being solved by a bunch of people armed with special guns. To say this seems a little against the spirit of the show is putting it mildly. The conclusion is sweet enough, with a nod to one of my favorite Christmas specials of the New Who era, but this is still a disappointing conclusion to what had been a promising story.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #14 - A Review

With Clara Oswald and a fireman named Sam (go ahead and joke - he's used to it) in tow, The Doctor readies an assault on the alien Hyperions. Their mission: to stop the living fire-beings from completing the construction of an energy cage that will kill Earth's sun! But even with the unexpected aid of a Hyperion fusion angel The Doctor freed from slavery, the task will not be an easy one...


Robbie Morrison's scripts for this series are as rich and captivating as any episode of the Doctor Who program. The supporting characters created for this story are wonderful and one wishes we could see more of Sam The Fireman (who cleverly intuits that some previously unnamed part of the TARDIS interior is a fire extinguisher) in future stories. There's a lot of clever nods and references to other works of science-fiction as well, with The Doctor providing Clara and Sam with jumpsuits made of unstable molecules and The Doctor making reference to an Ice-9 reactor. And the subplot involving the freed fusion angel - who has the memories of an astronaut who was one of the Hyperion's first victims - proves truly heartbreaking.


Unfortunately, the artwork by Ronilson Friere fails to live up to the quality of Morrison's script. There's very little sense of consistency from panel to panel and Friere only manages to successfully caricature The Doctor and Clara half the time, if that. And his take on Kate Lethbridge-Stewart bears no resemblance at all to her actress on the show. The line-work in general is also far too busy.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #13 - A Review

The Doctor and Clara have returned to Earth just in time for an invasion by the Hyperions. They've fought these living suns before but it took all of their collective cunning to deal with one of them when they had the element of surprise on their side. Even the full resources of UNIT and the power of the office of President of The Earth may not be enough to get them out of this one...


Reading a Robbie Williams Doctor Who story is always a treat. His work on The Tenth Doctor series was a perfect encapsulation of the David Tennant era of Doctor Who and his run here is proving to be equally adept in portraying The Doctor of Series 8. The Hyperions are a worthy addition to The Doctor's rogues' gallery and many of the sequences - such as The Doctor's appointing Clara Minister of Hugs and ordering the execution of an annoying politician who suggests surrendering to The Hyperions - are hilarious.



Daniel Indro's artwork is a little busy at times and his inks can be a little too thick. Then we get sequences like the above page - in which The Doctor explains the menace of the Hyperions - and you marvel at his ability to fit such fine detail into such a relatively small space. The colors by Slamet Mujiono are skillfully applied as well.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #12 - A Review

When a strange craft destroys the International Space Station and vaporizes Lake Windermere, the call goes out for The Doctor. But UNIT can't get a hold of him and their soldiers are utterly helpless as more spaceships surround the Earth, saying only two words - Hyperios Rises.  Little do they know that The Doctor is already in the thick of it, coping with twitchy townsfolk and zombies made of ash!

One can't accuse Robbie Morrison of thinking small with his scripts for this series. When the destruction of a space-station is just the pre-credits sequence, you know we're in for something big. Yet despite the global scale of this story and the intense action, the best moments are those in which The Doctor and Clara play off of each other or interact with other characters.


Daniel Indro and Slamet Mujiono were partnered together for Robbie Morrison's turn on Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor. They do the same stellar job here that they did there. Indro has a highly detailed style, which suffers somewhat in the long-shots but looks utterly amazing in the short distance and close-ups. And Mujiono's colors prove well-chosen.

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #9 - A Review

Trapped in the No Man's Land between the German and English forces of World War I, The Doctor and his current companion - Gabby Gonzales - have had a trying time of it. The Weeping Angels have made a banquet of the soldiers presumed lost to the bombings and battling.  And now, in the maze of trenches and tunnels under the desecrated earth, The Angels have The TARDIS!


Robbie Morrison brings what has been a delightful story to a satisfying conclusion. This issue, combined with the three parts preceding it, constitutes one of the most well-written Doctor Who stories I've seen in any medium. The epilogue at the end also proves to be a fitting tribute to every soldier who has ever given up their lives for the lives of others.


The artwork proves the equal of the story.  Arianna Florean and Elena Casagrande make use of a cartoonish style in depicting the artistic Gabby's personal journal entries.  Different, but no less effective, is the more realistic style used by Daniel Indro, though his inks are overly heavy at times and threaten to obscure the original pencils.

Doctor Who : The Tenth Doctor #8 - A Review

Bad enough being stuck in the middle of No Man's Land in WWI. Worse to be surrounded by an army of The Weeping Angels with The TARDIS disappeared!  Not even a friendly Scottish soldier named Jamie can lift The Doctor's spirits, as he struggles to figure out a way to get himself and a rag-tag group of survivors to safety.


This tale by Robbie Morrison has been a real wonder. Not only has he managed to breathe new life into The Weeping Angels, he's done it by exploring the most horrific element of the angel's touch. Through a series of vignettes, we've seen the fates of several of the soldiers the angels have caught and suffice it to say not all of them were lucky enough to find a fresh start with a nice young lady five decades earlier. Morrison has also created a number of memorable supporting characters in this surprisingly short arc, including Scottish soldier Jamie Colquhon and Captain Fairburn, who may well have been a match for Brigadier Lethrbridge-Stewart!


The artwork by Daniel Indro is equally impressive.  Indro has prefectly captured the likeness of David Tennant and his panel flow is bold and innovative, yet simple to follow. The color art by Slamet Mujiono is also praiseworthy, with some scenes that seem to have been painted!