08 September 2015

Review: Doctor Who: The Hypothetical Gentleman by Andy Diggle, Mark Buckingham, Brandon Seifert, and Philip Bond

Comic PDF eBook, 100 pages
Published 2013 (contents: 2012)
Acquired May 2014
Read October 2014
Doctor Who, Volume I: The Hypothetical Gentleman

Written by Andy Diggle and Brandon Seifert
Art by Mark Buckingham and Philip Bond with Ilias Kyriazis
Colors by Charlie Kirchoff
Lettering by Shawn Lee and Tom B. Long

Despite continuing with the same Doctor and same companions as the last, this volume restarts the numbering, I guess because of the arrival of superstar writer/artist team Andy Diggle and Mark Buckingham. Well, like too many superstar teams on IDW comics, they don't last long-- all of two issues! And to be honest, it's neither's best work. Diggle's writing is not flooded with continuity references like previous Who scripter Tony Lee, but it shares Lee's lack of depth. And Mark Buckingham can do great work, but I find his tie-in work distractingly over-referenced at times.

It's the second story here, "The Doctor and the Nurse," by Brandon Seifert and Philip Bond, that's delightful. Amy forces the Doctor and Rory to undertake some male bonding, but they hate the idea so much they jump into the future to finish early-- only the TARDIS misses its destination. Meanwhile, Amy gets embroiled in the hijinks of the previously-unknown-to-me-but-delightfully-real-except-that-some-people-actually-died-in-it Great London Beer Flood. Seifert's writing nails the characters and humor, and I loved Bond's Dan McDaid-esque art, cartoony but very reflective of the characters' personalities. It's a shame these two didn't take over the title. (I feel like I say that a lot. I guess a lot of the "guest" contributions on IDW's Doctor Who stuff are often better than the "actual" ones!)

Next Week: The return of Lady Christina in The Eye of Ashaya!

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